Catholic Funeral Prayer Cards
On this page
The prayers, in full
All of these are traditional and in the public domain, so you can print them without asking anyone. Change him to her, or the singular to the plural, wherever it applies.
Eternal Rest (Requiem aeternam)
The standard Catholic funeral card prayer · 34 words
Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
Shorter version, when the card is small: Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace. Amen.
The Memorare
Marian · 73 words · needs a full card back to itself
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.
Prayer to St. Joseph for a happy death
Traditional · 40 words · often chosen for a father or grandfather
O Blessed Joseph, who yielded up thy last breath in the arms of Jesus and Mary, obtain for me this grace, O holy Joseph, that I may breathe forth my soul in praise and love of Jesus and Mary. Amen.
The Peace Prayer
Anonymous, first printed in French in 1912
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much
seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
Universally known as the Prayer of St. Francis, though he did not write it. It first appeared anonymously in a small French devotional magazine in 1912. Printing it under his name is normal and nobody will correct you. Too long for a small card in full; the first stanza on its own is a common choice.
St. Teresa of Ávila’s Bookmark
St. Teresa of Ávila, 1515–1582
Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.
Found written in her breviary after her death, which is why it is called her bookmark. Short enough for any card, and a good fit for a bookmark-format card.
In Paradisum
The antiphon sung as the body leaves the church · 43 words
May the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs receive you at your coming and lead you into the holy city of Jerusalem. May the choir of angels welcome you, and with Lazarus, who once was poor, may you have eternal rest.
Psalm 23 is used on Catholic cards too. The whole psalm is too long for the back of one, so print verses 1, 4 and 6, or the first verse alone. The King James text, and the shortened version set for a card, are on the 23rd Psalm for a funeral.
Short lines, when the card is mostly photograph
“Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.”
Traditional
The safest choice on any Catholic card.
“May the angels lead you into paradise.”
In Paradisum
Seven words. Fits under a photograph.
“Jesus, I trust in You.”
Divine Mercy devotion
Pairs with a Divine Mercy image on the front.
“Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
Matthew 25:21, KJV
Often chosen for someone who worked hard and quietly.
“Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”
Luke 23:46, KJV
Christ’s last words in Luke’s Gospel. Suits a card with no image.
“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”
From the Hail Mary
The Marian line families reach for most.
Front and back of the card
A Catholic funeral card is the same object as a devotional holy card: 2.5 by 4.25 inches, printed both sides, usually laminated. What sets it apart is that one side asks the reader to pray for a named person.
The front
Traditionally a holy image, whether the Sacred Heart, Our Lady, the Good Shepherd or a patron saint, printed edge to edge with nothing else on it.
A photograph of the person is now equally common and is not a breach of anything. Many families print the holy image on the front and the photograph small on the back, or the reverse.
The back
A heading such as Pray for the soul of, In Loving Memory of or In Memoriam, then the full name, the birth date and the date of death.
Under that, the prayer. Under the prayer, the parish and the date of the funeral Mass, which families are glad of years later when nobody remembers the date.
What belongs on a Catholic card
- A holy image or a photograph · one of them, filling its side
- The heading · Pray for the Soul of / In Loving Memory of
- Full name · including a confirmation name if the family uses it
- Born and Died, or the two dates with a dash between them
- One prayer · 40 to 70 words is the readable limit at this size
- Optional: the parish and the date of the funeral Mass
- Optional: R.I.P. or Requiescat in pace at the foot
Some older cards carry the phrase Entered into eternal rest in place of died, and some carry an indulgenced prayer with a note beneath it. Neither is expected today, and neither is wrong. If you are also laying out the Mass booklet, the panel order is on the Catholic funeral program template.
Complete card wording you can copy
Four finished cards. Names, parishes and dates are invented. Replace them line by line.
Traditional: holy image front, Eternal Rest back
The card most Catholic funeral homes print by default
FRONT
[Sacred Heart of Jesus image, full bleed]
BACK
Pray for the Soul of
Rosemary Teresa Callahan Born March 2, 1938 Died January 9, 2026
Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
Funeral Mass · St. Bridget Catholic Church January 16, 2026
Requiescat in pace
Photograph front, Marian prayer back
For a mother or grandmother
FRONT
[Photograph]
In Loving Memory of
Angela Marie Ferraro 1941 – 2026
BACK
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace.
Our Lady of Sorrows Parish Requiem Mass, February 21, 2026
For a father or grandfather: St. Joseph
St. Joseph image on the front
FRONT
[Image of St. Joseph the Worker, full bleed]
BACK
Pray for the Soul of
Vincent Anthony Marchetti March 11, 1943 – April 2, 2026
O Blessed Joseph, who yielded up thy last breath in the arms of Jesus and Mary, obtain for me this grace, O holy Joseph, that I may breathe forth my soul in praise and love of Jesus and Mary. Amen.
St. Joseph, patron of a happy death, pray for him.
St. Anthony of Padua Church · April 11, 2026
Bilingual: English and Spanish
Our Lady of Guadalupe on the front
FRONT
[Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, full bleed]
En memoria de In Loving Memory of
Guadalupe Reyes Salazar 12 de octubre de 1936 – 4 de marzo de 2026
BACK
[La oración del descanso eterno en español, copiada del devocionario de la familia o de la hoja de la parroquia]
Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace. Amen.
Santa Misa de Cuerpo Presente Parroquia de San Juan Diego · 14 de marzo de 2026
The Spanish prayer is left as a bracket on purpose. We have not found a public-domain Spanish text of it that matches what parishes say today, so we do not print one. Copy it from the family’s devocionario or from the parish, so the card says the words the family prays.
