English 
Chinese 
Dutch 
Arabic 
Spanish 
Portuguese 
Russian 
French 
Italian 
German 
Japanese 
Continue reading with a subscription
Get unlimited access to all our premium content and exclusive features.
Enjoy unlimited access, cancel anytime.
Summary
- The traditional Act of Contrition, “O my God! I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee,” is printed in the 1888 Manual of Prayers of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore and in later printings of the Baltimore Catechism.
- Catholics pray it in confession after the priest gives a penance and before absolution; the U.S. bishops ask for a prayer “expressing sorrow for your sins and resolving to sin no more.”
- A later form, with “because of thy just punishments” and “to avoid the near occasion of sin,” is the one the Vatican’s Compendium of the Catechism (2005) prints beside its Latin original; in 2022 the Holy See added it to the U.S. Order of Penance as “well-known in the United States.”
- The newer form from the Rite of Penance (English 1974) begins “My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart”; the 2023 Order of Penance for the United States begins “O my God, I am sorry and repent with all my heart.”
- Perfect contrition comes from love of God above all; imperfect contrition, born of fear, “disposes one to obtain forgiveness in the sacrament of Penance” (Catechism 1452–1453).
- Perfect contrition that includes the resolution to confess as soon as possible obtains forgiveness even of mortal sins (Catechism 1452); the Apostolic Penitentiary applied this in 2020 to those who could not reach a priest.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- King James Version: Psalm 51:17; Luke 18:13, BibleGateway.
- A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity, prepared and published by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore (1888), Morning Prayers, “An Act of Contrition,” p. 54, the evening prayers, pp. 81–82, and the instructions for confession, Internet Archive.
- A Catechism of Christian Doctrine (the Baltimore Catechism), No. 1, for First Communion classes, approved 1885 (Project Gutenberg’s text follows a later printing): the Act of Contrition and Lesson Fifteenth “On Contrition,” Project Gutenberg.
- The Most Rev. Dr. James Butler’s Catechism, recommended by the four archbishops of Ireland (1836 printing), Internet Archive; and the revised edition (Montreal: J.A. Sadlier, 1882), Internet Archive.
- Joseph Faà di Bruno, Catholic Belief: or, A Short and Simple Exposition of Catholic Doctrine (London: Burns and Oates, 1878), Appendix XII, short acts for little children, and the act of contrition of the catechism for England and Wales, Internet Archive.
- Pietro Gasparri, Catechismus Catholicus (Vatican: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, 1930), “Actus Contritionis,” Internet Archive.
- Devocionario cotidiano para asistir al santo sacrificio de la misa (Buenos Aires, 1893), “Acto de Contrición,” Internet Archive.
- The Council of Trent, Session XIV (25 November 1551), chapter IV, “On Contrition,” trans. J. Waterworth (1848), Hanover Historical Texts Project.
- Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (1963), 72, vatican.va.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1430–1433 (interior penance), vatican.va; 1450–1460 (the acts of the penitent), vatican.va; 1491 (in brief), vatican.va; 1849–1851 (the definition of sin), vatican.va.
- Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2005), Appendix A, Common Prayers: “Act of Contrition” and “Actus contritionis,” vatican.va.
- Code of Canon Law, canon 916, vatican.va.
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, God’s Gift of Forgiveness, with “How to Go to Confession” (2013), usccb.org.
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Act of Contrition” (from the Order of Penance, nos. 45 and 92), usccb.org.
- USCCB Committee on Divine Worship, Newsletter, April 2022 (the Order of Penance confirmed), usccb.org; December 2022 (the 1973 decree), usccb.org; January 2023 (first and mandatory use), usccb.org.
- Vatican News, “Act of Contrition” (prayers), vaticannews.va; and “Act of Contrition: origins in the Old Testament” (November 2018), vaticannews.va.
- Apostolic Penitentiary, Note on the Sacrament of Reconciliation in the current pandemic (19 March 2020), press.vatican.va.
- Pope Francis, homily at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, 20 March 2020, vatican.va.
Leave a Reply