Golden Litany

Briefly commemorating the chief Articles of our Blessed Redeemer's Life and Passion.

LORD, have mercy on us.—Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.

God the Father, almighty Creator of heaven and earth,
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
God the Holy Ghost, Sanctifier of mankind,
O sacred Trinity of persons, in Unity of essence,
O blessed Jesus, true God, and true Man,
Through thy power in creating heaven and earth, and all things therein contained,
Through thy goodness in making man to thy own image and likeness,
Through thy mercy in redeeming man after his fall,
Through thy unspeakable love in making choice of the blessed Virgin Mary for thy mother,
Through the ineffable mystery of thy Incarnation, whereby thou didst vouchsafe to unite thy divine person to our frail nature,
Through thine immaculate conception, and nine months' imprisonment within the sacred womb of the blessed Virgin Mary,
Through thy blessed nativity in the poor stable at Bethlehem,
Through the hunger, cold, and other inconveniences thou didst endure in thy tender body when laid in the crib between an ox and an ass,
Through thy painful circumcision on the eighth day after thy birth, when thou didst first shed thy precious blood for our sakes,
Through the adorable name Jesus, which was then given to thee,
Through the mystical offerings of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, which the wise men presented thee, whom by a miraculous star thou didst summon out of the east to adore thee in thy infancy,
Through the oblation thou didst make of thyself to thine eternal Father, when in the temple thou wert acknowledged by Simeon and Ann, and ransomed with a pair of doves by thy poor Virgin Mother,
Through thy flight into Egypt to avoid the cruelty of King Herod, and all thou didst there suffer with thy blessed Mother and St. Joseph,
Through thy return from thence to Nazareth, and the obedience thou didst there pay to thy parents,
Through thy being lost by thy parents in Jerusalem, where thou wert again found by them after three days' search, sitting in the temple in the midst of the doctors,
Through the secret and hidden life thou didst lead in Nazareth with Holy Mary and Joseph, from the twelfth to the thirtieth year of thine age,
Through thy humble reception of baptism in the river Jordan, by the hands of St. John,
Through thy forty days' fast in the desert, and the three temptations of the devil, which there thou didst endure and overcome,
Through thy first miracle of changing water into wine at the marriage feast of Cana,
Through the zeal which thou didst show for the honor of thy eternal Father, in casting the buyers and sellers out of the temple,
Through thy condescending to discourse with the Samaritan woman sitting at the fountain,
Through thy excessive charity in healing the young man at Capernaum, Simon Peter's mother-in-law, and a multitude of other infirm persons,
Through the power which thou didst manifest at sea, walking on the water, and enabling St. Peter to do so likewise,
Through thy efficacious calling of Peter and Andrew, James and John, from their boats, and Matthew from the receipt of custom, to follow thee,
Through the choice of thy twelve apostles, and the divine sermon thou didst deliver to them on the Mount, in which is exhibited the model of a perfect Christian life,
Through the mercy thou didst show to the penitent Magdalen, preferring her to the Pharisee, and pardoning her sins,
Through the sending of thy apostles to preach thy gospel to the people,
Through thy miraculous feeding of five thousand persons with five loaves of bread, and four thousand with seven loaves,
Through thy appointment of Peter to be the rock on which thou wouldst build thy Church, for his having confessed thee to be Christ, the Son of the living God,
Through thy glorious transfiguration on Mount Tabor, in the presence of three of thy disciples,
Through thy instructing us in the virtue and efficacy of prayer, and giving us a model thereof in the divine Our Father,
Through thy inflamed desire to redeem mankind,
Through thy meek and humble entry into Jerusalem, on Palm-Sunday, riding upon an ass,
Through thy humility in washing the feet of thy disciples, even those of the traitor Judas,
Through thy ineffable love manifested in the institution of the sacrifice and sacrament of thy most precious body and blood,
Through the prayer thou didst thrice repeat in the garden of Olives, when a bloody sweat trickled down thine agonized body,
Through thy condescending to receive a kiss from the mouth of the traitor Judas,
Through thy being apprehended, bound, and brought before the tribunals of Annas and Caiaphas,
Through the blows, buffets, and opprobrious usage thou didst endure the night before thy crucifixion,
Through thy presentation to the Pagan judge, Pilate, in the quality of a notorious criminal,
Through thy being sent before Herod, and scornfully treated by that wicked king and his soldiers,
Through the cruel and contumelious whipping thou didst endure at the pillar,
Through the barbarous clamors of the people to have Barabbas the murderer released, and the innocent Jesus put to death,
Through the false accusations, suborned witnesses, and slanders and calumnies brought against thee by the Jews,
Through the shameful stripping off thy clothes, and exposing thy naked body to the multitude,
Through the pressing of a crown of sharp pointed thorns on thy sacred head,
Through thy being clothed in a purple garment, and derided as a mock king, having a reed put into thy hand for a sceptre,
Through the scoffing salutations, insulting reflections, and scornful adoration, whereby thou wert mocked by the Jews and the soldiers,
Through their spitting on thy divine face, and striking thy sacred head,
Through thy being exposed to the people in the most lamentable condition, Pilate saying to the multitude, "BEHOLD THE MAN!"
Through the horrid clamors and repeated vociferations of the Jews, "AWAY WITH HIM: CRUCIFY HIM!"
Through the meek and patient hearing of the sentence of death pronounced against thee,
Through thy bearing the heavy cross on thy sacred shoulders,
Through the painful stretching of thy naked body on the cross as on a rack, and fastening thy hands and feet thereto with gross nails,
Through the compassion thou hadst for thy sorrowful mother and beloved disciple, standing at the foot of the cross,
Through thy excessive charity in praying for thy persecutors and murderers, and promising paradise to the penitent thief,
Through the seven last speeches thou didst utter on the cross, whilst thou wast suspended thereon for the space of three hours,
Through the vehement thirst thou didst then suffer, and the gall and vinegar which was given thee to drink,
Through thy last agony, in which thou didst commend thy blessed soul into the hands of thy heavenly Father
Through the piercing of thy side with a lance, and the water and blood which issued therefrom,
Through the descent of thy departed soul into Limbo, to conquer the devils, and set the ancient fathers at liberty,
Through the taking down of thy dead body from the cross by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, in order to its burial,
Through thy glorious resurrection from death to life on the third day,
Through thy appearing to thy blessed Mother, to Mary Magdalen, to Peter, and the other apostles, frequently comforting and confirming them during the space of forty days,
Through thine admirable ascension into heaven, in the sight of thy sacred mother and thy disciples,
Through the miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost on thine apostles, in the form of fiery tongues,
Through all thine actions and sufferings during thirty years' sojourning amongst men, and by all that is pleasing to thy Divine Majesty in heaven and earth,

Have mercy on us.

V. Graciously hear our prayers, O Lord,

R. And let our cry come unto thee.

PRAYER.

VOUCHSAFE, O Almighty and most merciful Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, to have compassion, not only on us, but also all such as shall present the foregoing petitions to the throne of thy mercy, in commemoration of thy sacred life and most bitter passion. We beseech thee also, for thine own dear sake, that thou wouldst grant to us, our friends and benefactors, and to all those for whom we intend or are bound to pray, the pardon of all past offences, and preservation from future failings; that loving thee, serving thee, and obeying thee with the utmost fervor, fidelity and perseverance, during the whole remainder of our earthly pilgrimage, we may at length be admitted to the eternal enjoyment of thy beatifying presence, in thy heavenly Paradise. Amen.