Prayers for the Dead
Praying for the dead is explicitly scriptural — 'It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead' (2 Maccabees 12:46) — and the Eternal Rest is the prayer Catholics have attached to it for centuries.
Traditional prayers
Eternal Rest (Requiem Aeternam)
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May their souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
From Scripture
46It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.
— 2 Maccabees 12, vv. 46, Douay-Rheims · read the full chapter
1A gradual canticle. Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord:
2Lord, hear my voice. Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.
3If thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities: Lord, who shall stand it.
4For with thee there is merciful forgiveness: and by reason of thy law, I have waited for thee, O Lord. My soul hath relied on his word:
5my soul hath hoped in the Lord.
— Psalm 129 (130) — De Profundis, vv. 1-5, Douay-Rheims · read the full chapter
25Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live:
26And every one that liveth and believeth in me shall not die for ever. Believest thou this?
— John 11, vv. 25-26, Douay-Rheims · read the full chapter
Psalm numbers follow the Douay-Rheims (Vulgate) numbering; the common Hebrew numbering appears in parentheses.
Pray a novena
Patron saints for this intention
How to use these prayers
November is the Church's month of the Holy Souls, but Masses for the dead are offered year-round — ask at any parish in our directory.