Peace Prayer

By living out the words of the Prayer, we are able to live out the Franciscan call to be peacemakers. By reciting the prayer, one asks the Lord to make them an “instrument of Your peace”, putting their faith on the line to hopefully overcome the despair many are filled with every day. It was published anonymously and the author’s identity remains a mystery to this very day. Over the years, the prayer has gained worldwide popularity with people of assorted backgrounds and faiths. However, the prayer was not attributed to Saint Francis until 1927 by a group of French Protestants. However, it is still a uniquely Franciscan poem. It was often printed on a small card that had a picture of Francis on the other side. The prayer was originally entitled Belle priere a faire pendant la messe or “A Beautiful Prayer to Say During Mass”.

Many lives of both Christians and non-Christians have been deeply influenced by the Peace Prayer since its circulation in the early 20th century. While it may have never been originally intended to be attributed with Saint Francis, it expresses the vows of Francis to live a life of poverty, humility, and obedience. The first translation into English appeared in 1936 in a book by Kirby Page entitled Living Courageously, where the prayer was clearly attributed to Francis. Even those who do not practice a form of Christianity can associate the prayer to their own faith and its connections to the world we live in. The prayer soon began to circulate around Europe and was eventually printed on the back of an image of Francis with the title “Prayer for Peace”.