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Traditional Catholic prayer · Signum Crucis

The Sign of the Cross

The gesture and words that open and close nearly every Catholic prayer, professing the Holy Trinity.

Begin and end your prayers with it, touching forehead, breast, left shoulder, then right.

Where it comes from

Tertullian describes Christians tracing a cross on the forehead around the year 200. The words are the baptismal formula Christ gives in Matthew 28:19. In the Latin Church the hand goes forehead, breast, left shoulder, right shoulder; Eastern Christians cross from right to left.

Frequently asked

Which shoulder first?

In the Latin Church, left then right. Byzantine Catholics and the Orthodox go right then left. Neither is wrong; they are different traditions.

Why begin and end prayer with it?

It names the Trinity you are praying to and marks the body as belonging to Christ. It is the shortest creed there is.

More Catholic prayers

• The Our Father
• The Hail Mary
• The Glory Be
• The Apostles' Creed
• The Act of Contrition
• The Morning Offering
• All prayers