Common of Pastors — Generic prayer to the Holy Popes, Bishops and Pastors

The Church venerates among her Saints a multitude of pastors — Popes (St Leo the Great, St Gregory the Great, St Pius V, St Pius X, St John XXIII, St Paul VI, St John Paul II), Bishops (St Ambrose of Milan, St Augustine of Hippo, St Charles Borromeo, St Francis de Sales), and Confessors who governed the particular Church without shedding blood. To the successors of the Apostles, according to conciliar doctrine (Lumen Gentium 18-29), the Lord entrusts the threefold mission of Christ: to teach, to sanctify and to govern. This prayer is the generic collect for any feast of a non-martyr Pastor in the Calendar, and may also be used for the intention of living pastors — beginning with the Supreme Pontiff and the diocesan Bishop.

Lord God, Good Shepherd of our souls, who gave to your Church, in every hour of her pilgrimage, pastors after your own Heart to lead, teach and sanctify your people: grant us to venerate worthily the holy Pastors whom the Liturgy proposes to us today, to imitate their charity for the souls entrusted to them and their zeal for the doctrine received from the Apostles.

Through their intercession, sustain the Supreme Pontiff (N.), successor of St Peter, on the rock of the faith; our diocesan Bishop (N.), in the courage of good governance; all the priests of our parish, in the sanctity of life which makes fruitful their action; and our catechists and lay formators, in fidelity to the Magisterium.

May the Church, in this century as in all, never lack holy pastors.

Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be.