MIRACULOUS MIRACLES^™

Prayer — The Essential Prayers

Actus Fidei, Spei, Caritatis et Contritionis

Acts of Faith, Hope, Charity, and Contrition

Current forms standardized in the post-Tridentine catechisms

The four foundational personal acts of the soul's theological virtues — recited daily by traditional Catholic devotional practice in morning and evening prayer.

The Prayer

English · Original

ACT OF FAITH
O my God, I firmly believe that thou art one God in three Divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe that thy Divine Son became man and died for our sins, and that he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches, because thou hast revealed them, who canst neither deceive nor be deceived. Amen.

ACT OF HOPE
O my God, relying on thy infinite goodness and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of thy grace, and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer. Amen.

ACT OF CHARITY
O my God, I love thee above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because thou art all good and worthy of all love. I love my neighbour as myself for the love of thee. I forgive all who have injured me, and ask pardon of all whom I have injured. Amen.

ACT OF CONTRITION
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell; but most of all because they offend thee, my God, who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

When the Prayer is Said

Daily — at morning and evening prayer; before sacramental Confession; at the moment of approaching death; at every public Catholic invocation of the theological virtues.

History & Background

The four Acts — of Faith, Hope, Charity, and Contrition — are the foundational personal acts of the three theological virtues (Faith, Hope, Charity, taught by Paul in 1 Cor 13) together with the personal act of repentance that is the prerequisite of sacramental Confession. Their texts varied through the medieval period and were stabilized in their current form by the post-Tridentine Roman catechetical tradition of the 17th and 18th centuries.

The four acts are traditionally prayed by Catholics daily — as part of morning prayer (to set the soul's orientation for the day) and as part of evening prayer (the Act of Contrition particularly, as preparation for the night and as anticipation of confession). They are also the first acts that a dying Catholic is called to make in the moments before death, as the foundational personal-act preparation for the Particular Judgment.

All Prayers