Starting in the 12th and 13th centuries, there arose an increase in devotion to the wounds Jesus’ endured during his passion. It was promoted by many saints as a way to foster a renewed love of Jesus, seeing how much he suffered on account of our sins.
Most recently Pope Francis has promoted this devotion, reflecting on it at the Angelus address of March 18:
Do not forget this: look at the crucifix, but to look within it. There is this beautiful devotion to pray an Our Father for each one of the five wounds: when we pray that Our Father, we seek to enter through Jesus’ wounds inside, inside, right to His heart. And there we will learn the great wisdom of Christ’s mystery, the great wisdom of the cross.
Below and on the next several pages is one way to enter into the many wounds of Christ. It is called “Prayers to the Holy Wounds of Christ” found in the Raccolta, a collection that dates to the early 19th century.
Read more:
The powerful devotion to Jesus’ 5 Holy Wounds
Act of Contrition
As I kneel before Thee on the cross, most loving Savior of my soul, my conscience reproaches me with having nailed Thee to that cross with these hands of mine, as often as I have fallen into mortal sin, wearying Thee with my monstrous ingratitude. My God, my chief and most perfect Good, worthy of all my love, for the many blessings Thou hast ever bestowed upon me; I cannot now undo my misdeeds as I would most willingly; but I will loathe them, grieving greatly for having offended Thee who art Infinite Goodness! And now, kneeling at Thy feet, I will try at least to console Thee, to give Thee thanks, to ask of Thee pardon and contrition; wherefore with heart and lips I say:
To the First Wound – Left Foot
Holy wound of the Left Foot of my Jesus! I adore Thee, I console Thee for the most bitter pain which Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee for the love whereby Thou wast wearied in overtaking me on the way to ruin, and didst bleed amid the thorns and brambles of my sins. I offer to the Eternal Father the pain and love of Thy most holy humanity, in atonement for my sins, all which I detest with sincere and bitter contrition.
Recite an Our Father. Hail Mary and Glory Be.
Holy Mother, pierce me through,
In my heart each wound renew
Of my Savior crucified.
Click on the pages below to progress to the next wound.
To the Second Wound – Right Foot
Holy wound of the Right Foot of my Jesus! I adore Thee, I console Thee for the bitter pain which Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee for that love which pierced Thee with such torture and shedding of blood in order to punish my wanderings and the guilty pleasures I have granted to my unbridled passions. I offer the Eternal Father all the pain and love of Thy most holy humanity, and I pray unto Thee for grace to weep over my transgressions with burning tears, and to enable me to persevere in the good which I have begun, without ever swerving again from my obedience to the commandments of my God.
Recite an Our Father. Hail Mary and Glory Be.
Holy Mother, pierce me through,
In my heart each wound renew
Of my Savior crucified.
To the Third Wound – Left Hand
Holy wound of the Left Hand of my Jesus! I adore Thee, I console Thee for the bitter pain which Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee for having, in Thy love, spared me the scourges and eternal damnation which my sins had merited. I offer to the Eternal Father the pain and love of Thy most holy humanity, and I pray Thee to teach me how to turn to good account my span of life, and bring forth in it worthy fruits of penance, and so disarm the justice of God, which I have provoked.
Recite an Our Father. Hail Mary and Glory Be.
Holy Mother, pierce me through,
In my heart each wound renew
Of my Savior crucified.
To the Fourth Wound – Right Hand
Holy wound of the Right Hand of my Jesus! I adore Thee, I console Thee for the bitter pain which Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee for Thy graces lavished on me with such love, in spite of all my most perverse obstinacy. I offer to the Eternal Father all the pain and love of Thy most holy humanity, and I pray Thee to change my heart and its affections, and make me do all my actions in accordance with the will of God.
Recite an Our Father. Hail Mary and Glory Be.
Holy Mother, pierce me through,
In my heart each wound renew
Of my Savior crucified.
To the Fifth Wound – Sacred Side
Holy wound in the side of my Jesus! I adore Thee, I console Thee for the cruel insult Thou didst suffer. I thank Thee, my Jesus, for the love which suffered Thy side and heart to be pierced, that so the last drops of blood and water might issue forth, making my redemption to abound. I offer to the Eternal Father this outrage, and the love of Thy most holy Humanity, that my soul may enter once for all into that most loving Heart, eager and ready to receive the greatest sinners, and never more depart.
Recite an Our Father. Hail Mary and Glory Be.
Holy Mother, pierce me through,
In my heart each wound renew
Of my Savior crucified.
Prayer to Our Lady of Sorrows
Mary, Virgin Mother of God, Martyr of love and sorrow, in witnessing the pains and torments of Jesus: truly didst thou concur in the great work of my redemption, first by thy innumerable afflictions, and then by the offering thou didst make to the Eternal Father of His and thy Only-begotten for a holocaust and victim of propitiation for my sins. I console thee for the bitter pain which thou didst suffer, I thank thee for that love, well-nigh infinite, through which thou didst bereave thyself of the fruit of thy womb, very God and very Man, to save me, a sinner; let thy intercession, which never returneth to thee void, be ever interposed with the Father and the Son for me; that I may steadily amend my evil ways, and never, by further faults, crucify afresh my loving Saviour; that so, persevering in His grace until death, I may obtain eternal life, through the merits of His dolorous Passion and Death upon the cross.
Recite 3 Hail Marys …
Let us pray.
O Lord Jesus Christ, who at the sixth hour of the day didst, for the redemption of the world, mount the gibbet of the cross, and shed Thy Precious Blood for the remission of sins; we humbly beseech Thee to grant us, after our deaths, a joyful entrance into the gates of Paradise.
Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, that now, and at the hour of our death, blessed Mary ever Virgin, Thy Mother, may intercede for us, through whose most holy soul the sword passed in the hour of Thy Passion. Through Thee, Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen.
And today we celebrate...