Free guide · Sacrament of Penance · cited to the Catechism

How to Make an Examination of Conscience — The Complete Catholic Guide

What it is, how to do it in five to ten minutes, the nightly version, the Ten Commandments framework, and the questions a man should actually ask — every doctrinal claim cited to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

By 1765 Sanctum Co. · Updated September 28, 2026

An examination of conscience is the prayerful review of your thoughts, words, deeds, and omissions against God's moral law before confession (CCC 1454). It takes five to ten minutes: ask the Holy Spirit for light, walk the Ten Commandments, name what you find, and end with the Act of Contrition. The free Sanctum tool guides it in more than 120 cited prompts.

What Is an Examination of Conscience?

An examination of conscience is the prayerful review of your thoughts, words, deeds, and omissions against God's moral law and the duties of your state of life. It is the Church's ordinary preparation for the Sacrament of Penance — and, practiced nightly, the discipline that forms a Catholic conscience.

Confession “ought to be prepared for” — and the Catechism names the preparation: an examination of conscience. Read CCC 1454 in full at vatican.va Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1454

The Latin editio typica names the Decalogue explicitly (“in Decalogo quaerendi”), and the Catechism elsewhere confirms the framework: “Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments” (CCC 1858).

Notice the Catechism does not merely permit the practice — it directs it (“ought to be prepared for”), and it names the syllabus: the moral teaching of the Gospels and of the apostles’ letters, the Sermon on the Mount among them — with the Decalogue named in the Latin text (CCC 1454 in the Latin editio typica; CCC 1858). The U.S. bishops publish their own examination of conscience on the same Commandments framework. Section four of this guide walks that exact framework.

Why does the Church insist on it? Because conscience only speaks to a man who goes inside to hear it. The Catechism warns that life often draws us away from reflection and from looking inward, and closes the paragraph with St. Augustine:

“Return to your conscience, question it…” Read CCC 1779 in full at vatican.va St. Augustine, In ep Jo. 8, 9 — quoted in CCC 1779

Augustine preached that to men who never held a smartphone. The distraction the Catechism names now has a trillion-dollar industry behind it — the feed, the score, the inbox, each engineered to make sure you are never alone with your own soul. Five minutes of interior silence before God has become a counter-cultural act. The first prompt in our own examination names the enemy plainly: did prayer get pushed to “after” until “after” never came? If that question stings, the free Rule of Life field manual exists to rebuild the structure underneath it.

And where do you stand while you look? The Word of God is the light for the path, and we examine our conscience “before the Lord's Cross” (CCC 1785). Not before your ideals, your father's expectations, or your own ambition — before the crucifix, where mercy and justice meet in the same gaze.

One muscle, two trainings. The Church gives the examination two distinct uses: the focused review before confession (CCC 1454) — next section — and the brief nightly examen that keeps the account short between confessions — the section after. Learn both. They feed each other.

What Are the Different Types of Examination of Conscience?

The tradition hands down one discipline in several forms. Each type below is the same muscle — what changes is the timing and the aim.

How Do You Make an Examination of Conscience Before Confession?

Go somewhere quiet, ask the Holy Spirit for light, review the time since your last confession against the Ten Commandments, name what you find — mortal sins by kind and number — stir real contrition, and get to confession soon. For a regular confession, five to ten minutes is enough.

  1. Go somewhere quiet and ask for light. The examination is prayer, not paperwork. Silence the phone. Then ask the Holy Spirit to show you the truth — neither flattered nor exaggerated. The petition our tool opens with:
    “Holy Spirit, give me the light to see this day truly. Show me what You showed me. Show me where I refused You. Show me where I served You. Strip the self-flattery. Strip the self-condemnation. Show me only what is true.” The Sanctum Examination — petition prayer (cf. Ps 138:23–24 (139:23–24))
  2. Set the timeframe: since your last confession. Not your whole life — that is a general confession, a different and rarer exercise. If it has been years, welcome back; give it twenty-five minutes, not ten, and tell the priest up front how long it has been. He will help you.
  3. Walk a framework, not your mood. Memory unaided will hand you the two sins you already feel bad about and hide the ones you have made peace with. Walk the Ten Commandments — the Church's own framework (CCC 1454 in the Latin editio typica; CCC 1858), the same one the USCCB's published Ten Commandments examination follows (the full framework is below). For a deeper inventory, use the seven capital sins, the classification the Church received through St. John Cassian and St. Gregory the Great (CCC 1866), or the Beatitudes.
  4. Name mortal sins by kind and number. The standard is concrete, not vague:

    Every mortal sin you are aware of after an honest examination must be confessed — the Council of Trent adds, “even if they are most secret” (CCC 1456, quoting Trent, Session XIV; read it in full at vatican.va).

