Soul of Christ Sanctify Me - St. Ignatius Loyola Prayer
Channel: Pray Every Day
Date: 2021-07-22

This beautiful prayer of unknown authorship was composed in the first half of the 14th century. A favorite of St. Ignatius Loyola, it enjoyed renewed prominence through his 16th century “Spiritual Exercises”.

Sometimes attributed to Pope John XXII (though disputed), it seems he did enrich it with indulgences in 1330. Apparently in 1854 Pope Pius IX revoked all previous indulgences and granted instead:

• An indulgence of three hundred days every time it is recited, with at least contrite heart and devotion;
• An indulgence of seven years, once a day, to priests who shall say it after saying Mass, and to the faithful, after receiving holy communion.

The 1968 Enchiridion of Indulgences assigns it a partial indulgence.

To me, as a convert, this prayer encapsulates a centrality of the Catholic Faith which is absent in Protestantism: our Lord’s Passion, His Precious Blood, His Real Presence in the Eucharist and, further, an emphasis that we need to be sanctified, which expresses itself in more than faith alone.