The Divine Praises

Written to Answer Blasphemy With Blessing

The Divine Praises were composed in Italian in 1797 by Fr. Luigi Felici, a Jesuit priest in Rome, specifically as an act of reparation — a prayer of blessing offered in response to blasphemy and irreverent speech against God, Mary, and the saints that Felici had heard. Pope Pius VII granted an indulgence for the prayer soon after, and later popes added lines over time (the final line honoring the angels and saints together was a later addition). Today it is prayed almost universally at the close of Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

Blessed be God. Blessed be his holy Name. Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man. Blessed be the name of Jesus. Blessed be his most Sacred Heart. Blessed be his most Precious Blood. Blessed be Jesus in the most holy Sacrament of the altar. Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete. Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy. Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception. Blessed be her glorious Assumption. Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother. Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse. Blessed be God in his angels and in his saints.

Helper

1. Notice the structure: it moves from God the Father, through Christ (name, Sacred Heart, Precious Blood, Eucharist), to the Holy Spirit, then to Mary and Joseph, ending with the whole communion of angels and saints.
2. Because it was written as reparation, some parishes pray it specifically after hearing crude or blasphemous language, as a quiet act of counter-witness rather than confrontation.
3. It is short enough to memorize in one sitting of Adoration and is often printed on the back of a holy card for exactly that reason.