    Canon law states the same measure: the faithful are “obliged to confess in kind and number all grave sins committed after baptism . . . of which the person has knowledge after diligent examination of conscience” (Code of Canon Law, can. 988 §1). “I've been impatient” is a weather report; “I missed Sunday Mass twice without grave reason” is a confession. Venial sins need not be confessed in this way — but confessing them is “strongly recommended by the Church” (CCC 1458).
  5. Include what you failed to do. Omissions are sins: “To him therefore who knoweth to do good, and doth it not, to him it is sin.” (Jas 4:17). The family prayer you did not lead. The mercy you did not give. The truth you did not defend. The call you did not make. Our tool gives sins of omission their own prompts, because the Lord judges what we left undone (Mt 25:42–45).
  6. Stir contrition — then say the Act. The Council of Trent’s teaching on penance calls contrition “a sorrow of mind, and a detestation for sin committed, with the purpose of not sinning for the future” (Session XIV, ch. 4, tr. J. Waterworth, 1848; see CCC 1451). Not a feeling you wait for — a stance you take. Then pray the traditional Act of Contrition:
    “O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.” The Act of Contrition — traditional form
  7. Go to confession soon — don't let the list go stale. The examination is ordered to absolution, not to self-knowledge for its own sake. A discreet note is fine if it helps; destroy it after. If you used the free Sanctum tool, there is nothing to destroy: “Your sins are never stored, synced, or saved. Nothing you mark leaves this page — when you close it, every selection is gone.”

Your lines in the confessional

The penitent's part of the rite:

How long should it take? Four time-bands

How Do You Make a Nightly Examination of Conscience? (The Daily Examen)

Five minutes before bed, five movements: thank God, ask for light, review the day, ask pardon, resolve one concrete amendment. The method is St. Ignatius of Loyola's General Examen (Spiritual Exercises, 43), essentially unchanged for nearly five centuries.

Ignatius's five points, and how the Sanctum tool walks them each night:

  1. Gratitude. Ignatius: give thanks to God our Lord for the benefits received. “In all things give thanks” (1 Thess 5:18). The tool's version: “Name three gifts from today before you name a single failure.” The man who cannot see the gifts cannot examine the failures honestly.
  2. Petition. Ask grace to know your sins and cast them out — the Holy Spirit prayer printed in step one above.
  3. Examination. Review the day hour by hour — first thoughts, then words, then acts, exactly as Ignatius directs. “Let us search our ways, and seek, and return to the Lord.” (Lam 3:40). Where did anger flare? Where did the eyes drift? Where did cowardice keep you silent? Name one moment of grace you accepted and one you refused.
  4. Contrition. Ask pardon for the faults (CCC 1451–1452). If something surfaced that may be grave, note it for confession this week.
  5. Resolution. Purpose amendment with His grace. The tool's discipline: “One moment. One specific choice. Sleep on it.” Tomorrow, at one named moment, you will choose Christ over the easier thing.

Keep the distinction clean — in the tool's own words: “The Daily Examen is not the Sacrament — it is the watch you keep in the in-between days so the Sacrament finds an honest man when its time comes.” And the habit pays into the sacrament directly: the regular confession of venial sins “helps us form our conscience” (CCC 1458). The tool's Daily Examen also knows the liturgical calendar — see today's liturgical day — so the watch you keep is the Church's, not a productivity app's.

What Is the Ten Commandments Examination of Conscience?

It is the classic framework: review your life commandment by commandment. The Catechism directs that confession be prepared for by an examination of conscience “in the light of the Word of God” (CCC 1454) — its Latin editio typica names the Decalogue among the texts best suited to it (“in Decalogo quaerendi”) — and it ties grave matter to the Ten Commandments (CCC 1858). Below, each commandment with real questions from our own examination tool — more than 120 cited prompts.

