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The "Anima Christi" (Latin for ‘Soul of Christ’) is aCatholic prayer to Jesus ofmedieval origin.
For many years the prayer was popularly believed to have been composed by SaintIgnatius of Loyola, as he puts it at the beginning of hisSpiritual Exercises and often refers to it. In the first edition of theSpiritual Exercises Ignatius merely mentions it, evidently supposing that the reader would know it. In later editions, it was printed in full. It was by assuming that everything in the book was written by Ignatius that it came to be looked upon as his composition. On this account the prayer is sometimes referred to as theAspirations of St. Ignatius Loyola.[1]
However, the prayer actually dates to the early 14th century and was possibly written byPope John XXII, but its authorship remains uncertain. It has been found in a number of prayer books printed during the youth of Ignatius and is in manuscripts which were written 100 years before his birth. The Englishhymnologist James Mearns found it in a manuscript of theBritish Museum which dates back to about 1370. In the library ofAvignon there is preserved a prayer book of CardinalPierre de Luxembourg (died 1387), which contains the prayer in practically the same form as that in which it appears today. It has also been found inscribed on one of the gates of theAlcázar of Seville, which dates back to the time ofPedro the Cruel (1350–1369).[1]
The invocations in the prayer have rich associations with Catholic concepts that relate to theEucharist (Body andBlood of Christ),Baptism (water) and thePassion of Jesus (Holy Wounds).
| Latin text | Poetic English translation | Translation by SaintJohn Henry Newman |
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In the mid-19th century the prayer was translated and published as the English hymnSoul of my Saviour, sanctify my breast byEdward Caswall. Since then it has been popular as a communion hymn in Anglican and Catholic communities and has been included in some 43 differenthymnals.
The 2004Enchiridion Indulgentiarum grants the partialindulgence to the faithful of Christ who prays theAnima Christi after having received Communion.[3] Although not a part of theMaronite Catholic tradition, during the 21st century, the Anima Christi prayer is recited in someMaronite churches in the United States at the end of the mass.
Jean-Baptiste Lully composed amotet calledAnima Christi, and musicians such asGiovanni Valentini have performed it. Liszt made two settings of it, both for male voices and organ, in 1874 [published in the Breitkopf Franz-Liszt-Stiftung, volume V/6 (1936)].There is a contemporary Catholiccomposition byMarco Frisina. Lutheran adaptions include those byHeinrich Schütz (SWV 325) andJohann Theile. The hymn 'Soul of my Saviour' is an English translation of this prayer by J. Hegarty, and music of jesuit priest William J. Maher (Bristol, 1823).[4]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Frisbee, Samuel Hanna (1907). "Anima Christi". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
