N.B. This is taken from the Roman Ritual and forms part
of the ceremony for the reception of converts.
I, NNNNNNN, xxx (xx) years of age, born outside the Catholic
Church have held and believed errors contrary to her teaching.
Now, enlightened by divine grace, having before my eyes and
touching with my hands the Holy Gospels; and with a firm faith
I believe and profess each and all the articles that are 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,
born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was
crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell, the
third day He rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven
and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from
thence He will 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 which is still 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,
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 Mass is
offered to God a true, real, and propitiatory sacrifice for
the living and the dead; 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 there
takes place what the Church calls transubstantiation, that is
the change of all the substance of bread into Body and all substance
of wine into 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 profess firmly that the images of Jesus Christ and 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 St. Peter, Prince
of the Apostles, and vicar of Jesus Christ.
Besides, I accept, without hesitation, and profess all that
has been handed down, defined, and declared by the Sacred Canons
and by the general Councils, especially by the Sacred Council
of Trent and by the Vatican General Council (i.e., Vatican I),
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, which 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
life; and I shall strive, as far as possible, that this same
faith shall be held, taught, and publicly professed by all those
who depend on me and by those of whom I shall have charge.
So help me God and these Holy Gospels.