Prayers for the Dead
By indulgences, prayers, good works, and especially ' by Masses heard or offered, we can help the souls in purgatory. Let us not deny this office of charity even to those who lived most holily. Nor should the passing years make us forget those we are bound to pray for.
NINE DAYS’ PRAYER FOR ONE RECENTLY DECEASED
(Ind. of 300 days, each day. — Pius IX. Jan. 5, 1849.)
For the First Day
O GOD, to Whom it belongs always to have mercy and to spare, we humbly beseech Thee for the soul of Thy servant, N., which Thou hast commanded to depart out of this world: that Thou deliver it not into the hands of the enemy, nor forget it unto the end; but command it to be received by Thy holy angels, and conducted into paradise, its true country; that, as in Thee it hath hoped and believed, it may not suffer the pains of hell, but may take possession of eternal joys. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
For the Second Day
TO Thee, O Lord, do we command the soul of Thy servant, N., that being dead to the world he may live unto Thee; and whatsoever sins he has committed through the frailty of his mortal nature, do Thou, by the pardon of Thy most merciful love, wash away. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
