Mass Intention Examples

For Someone Who Has Died §

When you ask for a Mass for someone who has died, the usual words are “for the repose of the soul of.” Repose means rest: you’re praying that the one who died may rest in God’s peace. The Church has offered the Eucharist for the dead from the beginning, “so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God” (Catechism, 1032). The person needn’t have been Catholic (canon 901).

Soon After a Death

• For the repose of the soul of [Name]
• For [Name], recently deceased
• For [Name], one month after her death

On an Anniversary

The Roman Missal singles out the first anniversary, with the news of a death and the burial, as a time for a Mass for the dead (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 381).

• For the repose of the soul of [Name], on the first anniversary of his death
• For [Name], on the tenth anniversary of his death

A Birthday in Heaven

Some people call a day like this a birthday in heaven: the birthday of someone who has died, or the anniversary of the death. Tell the office which day you mean, and put it plainly:

• For the repose of the soul of [Name], on his birthday
• For [Name], on what would have been his eightieth birthday

For More Than One Person

Some parishes let one intention name more than one person, such as a husband and wife, a brother and sister, or all your relatives who have died,¹² so ask how yours counts.

• For the repose of the souls of [Name] and [Name]
• For the deceased members of the Smith family

If you’d like a Mass for each, ask for each.

For Someone Living §

You don’t need a crisis to ask for a Mass for someone living. A Mass may be offered for the living as fully as for the dead (canon 901), and the Eucharist is offered “to obtain spiritual or temporal benefits from God” (Catechism, 1414). One common form is “for the intentions of” the person,³ the wording many Mass cards for the living carry too.⁴

For Health, Illness or Surgery

• For the health of [Name]
• For [Name], facing surgery

On a Birthday

• For the intentions of [Name], on her ninetieth birthday
• For [Name], on his eighteenth birthday

For a New Baby

• For [Name], newly born, and for her parents
• For [Name] and her baby, due in May

For a Marriage or an Anniversary

• For [Name] and [Name], on their wedding day
• For [Name] and [Name], on their fiftieth wedding anniversary

For Exams or Travel

• For [Name], as he takes the bar exam
• For the safe travel of [Name] and [Name]
• For [Name], serving overseas

For a Priest or a Vocation

• For Father [Name], on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his ordination
• For the intentions of Father [Name]
• For the priests of our parish
• For vocations to the priesthood and religious life

In Thanksgiving §

When a prayer has been answered, a Mass in thanksgiving is the Mass doing what its name says: “Eucharist means first of all ‘thanksgiving’” (Catechism, 1360).

• In thanksgiving for the recovery of [Name]
• In thanksgiving for a favor received
• In thanksgiving for [Name] and [Name]’s fifty years of marriage
• In thanksgiving for favors received through the intercession of St. Jude

If a saint’s prayers helped, write “through the intercession of” rather than “in thanksgiving to St. Jude.” The Church celebrates Masses in honor of the saints, but as the Council of Trent taught, the sacrifice is not offered to them “but unto God alone, who crowned them” (Session XXII, chapter 3).

What Is a Special Intention? §

Write “for a special intention” when there’s something you’re praying for that you’d rather not say. Canon law speaks of a Mass applied “for a particular intention” (canon 945 §1, our translation), and nothing in it requires you to say what yours is. The priest doesn’t have to know either: his intention, as Fr. Edward McNamara, a professor of liturgy, has written, is “essentially a spiritual and internal act,” and it can be enough for him to know that one was asked for and to celebrate the Mass “according to the intention of the donor.”⁵

• For a special intention
• For the special intention of [Name]
• For [Name], a special intention
• For a private intention

“Private intention” means much the same, and is sometimes used when you’d rather not have even the name known: one cathedral offers it “if you do not want the recipient known.”⁶ The Mass is the same either way: as Fr. McNamara puts it, publishing an intention “neither adds nor subtracts from its efficacy.”⁵

Parishes use “special intention” in other ways too. Some use it when a Mass is asked for something rather than someone, such as peace or vocations.⁷² At least one keeps a weekly list of “special intentions,” names remembered together in the Prayer of the Faithful.¹ That is real prayer, but it isn’t a Mass applied for that person, and in 2025 the Holy See told bishops and pastors to make the difference plain to everyone (decree of 13 April 2025, Art. 4 §2, in Italian). If it’s a Mass you want, say so when you ask.

For the Souls in Purgatory §

You don’t have to name anyone. “The Eucharistic sacrifice is also offered for the faithful departed who ‘have died in Christ but are not yet wholly purified,’ so that they may be able to enter into the light and peace of Christ” (Catechism, 1371).

• For the Holy Souls in Purgatory
• For all the faithful departed
• For the souls in Purgatory who have no one to pray for them

For the Church, the Pope or Your Country §

An intention needn’t be a person. The Roman Missal has Masses for the Church, the Pope, priests, vocations, the nation, peace, the sick, the harvest and much else, and, as Fr. McNamara says, a Catholic may ask for “practically any worthwhile or good and holy intention.”⁸ The intention doesn’t decide which Mass is said: the priest may offer the day’s own Mass for it.⁸

• For the Church
• For the intentions of the Holy Father
• For our country
• For peace
• For persecuted Christians
• For rain, and for the farmers of our county

What to Leave Off §

Leave off anything longer than a line. Many parishes print the intention in the bulletin or read it aloud, at the start of Mass or in the Prayer of the Faithful,⁵ so write words you’d be glad to hear read out. A personal message belongs on a Mass card (what to write in one).

Don’t pile names onto one line when each is meant to have its own Mass. Each offering given and accepted is owed a separate Mass (canon 948), so say how many you’re asking for: “for [Name], [Name] and [Name]” could be one Mass for all three, or three Masses. And a name can’t simply be added to a Mass someone else has asked for: that Mass is already promised to them (one Mass, one intention).

Leave off anything that isn’t fitting as the intention of a Mass. Fr. McNamara’s example is a Mass for a favorite team to win its league: fine for your own prayers, but a request a priest may gently decline.⁸

Before You Give a Living Person’s Name §

Many parishes post the bulletin online, where anyone who searches a name can find it. (In some bulletins, a small cross beside a name means the person has died.³) Before you give a living person’s illness as the reason, ask whether they’d want it known. “For the intentions of [Name],” or “For a special intention,” is just as complete a request (names in the bulletin).

What to Tell the Office §

When you call or stop by, have these ready:

• the name, spelled as it should be written
• whether the person is living or has died
• the occasion, if you want it known
• the date that matters, and whether a nearby day would do
• whether you’d like a Mass card
• your own name and a way to reach you

It’s customary to give an offering when you ask. If you can’t, ask anyway: priests are urged to offer Mass for people’s intentions even when nothing has been given (canon 945 §2). The office will tell you which dates are still open (how to ask, step by step).