Catholic prayers before surgery
The hours before a surgery are quiet hours. There is paperwork, fasting, the slow walk to pre-op. The prayers below are short enough to pray in those hours, and steady enough to carry the family in the waiting room while the surgery happens. None of them replace medicine. All of them put the medicine in the hands of the One who gave the surgeon the skill to use it.
What people pray when they don't know what to pray
From the PrayerTrain Catholic prayer library. Tap any prayer to see its full text and instructions.
Surrender Novena
Don Dolindo Ruotolo · 9 days
Started nine days before a planned surgery, the Surrender Novena lands the family at the hospital with nine days of practiced trust already behind them. Don Dolindo's words are made for the moments medicine takes over and we are the ones waiting.
The Memorare
St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Pray once before the patient is wheeled back. Pray it again every fifteen minutes in the waiting room. The Memorare is a Catholic tradition for moments where the only thing left to do is wait.
Psalm 23 - The Lord is My Shepherd
Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. The classic prayer for the moment a body is given over to scalpel and anesthesia.
Anima Christi
St. Ignatius of Loyola
Soul of Christ, sanctify me. Body of Christ, save me. A short, ancient prayer the Church gives to those preparing for any moment where the body is at risk.
Prayer for Healing
A direct prayer for healing, written for the situation where someone is at the edge of medical intervention.
What prayer is for
The waiting room is one of the most explicitly Catholic places in modern American life: silent, full of strangers, all of them helpless, all of them hoping. Prayer is not a way to make the wait shorter. It is a way to be in the wait with God instead of alone.
More on this on our story.
Pray together with others
If the surgery is significant or scheduled in advance, a PrayerTrain that starts nine days before and ends the day after lets a community pray together through the whole arc. Each person picks a day, gets a reminder, and the patient walks into the hospital knowing the dates have all been claimed.
Frequently asked
What should I pray right before someone goes into surgery?
Pray the Memorare or a Hail Mary or the Lord's Prayer. Make the sign of the cross over them if you can. Tell them you are praying. The exact words matter less than the act of being there praying them.
Is there a Catholic novena for surgery?
There is no novena written specifically for surgery, but the Surrender Novena (Don Dolindo) is the most fitting nine-day prayer for the lead-up. Start it nine days before the scheduled date and you arrive at the hospital with a cadence of trust already practiced.
What if the surgery is for someone who is not Catholic?
Pray anyway. You are praying to the God who made them, not to a denomination. If you want to pray with them, ask them which prayers they grew up with and pray those instead. The point is to bring them before God, not to bring God to them in a Catholic envelope.