First Commandment — faith, hope, and worship of God alone

“Did you keep the faith of the Catechism this week — or did you soften it for company? Did you privately disbelieve any defined doctrine of the Church that you were too lazy to study?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2087–2089
“Did you nod where you should have said, ‘I love you, and the Church teaches otherwise’?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2088
Did you consult astrology, tarot, mediums? Did you trust superstition — lucky numbers, “manifestation,” energy work — over Providence?Condensed from the Sanctum Examination · CCC 2110, 2111, 2116, 2117

If a doctrine itself is the sticking point, do not soften it — argue it out. That is what Sed Contra is for, and for objections to the papacy specifically, the papacy debate tree.

Second Commandment — the Holy Name

“Did the Holy Name leave your mouth this week as anything other than a prayer? Jesus Christ as exasperation, God as exclamation, the Lord's Mother named in profanity? Did you laugh at someone else's blasphemy when silence would have testified?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2146–2149

Third Commandment — the Lord's Day

Did you miss Mass on Sunday or a Holy Day of Obligation without grave reason? Did you treat the obligation as optional rather than as the duty the Church, specifying the law of the Lord, binds on the faithful?Adapted from the Sanctum Examination · CCC 2168, 2174, 2180–2181, 2185

And beyond attendance: did you guard the day itself from work, screens, and noise — or treat Sunday as Saturday's overflow? If the Mass has gone flat for you because you cannot follow it, that is fixable: the Mass Guide and the Missal Boot Camp are free.

Fourth Commandment — parents, children, rightful authority

“Did you speak to your parents this week with the honor due to them — even the parent you have grievances against? Did you visit, call, write? If they have died, did you pray for their souls?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2197, 2214, 2215, 2218
“When your child sinned this week, did you correct him in love — or did you correct him in your own anger, lashing where you should have led? Was the correction for his soul — or for your reputation?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2221–2223; Heb 12:6

Fifth Commandment — anger, hatred, drunkenness, scandal

“Did your anger this week have a face? Whose? When did it land, and what did you do with it — speak, withdraw, ruminate, plan the cutting reply? Did you bring it to prayer before you brought it to anyone else?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2302–2303
“Did you cross the line into drunkenness this week — not the social glass, but the line where your judgment, your tongue, your dignity were no longer yours to govern?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2290; Eph 5:18
“Did your example this week lead another into sin — your child, your subordinate, your friend, the stranger who watched you?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2284, 2285, 2287; Mt 18:6

Sixth & Ninth Commandments — chastity, fidelity, purity of heart

“Did you, with deliberate consent, dwell on a woman who is not yours — in image, in fantasy, in the algorithm-fed scroll, in the second look that became a fifth? Did you mistake dwelling for ‘just looking’?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2351, 2520; Mt 5:28

Christ's standard is the heart: “whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Mt 5:28). On pornography the Catechism's judgment is blunt: it “offends against chastity” and “is a grave offense” (CCC 2354). Grave matter is not yet, by itself, a verdict of mortal sin in a particular case — that still requires full knowledge and deliberate consent (CCC 1857) — but no man should gamble his soul on the missing conditions. Name it plainly and bring it to confession.

“Were you faithful to your wife this week — not only in body but in the eyes, the mind, the heart? Did you cherish her the way Christ cherishes the Church, or did you store up resentments you have not brought to her in love?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 1646, 2364–2365

Seventh & Tenth Commandments — justice, theft, covetousness

“Did you take credit this week for work that wasn't yours — or withhold credit due to someone under you?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2434, 2484
“In every transaction this week — wages paid, hours billed, expenses claimed — were you scrupulously fair? Did you pay every man what was owed, without delay, without subtraction?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2434; Jas 5:4
“Did you covet what belonged to another this week — their work, their marriage, their health, their ease? Did the success of another diminish you?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2538–2540

Eighth Commandment — truth, lying, detraction

“Did your tongue cut someone this week without authority and without cause? Detraction is revealing a real fault to those who don't need to know it. Calumny is revealing a false one. Whose name did you damage in conversation — and to whom did you say it, and why?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2477–2479
“Did your tongue tell the truth this week, or the polite lie? The lie to the boss, the half-truth to the friend, the social-media presentation of a life that isn't yours?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2483–2485

This is exactly how the live tool is organized: each of its more than 120 prompts carries its Catechism paragraph numbers — many with Sacred Scripture — and one tap beneath each question sits verified verbatim source text or a precise pointer to the primary source, never a paraphrase. Walk the full framework in the free tool — or print this page and take it to the pew.

