The Sign of the Cross: Catholic Prayer, How to Make It and What It Means

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The Sign of the Cross is the first and simplest Catholic prayer. Touching your forehead, chest and shoulders, you say:

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Modern books say “Holy Spirit” instead of “Holy Ghost.” With these few words and one gesture, a Catholic professes the two central mysteries of the faith: the Holy Trinity, in the words, and salvation through the Cross of Christ, in the gesture. The Catechism says: “The Christian begins his day, his prayers, and his activities with the Sign of the Cross” (CCC 2157).

How to make the Sign of the Cross

  1. Use your right hand, fingers together (many keep the thumb and first two fingers joined, in honor of the Trinity).
  2. Touch your forehead and say, “In the name of the Father,”
  3. Touch your chest (just below the heart) and say, “and of the Son,”
  4. Touch your left shoulder, then your right shoulder, and say, “and of the Holy Spirit.”
  5. Join your hands and say, “Amen.”

Catholics of the Eastern Churches, like the Orthodox, touch the right shoulder first and then the left, usually with the thumb and first two fingers joined. Both forms are ancient and both are Catholic.

The three small crosses before the Gospel

At Mass, when the deacon or priest announces the Gospel, everyone traces three small crosses with the thumb: on the forehead, the lips and the heart. Many people pray silently: “May the word of God be in my mind, on my lips and in my heart.” It expresses the desire to understand the Gospel, to speak it, and to love it.

What the Sign of the Cross means

  • A profession of faith. The words name the Trinity, using the formula Jesus gave for Baptism: “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19, Douay-Rheims).
  • A reminder of Baptism. It recalls the cross traced on us when we were baptized. The Catechism says that sign “marks with the imprint of Christ the one who is going to belong to him” (CCC 1235).
  • A prayer for protection. The Catechism adds that “the sign of the cross strengthens us in temptations and difficulties” (CCC 2157).
  • A dedication of what we are about to do. It offers the next prayer, task or journey to God.

Archbishop Patrick Moran’s prayer book of 1883 put it this way: the sign “has always been used by the Church to signify, that all graces and spiritual assistance are derived from the cross and passion of Jesus Christ.”

When Catholics make the Sign of the Cross

  • at the beginning and end of prayers, including grace before meals
  • on entering a church, with holy water from the font
  • at the beginning and end of Mass, and when the priest gives the blessing
  • when passing a church or a cemetery, or hearing an ambulance siren
  • before a journey, an exam, a game or a difficult task
  • on waking and before sleep (see morning prayers and night prayers)
  • when blessing children, by tracing a small cross on their forehead

The history of the Sign of the Cross

The Sign of the Cross is one of the oldest Christian practices. Around the year 200, Tertullian wrote that Christians traced it constantly: “In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting of our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupieth us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross” (De Corona, 3).

At first it was a small cross traced on the forehead. The large cross from forehead to breast and shoulder to shoulder developed later. By the late Middle Ages, Catholics in the West commonly made it with an open hand from the left shoulder to the right, as they do today.

The Sign of the Cross in Latin and Spanish

Latin:

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

Spanish:

En el nombre del Padre, y del Hijo, y del Espíritu Santo. Amén.

Many Spanish-speaking Catholics first se persignan: they trace three small crosses on the forehead, lips and chest while saying “Por la señal de la Santa Cruz, de nuestros enemigos líbranos, Señor, Dios nuestro” (“By the sign of the Holy Cross, deliver us from our enemies, Lord our God”), and then make the large Sign of the Cross.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Sign of the Cross in the Bible?

The words come from Matthew 28:19. The gesture is not described in Scripture, but Christians have used it since at least the second century, as Tertullian testifies. Some Church Fathers saw it foreshadowed in the mark on the foreheads of the faithful in Ezekiel 9:4.

Can non-Catholics make the Sign of the Cross?

Yes. Orthodox Christians, many Anglicans and Lutherans, and other Christians also make it. It belongs to all who believe in the Trinity and the Cross.

Is the Sign of the Cross a prayer?

Yes. It is a short prayer in its own right and also the opening of most other prayers. The Church grants a partial indulgence to the faithful who devoutly sign themselves with the cross while saying the customary words (Enchiridion of Indulgences).

Why do Catholics touch the left shoulder first?

It has been the common Western custom since the Middle Ages. Some explain it as moving from left to right, from misery to glory, as Christ passed from death to life. The Eastern custom of right to left is equally ancient.

More Catholic prayers

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