TO THE WOUND OF THE RIGHT HAND. All praise, honour, and glory be to Thee, O Lord Jesus, for the most sacred wound of Thy right hand. By this most holy wound pardon me, I beseech Thee, the sins which I have committed against Thee, in thought, word, or deed; and the sensualities of which sleeping or waking I may have been guilty. Grant that I may ever have before me a pious remembrance of Thy wounds, and that I may testify my gratitude to Thee for having received them, by imprinting them on my own body through a continual mortification. Deign to grant this, O Lord, who livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary. TO THE WOUND OF THE LEFT HAND. All praise, honour, and glory be to Thee, O sweetest Jesus, for the most holy wound of Thy left hand. By this sacred wound show mercy unto me, and take from my heart all that is displeasing to Thee. Make me victorious over the enemies that cease not to war against me; grant me Thy strength and power that I may trample them beneath my feet. By Thy holy death deliver me from all the dangers to which my life and salvation are exposed, and render me worthy to partake of Thy glory in Thy heavenly kingdom, world without end. Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary. TO THE WOUND OF THE RIGHT FOOT. All praise, honour, and glory be to Thee, O good Saviour Jesus, for the sacred wound of Thy right foot. By this most holy wound grant me to merit forgiveness from Thee, by a penance proportioned to the enormity of my sins; oh! by Thy most holy Passion, grant that my will may be ever united to Thine, and defend my body and soul from all adversity. When the day of awful judgment shall be at hand, deign mercifully to receive my soul, and make it a possessor of Thy eternal joys, O Thou who livest for ever and ever. Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary. TO THE WOUND OF THE LEFT FOOT. All praise, honour, and glory be to Thee, O most merciful Jesus, for the sacred wound of Thy left foot. By this most holy wound I beg of Thee to grant me the full and entire remission of all my sins, that I may escape the rigours of Thy dread judgment. O most merciful Jesus, I implore, by Thy holy death, that before mine I may worthily receive the sacrament of Thy Body and Blood, that I may be able to confess all my sins, with perfect contrition and great purity of body and soul; and that I may receive the sacrament of Extreme Unction to my eternal salvation. Grant this I beseech Thee, O Lord, who livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary. TO THE WOUND OF THE SIDE. All praise, honour, and glory be to Thee, O loving Jesus, for the sacred wound of Thy side. I beg of Thee, by this most holy wound, and by the charity Thou didst show in allowing Thy most Sacred Heart to be laid open to us by the lance of the soldier Longinus, that Thou wouldest deign not only to purify me from original sin by baptism, but also to deliver me from all evils, past, present, and to come, by the merits of Thy Precious Blood, which is at this moment offered and received throughout the world. Through Thy bitter death grant me a lively faith, a firm hope, and a perfect contrition, that I may love Thee with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my strength. Confirm me in good works, that I may persevere with courage in Thy holy service, so that I may be found pleasing in Thy divine sight, now and evermore. Amen. Our Father, Hail Mary. V. We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee. R. Because by Thy death and by Thy blood, Thou hast redeemed the world. Let us pray. Almighty and eternal God, who hast redeemed the world by the five wounds of Thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ, grant, we beseech Thee, that we who daily honour those wounds may be delivered from sudden and eternal death. This we implore through the same Lord Jesus, who liveth and reigneth with Thee for ever and ever. Amen.
Prayers of St. Clare to the Five Wounds of Our Lord
Five prayers, one to each wound — right hand, left hand, right foot, left foot, side — each closing with an Our Father and Hail Mary, composed by the first Poor Clare.
On Fridays; in Lent and Passiontide; on 11 August, the saint's feast; after the Stations of the Cross.
Clare's devotion to the Passion is recorded by her first biographer: she taught her sisters the Office of the Five Wounds and prayed it daily, and it was from her, and from the Poor Clares after her, that the devotion to the Five Wounds spread through the Franciscan family. These five prayers have been handed down in her name in the manuals of her order; they are printed in the Poor Clares' Novenas, Hymns, and Litanies of 1863 as 'composed by St. Clare', and reprinted in Blessed Be God (1925).
Each wound is thanked for, and each is asked for something in order: pardon (right hand), victory over enemies (left hand), penance and union of will (right foot), the last sacraments (left foot), and from the side — the Heart opened by the lance of Longinus — faith, hope, contrition and perseverance. The text is the 1863 manual's.
