The "Anima Christi" (Latin for ‘Soul of Christ’) is a Catholic prayer to Jesus of

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

origin.

History

For many years the prayer was popularly believed to have been composed by Saint

Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola ( ; ; ; ; born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Basque Spaniard Catholic priest and theologian, who, with six companions, founded the religious order of the S ...

, as he puts it at the beginning of his ''Spiritual Exercises'' and often refers to it. In the first edition of the ''Spiritual Exercises'' Ignatius merely mentions it, evidently supposing that the reader would know it. In later editions, it was printed in full. It was by assuming that everything in the book was written by Ignatius that it came to be looked upon as his composition. On this account the prayer is sometimes referred to as the ''Aspirations of St. Ignatius Loyola''. However, the prayer actually dates to the early 14th century and was possibly written by

Pope John XXII Pope John XXII (, , ; 1244 – 4 December 1334), born Jacques Duèze (or d'Euse), was head of the Catholic Church from 7 August 1316 to his death, in December 1334. He was the second and longest-reigning Avignon Papacy, Avignon Pope, elected by ...

, but its authorship remains uncertain. It has been found in a number of prayer books printed during the youth of Ignatius and is in manuscripts which were written 100 years before his birth. The English hymnologist James Mearns found it in a manuscript of the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

which dates back to about 1370. In the library of

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there is preserved a prayer book of Cardinal Pierre de Luxembourg (died 1387), which contains the prayer in practically the same form as that in which it appears today. It has also been found inscribed on one of the gates of the

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, which dates back to the time of Pedro the Cruel (1350–1369). The invocations in the prayer have rich associations with Catholic concepts that relate to the

Eucharist The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...

(

Body Body may refer to: In science * Physical body, an object in physics that represents a large amount, has mass or takes up space * Body (biology), the physical material of an organism * Body plan, the physical features shared by a group of anim ...

and

Blood of Christ Blood of Christ, also known as the Most Precious Blood, in Christian theology refers to the physical blood actually shed by Jesus Christ primarily on the Cross, and the salvation which Christianity teaches was accomplished thereby, or the sacram ...

Baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

(water) and the

Passion of Jesus The Passion (from Latin , "to suffer, bear, endure") is the short final period before the death of Jesus, described in the four canonical gospels. It is commemorated in Christianity every year during Holy Week. The ''Passion'' may include, amo ...

( Holy Wounds).

Text

In the mid-19th century the prayer was translated and published as the English hymn ''Soul of my Saviour, sanctify my breast'' by Edward Caswall. Since then it has been popular as a communion hymn in Anglican and Catholic communities and has been included in some 43 different

hymnals A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). They are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Christia ...

Indulgence

The 2004 '' Enchiridion Indulgentiarum'' grants the partial

indulgence In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for (forgiven) sins". The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission bef ...

to the faithful of Christ who prays the ''Anima Christi'' after having received Communion. Although not a part of the

Maronite Maronites (; ) are a Syriac Christianity, Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally re ...

Catholic tradition, during the 21st century, the Anima Christi prayer is recited in some

churches in the United States at the end of the mass.

Musical adaptations

Jean-Baptiste Lully Jean-Baptiste Lully ( – 22 March 1687) was a French composer, dancer and instrumentalist of Italian birth, who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he spent most of his life working in the court o ...

composed a

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...

called ''Anima Christi'', and musicians such as Giovanni Valentini have performed it. Liszt made two settings of it, both for male voices and organ, in 1874 ublished in the Breitkopf Franz-Liszt-Stiftung, volume V/6 (1936) There is a contemporary Catholic composition by Marco Frisina. Lutheran adaptions include those by

Heinrich Schütz Heinrich Schütz (; 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque music, Baroque composer and organ (music), organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and one of the most important composers of ...

(SWV 325) and Johann Theile. The hymn 'Soul of my Saviour' is an English translation of this prayer by J. Hegarty, and music of jesuit priest William J. Maher (Bristol, 1823).https://hymnary.org/text/soul_of_my_savior_sanctify_my_breast

Notes

{{Authority control Catholic devotions Roman Catholic prayers Spiritual warfare Pope John XXII Maronites