The words, and where they came from
Catholic prayers and how each one is prayed
Every guide here prints the prayer first, in wording that is free of copyright, then explains where the words came from and how Christians differ over them. Nothing on this site carries ecclesiastical approval.
Short answer
Start with the prayer you were looking for and read the text at the top of its page. The Rosary, the Angelus, and the Divine Mercy Chaplet are walked through step by step, because those three are counted on beads and prayed in a set order. Where Catholic and Protestant practice part company, usually over asking Mary or a saint to pray, each guide sets out both positions and leaves the decision with you and your own church.
Read the prayer before you read the history
People arrive at a page like this holding a set of beads somebody gave them, or standing in a room where everyone else knows the words. So each guide opens with the full text and puts the background underneath it.
The wording printed here comes from books old enough to belong to everyone, mostly the 1885 Baltimore Catechism, the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and Catholic prayer books published in the United States before 1929. Several modern liturgical translations remain under copyright, so where that applies the guide says which words it cannot reprint and links to a page that carries them free.
Where Christians disagree, and what this site is
Asking Mary or a saint to pray for you is the point most Protestant traditions decline, citing one mediator between God and people. Catholic teaching calls it intercession and reserves worship for God alone. Both positions appear on these pages with their own sources, and neither is presented as the verdict.
PrayWithJesus.ai is software built by a company. It holds no teaching authority and no approval from any church. The assistant here can walk a prayer with you at an hour when nobody is awake. It is not a priest, it cannot absolve anything, and it is no substitute for a sacrament or for the pastor who knows you.
14 guides
The prayer Jesus taught
The Lord's Prayer
The prayer Jesus taught, in full. Traditional and King James wording, why some churches add "For thine is the kingdom," and how to pray it when you feel nothing.
Read the guideA prayer most Catholics learn before they can read
The Our Father
The words in full, plus the answers nobody gave you: which Rosary bead it belongs to, where it falls at Mass, and why some people keep going past deliver us from evil.
Read the guideA prayer assembled over five centuries
The Hail Mary
The full Hail Mary, then the honest part: which lines Gabriel and Elizabeth really said, who added the rest, and what to do if you are asked to pray it.
Read the guideA short prayer with a long paper trail
The prayer to Saint Michael
The St Michael prayer in full, in English and Latin, the vision story nobody can find a source for, why it left Mass in 1965, and when fear needs a doctor.
Read the guideThe words most Christians still say together
The Nicene Creed
The full Nicene Creed in traditional English, what each line is actually claiming, and why one word in it still divides East and West. Free to read and copy.
Read the guide
A short prayer for mercy
How to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet
The seven minute prayer people reach for at a hospital bedside. Every bead in order, the three o'clock hour, the novena, and the opening prayers in full.
Read the guideSorrow you can put into words
The Act of Contrition
Pray the traditional Act of Contrition tonight, in the old words or your own. What each line means, whether it forgives sin, and what still needs a priest.
Read the guideA prayer you can hold
How to pray the rosary
Pick up the beads tonight and finish your first rosary. Which bead comes next, which mysteries belong to today, and what to do when your mind drifts.
Read the guideThe prayer that closes a psalm
The Glory Be
Ten seconds long, sixteen centuries old. The Glory Be in traditional English and Latin, what world without end really means, and where it falls in the Rosary.
Read the guideTraditional Marian prayer
The Memorare
The full Memorare, short enough to say right now. Then the honest history: the St Bernard printed on the holy card is almost certainly the wrong Bernard.
Read the guide
A famous prayer with a borrowed name
The Prayer of St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. The whole prayer, including the two lines most cards drop, plus the honest answer about who wrote it and when.
Read the guideA prayer from the fourteenth century
The Anima Christi
The Anima Christi in full, English and Latin, what inebriate me is actually asking for, and why the prayer Ignatius prayed daily was written before he was born.
Read the guideWhen the situation has stopped moving
A prayer to St. Jude
The full traditional novena to St. Jude, the apostle you reach for when nothing else has worked, and what to do if day nine comes and nothing has moved.
Read the guide
A prayer that marks the hours
The Angelus
The full Angelus printed straight through so you can just pray it, plus the three hours it keeps, what the nine bell strokes count, and why a missed hour is fine.
Read the guideSources and further reading
- Baltimore Catechism No. 2 (1885), Project Gutenberg
The public domain source for much of the traditional English wording printed across these guides.
- Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Appendix A
The Holy See's own list of common prayers, in English and Latin.
- Church of England: the Book of Common Prayer
The 1662 texts behind the English wording of the Creed and the Glory Be.