The Divine Praises or Laudes Divinae (informally known as Blessed be God) is an 18th-century

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

expiatory

prayer File:Prayers-collage.png, 300px, alt=Collage of various religionists praying – Clickable Image, Collage of various religionists praying ''(Clickable image – use cursor to identify.)'' rect 0 0 1000 1000 Shinto festivalgoer praying in front ...

. It is traditionally recited during

Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, also called Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament or the Rite of Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction, is a devotional ceremony, celebrated especially in the Roman Catholic Church, but also in some other C ...

. It may also be said after having heard, seen, or inadvertently uttered profanity or blasphemy. __TOC__

History

The Divine Praises were originally written in Italian by Luigi Felici, a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest, in 1797 for the purpose of making reparation after saying or hearing sacrilege or blasphemy. The original text, translated into English and as presented in a 19th century

Raccolta The ''Raccolta'' (literally, "collection" in Italian), is a book, published in many editions from 1807 to 1952, that collected the texts of Roman Catholic prayers and briefly described other acts of piety, such as visiting and praying in particul ...

, was: The Divine Praises have been expanded over time; the additional lines, in the order they were added, are presented below.

Text of the prayer

References

{{Catholic Prayers Roman Catholic prayers