Litany of Loreto: the Complete Text in Latin and English

A series of short titles of honour of Our Lady, and after each one the faithful answer “pray for us”: that is the sound of the litany traditionally prayed on Saturdays, in May and in October. It is named after the Italian place of pilgrimage Loreto, where in the sixteenth century it was sung every Saturday. This guide gives the Litany of Loreto in full, in Latin and English, as the Church prayed it up to 1962. You will also learn how to pray it, where it comes from, when each invocation was added and which indulgence is attached to it.

What is the Litany of Loreto?

The Litany of Loreto is a prayer of petition of the Church in honour of Our Lady. A leader names her titles of honour one after another, such as “Mother of Christ” or “Refuge of sinners”, and all answer “pray for us”. It takes its name from the Marian shrine of Loreto in Italy.

A litany is a prayer in alternation which the Church has prayed since ancient times for the needs of Christendom and in times of distress. The Litany of Loreto follows a fixed structure: it begins with the Kyrie and the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity, and then the titles of the Blessed Virgin follow in groups. First come her titles as Mother, then as Virgin, then symbols such as “Tower of David” or “Ark of the covenant”, and finally her titles as Queen. It closes with the threefold Lamb of God, a versicle and a collect. Many people pray the litany before a picture or a statue of Our Lady in their own home.

What are the words of the Litany of Loreto?

The Litany of Loreto begins with the Kyrie, eleison and the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity. Then follow the titles of honour of Mary, to each of which the answer is “ora pro nobis” or “pray for us”. It closes with the threefold Agnus Dei, a versicle and a collect.

The Latin text follows the official collection Preces et pia opera of 1952 (no. 319); the English is the traditional version long used in Catholic prayer books, while the German edition of this guide follows the prayer book Heiliges Volk of the Diocese of St. Pölten of 1960. After each invocation of Our Lady the answer is “ora pro nobis” or “pray for us”.

℣. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genitrix.
℟. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.
Oremus. Gratiam tuam, quaesumus Domine, mentibus nostris infunde: ut qui, Angelo nuntiante, Christi Filii tui incarnationem cognovimus, per passionem eius et crucem ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

℣. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
℟. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray. Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ, thy Son, was made known by the message of an Angel, may by his Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of his Resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Versicle and collect: Preces et pia opera, 1952, nos. 319 and 331; English in the traditional form. The German original follows “Heiliges Volk”, St. Pölten 1960, p. 135

The 1952 collection gives the collect Concede nos famulos tuos as the closing prayer and expressly permits the versicle and collect to be changed according to the season of the Church’s year without loss of the indulgence. The German prayer book of 1960 closes with the collect of the Angelus, which is given here in Latin and English; if you wish to pray the version of the collection, use the collect Concede nos.

How do you pray the Litany of Loreto?

The Litany of Loreto is prayed in alternation: a leader says the invocation and all answer “pray for us”. When praying alone, you say both parts yourself. It is customary on Saturdays, in May, the month of Mary, in October, the month of the Rosary, and after the Rosary.

1. Begin with the Sign of the Cross.
2. Pray the Kyrie and the invocation of the Most Holy Trinity, answering “have mercy on us”.
3. Say the titles of honour of Our Lady one after another, answering “pray for us” each time.
4. Pray the threefold Lamb of God.
5. Close with the versicle and collect. Before them the 1960 prayer book adds a Hail Mary or a hymn to Our Lady and the “We fly to thy patronage”.

For October, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Pope Leo XIII ordered by decrees of the Congregation of Rites from 1885 to 1887 that five decades of the Rosary and the Litany of Loreto be prayed daily in all parish churches. Since then the litany has followed the Rosary in many places; how to pray the Rosary is shown in our Rosary prayer companion.

Where does the Litany of Loreto come from?

The Litany of Loreto arose at the end of the fifteenth or the beginning of the sixteenth century from older Marian litanies and was sung every Saturday at the shrine of Loreto. Pope Sixtus V approved it in 1587 with the bull Reddituri and urged preachers to spread it among the faithful.

