The Catholic Church has a treasury of prayers for the souls in purgatory, each invoking God’s merciful gaze to relieve those still in a state of purification after death.
One such set of prayers is found in the Raccolta, which was a collection of prayers popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In the Raccolta is a list of prayers for each day of the week. These prayers were originally published in a book entitled, “Purgatory opened to the Piety of the Living, or a Brief daily Exercise in aid of the Souls in Purgatory…a little book of which many editions have been printed in Rome and elsewhere, and which is in the hands of many a devout person.”
If you are looking for another way to honor the dead, here are seven prayers for the faithful departed. (De Profundis is the Latin name for Psalm 130.)
Prayers for each day of the week
For Sunday.
O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood which Thy Divine Son Jesus shed in the garden, deliver the souls in purgatory, and especially that soul amongst them all who is most destitute of spiritual aid; and vouchsafe to bring it to Thy glory, there to praise and bless Thee for ever. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary and De Profundis.
For Monday.
O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood which Thy Divine Son Jesus shed in His cruel scourging, deliver the souls in purgatory, and that soul especially amongst them all which is nearest to its entrance into Thy glory; that so it may forthwith begin to praise and bless Thee for ever. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary and De Profundis.
For Tuesday.
O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood which Thy Divine Son Jesus shed in His bitter crowning with thorns, deliver the souls in purgatory, and in particular that one amongst them all which would be the last to depart out of these pains, that it may not tarry so long a time before it come to praise Thee in Thy glory and bless Thee for ever. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary and De Profundis.
For Wednesday.
O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood which Thy Divine Son Jesus shed in the streets of Jerusalem when He carried the cross upon His sacred shoulders, deliver the souls in purgatory, and especially that soul which is richest in merits before Thee; that so, in that throne of glory which awaits it, it may magnify Thee and bless Thee for ever. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary and De Profundis.
For Thursday.
O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee by the Precious Body and Blood of Thy Divine Son Jesus, which He gave with His own Hand upon the eve of His Passion to His beloved apostles to be their meat and drink, and which He left to His whole Church to be a perpetual sacrifice and the life-giving food of His own faithful people, deliver the souls in purgatory, and especially that one which was most devoted to this Mystery of infinite love, that it may with the same Thy Divine Son, and with The Holy Spirit, ever praise Thee for Thy love therein in eternal glory. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary and De Profundis.
For Friday.
O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood which Thy Divine Son shed upon the wood of the cross, especially from his most sacred Hands and Feet, deliver the souls in purgatory, and in particular that soul for which I am most bound to pray; that no neglect of mine may hinder it from praising Thee in Thy glory and blessing Thee for ever. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary and De Profundis.
For Saturday.
O Lord God Almighty, I beseech Thee, by the Precious Blood which gushed forth from the Side of Thy Divine Son Jesus, in the sight of, and to the extreme pain of his most holy Mother, deliver the souls in purgatory, and especially that one amongst them all which was the most devout to her; that it may soon attain unto Thy glory, there to praise Thee in her and her in Thee world without end. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary and De Profundis.
And today we celebrate...