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Preparation for Personal Prayer

Holy Spirit, breath of God and fire of love, I cannot pray without your aid: Kindle in me the fire of your love, and illumine me with your light; that with a steadfast will and holy thoughts I may approach the Father in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ my Lord, who reigns with you and the Father in eternal union. Amen.

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Depart, O Christian soul

Commendation at the Time of Death · Ministry to the Dying

Depart, O Christian soul, out of this world; In the Name of God the Father Almighty who created you; In the Name of Jesus Christ who redeemed you; In the Name of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies you. May your rest be this day in peace, and your dwelling place in the Paradise of God.

Proficiscere, anima christiana, de hoc mundo, in nomine Dei Patris omnipotentis, qui te creavit, in nomine Iesu Christi Filii Dei vivi, qui pro te passus est, in nomine Spiritus Sancti, qui in te effusus est; hodie sit in pace locus tuus, et habitatio tua in sancta Sion.

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Original-language source · public domain

Found in the Prayer Book

  • Ministry To The DyingMinistry to the Sick & Dying

Provenance

Roman sacramentary, 8th c.

Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.

This brief commendation, spoken at a deathbed, is the opening sentence of one of the oldest prayers in the Western church: the Latin "Proficiscere," attested in prayer books going back to the eighth century. English reformers left it out of the Prayer Book for nearly four hundred years; it returned in the 1928 Prayer Books and has been prayed at Anglican deathbeds since.