St. Thomas’s Prayer Before Study

Ineffable Creator, who from the treasury of Thy wisdom didst appoint three hierarchies of Angels and set them in wondrous order over the highest heavens, and who didst distribute the parts of the universe most elegantly:

1. Do Thou, who are rightly called the fountain of light and wisdom and supereminent principle, deign to pour a ray of Thy brightness upon the darkness of my intellect, removing from me the twofold darkness in which I was born, namely, sin and ignorance.
2. Thou, who makest eloquent the tongues of infants, instruct my tongue, and pour onto my lips the grace of Thy blessing.
3. Give me sharpness of understanding, capacity for remembering, method and ease in learning, subtlety of interpreting, and copious grace of speaking.
4. Prepare the beginning, direct the progress, and perfect the ending.

Thou who are truly God and Man, who livest and reignest forever and ever. Amen.