MIRACULOUS MIRACLES™

Prayer — Prayers of the Saints

Prayer for a Happy Death (Newman)

by St. John Henry Newman

'Support me in that hour in the strong arms of Thy Sacraments, and by the fresh fragrance of Thy consolations' — Newman's prayer for the end, with its companion, his prayer for the light of truth.

The Prayer · Multiple Versions
English · Original
Oh, my Lord and Saviour, support me in that hour in the strong arms of Thy Sacraments, and by the fresh fragrance of Thy consolations. Let the absolving words be said over me, and the holy oil sign and seal me, and Thy own Body be my food, and Thy Blood my sprinkling; and let my sweet Mother, Mary, breathe on me, and my Angel whisper peace to me, and my glorious Saints smile upon me; that in them all, and through them all, I may receive the gift of perseverance, and die, as I desire to live, in Thy faith, in Thy Church, in Thy service, and in Thy love. Amen.
English (Prayer for the Light of Truth)
O my God, I confess that Thou canst enlighten my darkness. I confess that Thou alone canst. I wish my darkness to be enlightened. I do not know whether Thou wilt: but that Thou canst and that I wish, are sufficient reasons for me to ask, what Thou at least hast not forbidden my asking. I hereby promise that by Thy grace which I am asking, I will embrace whatever I at length feel certain is the truth, if ever I come to be certain. And by Thy grace I will guard against all self-deceit which may lead me to take what nature would have, rather than what reason approves.
When the Prayer is Said

At night prayers; in sickness; the second by anyone seeking the truth.

History & Background

Newman's Prayer for a Happy Death asks for the whole apparatus of a Catholic death — absolution, anointing, Viaticum — and for the presence of Mary, the Guardian Angel and the saints, in order to 'die, as I desire to live, in Thy faith, in Thy Church, in Thy service, and in Thy love'. Neville printed it at the end of the second part of the Meditations and Devotions in 1893.

Beside it stands the Prayer for the Light of Truth, which Newman wrote for enquirers — the prayer of a man who had himself enquired for fifteen years and knew the self-deceit that 'would take what nature would have, rather than what reason approves'. Both are given here from the 1893 edition.

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