Ora pro nobis

Ora pro nobis is what Catholics say to the saints, and it says exactly what the Church means by praying “to” them: pray for us. It is the response in the Litany of the Saints (“Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis”) and the ending of the Hail Mary, “pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.” Because the saints are alive in God and their charity is perfected, the Catechism says, they do not cease to intercede for us; asking them is no different in kind from asking a friend to pray, and takes nothing from Christ, through whom all prayer reaches the Father. When addressing several saints, the response is orate pro nobis, “pray for us.”