St.

Thomas Aquinas
Creator of all things,
true source of light and wisdom,
origin of all being,
graciously let a ray of your light penetrate
the darkness of my understanding.
Take from me the double darkness
in which I have been born,
an obscurity of sin and ignorance.
Give me a keen understanding,
a retentive memory, and
the ability to grasp things
correctly and fundamentally.
Grant me the talent
of being exact in my explanations
and the ability to express myself
with thoroughness and charm.
Point out the beginning,
direct the progress,
and help in the completion.
I ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
(St. Pope John Paul II, pray for us!)

Another version
Come, Holy Spirit, Divine Creator,
true source of light and fountain of wisdom!
Pour forth your brilliance upon my dense intellect,
dissipate the darkness which covers me,
that of sin and of ignorance.
Grant me a penetrating mind to understand,
a retentive memory,
method and ease in learning,
the lucidity to comprehend,
and abundant grace in expressing myself.

Guide the beginning of my work,

direct its progress,
and bring it to successful completion.
This I ask through Jesus Christ,
true God and true man,
living and reigning with You
and the Father, forever and ever.
Amen.

PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of
Your love.
V. Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created. R. And You shall renew the
face of the earth.
Let us pray: Lord, by the light of the Holy Spirit, You have taught the hearts of
Your faithful. In the same Spirit, help us to relish what is right and always to
rejoice in Your consolation. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Every time you say this prayer, you can gain a partial indulgence
PRAYER BEFORE STUDYING
O Lord God and Heavenly Father, bestow upon us the gift of Your Holy Spirit, that
enlightened by Him, we may understand aright and may keep in mind all that we
may learn, and may both begin and end all things well, to Thy glory, and in the
name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
PRAYER BEFORE STUDYING II
Incomprehensible Creator, the true Fountain of light and only Author of all
knowledge: deign, we beseech Thee, to enlighten our understanding, and to
remove from us all darkness of sin and ignorance. Thou, who make eloquent the
tongues of those who lack speech, direct our tongues, and pour on our lips the
grace of thy blessing. Give us a diligent and obedient spirit, quickness of
comprehension, capacity of retaining, and the powerful assistance of Thy holy
grace; that what we hear or learn we may apply to Thy honor and the eternal
salvation of our own souls.
Amen.
PRAYER AFTER STUDYING
We give You thanks, merciful God, for the instruction and direction which we have
received. Grant us Your grace, that we may remember the lesson and carry it into
action, for Your glory and our eternal salvation. We beg You, pour forth You
blessings upon our parents and superiors, our teachers and benefactors, and
reward them abundantly for all the good which they have been the means of
bringing to us. Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

PRAYER ASKING FOR LIGHT IN OUR STUDIES

O King of glory, Lord of hosts, who triumphantly ascended into heaven, leave us
not as orphans, but send us the Promised of the Father, the Spirit of Truth. We
implore You, O Lord, that the Holy Spirit, the Counsellor Who proceeds from You,
may enlighten our souls, and infuse into them all truth, as Your Son has promised.
O God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, grant us according to the riches of Your
glory, that Christ, by faith, may dwell in our hearts, and that we may
acknowledge the love of Christ, surpassing all knowledge. Through the same
Christ our Lord.
Amen.
PRAYER TO THE SACRED HEAD OF JESUS
Wisdom of the Sacred Head, guide me in all my ways.
O Love of the Sacred Heart, consume me with Thy fire.
(Say three Glory Be's in honour of the Divine Will, Memory, and Understanding.)
O Seat of Divine Wisdom, and guiding Power, which governs all the motions and
love of the Sacred Heart, may all minds know Thee, all hearts love Thee, and all
tongues praise Thee, now and for evermore.
Amen.
PRAYER OF STUDENTS TO MARY, SEAT OF WISDOM
Under your patronage, dear Mother, and calling on the mystery of your
Immaculate Conception, I desire to pursue my studies and my literary works: I
hereby solemnly declare that I am giving myself to these studies chiefly with the
following goal: that I may the better contribute to the glory of God and to the
promotion of your veneration among men. I ask you, therefore, most loving
Mother, who are the Seat of Wisdom, to bless my work in your loving-kindness. I
also promise with true affection and a willing spirit, as it is right that I should do,
to ascribe all the good that shall come to me from my studies, wholly to your
intercession for me in God's holy presence.
Amen.
CONSECRATION OF STUDENTS TO MARY, SEAT OF WISDOM
O Mary, Seat of Wisdom, so many persons of common intellect have made
through your intercession admirable progress in their studies.
I hereby choose You as guardian and patron of my studies. I humbly ask You to
obtain for me the grace of the Holy Spirit, so that from now on I could understand
more quickly, retain more readily, and express myself more fluently.
May the example of my life serve to honor You and your Son, Jesus.
Amen.
PRAYER TO MARY FOR A GOOD MIND
by Fr. A. Hanrion, S.J.