Marian litanies existed as early as the Middle Ages. The oldest known one is found in a twelfth-century manuscript in Mainz. The text of Loreto prevailed because the many pilgrims took it home with them. The oldest surviving printed edition appeared in Dillingen around 1557 or 1558 under the title “Ordnung der Letaney von unser lieben Frawen wie sie zu Loreto alle Samstag gehalten” (Order of the Litany of Our Lady as it is held at Loreto every Saturday). It was probably spread in Germany by St Peter Canisius and already contains the invocation “Help of Christians”. This invocation is therefore older than the naval battle of Lepanto in 1571, with which it is often associated.

In 1601 Pope Clement VIII, by a decree of the Holy Office, forbade the publication or public use of new litanies without the approval of the Congregation of Rites. The litanies of the liturgical books and the Litany of Loreto were exempted.

“To this is added, among other things, the Litany of Loreto, which invites the Christian people every day to invoke Mary again and again as Queen.”

Pius XII, Encyclical Ad caeli Reginam, 11 October 1954, no. 31 (our translation from the Latin)

When were invocations added to the Litany of Loreto?

Up to 1950 only a few invocations were added to the Litany of Loreto for the whole Church, each time by the Pope or the Congregation of Rites. The most recent are “Queen of the most holy Rosary” (1883), “Mother of good counsel” (1903), “Queen of peace” (1917) and “Queen assumed into heaven” (1950).

Benedict XV had the Queen of peace inserted in the middle of the First World War. In his letter to Cardinal Gasparri of 5 May 1917 he ordered that from 1 June the invocation should stand permanently in the litany. The invocation of the Queen assumed into heaven is connected with the dogma of the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin; Pius XII ordered it to be inserted after the Queen conceived without original sin, and the Congregation of Rites published the decree.

May you add your own invocations to the Litany of Loreto?

Your own invocations do not belong in the Litany of Loreto when it is prayed publicly. The Apostolic See determines its wording. A decree of 1631 and a bull of Alexander VII of 1664 expressly forbade additions, and under the 1917 Code of Canon Law no bishop can approve new litanies for public prayer.

The 1917 Code of Canon Law puts it briefly: Loci Ordinarius nequit novas litanias approbare publice recitandas, the local Ordinary cannot approve new litanies to be recited publicly (can. 1259 § 2). Prayers and devotions in churches also require his express permission (can. 1259 § 1). This strictness has a reason. After 1587 spiritual writers published a great number of new litanies, often with theologically imprecise expressions; in 1601 Baronius wrote that some eighty versions were in circulation. In silent, personal prayer anyone may call upon Our Lady in their own words. But whoever prays the Litany of Loreto prays the text of the Church, just as it stands here.

What other litanies are there besides the Litany of Loreto?

Besides the Litany of Loreto, the Church knows above all the Litany of the Saints, the oldest of them, and the litanies of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and of St Joseph. All five are found in the Preces et pia opera of 1952.

The Litany of the Saints stands in the liturgical books. According to the rubrics of the 1962 Missal, the Church prays it in the procession on 25 April, the feast of St Mark, and on the Rogation Days, the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Ascension Day. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910 lists as approved for public prayer the Litany of the Saints and the litanies of Loreto, of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, of the Sacred Heart and of St Joseph. In the 1952 collection they appear under the numbers 114 (Name of Jesus), 245 (Sacred Heart), 319 (Our Lady), 462 (St Joseph) and 687 (All Saints).

Is there an indulgence for the Litany of Loreto?

The Church grants an indulgence for the Litany of Loreto. According to the Preces et pia opera of 1952, no. 319, whoever prays it devoutly receives an indulgence of seven years. Whoever prays it daily for a month with the versicle and collect gains a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions.

According to the same collection, the usual conditions are sacramental confession, Holy Communion, a visit to a church or public oratory and a prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father. As its authorities the collection cites, among others, the Congregation of Indulgences of 30 September 1817 and the Apostolic Penitentiary of 28 March 1933. Under the 1917 Code of Canon Law an indulgence is the remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven; Church authority grants it from the treasury of the Church (can. 911).

Mentioned in this article Our Lady Queen Statue The crowned Mother of God with the Child Jesus, resin, painted by hand, 30 cm high. View the statue

Frequently asked questions about the Litany of Loreto