Anima Christi — Soul of Christ

The great prayer after Communion — "Soul of Christ, sanctify me" — in English and the original Latin.

When a man has just received the Body and Blood of Christ, what does he say? For seven hundred years the answer has often been the Anima Christi — "Soul of Christ, sanctify me." It is a prayer of a soul pressing itself into the wounds of Christ for shelter, and it is the most personal thing a Catholic can pray in the minutes after Communion.

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The Anima Christi

In English

Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me. Blood of Christ, inebriate me. Water from the side of Christ, wash me. Passion of Christ, strengthen me. O good Jesus, hear me. Within Thy wounds hide me. Permit me not to be separated from Thee. From the malicious enemy defend me. In the hour of my death call me, and bid me come unto Thee, that with Thy Saints I may praise Thee forever and ever. Amen.

In Latin

Anima Christi, sanctifica me. Corpus Christi, salva me. Sanguis Christi, inebria me. Aqua lateris Christi, lava me. Passio Christi, conforta me. O bone Iesu, exaudi me. Intra tua vulnera absconde me. Ne permittas me separari a te. Ab hoste maligno defende me. In hora mortis meae voca me. Et iube me venire ad te, ut cum Sanctis tuis laudem te in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

When to pray it

Its native home is the thanksgiving after Holy Communion — the quiet minutes after returning to the pew, when Christ is sacramentally present within you. It is also prayed in personal devotion and was placed by St. Ignatius of Loyola at the very front of his Spiritual Exercises as a prayer to return to throughout the day.

Where it came from

The Anima Christi dates to the early 14th century — well before St. Ignatius, though his use of it in the Spiritual Exercises (early 1500s) made it inseparable from his name and spread it through the whole Church. Line by line it asks the parts of Christ's sacrifice to do their work in the one praying: His soul to sanctify, His blood to fill, the water from His pierced side to wash, His Passion to strengthen. "Within Thy wounds hide me" is its center of gravity — the soul taking cover in the very wounds that saved it.

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