What Should a Man Examine? Husband, Father, Work

A man examines his conscience against the duties of his state of life — how he loved and led his wife, formed his children, and dealt justly in his work — because grave duties, not only grave acts, bind the conscience (CCC 2223, 2226; Eph 5:25; 1 Pet 3:7). A generic checklist misses the sins a husband and father actually commits.

As a husband

“When your wife came home this week — tired, carrying the day, carrying the children — did you carry her burdens, or did you add to them? Did you greet her with your phone in your hand, your mood as the room's weather, your silence weaponized? Did she walk in to a husband, or to a man she had to manage?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2363; Eph 5:25
“Were you present with your wife this week — eyes up from the phone, full attention when she spoke? Or did you give her the leftovers of your attention while you gave the world your best?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 1644–1645; 1 Pet 3:7

The measure is Christ's own: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church, and delivered himself up for it” (Eph 5:25). And Scripture ties a husband's prayer life directly to how he treats his wife — “Ye husbands, likewise dwelling with them according to knowledge . . . that your prayers be not hindered” (1 Pet 3:7). Examine accordingly.

As a father

“This week, did you lead family prayer — or did you let it default to your wife, or to no one?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2226
“Did you defer the discipline Christ assigned to you and call it ‘letting her handle it’? Did you fail to correct at all because you were tired, distracted, or staring at a screen?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2221–2223

The Catechism charges parents with their children's education in the faith from the earliest years — “teaching their children to pray” (CCC 2226) — and to “give good example to their children” (CCC 2223). Correction itself is love's work: “For whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth” (Heb 12:6). The examination is whether love or temper held the rod — and whether anyone held it at all.

At work, and as a leader

“Did you take credit this week for work that wasn't yours — or withhold credit due to someone under you?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2434, 2484
“Was Christ mocked in your hearing this week — by a friend's joke, a coworker's contempt — and did you stay silent to keep the peace? Did you let ‘I don't want a fight’ rule where Christ deserved a defender?”Sanctum Examination · CCC 2087–2089; Lk 9:26

“For he that shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him the Son of man shall be ashamed” (Lk 9:26). The workplace examination is two-front: justice in your dealings and courage in your witness. And underneath both, the quiet one — did acedia rule you under the cover of busyness? Did prayer get pushed to “after” until “after” never came?

The tool carries lanes for the man whose state is different: the Single Man (is your singleness a station for discernment, or a holding pattern?), the Convert or Revert closing the gap with his former tradition — pair it with the Conversion Roadmap — the man In Recovery fighting the “shame loop that protects the sin from the light,” and a Wife & Mother lane to hand to your wife. All of them live in the free examination, alongside a Scrupulosity Mode covered below.

None of this is new. The discipline is older than the parish bulletin: see the military chaplains who carried the sacrament to the line.

Is an Examination of Conscience the Same as Scrupulosity?

No. An examination of conscience is an honest review that ends; scrupulosity is a fear-driven loop that never ends — seeing mortal sin where there is none, re-confessing what is already absolved, doubting the absolution itself. The Church's own doctrine is the medicine. For the full picture — the distortion, the saints’ remedies, and how to find peace — see Catholic scrupulosity.

Start with what mortal sin actually requires:

A sin is mortal only when three conditions are all present: “grave matter,” “full knowledge,” and “deliberate consent” (CCC 1857; read it in full at vatican.va).

All three. If even one is missing, the sin is not mortal: a sin in a less serious matter is venial, and so is a grave matter chosen “without full knowledge or without complete consent” (CCC 1862). And temptation itself is not sin: we must “discern between being tempted and consenting to temptation” (CCC 2847). The thought that came uninvited and was refused is a battle won, not a sin committed.

The classic remedies are the standing pastoral counsel of the Church's confessors — the school of St. Alphonsus Liguori among them — rather than a Catechism checklist, and they have not changed: keep one regular confessor who knows your soul; obey him on questions of sin and absolution; do not re-confess sins already absolved; time-cap the examination; and trust the absolution as Christ's own word — “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them” (Jn 20:23).

