Peace Prayer of St Francis
"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace" begins one of the world's most recognized prayers, commonly known as the Peace Prayer of St. Francis. Popes have prayed it, it has appeared on holy cards, and it was set to music as the hymn "Make Me a Channel of Your Peace." But despite the name associated with it for over a century, historians have never found the text in any of St. Francis of Assisi's own writings. Its earliest known appearance was as a short, unsigned French devotional piece published in 1912, nearly 700 years after Francis died.
None of that makes the prayer any less prayed today. It simply means that the words came from an unknown author writing in Francis's spirit, rather than from Francis himself. Below, you'll find the full text, its real history, and short prayers based on its themes for anyone praying for peace right now.
The Peace Prayer (Full Text)
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek 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; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
A Short Prayer to Become an Instrument of Peace
Lord, wherever I find hatred today, let me answer with love instead. Wherever I find conflict, let me be the one who brings peace, not the one who adds to the noise. Amen.
A Prayer for Peace in a Divided Moment
God, the world feels loud and divided right now, and I don't always know how to help. Use my small corner of it, my words, my patience, my willingness to listen first, as an instrument of the peace only You can give. Amen.
A Prayer to Console Rather Than Be Consoled
Father, my first instinct is to look for comfort for myself. Turn my attention outward today, toward the person near me who needs to be heard, understood, and loved before I ask for the same. Amen.
Scripture to pray
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.— Matthew 5:9 (NIV)
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.— Romans 12:21 (NIV)
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.— John 13:34 (NIV)
Frequently asked questions
What is the Peace Prayer of St. Francis?
It's a prayer beginning "Lord, make me an instrument of your peace," asking God to use the person praying it to bring love where there is hatred, pardon where there is injury, and hope where there is despair. It closes with the idea that giving, pardoning, and dying to self are how a person actually receives, is pardoned, and is born to eternal life.
Did St. Francis of Assisi actually write this prayer?
No. Despite the name attached to it, there is no evidence St. Francis of Assisi (1181/82-1226) wrote this prayer. It does not appear in any of his authenticated writings, letters, or the earliest biographies written by his companions. Franciscan scholars generally treat the attribution as a later, mistaken tradition rather than historical fact.
Where did the prayer actually come from?
Its earliest known appearance is an unsigned French text titled "Belle prière à faire pendant la messe" ("A beautiful prayer to say during the Mass"), printed in December 1912 in La Clochette, a small spiritual bulletin published by a Catholic charitable association in Paris, France. No author was named. The prayer began circulating with St. Francis's image on Italian holy cards a few years later, which is likely how the attribution to him took hold.
Why is it called the Peace Prayer of St. Francis if he didn't write it?
The name stuck after decades of the prayer being printed alongside Francis's image and reputation for peacemaking, gentleness toward creation, and reconciling conflicts in his own lifetime, themes that genuinely echo his character even if the specific words aren't his. By the time researchers traced the prayer's real origin back to the 1912 French text, the "Prayer of St. Francis" title was already in worldwide use, and it has remained the common name out of long custom rather than historical accuracy.
Is this the same as the hymn "Make Me a Channel of Your Peace"?
The hymn is a musical setting of this same prayer, written by Sebastian Temple in 1967. The words are adapted to fit the melody, so the sung version differs slightly from the traditional prose text above, but both share the same source and the same central ideas.
How do I pray the Peace Prayer of St. Francis?
Read it slowly and let each pair (hatred and love, injury and pardon, despair and hope) bring to mind a real situation you're facing, rather than reciting it in the abstract. Many people pray it before a difficult conversation, during a season of conflict at work or in a family, or simply as a daily examination of where they've brought peace or added to discord.
Is this prayer used outside the Catholic Church?
Yes. Though it circulated through Catholic devotional publishing, the prayer is now prayed across Protestant, Anglican, and even some interfaith and secular peace settings, in part because its language names universal human conflicts (hatred, injury, doubt, despair) without requiring shared doctrine to pray it.