Prayer of St. Francis: Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace

The Peace Prayer, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,” is one of the best-loved prayers in the world, prayed by popes, presidents, Mother Teresa and millions of ordinary Christians. It is called the Prayer of St. Francis because it so perfectly expresses his spirit, but St. Francis of Assisi (1181/82–1226) did not write it: its earliest known appearance is in a small French Catholic magazine in 1912. Below is the prayer translated line by line from that original, the French text itself, a mid-century English version, its surprising history, what it means, and prayers that St. Francis really did write.

The Prayer of St. Francis

Our line-by-line translation of the 1912 French original:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, may I put love.
Where there is offense, may I put forgiveness.
Where there is discord, may I put unity.
Where there is error, may I put truth.
Where there is doubt, may I put faith.
Where there is despair, may I put hope.
Where there is darkness, may I put your light.
Where there is sadness, may I put joy.
O Lord, may I seek not so much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that we receive,
in forgetting ourselves that we find,
in forgiving that we are forgiven,
in dying that we rise to eternal life.

Many English versions exist. The ones sung in churches and quoted in speeches are often shortened or reworded, and most end with “Amen.” The meaning is the same.

The original French text (1912)

First published anonymously in La Clochette in December 1912 as a “beautiful prayer to say during Mass”:

Seigneur, faites de moi un instrument de votre paix.
Là où il y a de la haine, que je mette l’amour.
Là où il y a l’offense, que je mette le pardon.
Là où il y a la discorde, que je mette l’union.
Là où il y a l’erreur, que je mette la vérité.
Là où il y a le doute, que je mette la foi.
Là où il y a le désespoir, que je mette l’espérance.
Là où il y a les ténèbres, que je mette votre lumière.
Là où il y a la tristesse, que je mette la joie.
Ô Seigneur, que je ne cherche pas tant
à être consolé qu’à consoler,
à être compris qu’à comprendre,
à être aimé qu’à aimer,
car c’est en donnant qu’on reçoit,
c’est en s’oubliant qu’on trouve,
c’est en pardonnant qu’on est pardonné,
c’est en mourant qu’on ressuscite à l’éternelle vie.

A 1954 English version

This freer English version, titled “Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace,” appeared in J. Manning Potts’s anthology Prayers of the Middle Ages (1954):

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
Where hate rules, let me bring love,
Where malice, forgiveness,
Where disputes, reconciliation,
Where error, truth,
Where doubt, belief,
Where despair, hope,
Where darkness, Thy light,
Where sorrow, joy!
O Master, let me strive more to comfort others than to be comforted,
To understand others than to be understood,
To love others, more than to be loved!
For he who gives, receives,
He who forgets himself, finds,
He who forgives, receives forgiveness,
And dying, we rise again to eternal life. Amen.

What the prayer means

“Make me an instrument of your peace.” Peace is God’s work; we ask to be his tool, not the source.
“Where there is hatred, … love.” The first half asks God to let us bring the opposite of each evil we meet: love for hatred, forgiveness for offense, unity for discord, truth for error, faith for doubt, hope for despair, light for darkness, joy for sadness.
“May I seek not so much to be consoled as to console.” The second half turns from what we do to what we want: to give rather than to get.
“It is in giving that we receive … in dying that we rise to eternal life.” The prayer ends with the paradox of the Gospel: “He that shall lose his life for me, shall find it” (Matthew 10:39).

Its spirit is Franciscan through and through. The second half closely echoes a saying of Blessed Giles of Assisi, one of St. Francis’s first companions: “Blessed is he who loves, and does not desire to be loved.”

Where the prayer really comes from

1912: The prayer first appears, anonymously, in the December issue of La Clochette (“The Little Bell”), the bulletin of a Paris devotional association, the League of the Holy Mass. Its editor, Father Esther Bouquerel (1855–1923), probably wrote it.
1916: During the First World War, a French nobleman sent it to Pope Benedict XV, who had it printed in Italian on the front page of L’Osservatore Romano on January 20, 1916, as a prayer for peace.
About 1918: A French Franciscan, Father Étienne Benoît, printed it on the back of a holy card of St. Francis, without saying who wrote it. Readers assumed St. Francis had.
1927: The first known English version appeared in the United States in a Quaker magazine under the title “A prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.”
1940s: Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York distributed millions of copies during the Second World War.
Since then: St. John Paul II prayed it with world religious leaders at Assisi in 1986; St. Teresa of Calcutta made it part of her sisters’ daily prayers and asked that it be recited when she received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

The historian Christian Renoux traced this history in a 2001 study. As one Franciscan put it, St. Francis is not the author, but the prayer resembles him and would not have displeased him.

