The Sign of the Cross
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Text: the Baltimore Catechism (1885), public domain.
In Latin
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
About this prayer
Christians have traced the cross on themselves since at least the late second century, when Tertullian mentions marking the forehead. The words name the Trinity, as in Matthew 28:19. Catholics, Orthodox and many Anglicans and Lutherans use it to begin and end prayer. The longer Spanish form, from the old catechisms, first signs the forehead, the lips and the breast.