Creátor ineffábilis, qui de thesáuris sapiéntiæ tuæ tres Angelórum hierárchías designásti, et eas super cælum empýreum miro órdine collocásti, atque univérsi partes elegantíssime distribuísti:
Tu, inquam, qui verus fons lúminis et sapiéntiæ díceris ac supereminens princípium, infúndere dignéris super intelléctus mei ténebras tuæ rádium claritátis, dúplices, in quibus natus sum, a me rémovens ténebras, peccátum scílicet et ignorántiam.
Tu, qui linguas infántium facis disértas, linguam meam erúdias atque in lábiis meis grátiam tuæ benedictiónis infúndas.
✦Da mihi intelligéndi acúmen, retinéndi capacitátem, addiscéndi modum et facilitátem, interpretándi subtilitátem, loquéndi grátiam copiósam. Ingréssum ínstruas, progréssum dírigas, egréssum cómpleas. Tu, qui es verus Deus et homo, qui vivis et regnas in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.
Ineffable Creator, who out of the treasures of Thy wisdom hast appointed three hierarchies of Angels, and set them in wondrous order high above the heavens, and hast most beautifully disposed all the parts of the universe:
Thou who art called the true Fountain of Light and Wisdom, and the supereminent Source, be pleased to pour upon the darkness of my mind a ray of Thy radiance, removing from me the twofold darkness in which I was born: namely, sin and ignorance.
Thou who makest eloquent the tongues of little children, fashion my words and pour upon my lips the grace of Thy blessing.
Grant me keenness of understanding, capacity to remember, method and ease in learning, subtlety in interpretation, and copious grace of expression. Order the beginning, direct the progress, and perfect the completion of my work. Thou who art true God and true Man, who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.
This is the Prayer Before Study — in Latin, Ante Studium — of St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the Angelic Doctor, the greatest theologian of the Middle Ages and one of the greatest the Church has ever known. Tradition holds that St. Thomas recited it before he sat to study, to write, or to teach; and no prayer better expresses the Catholic understanding of learning — that the mind is a gift of God, that true knowledge comes from Him, and that study itself is to be undertaken as an act of religion.
The prayer begins not with the student's need but with God's grandeur: the "Ineffable Creator" who, out of the treasures of His wisdom, appointed the three hierarchies of angels and arranged the whole universe in order. Only then does the soul ask its favor — that this same God, "the true Fountain of Light and Wisdom," would pour a ray of His radiance upon the darkness of the mind, and drive out "the twofold darkness in which I was born: namely, sin and ignorance." For Aquinas, holiness and learning cannot be separated; the sin that clouds the will also darkens the intellect.
Then it asks, with a schoolman's precision, for the exact gifts a student needs: keenness of understanding, capacity to remember, method and ease in learning, subtlety in interpretation, and copious grace of expression. And it ends by placing the whole labor in God's hands from first to last — "order the beginning, direct the progress, and perfect the completion of my work." Nothing is left to unaided effort.
St. Thomas is the patron of students, schools, and Catholic universities. He was canonized in 1323 and later declared a Doctor of the Church; the traditional calendar keeps his feast on 7 March (28 January in the newer calendar). His prayer remains the classic prayer of Catholic scholarship, joining the student, at his desk, to the humility that made Aquinas himself call all his vast writing "so much straw" beside the vision of God.
Ineffable Creator,
who out of the treasures of Thy wisdom hast appointed three hierarchies of Angels,
and set them in wondrous order high above the heavens,
and hast most beautifully disposed all the parts of the universe:
Thou who art called the true Fountain of Light and Wisdom,
and the supereminent Source,
be pleased to pour upon the darkness of my mind
a ray of Thy radiance,
removing from me the twofold darkness in which I was born:
namely, sin and ignorance.
Thou who makest eloquent the tongues of little children,
fashion my words
and pour upon my lips the grace of Thy blessing.
Grant me keenness of understanding, capacity to remember,
method and ease in learning,
subtlety in interpretation, and copious grace of expression.
Order the beginning, direct the progress, and perfect the completion of my work.
Thou who art true God and true Man, who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.
Creátor ineffábilis,
qui de thesáuris sapiéntiæ tuæ tres Angelórum hierárchías designásti,
et eas super cælum empýreum miro órdine collocásti,
atque univérsi partes elegantíssime distribuísti:
Tu, inquam, qui verus fons lúminis et sapiéntiæ díceris
ac supereminens princípium,
infúndere dignéris super intelléctus mei ténebras
tuæ rádium claritátis,
dúplices, in quibus natus sum, a me rémovens ténebras,
peccátum scílicet et ignorántiam.
Tu, qui linguas infántium facis disértas,
linguam meam erúdias
atque in lábiis meis grátiam tuæ benedictiónis infúndas.
Da mihi intelligéndi acúmen, retinéndi capacitátem,
addiscéndi modum et facilitátem,
interpretándi subtilitátem, loquéndi grátiam copiósam.
Ingréssum ínstruas, progréssum dírigas, egréssum cómpleas.
Tu, qui es verus Deus et homo, qui vivis et regnas in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.
Ineffable Creator,
who out of the treasures of Thy wisdom hast appointed three hierarchies of Angels,
and set them in wondrous order high above the heavens,
and hast most beautifully disposed all the parts of the universe:
Thou who art called the true Fountain of Light and Wisdom,
and the supereminent Source,
be pleased to pour upon the darkness of my mind
a ray of Thy radiance,
removing from me the twofold darkness in which I was born:
namely, sin and ignorance.
Thou who makest eloquent the tongues of little children,
fashion my words
and pour upon my lips the grace of Thy blessing.
Grant me keenness of understanding, capacity to remember,
method and ease in learning,
subtlety in interpretation, and copious grace of expression.
Order the beginning, direct the progress, and perfect the completion of my work.
Thou who art true God and true Man, who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.