Hi, I’m the person who prays for souls of deceased priests that s. cono mentioned. It’s great that your friend wants to pray for deceased priests. They do need prayers as I understand God holds priests and religious to a higher standard and may send them to Purgatory more than lay persons. There are also saints and persons on the sainthood path who focused on praying for the souls of priests and religious. So it’s a fine thing to do.
First, I note that you can pray for priests’ souls the same way you’d pray for a lay person’s soul, by saying Rosaries, Divine Mercy chaplets, or other prayers of your choice for them, by going to Mass and offering your Mass and Holy Communion for them, by earning indulgences to help their souls in Purgatory, etc. Just tell Jesus you want the benefits of your prayers to go to the souls of deceased priests, or to a specific priest’s soul, or one from a category (like a deceased priest from USA, or from a certain diocese, or from a certain order, etc.). Also remember that St. Jean Vianney, the patron saint of parish priests, said that it’s important to pray for the living too, so don’t forget to pray for priests who are still alive. You obviously can’t get indulgences for living priests, but you could offer any other form of prayer.
If you Google “Prayer for Priests” you will find some different prayers for priests you can say daily. Also, the Precious Blood chaplet, a meditation on Jesus’ Blood, is often offered for priests. There are several versions of Precious Blood chaplet; some are said on a regular rosary and some use a chaplet with a Sacred Heart medal at the end instead of a crucifix. Any one of them can be used to pray for priests. I think there are some groups of Dominican Sisters and Handmaids of the Precious Blood who pray a lot for priests and they will come up if you Google something like Precious Blood Prayer for Priests.
There is also a devotion for the souls of priests that is part of the Flame of Love movement, a devotion based on private revelation. The revelations themselves are not yet approved, but the devotion is approved by a number of bishops including Archbishop Chaput in USA and bishops in Central Europe and South America. This is a really popular devotion around Philadelphia and almost every parish has a Flame of Love prayer group and they hold big retreats and events. The devotion for priests’ souls consists of fasting on bread and water each Monday till 6 pm and then if you want to eat after 6 pm you pray a rosary for the Holy Souls on that day. I do this devotion for one deceased priest a week so awhile back I was collecting names of deceased priests to pray for and I got so many I now have enough priests for about the next 2 years of weekly devotions. For more info, visit
flameoflove.us or if you’re outside the US try
theflameoflove.org .
I hope this helps to get you started praying for priests. God bless.
