Prayer of Saint Francis 
(or Peace Prayer, or Simple Prayer for Peace, or Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace)

A widely known Christian prayer for peace. 
Often associated with the Italian Saint Francis of Assisi (c.?1182 – 1226), but entirely absent from his writings, the prayer in its present form has not been traced back further than 1912.

Its first known occurrence was in French, in a small spiritual magazine called La Clochette (The Little Bell), published in December 1912 by a Catholic Church organization in Paris named La Ligue de la Sainte-Messe (The League of the Holy Mass). The author's name was not given, although it may have been the founding editor of La Ligue, Father Esther Bouquerel (1855–1923).

Christian Renoux, a history professor at the University of Orléans, published in French in 2001 a book-length study of the prayer and its origins, clearing up much of the confusion that had accumulated previously. The Franciscan journal Frate Francesco and the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano published articles in Italian summarizing the book's findings, and Renoux published an online abstract in English at The Franciscan Archive.


Original title: Belle prière à faire pendant la Messe (Beautiful prayer to be made during Mass)
First published in: La Clochette
Country: France
Language: French
Publisher: La Ligue de la Sainte-Messe
(ed. Father Esther Bouquerel)
Publication date: December 1912


French original:

Seigneur, faites de moi un instrument de votre paix.
Là où il y a de la haine, que je mette l'amour.
Là où il y a l'offense, que je mette le pardon.
Là où il y a la discorde, que je mette l'union.
Là où il y a l'erreur, que je mette la vérité.
Là où il y a le doute, que je mette la foi.
Là où il y a le désespoir, que je mette l'espérance.
Là où il y a les ténèbres, que je mette votre lumière.
Là où il y a la tristesse, que je mette la joie.
Ô Maître, que je ne cherche pas tant
à être consolé qu'à consoler,
à être compris qu'à comprendre,
à être aimé qu'à aimer,
car c'est en donnant qu'on reçoit,
c'est en s'oubliant qu'on trouve,
c'est en pardonnant qu'on est pardonné,
c'est en mourant qu'on ressuscite à l'éternelle vie.


English translation:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offence, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Master, let me not seek as much
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in pardoning that one is pardoned,
it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life.

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