Prayers To God the Father Prayers The Our Father (Pater Noster)

The Our Father (Pater Noster)

Pater Noster
To God the Father 📜 Earliest form: Given by Our Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 6:9–13; Luke 11:2–4) ✍️ Our Lord Jesus Christ 🕯️ Used liturgically
Latina

Pater noster, qui es in cælis, sanctificétur nomen tuum. Advéniat regnum tuum. Fiat volúntas tua, sicut in cælo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidiánum da nobis hódie, et dimítte nobis débita nostra, sicut et nos dimíttimus debitóribus nostris. Et ne nos indúcas in tentatiónem, sed líbera nos a malo. Amen.

PAH-ter NOH-ster, kwee es in CHEH-lees, sahnk-tee-fee-CHEH-toor NOH-men TOO-oom. Ad-VEH-nee-aht REN-yoom TOO-oom. FEE-aht voh-LOON-tahs TOO-ah, SEE-koot in CHEH-loh et in TAIR-rah. PAH-nem NOH-stroom kwoh-tee-dee-AH-noom dah NOH-bees HOH-dee-eh, et dee-MEET-teh NOH-bees DEH-bee-tah NOH-strah, SEE-koot et nohs dee-MEET-tee-moos deh-bee-TOH-ree-boos NOH-strees. et neh nohs EEN-doo-kahs in ten-tah-tsee-OH-nem, sed LEE-beh-rah nohs ah MAH-loh. AH-men.
Vernacular

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Prayer History

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The Our Father is the one prayer Our Lord Himself composed and taught. When His disciples asked, "Lord, teach us to pray," He answered by giving them these words (Luke 11:1–4; Matthew 6:9–13). For this reason the Church calls it the Oratio Dominica, the "Lord’s Prayer," and honors it above every other: not a prayer men devised to reach God, but the very form of prayer that God, made man, placed on human lips.

The ancient writer Tertullian called it "the summary of the whole Gospel," and St. Augustine taught that whatever else we rightly ask, we ask within these words. It contains seven petitions. The first three look to God — that His name be hallowed, His kingdom come, His will be done. The last four turn to our own need — for daily bread, for forgiveness (bound to our own forgiving), for protection from temptation, and for deliverance from the evil one. The Fathers saw in the "daily bread" (in St. Matthew, a rare word meaning "supersubstantial") not only the food of the body but the Bread of the Eucharist.

In the traditional Roman Mass the Our Father is sung by the priest alone after the Canon, as the Church prepares for Communion. Catholics end the prayer at "deliver us from evil. Amen"; the doxology "For thine is the kingdom" is a later addition not found in the oldest manuscripts, though at Mass the priest expands the last petition in the prayer called the embolism ("Deliver us, we beseech thee, O Lord, from all evils…"). To pray the Our Father well, the saints agree, is to have learned the whole art of prayer.

📋 Quick Facts

Type The Lord’s Prayer — given by Christ Himself
Latin Name Pater Noster (also the Oratio Dominica)
Source Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4
Structure Seven petitions — three for God’s glory, four for our needs
Tertullian Called It "The summary of the whole Gospel"
In the Mass Sung after the Canon, before Communion
Catholic Ending "…deliver us from evil. Amen" (no added doxology)
"Daily Bread" Read by the Fathers also of the Holy Eucharist

💡 Did You Know?

The Our Father is the only prayer Our Lord Himself composed and taught — He gave it in answer to the disciples’ request, "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1).
Tertullian, writing around the year 200, called the Lord’s Prayer "the summary of the whole Gospel" — the entire Christian life folded into a few lines.
It has seven petitions: the first three seek God’s glory (His name, kingdom, and will), the last four our own needs (bread, pardon, protection, deliverance).
The petition for forgiveness is the one we pray against ourselves: "forgive us… as we forgive." Our Lord underlined it: "if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you" (Matthew 6:15).
In St. Matthew’s Greek, "daily bread" translates a rare word (epiousios) that the Fathers understood as "supersubstantial" — pointing beyond ordinary food to the Bread of the Eucharist.
Catholics end at "deliver us from evil"; the doxology "For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory" is a later addition, absent from the oldest manuscripts of the Gospel.
At Mass the priest extends the final petition in a prayer called the embolism — "Deliver us, we beseech thee, O Lord, from all evils, past, present, and to come…" — before the Fraction and Communion.
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The Our Father (Pater Noster)
Pater Noster

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

✦ ✦ ✦
The Our Father (Pater Noster)
Pater Noster

Pater noster, qui es in cælis, sanctificétur nomen tuum.
Advéniat regnum tuum.
Fiat volúntas tua, sicut in cælo et in terra.
Panem nostrum quotidiánum da nobis hódie,
et dimítte nobis débita nostra, sicut et nos dimíttimus debitóribus nostris.
Et ne nos indúcas in tentatiónem, sed líbera nos a malo. Amen.

✠ Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam ✠