The Litany of the Saints (Latin, Litania Sanctorum) is a sacred prayer of the Roman Catholic Church. It is a prayer of invocation to the Triune God, and prayers for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Angels and all the martyrs and saints upon whom Christianity was founded. It is most prominently sung during the Paschal Vigil at the beginning of Sacraments of Initiation for those to be received that night into the Church, in other celebrations of the Sacrament of Baptism (the first of the Sacraments of Initiation,) and in the liturgy for Holy Orders.

The names of the Saints to be invoked appear in the Church’s Martyrology.

It is illicit to invoke the names of those whom the Church has not admitted to the list of those canonized or beatified (though in practice, many spurious or fabricated names are sometimes sung in defiance of this rubric, and one well known published version includes Origen, a theologian of the Church not qualified for public veneration.)

The order in which people are invoked is as follows:

(1) Our Lady, the Virgin Mary
(2) The Angels
(3) Patriarchs and Prophets including St John the Baptist, and always concluding with Our Lady's spouse, Saint Joseph)
(4) The Apostles and Disciples of the Lord
(5) Martyrs
(6) Bishops and Doctors of the Church
(7) Priests and Religious
(8) Laity

In the Latin language version of the Litany, the names of one or more saints are chanted by a cantor or choir, and the congregants reply with either, Ora pro nobis (if one saint is addressed) or Orate pro nobis the plural imperative of the verb, (if more than one saint is addressed). Both responses translate to "Pray for us." However, it is permissible to personalize the Litany of Saints for a funeral rite or other Mass for the dead, and this was famously done during the funeral of Pope John Paul II, the response was Ora[te] pro eo, or "Pray for him."

Following the invocation of the saints, the Litany concludes with a series of supplications to God to hear the prayers of the worshipers.

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