O Mary, my Mother, I offer you my soul, my mind, and my heart. Make of me

God's instrument.
Give me a penetrating mind to discover, firm to judge, open to understand, free
to serve the truth; an honest mind in telling what it sees rather than what it
wants to see; a tolerant mind which does not dictate to other people, but which
explain what it sees clearly; a mind infused by the light and the truth of your Son
Jesus, patient in faith, while waiting for the vision of eternal life.
Amen.
PRAYER TO ST. THOMAS AQUINAS, FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOLS.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, you are called by Holy Mother Church, the Angel of the
Schools. Your wisdom, gathered through long meditation from the source of all
wisdom, the most holy Trinity, has long been a shining light in the Catholic
Church. Ignorance of the things of God is a darkness now enveloping the minds of
many of our countrymen. In this darkness, we need an angel like you who will
protect, foster, and nourish the schools we have, and guide and strengthen us in
establishing and building newer and more adequate schools for the instruction of
our children in the ways of Christ.
Help and bless the generous sisters, brothers, and priests who labor so
unselfishly in the classroom to spread the knowledge of Christ. Inspire our
Catholic men and women to be most generous in the support of the schools we
have. Grant to parents the wise generosity they need to give their child back to
God when that child wishes to follow a priestly or religious vocation. Help us,
Saint Thomas, Angel of the Schools, to understand what you taught, and to follow
your example.
Amen.
http://catholicyouth.freeservers.com/school/thomas_aquinas.htm
Latin original

English translation

Creator ineffbilis, qui de thesuris sapinti O Creator ineffable, who of the riches of Thy wisdom
tu tres Angelrum hiearchas designsti et
didst appoint three hierarchies of Angels and didst set
eas super clum empreum miro rdine
them in wondrous order over the highest heavens,
collocsti, atque univrsi partes elegantssime and who didst apportion the elements of the world
distribusti: Tu, inquam, qui verus fons lminis et most wisely: do Thou, who art in truth the fountain of
sapinti dceris ac superminens princpium, light and wisdom, deign to shed upon the darkness of
infndere dignris super intellctus mei
my understanding the rays of Thine infinite
tnebras tu rdium clarittis, dplices, in
brightness, and remove far from me the twofold
quibus natus sum, a me rmovens tnebras,
darkness in which I was born, namely, sin and
pecctum sclicet et ignorntiam. Tu, qui linguas ignorance. Do Thou, who givest speech to the
infntium facis disrtas, linguam meam erudias tongues of little children, instruct my tongue and pour
atque in lbiis meis gratiam tu benedictinis into my lips the grace of Thy benediction. Give me
infndas. Da mihi intelligndi acmen, retinndi keenness of apprehension, capacity for
capacittem, addiscndi modum et facilittem, remembering, method and ease in learning, insight in
interpretndi subtilittem, loqundi grtiam
interpretation, and copious eloquence in speech.
copisam. Ingrssum nstruas, progrssum
Instruct my beginning, direct my progress, and set
drigas, egrssum cmpleas. Tu, qui es verus Thy seal upon the finished work, Thou, who art true

Deus et Homo, qui vivis et regnas in scula

sculrum. Amen

God and true Man, who livest and reignest world

without end. Amen