A litany is a form of prayer with a repeated responsive petition; it is not used in public liturgical services of the Catholic Church, but in private devotions of adherents.
This litany is commonly attributed to Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val (1865-1930), Cardinal Secretary of State of the Holy See under Pope Pius X.
[2] C. S. Lewis attributed its composition to Merry del Val in a March 1948 letter to Don Giovanni Calabria.
[3] Father Charles Belmonte was inspired by the writings of Merry del Val and included it in a collection, the Handbook of Prayers (Studium Theologiae Foundation, Manila, 1986, and in a later edition by Midwest Theological Forum, Chicago, US), and described it as "attributed to Card.
Subsequent copyists wrote simply: "by Card.
[4] A "Litany to Obtain Holy Humility" was published in 1867 by "A R.C.
[5] A version very similar to the version attributed to Cardinal Merry del Val was published in 1880, copyright 1879, and "translated from the French of the Fifth Edition."
It appears Merry del Val was using a lesser known but already published prayer.
[citation needed] A Ukrainian language version of the litany, attributed to the Russian Orthodox priest Alexander Men, appears in two prayer books: Molytovnyk Dl'a Rodyny (Prayer Book for the Family) published in L'viv in 2010 by Apriori; and Molytovnyk (Prayer Book), published in Kyiv in 2017 by Duh i Litera.
St. Francis, imitator of a master meek and humble, pray for me.
All ye holy spirits sanctified by humility, pray for me.
That others may grow in the opinion of the world and I diminish, Jesus, grant me the grace to wish.