The Peace Prayer of St. Francis
by an anonymous Norman c. 1915
by an anonymous Norman c. 1915
Lord make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, Joy
O Divine Master grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, Joy
O Divine Master grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life
The story behind the Peace Prayer of St. Francis
from https://franciscan-archive.org/patriarcha/peace.html
The Peace Prayer of St. Francis is a famous prayer that first appeared around 1915, and which embodies the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi's simplicity and poverty.
According to Father Kajetan Esser, OFM, the author of the critical edition of St. Francis's Writings, the Peace Prayer of St. Francis is most certainly not one of the writings of St. Francis. This prayer, according to Father Schulz, Das sogennante Franziskusgebet. Forshungen zur evangelishen Gebetslitteratur (III), in Jahrbuch fur Liturgik und Hymnologie, 13 (1968), pp. 39-53, first appeared during the first World War. It was found written on the obvervse of a holy card of St. Francis, which was found in a Norman almanac. The prayer bore no name; but in the English speaking world, on account of this holy card, it came to be called the Peace Prayer of St. Francis.
More information about this prayer can be found in Friar J. Poulenc, OFM, L'inspiration moderne de la priere « Seigneru faites de moi un instrument de votre paix », Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, vol. 68 (1975) pp. 450-453.
from https://franciscan-archive.org/patriarcha/peace.html
The Peace Prayer of St. Francis is a famous prayer that first appeared around 1915, and which embodies the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi's simplicity and poverty.
According to Father Kajetan Esser, OFM, the author of the critical edition of St. Francis's Writings, the Peace Prayer of St. Francis is most certainly not one of the writings of St. Francis. This prayer, according to Father Schulz, Das sogennante Franziskusgebet. Forshungen zur evangelishen Gebetslitteratur (III), in Jahrbuch fur Liturgik und Hymnologie, 13 (1968), pp. 39-53, first appeared during the first World War. It was found written on the obvervse of a holy card of St. Francis, which was found in a Norman almanac. The prayer bore no name; but in the English speaking world, on account of this holy card, it came to be called the Peace Prayer of St. Francis.
More information about this prayer can be found in Friar J. Poulenc, OFM, L'inspiration moderne de la priere « Seigneru faites de moi un instrument de votre paix », Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, vol. 68 (1975) pp. 450-453.