Anima Christi sanctifica me

This celebrated Latin devotion of unknown authorship dates to at least the fourteenth century and appears in early printed volumes such as the Heures a l'usage de Lengres and the Hortulus Animae (Lyons, 1516). Though historically associated with Saint Ignatius of Loyola due to its appearance in his Spiritual Exercises, the prayer pre-dates his birth in 1491. The text gained immense popularity in both prose and verse renderings across Western Christianity. Prominent English metrical paraphrases include Matthew Bridges's "Soul of Jesus, once for me" (1849), James A. Chadwick's "Soul of Jesus, make me pure" (1867), Edward A. Dayman's "Soul of Christ, my soul make pure" (1872), and T. I. Ball's "Sanctify me wholly, Soul of Christ adored" (1877). Additional Catholic versions include John Henry Newman's Oratory translation and Joseph Reeks's "Soul of my Saviour, sanctify my breast." The Latin text was also translated into German by Johann Scheffler in 1657 as "Die Seele Christi heil'ge mich," which subsequently inspired English translations by John Wesley (1741) and Matthias Loy (1880).