If you want more options before you commit, there are sixty short verses and prayers sorted by tradition on funeral prayer card verses, and the sizes, stock and quantities apply the same way to Catholic cards as to any other: funeral prayer cards covers them.
Which holy image to choose
There is no rule here. Families usually pick the devotion the person actually kept: the image that was on their wall, the medal in their wallet, the saint they were named for. If nobody knows, the Sacred Heart is the default and always suitable.
| Image | Traditionally chosen for |
|---|---|
| Sacred Heart of Jesus | Anyone. The most common front on a Catholic funeral card, and never out of place. |
| Divine Mercy | Someone who prayed the Chaplet, or a family that wants the words Jesus, I trust in You on the card. |
| Our Lady of Guadalupe | Mexican and Mexican-American families; patroness of the Americas. |
| Our Lady of Perpetual Help | A long devotion to Mary, and parishes where the novena was prayed. |
| Our Lady of Lourdes | Someone who died after a long illness, or a family that made the pilgrimage. |
| St. Joseph | Fathers, grandfathers, workers and carpenters. Patron of a happy death. |
| St. Michael the Archangel | Police officers, firefighters and service members. |
| St. Thérèse of Lisieux | The Little Flower. For a gentle life lived quietly, often shown with roses. |
| St. Anne | Grandmothers, and mothers of large families. |
| St. Peregrine | Someone who died of cancer. He is the patron invoked against it. |
| The Good Shepherd | A comforting, non-specific image. A good choice when the gathering is not all Catholic. |
A saint the person was named for is always a safe answer, and it gives the card a reason that anyone in the family can explain. If they were named for a saint you cannot find an image of, the parish office will usually know where the local Catholic goods store keeps them.
The custom behind the card
The card is not a souvenir. It is a request. The Church asks the living to pray for the dead, and a card with a name and two dates on it is a small, practical way of making sure someone is prayed for by name after the week is over. That is why the old wording says Pray for the soul of rather than Remember.
People keep them in missals and prayer books, behind the visor of a car, and on refrigerator doors. Many Catholic families take the whole collection out on All Souls’ Day, November 2, and pray through them. If someone hands you a card at a wake and you are not Catholic, keeping it is the right response; nothing further is expected.
Where the cards appear in the three rites
A Catholic funeral usually has three parts: the vigil for the deceased, often called the wake; the funeral Mass; and the rite of committal at the graveside. Cards are set out at the vigil, put out again at the church door before the Mass, and not used at the committal. The full order of the Mass, with the readings and the responses, is on the Catholic funeral Mass program.
Prayer cards and Mass cards are not the same thing
The prayer card
The family prints it and hands it out. It carries the person’s name, dates and a prayer, and it asks the people who came to keep praying.
Cost is printing. Nobody arranges anything.
The Mass card
A friend sends it to the family. It states that a Mass will be offered for the person, arranged through a parish office or a religious order, normally with an offering.
If you receive them, note who sent them. They are usually thanked for in the same breath as flowers.
Wording for those notes, and for the acknowledgement on the back of the program, is on funeral acknowledgement wording.
Ordering and printing
Ask the funeral home first
Catholic funeral homes have printed holy cards for a long time, and a set is often already included in the package the family has signed for. Ask how many are included, whether you can choose the image, and how late you can send the photograph and the wording. Families regularly pay twice in the same week for the same cards.
What to ask a print shop for
2.5 by 4.25 inches, full color both sides, 14 pt or 100 lb cover stock, gloss lamination, rounded corners if they offer them. Send a PDF with the images embedded. If you are using a holy image you found online, check it is large enough to print. An image that looks sharp on a phone is often too small at 2.5 inches wide, and Catholic goods suppliers sell blank-backed holy cards you can have overprinted instead. Dimensions, bleed and trim are set out on prayer card size.
How many
Take the funeral director’s estimate of attendance and add about half again. Catholic cards leave faster than most, because people take extras for relatives and for their own prayer books. Keep a stack for the family: they get sent with thank-you notes, handed to the parish office, and asked for at the month’s mind and the anniversary Mass.
Doing it yourself
Home printing works with heavy card stock and a straight-edge trimmer. Print one test sheet and hold it to a lamp to check the back lines up with the front, which is where home jobs come apart. Step by step instructions are on how to make funeral prayer cards.
You are allowed to do less than you think
Nothing in the Order of Christian Funerals mentions prayer cards. No part of the vigil, the Mass or the committal depends on them, and no priest is going to ask where they are. If the week has run out, print a plain card with a name, two dates and the Eternal Rest prayer, or skip them entirely and send them later with your thank-you notes. A simple card is kept as long as an elaborate one.
If you would rather not lay it out at all, Reposa builds the prayer cards and the Mass booklet from one set of answers, in the same typeface and with the same photograph, and gives you a print-ready PDF for both.
Common questions
What prayer goes on a Catholic funeral prayer card?
Does a Catholic prayer card have to have a saint on the front?
What is the difference between a prayer card and a Mass card?
Should it say In Loving Memory or Pray for the Soul of?
Do we need the priest to approve the prayer card?
Can the card be in Spanish, or in two languages?
When are the cards given out at a Catholic funeral?
Keep reading
- Funeral Prayer CardsEverything about funeral prayer cards: the standard 2.5 by 4.25 inch size, what goes on the back, and how to make a matching set.
- Catholic Funeral Program TemplateA Catholic funeral program template that follows the Order of Christian Funerals, with the full Mass order and the correct wording.
- Funeral Prayer Card VersesSixty short verses, prayers and poems that fit on the back of a prayer card, for Catholic, Protestant and non-religious services.
- Memorial CardsMemorial card templates and wording for the keepsake card handed out at the service, matched to your program design.