The Sanctum tool ships a dedicated Scrupulosity Mode built on exactly those rails: a ten-minute hard cap and rule-first instruction. Its three rules: do not re-confess sins already absolved; temptation that came and passed without your consent is not sin (CCC 2847); and when the timer ends, the examination ends — trust your confessor. If that mode describes you, use it, and tell your confessor you struggle with scruples. He has heard it before, and he knows the way out.

When Should You Go to Confession After an Examination?

If the examination surfaced mortal sin: before receiving Holy Communion (CCC 1457). The binding floor is confession of grave sins at least once a year (Canon 989); anything more frequent is counsel — strong, ancient, and wise — but counsel, not law.

Conscious of mortal sin? Then Confession comes before Communion — even for a man who already feels deep sorrow. The only exception is a grave reason when confession is impossible, and then only with an act of perfect contrition and the resolve to confess as soon as possible (CCC 1457; Code of Canon Law, can. 916; read CCC 1457 in full at vatican.va).

“After having reached the age of discretion, each member of the faithful is obliged to confess faithfully his or her grave sins at least once a year.”Code of Canon Law, canon 989

Beyond the floor, the Church urges more: confessing venial sins is not strictly required, yet it is “strongly recommended by the Church” (CCC 1458). Monthly confession is the standard counsel for a serious Catholic man — counsel we commend, honestly labeled as counsel.

And why go at all? Not bookkeeping — friendship: the sacrament restores us to God's grace and joins us to him “in an intimate friendship” (CCC 1468).

Two pastoral notes. First, the forgotten sin: the obligation covers the mortal sins a penitent is aware of “after a diligent self-examination” (CCC 1456) — sins genuinely forgotten after an honest examination are forgiven with the absolution; simply name them next time. Deliberately concealing a known mortal sin is a different act entirely: those who knowingly withhold some “place nothing before the divine goodness for remission through the mediation of the priest” (Council of Trent, Session XIV, quoted in CCC 1456). Second, the practical one: look up your parish's confession times this week and just get in the line. The Field mode was built for the parking lot before it. When Father assigns your penance, pray it before you leave the church; and if it is a decade of the beads, the Rosary guide is free.

Make Your Examination Now — Free, Guided, Never Stored

Everything this guide teaches is built into the Sanctum Examination of Conscience — free, no signup, no account. 1765 Sanctum Co. publishes it as a free flagship tool: more than 120 prompts, every one cited to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, with Sacred Scripture and the Council of Trent where they bear — and one tap beneath each question, verified verbatim source text or a precise pointer to the primary source, never a paraphrase. Four modes — Field (about 5–6 min), Standard (11–16 min), Deep (37–56 min), Daily Examen (about 5 min). A universal track plus seven state-of-life lanes: Single Man, Married Man (husband & father), Wife & Mother, Convert/Revert, Leader, In Recovery, and Scrupulosity Mode with its hard time cap. It knows the liturgical day.

“Your sins are never stored, synced, or saved. Nothing you mark leaves this page — when you close it, every selection is gone.”

Begin the Examination →

This prepares you for the Sacrament of Penance; it is not the Sacrament. Only a priest absolves in the name of Christ (Jn 20:23). Bring what you remember here to your confessor.

The Sanctum essentials are always free — see them all, or carry them in your pocket with the Sanctum app. Thirty days, free: start The Priest of Your Home. the free tools stay free because readers support the work.

Prefer paper? Download the free printable Examination of Conscience PDF — the Sanctum Examination Companion (no signup): the framework of this guide in a form you can fold into a missal or carry to the parking lot before confession. Or use the Print this guide button at the top — the page ships a clean print stylesheet.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should an examination of conscience take?

Five to ten minutes for a regular confession. Three minutes is enough for same-day preparation — that is what the Sanctum tool's Field mode is built for. Reserve twenty to twenty-five minutes for a general confession after years away. If you struggle with scrupulosity, cap it at ten minutes and stop when time is up: length is not holiness; honesty is.

How often should you make an examination of conscience?

Nightly for the brief General Examen — the Catechism warns how easily everyday life crowds out reflection and self-examination (CCC 1779), and the Ignatian tradition fixes the remedy at evening (Spiritual Exercises 43). Before every confession, make the focused examination of the time since your last one (CCC 1454). The binding floor is confession of grave sins at least once a year (Code of Canon Law, canon 989); the Church commends even the frequent confession of venial sins (CCC 1458).

