Anima Christi at a Catholic wedding
Anima Christi is a prayer about not being parted from the one you love. Couples planning a Nuptial Mass meet it at the Communion, the one stretch of the liturgy where the parish has ruled out anything secular and Ave Maria is already spoken for. Marco Frisina’s setting of the Latin is the version we are asked for most.
Our quintet singing Frisina’s Anima Christi. Hear more recordings.
The prayer is older than its reputation
Anima Christi appears in manuscripts from around 1300, two centuries before St Ignatius of Loyola put it at the front of the Spiritual Exercises. Most people still credit Ignatius with writing it. He recognised a good prayer and handed it to his order, and the Jesuits carried it across the Catholic world.
You move through a run of short petitions — sanctify me, save me, wash me, strengthen me, hear me — and then reach the line couples notice: Ne permittas me separari a te. Never let me be parted from you. The prayer addresses Christ. Sung twenty minutes after you have made a promise in almost those words, in front of everyone you know, it also sounds like a line about your marriage.
Frisina’s setting
Monsignor Marco Frisina is a priest of the Diocese of Rome. He founded the diocesan choir that sings at the great liturgies in the city and ran the Vicariate’s office for sacred music for years, alongside writing scores for Italian television’s biblical films. English-speaking parishes sing his Anima Christi more than anything else he wrote.
He keeps the Latin and gives it a long, unhurried melody that sits in a comfortable part of the voice, so no singer has to reach for it. The harmony underneath is plain. He wrote the piece for parish forces, which is why it holds up with one voice and an organ, and why adding singers deepens it instead of making it louder.
Where it goes in a Nuptial Mass
It goes at the Communion. Anima Christi is one of the prayers of thanksgiving after Mass printed in the Roman Missal, so at a wedding Mass it belongs during the distribution or straight after. That is also the longest unscripted gap in the service, and the one your organist fills with an improvisation when nobody has chosen anything for it.
If you are also laying flowers at the Lady altar, keep Ave Maria for that and let Anima Christi cover the Communion. The two moments sit about five minutes apart and do different jobs: one is a devotion to Our Lady, the other is the whole church praying after receiving.
For a wedding outside Mass, which is usual when one of you is not Catholic, there is no Communion. The piece then works during the signing of the register, where you need three or four minutes of music and the congregation has nothing to do. Our guide to wedding ceremony music sets out the full running order, and choosing wedding hymns covers what the congregation sings.
Why the parish will say yes
Parishes vary in how much they police wedding music, and some dioceses ask to approve the list in advance. A Latin liturgical text set by a serving Roman priest clears that test. No parish has yet queried it with us.
Couples reach us three weeks out, after a priest has turned down a film theme or a pop ballad, needing a replacement the parish will not refuse as well. Anima Christi answers that without feeling like second best, which is why we suggest it when a couple is in that position.
The line about death
Know one thing before you commit to it. Towards the end the text asks in hora mortis meae voca me — in the hour of my death, call me — and then, bid me come to you.
Some couples hear the strongest available reading of the promise they have made, the thought behind “till death do us part” turned around and pointed at God. Others would rather nothing at their wedding mentioned death. Both reactions are reasonable, and we would rather you decided now than found out from the order of service.
Who sings it, and what it costs
Anima Christi can be sung as a hymn, and some parishes sing it that way at Sunday Mass. At a wedding it is normally the choir or a soloist, with the congregation listening through the Communion rather than joining in.
Three sets of forces work. A soloist with an organist starts from £450 and carries the melody alone, which suits a small church or a short Mass. Four singers add harmony from £1,150 and cover your hymns and responses as well. The quintet in the recording above starts from £1,400: the second soprano frees one voice for the melody while the other four support it, and that is the version most couples pick once they have heard it. The full table is on our pricing page.
We bring our own copies, rehearse in the church before your guests arrive, and speak to your parish organist or director of music beforehand so that nobody is improvising on the day. If you want the piece in English, or transposed for a particular singer, say so early and we will have it written.
The companion to this article is our guide to Anima Christi at a Catholic funeral, which covers the same piece in the other service families ask for it at.
Frequently asked questions
Is Anima Christi allowed at a Catholic wedding?
Yes. The text is a Latin prayer of the Roman rite, printed in the Missal among the prayers of thanksgiving after Mass, and Marco Frisina is a priest of the Diocese of Rome. Parishes that refuse secular music accept it without discussion. Send your priest the full music list anyway, because some dioceses ask to see it in advance.
Where does Anima Christi go in a Catholic wedding?
During Communion, or immediately after it. Anima Christi is a prayer of thanksgiving after Communion, so that is where it belongs in a Nuptial Mass. At a wedding outside Mass there is no Communion, and the piece works during the signing of the register instead.
Does the congregation sing Anima Christi, or the choir?
The choir or a soloist. It can be sung as a hymn, and some parishes do, but at a Catholic wedding the congregation normally listens to it through the Communion. A soloist with an organist starts from £450, a quartet from £1,150, and the quintet in the recording on this page from £1,400.
Send us your running order
Tell us which church you are marrying in and what the parish has already agreed to. Luca will come back with a recording of Anima Christi in the forces you are considering, an honest view on where it should sit in your Mass, and a written quote.
Text us on WhatsApp for the fastest reply, or call us on 07356 042468.