Bénedic, Dómine, Deus omnípotens, domum istam, ut sit in ea sánitas, cástitas, victória, virtus, humílitas, bónitas et mansuetúdo, plenitúdo legis et gratiárum áctio Deo Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto:
et hæc benedíctio máneat super hanc domum et super habitántes in ea nunc et in ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.
Bless, O Lord God almighty, this house, that in it there may be health, chastity, victory, strength, humility, goodness and meekness, fullness of the law, and thanksgiving to God the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
and may this blessing remain upon this house and upon all who dwell herein, now and for ever. Amen.
From her earliest days the Church has blessed the homes of the faithful, for the Christian family is a "domestic church," and the house where it lives is meant to be a place of grace. This prayer is the traditional Benedictio Domus from the Rituale Romanum, by which a priest — sprinkling holy water through the rooms — asks God to make the household a dwelling of virtue: "health, chastity, victory, strength, humility, goodness and meekness." It is a striking list, asking not for comfort or prosperity but for the virtues that make a home holy.
The blessing follows Our Lord’s own instruction to His disciples: "Into whatsoever house you enter, first say: Peace be to this house" (Luke 10:5). The peace invoked is not merely quiet but the presence of God Himself, driving out the power of the evil one and sheltering all who live within. The prayer asks that this blessing "remain" — a lasting consecration of the walls that shelter a family’s prayers, meals, joys, and sorrows.
The best-known form of the home blessing falls at Epiphany, when the family chalks over its door the year and the letters *20 + C + M + B + [year]. They stand for Christus Mansionem Benedicat* — "May Christ bless this dwelling" — and also recall the traditional names of the Magi, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, who found Christ and came to adore Him in a house (Matthew 2:11). So the family asks that the same Christ the Magi sought may make their home His own.
Bless, O Lord God almighty, this house, that in it there may be health, chastity, victory, strength, humility, goodness and meekness, fullness of the law, and thanksgiving to God the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
and may this blessing remain upon this house and upon all who dwell herein, now and for ever. Amen.
Bénedic, Dómine, Deus omnípotens, domum istam, ut sit in ea sánitas, cástitas, victória, virtus, humílitas, bónitas et mansuetúdo, plenitúdo legis et gratiárum áctio Deo Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto:
et hæc benedíctio máneat super hanc domum et super habitántes in ea nunc et in ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.
Bless, O Lord God almighty, this house, that in it there may be health, chastity, victory, strength, humility, goodness and meekness, fullness of the law, and thanksgiving to God the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
and may this blessing remain upon this house and upon all who dwell herein, now and for ever. Amen.