Pater noster, qui es in caelis,
sanctificetur nomen tuum;
adveniat regnum tuum;
fiat voluntas tua,
sicut in caelo et in terra.
Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie;
et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris;
et ne nos inducas in tentationem,
sed libera nos a malo.
Amen.
CATHOLIC 1ST CENTURY AD (TEXT); 4TH CENTURY AD (LATIN LITURGICAL FORM)
The Pater Noster
Also known as The Lord's Prayer in Latin · Oratio Dominica · Our Father in Latin
Other forms
English (BCP form)
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Phonetic guide (ecclesiastical Latin)
PAH-ter NOS-ter, kwee es in CHAY-lees,
sahnk-tee-fee-CHAY-toor NO-men TOO-um;
ahd-VEN-ee-aht REG-noom TOO-um;
FEE-aht vo-LOON-tahs TOO-ah,
SEE-koot in CHAY-lo et in TER-rah.
PAH-nem NOS-troom kwo-tee-dee-AH-noom dah NO-bees HO-dee-ay;
et dee-MEET-tay NO-bees DEH-bee-tah NO-strah,
SEE-koot et nos dee-MEET-tee-moos deh-bee-TOR-ee-boos NO-strees;
et nay nos in-DOO-kahs in ten-tah-tee-OH-nem,
sed LEE-beh-rah nos ah MAH-lo. AH-men.
Liturgical Latin pronunciation, closer to Italian than to classical Roman Latin.
About this prayer
The Pater Noster is the Latin form of the Lord's Prayer, the prayer Jesus taught his disciples as recorded in Matthew 6:9-13 and in shorter form in Luke 11:2-4. The Latin text given here is from the Vulgate translation of the Bible, completed by Saint Jerome in the late 4th century AD, and is the form used in the Roman Catholic liturgy continuously from the 4th century to the present.
For more than fifteen hundred years, the Pater Noster was the principal form in which Western Christians prayed the Lord's Prayer. It was the form Christians learned by heart, said at Mass, taught their children, and used in their final hours. The vernacular translations (English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, and others) all derive from the Latin, and most of the variations between modern English versions trace back to choices Jerome made in translating the Greek of Matthew and Luke into Latin.
The Pater Noster is still in liturgical use today in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Mass (the Tridentine Mass) and in Latin sung settings of the Mass by composers from Palestrina and Mozart to modern liturgical musicians. It is also recited in Latin during traditional Catholic devotions, in monastic offices in many religious orders, and in private prayer by Catholics and others who value the prayer in its historic Latin form.
When it's said
In the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Mass, the Pater Noster is sung or recited in Latin at every Mass after the Eucharistic Prayer and before Communion. In the Ordinary Form (the post-Vatican II Mass), the Lord's Prayer is normally said in the vernacular but is sometimes sung in Latin on solemn occasions, particularly at papal Masses and major liturgical gatherings. Many Catholic religious orders pray the Pater Noster in Latin as part of the Liturgy of the Hours.
Notes on the text
The Latin text contains several phrases that have shaped Christian theology and devotion in distinct ways. 'Panem nostrum quotidianum' literally means 'our daily bread,' but Jerome translated the Greek epiousios (a word otherwise unattested in classical Greek literature) with 'quotidianum,' a choice that has influenced Western Christian interpretation of the petition for fifteen hundred years. The phrase 'dimitte nobis debita nostra' uses 'debita' (debts) rather than 'peccata' (sins) or 'delicta' (trespasses), following the Greek of Matthew 6:12. This is the source of the modern English split between Christians who say 'forgive us our debts' (Presbyterians, Reformed, Baptists) and those who say 'forgive us our trespasses' (Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists), as documented on the Lord's Prayer page. The doxology 'For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory' (Quia tuum est regnum, et potestas, et gloria) does not appear in the Vulgate text of Matthew 6 or in the traditional liturgical use of the Pater Noster. It is included in Protestant versions of the prayer because it appears in the Textus Receptus on which the King James Version is based.
Common questions
Is the Pater Noster the same as the Lord's Prayer?
Yes. The Pater Noster is the Latin form of the same prayer Jesus taught his disciples in Matthew 6:9-13. The Latin text comes from Saint Jerome's Vulgate translation of the Bible, completed in the late 4th century AD, and has been used continuously in the Roman Catholic liturgy since then. The English versions (Our Father, the Lord's Prayer) are translations of the same Greek original via the Vulgate Latin.
Why pray the Lord's Prayer in Latin?
For most of Western Christian history (4th century AD to the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s), the Pater Noster was the only form in which most Catholics prayed the Lord's Prayer in church. Today it is still used in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Mass, in Latin sung settings of the Mass, in monastic offices, and by Catholics and others who pray the prayer in its historic Latin form for continuity with the Christian tradition before the modern vernacular liturgies.
How is the Pater Noster pronounced?
Liturgical Latin uses a pronunciation closer to Italian than to classical Roman Latin. The 'c' before 'e' or 'i' is pronounced 'ch' (caelis = CHAY-lees), 'gn' is pronounced 'ny' (regnum = REN-yoom), and 'qu' is pronounced 'kw'. A phonetic guide is included in the Other Forms section above. Many recordings of the prayer sung in Latin are widely available; the chanted setting in plainsong is the most common.
Why does the Latin doxology end at 'libera nos a malo'?
The traditional Catholic Pater Noster ends with 'sed libera nos a malo' (but deliver us from evil), without the doxology 'For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory.' This is because the doxology does not appear in the Vulgate Latin text of Matthew 6, since Jerome translated from Greek manuscripts that did not contain it. In Catholic Mass, the doxology is said separately by the congregation after a short prayer (the embolism) said by the priest. Protestant English versions include the doxology because it appears in the Greek manuscripts used for the King James Version.
Source
The Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible by Saint Jerome, completed late 4th century AD. Used continuously in the Roman Catholic liturgy from the 4th century to the present in essentially the form given here. Modern reference text: Biblia Vulgata, editio Stuttgartensia (critical edition of the Vulgate). Public domain.
Last reviewed: June 2026 against primary source.