Do I have to write my sins down?

No. The Church asks for a diligent examination, not a written record — memory after an honest review suffices (CCC 1456). A discreet note is fine if it helps you name mortal sins by kind and number; destroy it afterward. The free Sanctum examination tool stores nothing you mark: close the page and every selection is gone.

Can I make an examination of conscience without going to confession?

Yes. The nightly Daily Examen of St. Ignatius (Spiritual Exercises 43) is exactly that — a five-minute evening review that forms the conscience (CCC 1454, 1779, 1785) without being tied to an imminent confession. But the examination is ordered to the sacrament: if it surfaces mortal sin, take it to confession before receiving Holy Communion (CCC 1457).

What is the best examination of conscience for men?

One built on the duties of a man's state of life — husband, father, leader, single man — rather than a generic checklist. The Church's own practice points penitents to examinations fitted to their state of life — the USCCB publishes separate examinations for children, young adults, single people, and married persons on exactly this principle — while the Catechism makes an examination of conscience the preparation for confession (CCC 1454). The free Sanctum Examination of Conscience follows that principle with a universal track plus seven state-of-life lanes across more than 120 prompts, every one cited to the Catechism, many with Sacred Scripture.

What if I can't remember every sin?

A diligent, honest examination is what the Church asks — not a perfect memory (CCC 1456; Code of Canon Law, canon 988 §1). Mortal sins genuinely forgotten after a diligent examination are forgiven with the absolution; simply name them in your next confession. The traditional closing line of the penitent — “for the sins I have forgotten, I am truly sorry” — exists for exactly this. Deliberately concealing a known mortal sin is different: those who knowingly withhold some “place nothing before the divine goodness for remission through the mediation of the priest” (Council of Trent, Session XIV, quoted in CCC 1456).

More questions answered across the site — the Sanctum FAQ hub.

After Confession — Continue with the Sanctum

The Priest of Your HomeA free 30-day program for Catholic husbands and fathers — one three-minute email each morning, one order for tonight, one prayer. Confession After Years Away Been gone 5, 10, 30 years? The step-by-step return — the exact words, every movement of the rite, and the one sentence that carries you through. The Mass Guide Walk back to the altar able to follow every word — what is happening, when, and why, from the Sign of the Cross to the dismissal. The Visual Rosary Pray the beads with the mysteries in front of you — the penance prayer half the confessional assigns, made unskippable. The Catholic Man's Rule of Life Examen, Mass, Rosary, monthly confession, Friday fast — the daily structure that keeps the next examination short. Free field manual. Consecrations Seal a season of repentance with something permanent — the Church's great acts of consecration, explained and guided. Examination of Conscience for MenThe same method run by state of life — husband, father, work, the single man. Free tool plus a printable companion. The Sanctum Examen CompanionA single-page printable companion to the examination — the Daily Examen, the Confessional Rite, and the Act of Contrition. Pocket-sized. The HearthThe vows you made her, kept: a weekly marriage examen on the Rite of Marriage, a nightly prayer with your wife… The Catholic Morning Offering PrayerThe examen closes the day honestly. This opens it deliberately — full traditional text, a short form, and what each line means. In the Brotherhood PassThe Catechism — Capital Sins, Sacraments, and the Daily Christian LifeThe Catechism on the seven capital sins, the seven sacraments, the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes and the virtues — across thirty daily slots.

New to the Sanctum? Start here — or take the free Warrior Saints Field Guide.

Primary Sources

Quotations from the Catechism are verbatim from the Vatican's published English text; the one Latin phrase quoted (“in Decalogo quaerendi,” CCC 1454) is verbatim from the Vatican's published Latin editio typica.

If you find any inaccuracy, report it to will@1765sanctum.com.

Published by 1765 Sanctum Co. — Catholic men's formation: short films, long-form video, the Sunday Sanctum Dispatch, and free magisterially-cited tools. Founded by William Hawn, U.S. Army combat veteran, Catholic convert. Altar. Arms. Allegiance.

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Excerpts from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America Copyright © 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with Permission. English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Editio Typica copyright © 1997, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops—Libreria Editrice Vaticana.