Prayer:Extended Prayer for the Souls in Purgatory
Stored: Extended Prayer for the Souls in Purgatory
| Extended Prayer for the Souls in Purgatory | |
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| Author | Unknown |
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| Language | English |
| Approval | None |
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| Added on | 2026-08-13 |
Among the most powerful intercessory prayers in the Catholic tradition, the Extended Prayer for the Holy Souls in Purgatory is attributed to a revelation granted to Saint Gertrude the Great (1256–1302), the Benedictine mystic and Doctor of the Church. Our Lord is said to have appeared to Saint Gertrude and promised that each time this prayer was recited devoutly, it would release a great multitude of souls from the sufferings of Purgatory. The prayer draws upon the inexhaustible merits of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus Christ, offered in union with the perpetual sacrifice of the Mass celebrated throughout the world.
Saint Gertrude's mystical writings, particularly her celebrated work Legatus Divinae Pietatis (The Herald of Divine Love), are among the most treasured in Christian mysticism. Within this tradition of intimate union with Christ, her intercessory prayer for the Holy Souls stands as a luminous example of the Church's ancient and unbroken practice of praying for the faithful departed. The prayer unites the individual supplicant to the entire offering of the Church, making it especially fitting for private devotion and public piety alike.
The broader extended version of this prayer expands upon the shorter form commonly circulated on holy cards, encompassing not only the Holy Souls in Purgatory but also sinners throughout the world, the universal Church, and one's own family and household — reflecting the universality of charity and the communion of saints that lies at the heart of Catholic faith.
The Prayer
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal Church, those in my own home and within my family.
O most Precious Blood, price of our redemption, be Thou known and adored through all the earth, and may Thy infinite merits take effect in all hearts.
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, for all sinners, for the dying, for those in need of Thy mercy this day. Extend Thy mercy to the suffering souls in Purgatory, that they who have departed this life in Thy grace may soon behold Thee face to face in the joy of eternal glory.
May the Precious Blood of Jesus be praised and adored and glorified, now and for ever, unto eternity.
Amen.
History and Background
Saint Gertrude the Great was born in 1256 and entered the Benedictine monastery of Helfta in Saxony at the age of five. Helfta, under the abbacy of Saint Mechtilde of Hackeborn's sister Gertrude of Hackeborn, became one of the most vibrant centers of feminine mysticism in medieval Christendom. It was at Helfta that Saint Gertrude received a profound conversion of heart at the age of twenty-five, beginning a life of extraordinary mystical union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus — a devotion she helped transmit to the Church centuries before it was formally propagated by Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque.
Within her mystical experience, Gertrude received numerous locutions and visions concerning the Holy Souls in Purgatory. The Lord is recorded in the Legatus as having assured her that prayers offered with sincere devotion — particularly those uniting the soul to the sacrifice of the Mass and the Precious Blood — release souls from Purgatory with singular efficacy. This teaching coheres perfectly with the Church's defined doctrine on the efficacy of suffrages for the dead (cf. Lumen Gentium, §50; Council of Trent, Session XXV).
The prayer in its extended form circulated widely in Catholic devotional literature from the medieval period onward, and it received renewed popularity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries through Catholic missionary and parish devotion. It is particularly associated with November, the Month of the Holy Souls, and with the daily offering of prayer in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Pope Benedict XVI, in his encyclical Spe Salvi (2007), renewed the Church's catechesis on Purgatory and the value of intercessory prayer for the dead, giving new resonance to this ancient tradition.
Saint Gertrude was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Clement XII in 1738, one of only a handful of women ever accorded that title. Her feast day is celebrated on November 16 in the Roman Calendar, though it was formerly observed on November 17.
How to Pray / Devotional Use
This prayer is most fittingly prayed in the morning, offered in union with the Holy Masses being celebrated throughout the world at every hour of the day. Many devout Catholics include it as part of their Morning Offering, linking their intentions for the Holy Souls to the perpetual sacrifice of the Eucharist. It may also be prayed immediately before or after attending Holy Mass, or as part of a rosary offered for the dead.
The prayer is especially recommended during the following occasions:
- November, which the Church designates as the Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory
- All Souls' Day (November 2), when plenary and partial indulgences are available for the faithful departed
- The commemoration of deceased family members, anniversaries of death, or the octave following a funeral
- First Fridays, in keeping with devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Precious Blood
- Any Friday throughout the year, as a day traditionally given to prayer and penance in union with Christ's Passion
Those who pray this prayer regularly are encouraged to make a conscious act of intention before beginning, offering the Precious Blood explicitly for the souls of their own departed loved ones as well as for the most forgotten and most abandoned souls in Purgatory. Saint Faustina Kowalska's Diary similarly records Our Lord's great desire for souls to intercede for one another, and the two devotions may be fruitfully combined in a spirit of Divine Mercy.
A partial indulgence is ordinarily attached to prayers for the dead offered with a contrite heart; Catholics should consult the Enchiridion of Indulgences for applicable norms.