Prayers St. Francis really wrote

The Canticle of the Sun

Composed near the end of his life, when he was ill and almost blind, at San Damiano in Assisi (1225), the Canticle of Brother Sun is one of the earliest poems in the Italian language. In the translation published with Paul Sabatier’s Life of St. Francis (1894):

O most high, almighty, good Lord God, to thee belong praise, glory, honor, and all blessing! To thee alone, Most High, do they belong, and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce thy Name.
Praised be my Lord God with all his creatures, and specially our brother the sun, who brings us the day and who brings us the light; fair is he and shines with a very great splendor: O Lord, he signifies to us thee!
Praised be my Lord for our sister the moon, and for the stars, the which he has set clear and lovely in heaven.
Praised be my Lord for our brother the wind, and for air and cloud, calms and all weather by the which thou upholdest life in all creatures.
Praised be my Lord for our sister water, who is very serviceable unto us and humble and precious and clean.
Praised be my Lord for our brother fire, through whom thou givest us light in the darkness; and he is bright and pleasant and very mighty and strong.
Praised be my Lord for our mother the earth, the which doth sustain us and keep us, and bringeth forth divers fruits and flowers of many colors, and grass.
Praised be my Lord for all those who pardon one another for his love’s sake, and who endure weakness and tribulation; blessed are they who peaceably shall endure, for thou, O most Highest, shalt give them a crown.
Praised be my Lord for our sister, the death of the body, from which no man escapeth. Woe to him who dieth in mortal sin! Blessed are they who are found walking by thy most holy will, for the second death shall have no power to do them harm.
Praise ye and bless the Lord, and give thanks unto him and serve him with great humility.

“My God and my all”

According to the Little Flowers of St. Francis, he spent whole nights repeating, “My God and my all.” A prayer in that spirit:

My God, and my all, who art Thou, sweetest Lord, my God? And who am I, a poor worm, Thy servant? Holiest Lord, I would love Thee! Sweetest Lord, I would love Thee! Lord, my God, I give to Thee all my heart and body, and vehemently desire, if I might know how, to do more for Thy love. Amen.

A prayer to know and do God’s will

From the end of his Letter to the whole Order:

God, almighty, eternal, righteous, and merciful, give to us poor sinners to do for Thy sake all that we know of Thy will, and to will always what pleases Thee, so that inwardly purified, enlightened, and kindled by the fire of the Holy Spirit, we may follow in the footprints of Thy well-beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

St. Francis of Assisi

Francis Bernardone, the son of a rich cloth merchant of Assisi, gave up everything around 1206 to live in poverty, preach the Gospel and serve lepers. He founded the Friars Minor (Franciscans), helped St. Clare found the Poor Clares, built the first Christmas crib at Greccio in 1223, and received the stigmata on Mount La Verna in 1224. He died on the evening of October 3, 1226, and was canonized only two years later. His feast is October 4, when many parishes hold a blessing of animals. See the patron saint of animals.

Frequently asked questions

Did St. Francis write the Prayer of St. Francis?

No. It first appeared in French in 1912, almost 700 years after his death, and became linked with him through a holy card printed around 1918. It is a beautiful summary of his spirit, and the Church freely uses it.

What is the Prayer of St. Francis also called?

The Peace Prayer, the Simple Prayer, or “Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace.” A popular hymn based on it is “Make Me a Channel of Your Peace.”

When is the Prayer of St. Francis prayed?

At any time, especially in times of conflict, at the start of a day of service, at funerals and weddings, and on his feast, October 4. Many recovering alcoholics know it as the prayer of the Eleventh Step.

More prayers

Texts and sources

French original: “Belle prière à faire pendant la Messe,” La Clochette (Paris), December 1912, anonymous; public domain. The English translation in the first section was made for this page.
1954 English version: J. Manning Potts (ed.), Prayers of the Middle Ages: Light from a Thousand Years (The Upper Room, 1954), public domain in the United States (Project Gutenberg #48242), which is also the source of “My God and my all” and the prayer to know God’s will.
Canticle of the Sun: Paul Sabatier, Life of St. Francis of Assisi, trans. Louise Seymour Houghton (1894), public domain (Project Gutenberg #18787).
History: Christian Renoux, La prière pour la paix attribuée à saint François: une énigme à résoudre (Paris: Éditions franciscaines, 2001).
Scripture: Matthew 10:39, Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner), public domain.