Deus, cui cuncta adoléscunt, et per quem adúlta firmántur: exténde déxteram tuam super hunc fámulum tuum (vel hanc fámulam tuam) in ténera ætáte languéntem; quaténus vigóre sanitátis recépto, ad annórum pervéniat plenitúdinem, et tibi fidéle gratúmque obséquium indesinénter præstet ómnibus diébus vitæ suæ. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum Fílium tuum. Amen.
Pater misericordiárum et Deus totíus consolatiónis, qui creatúræ tuæ multíplici pietáte cónsulens, non solum ánimæ sed ipsi córpori curatiónis grátiam benígnus infúndis: hunc párvulum infírmum (vel hanc párvulam infírmam) a lecto ægritúdinis érigere, et Ecclésiæ tuæ sanctæ, suísque paréntibus incólumem restitúere dignéris; ut cunctis prolongátæ sibi vitæ diébus grátia et sapiéntia coram te et homínibus profíciens, in justítia et sanctitáte tibi sérviat, et débitas misericórdiæ tuæ réferat gratiárum actiónes. Per Christum Dóminum nostrum. Amen.
Super ægros manus impónent, et bene habébunt. Jesus, Maríæ Fílius, mundi salus et Dóminus, méritis et intercessióne sanctórum Apostolórum suórum Petri et Pauli, et ómnium Sanctórum, sit tibi clemens et propítius. Amen.
✦O God, by whom all things come to their growth, and by whom what is grown is made strong: stretch forth Thy right hand over this Thy servant (or this Thy handmaid), languishing in tender years; that, his health being recovered, he may come to the fullness of his years, and render Thee faithful and pleasing service unceasingly, all the days of his life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son. Amen.
Father of mercies and God of all consolation, who in Thy manifold tenderness carest for Thy creature, and dost graciously pour out the grace of healing not upon the soul only but upon the body itself: vouchsafe to raise up this sick little one from the bed of sickness, and to restore him unharmed to Thy holy Church and to his own parents; that, advancing in grace and wisdom before Thee and before men all the days of the life Thou lengthenest for him, he may serve Thee in justice and holiness, and render the thanks due to Thy mercy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
They shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover. May Jesus, Son of Mary, the salvation and Lord of the world, by the merits and intercession of His holy Apostles Peter and Paul and of all the Saints, be merciful and gracious unto thee. Amen.
This is not a prayer the faithful say by themselves. It is a blessing, and like the Benedictio Domus it is given by a priest — the Ritual has him put on surplice and white stole, come into the sick child’s room, and begin at the door: Pax huic domui, peace be to this house. He sprinkles the child, the bed and the room with holy water, saying nothing. If you want it for your child, you ask your parish priest for it.
What follows is a psalm, the Kyrie, the Our Father said by everyone present for the child’s health, and a set of versicles that are unlike anything else in the Ritual, because they are about small children specifically: Deus noster miserétur — our God is merciful; Custódiens párvulos Dóminus — the Lord is the keeper of little ones; Sínite párvulos veníre ad me — suffer the little children to come unto me.
Then the collects, given above. The first asks for growth: not merely that the child recover, but that he come to the fullness of his years — that he be allowed to grow up. The second is the one to read slowly if you are a parent. It asks that the child be raised from the bed of sickness and restored to Thy holy Church and to his own parents. The Church asks for him back on her own behalf and on yours, in the same clause.
At the end the priest lays his right hand on the child’s head and says the words of Our Lord from the last chapter of St. Mark: Super ægros manus impónent, et bene habébunt. It is the oldest gesture in Christian healing, and it is done last, when everything has already been asked for.
The Latin here is the text of the Rituale Romanum, which is in the public domain; the English is our own rendering. The widely reprinted English of Philip T. Weller (1952) and of the Collectio Rituum is under copyright to the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine and is not reproduced here.
O God, by whom all things come to their growth, and by whom what is grown is made strong: stretch forth Thy right hand over this Thy servant (or this Thy handmaid), languishing in tender years; that, his health being recovered, he may come to the fullness of his years, and render Thee faithful and pleasing service unceasingly, all the days of his life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son. Amen.
Father of mercies and God of all consolation, who in Thy manifold tenderness carest for Thy creature, and dost graciously pour out the grace of healing not upon the soul only but upon the body itself: vouchsafe to raise up this sick little one from the bed of sickness, and to restore him unharmed to Thy holy Church and to his own parents; that, advancing in grace and wisdom before Thee and before men all the days of the life Thou lengthenest for him, he may serve Thee in justice and holiness, and render the thanks due to Thy mercy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
They shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover. May Jesus, Son of Mary, the salvation and Lord of the world, by the merits and intercession of His holy Apostles Peter and Paul and of all the Saints, be merciful and gracious unto thee. Amen.
Deus, cui cuncta adoléscunt, et per quem adúlta firmántur: exténde déxteram tuam super hunc fámulum tuum (vel hanc fámulam tuam) in ténera ætáte languéntem; quaténus vigóre sanitátis recépto, ad annórum pervéniat plenitúdinem, et tibi fidéle gratúmque obséquium indesinénter præstet ómnibus diébus vitæ suæ. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum Fílium tuum. Amen.
Pater misericordiárum et Deus totíus consolatiónis, qui creatúræ tuæ multíplici pietáte cónsulens, non solum ánimæ sed ipsi córpori curatiónis grátiam benígnus infúndis: hunc párvulum infírmum (vel hanc párvulam infírmam) a lecto ægritúdinis érigere, et Ecclésiæ tuæ sanctæ, suísque paréntibus incólumem restitúere dignéris; ut cunctis prolongátæ sibi vitæ diébus grátia et sapiéntia coram te et homínibus profíciens, in justítia et sanctitáte tibi sérviat, et débitas misericórdiæ tuæ réferat gratiárum actiónes. Per Christum Dóminum nostrum. Amen.
Super ægros manus impónent, et bene habébunt. Jesus, Maríæ Fílius, mundi salus et Dóminus, méritis et intercessióne sanctórum Apostolórum suórum Petri et Pauli, et ómnium Sanctórum, sit tibi clemens et propítius. Amen.
O God, by whom all things come to their growth, and by whom what is grown is made strong: stretch forth Thy right hand over this Thy servant (or this Thy handmaid), languishing in tender years; that, his health being recovered, he may come to the fullness of his years, and render Thee faithful and pleasing service unceasingly, all the days of his life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son. Amen.
Father of mercies and God of all consolation, who in Thy manifold tenderness carest for Thy creature, and dost graciously pour out the grace of healing not upon the soul only but upon the body itself: vouchsafe to raise up this sick little one from the bed of sickness, and to restore him unharmed to Thy holy Church and to his own parents; that, advancing in grace and wisdom before Thee and before men all the days of the life Thou lengthenest for him, he may serve Thee in justice and holiness, and render the thanks due to Thy mercy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
They shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover. May Jesus, Son of Mary, the salvation and Lord of the world, by the merits and intercession of His holy Apostles Peter and Paul and of all the Saints, be merciful and gracious unto thee. Amen.