ABJURATION AND PROFESSION OF THE FAITH

I, (say your full name here), ___ years of age, born outside the Catholic Church, have held and believed errors contrary to her teaching. Now, enlightened by Divine Grace, I kneel before Thee, Reverend Father ________, [omit if no true Priest is available], having before my eyes and touching with my hand the Holy Gospels.

And with firm faith, I believe and profess each and all the articles contained in the Apostles’ Creed, that is: I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth; and in Jesus Christ , His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, crucified, died, and was buried; He descended into Hell, the third day He arose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the Holy Catholic Church; the communion of Saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

I admit and embrace most firmly the apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions and all the other constitutions and prescriptions of the Church. I admit the Sacred Scriptures according to the sense which has been held and is held by Holy Mother Church, whose duty it is to judge the true sense and interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures, and I shall never accept or interpret them except according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers.

I profess that the sacraments of the New Law are, truly and precisely, seven in number, instituted for the salvation of mankind, though all are not necessary for each individual:

Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.

I profess that all confer grace, and that of these, Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders cannot be repeated without sacrilege.

I also accept and admit the ritual of the Catholic Church in the solemn administration of all the above-mentioned Sacraments.

I accept and hold, in each and every part, all that has been defined and declared by the Sacred Council of Trent concerning Original Sin and Justification. I profess that in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist is really, truly and substantially the Body and Blood together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that there takes place what the Church calls transubstantiation; that is, the change of all the substance of the bread into the Body of Christ and of all the substance of wine into the Blood. I confess also that in receiving under either of these species one receives Jesus Christ, whole and entire.

I firmly hold that Purgatory exists and that the souls detained there can be helped by the prayers of the faithful. Likewise, I hold that the Saints, who reign with Jesus Christ, should be venerated and invoked, that they offer prayers to God for us and that their relics are to be venerated.

I firmly profess that the images of Jesus Christ and of the Mother of God, ever Virgin, as well as of all the saints, should be given due honour and veneration. I also affirm that Jesus Christ left to the Church the faculty to grant indulgences, and that their use is most salutary to the Christian people. I recognize the Holy, Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Church as the mother and teacher of all the churches, and I promise and swear true obedience to the Roman Pontiff, successor of Saint Peter, Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Jesus Christ.

Besides, I accept, without hesitation, and profess all that has been handed down, defined, declared by the Sacred Canons and by the general Councils, especially by the Sacred Council of Trent and by the Vatican General Council, and in a special manner concerning the primacy and infallibility of the Roman Pontiff. At the same time, I condemn and reprove all that the Church has condemned and reproved. This same Catholic Faith, outside of which nobody can be saved, I now freely profess and to which I truly adhere, the same I promise and swear to maintain and profess with the help of God, entire, inviolate and with firm constancy until the last breath of my life; and I shall strive, as far as possible, that this same Faith shall be held, taught, and publicly professed by all who depend on me and by those of whom I shall have charge. So help me God and these Holy Gospels.

The convert remains kneeling, and the priest, still seated, says the Miserere (Psalm 50) or the De Profundis (Psalm 129), adding Gloria Patri at the end:

Psalm 50

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to thy great mercy.

And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies,

blot out my iniquity.

Wash me yet more from my iniquity:

and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my iniquity:

and my sin is always before me.

To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee:

that thou mayst be justified in thy words, and mayst overcome

when thou art judged.

For, behold, I was conceived in iniquities:

and in sins did my mother conceive me.

For behold, thou hast loved truth:

the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me.

Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed:

thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.

To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness:

and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice.

Turn away thy face from my sins:

and blot out all my iniquities.

Create a clean heart in me, O God:

and renew a right spirit within my bowels.

Cast me not away from thy face:

and take not thy holy spirit from me.

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation:

and strengthen me with a perfect spirit.

I will teach the unjust thy ways:

and the wicked shall be converted to thee.

Deliver me from blood, O God, thou God of my salvation:

and my tongue shall extol thy justice.

O Lord, thou wilt open my lips:

and my mouth shall declare thy praise.

For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it:

with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted.

A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit:

a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Deal favourably, O Lord, in thy good will with Sion:

That the walls of Jerusalem may be built up.

Then shalt thou accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and whole burnt offerings:

then shall they lay calves upon thy altar.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Amen.

PSALM 129

Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord:

Lord, hear my voice:

Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.

If thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities:

Lord, who shall stand it?

For with thee there is merciful forgiveness:

and by reason of thy law, I have waited for thee, O Lord.

My soul hath relied on his word:

My soul hath hoped in the Lord.

From the morning watch even until night:

let Israel hope in the Lord.

Because with the Lord there is mercy:

And with him plentiful redemption.

And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Amen.

One should recite it on Sundays and the feast days. This hymn is not sung in the Church during the Lent and Advent season, except when certain feasts occur within them.

The priest, standing, now says:

Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, have mercy on us.

Lord, have mercy on us.

Our Father (inaudibly until)

V. And lead us not into temptation.

R. But deliver us from evil.

V. Preserve thy servant (handmaid).

R. Who trusts in thee, my God 

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.

R.And let my cry come unto thee.

V. The Lord be with thee.

R.And with thy spirit.

V. Let us pray.

     O God, whose nature it is ever to show mercy and to spare, receive our petition, that this thy servant (handmaid) bound by the fetters of excommunication may, by thy sweet forgiveness, be pardoned. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, forever and ever. Amen.