Sign of the Cross
The Sign of the Cross begins and ends Catholic prayer in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the customary Latin Catholic gesture, touch your forehead, chest, left shoulder, then right shoulder. The words profess faith in the Trinity; the gesture recalls the saving Cross of Jesus.
On this page
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Listen to the prayer
In Latin
In nómine Patris, et Fílii, et Spíritus Sancti. Amen.
How to make the Sign of the Cross
In the customary Latin Catholic gesture, use your right hand to touch your forehead, chest, left shoulder, and right shoulder as you name the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Say “Amen” to finish.
Eastern Catholics commonly touch the right shoulder before the left and may hold their fingers differently. These traditional forms express the same Trinitarian faith. When praying with a community, follow its practice respectfully. A person who cannot make the full movement can still pray the words; limited movement does not prevent prayer.
The Trinity and the Cross
The words name the one God in three Persons. Jesus sends his disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). When we begin prayer with this name, we recall our Baptism and place ourselves before God. The Catechism explains the Christian practice of beginning the day and our activities with the Sign of the Cross in §2157.
The gesture recalls the Cross on which Jesus gave his life for us. It joins a profession of faith to a bodily act. The movement is a familiar part of Catholic worship as well as private prayer. At the beginning of the Rosary, it precedes the Creed and the prayers on the introductory beads.
Christians have traced the cross on themselves since the early centuries. The familiar larger gesture developed over time. Tertullian describes Christians marking their foreheads during ordinary activities in De Corona, chapter 3. This early witness concerns the small sign on the forehead, rather than a detailed account of today's shoulder-to-shoulder gesture.
At the beginning and end of the Rosary
Hold the crucifix if you are using beads. Make the Sign of the Cross, then pray the Apostles' Creed. After the introductory prayers, continue to the five mysteries. The Rosary guide shows the complete sequence and the place of each prayer.
At the end, make the Sign of the Cross again after the closing prayers. It has no separate bead within a decade. Outside the Rosary, it is customary before a meal and when beginning other prayers. Catholics also commonly make it with holy water on entering a church, recalling Baptism.
Some English communities say “Holy Ghost” where others say “Holy Spirit.” Both refer to the third Person of the Trinity.