The Chaplet of 100 Requiems is a wonderful devotion for the holy souls in purgatory, attributed to Blessed Anna Maria Taigi. She wasn’t a nun, and she didn’t live in a convent. She was a wife and a mother of seven children, married to a household servant in Rome, and much of her life was spent in the ordinary work of running a home—cooking, mending, caring for children, and stretching very little money to cover very real needs. If your days are full and your prayer time feels stolen in small moments between everything else you carry, you already have something in common with her.
And yet, in the middle of that busy, unglamorous life, Anna Maria carried an extraordinary love for the souls in Purgatory. She often urged those around her to pray for the dead daily, believing this simple, faithful habit was a quiet act of mercy that blessed the one who prayed as much as the one being prayed for. Many of the souls she prayed for, once freed, are said to have returned to thank her—not because her prayers were special in themselves, but because they were offered in real love and real trust.
This prayer, the 100 Requiem, comes from that same spirit: not a complicated ritual, but a simple, repeated offering, prayed on an ordinary set of rosary beads, in the middle of an ordinary life. You don’t need to be a mystic or a saint to pray it. You just need love for the person you’re praying for, and a willingness to keep showing up for them, the way Anna Maria did for souls she never even knew.
If you’re praying this for someone you love, take heart: God does not need your prayer to be eloquent or perfect for it to matter. Every “eternal rest grant unto them” you offer is heard, and it is a real, tangible act of love reaching across the distance death has placed between you.
Blessed Anna Maria Taigi’s Vision
God granted Blessed Anna an extraordinary gift. At the age of around 20, shortly after she was married, and for 47 years, she would have a vision of a luminous globe. Within this light she perceived things hidden from ordinary sight—the secrets of hearts, the hidden needs of souls, including the fate of the deceased and their sufferings in purgatory, and even events near and far, past and future. She used this gift only when charity or obedience required it, never out of curiosity, and worked to remain personally hidden even as popes, cardinals, and heads of state sought her counsel.
Her devotion to the holy souls in purgatory was deep. She was so moved by their suffering, she prayed this chaplet faithfully, and tradition holds that many souls were released through her intercession. When we pray it today, we join her in bringing comfort to those who have gone before us.
On Her Marriage and Patronage
Born in Siena in 1769, Anna Maria moved to Rome as a child where she later met and married Domenico Taigi. Blessed Anna had an intensely prayerful interior life. Her husband, Domenico was a good man who deeply loved his wife—but he also had a rough, quick temper. He was never physically abusive to Anna Maria, yet he could be volatile and demanding, and his outbursts brought real strain to the household. Rather than responding in kind, Anna Maria met his temper with patience, humility, and quiet forgiveness, and this steady, faithful witness within an imperfect but genuinely loving marriage is part of why she is honored today as patroness of housewives, mothers, and victims of verbal and spousal abuse. Her example speaks less to enduring cruelty and more to the sanctity possible in the ordinary, sometimes difficult, realities of married life.
She died in Rome on June 9, 1837, and her body was found remarkably preserved when exhumed eighteen years later. By the time of a later examination around her beatification, her remains had begun to decompose naturally, and today they rest beneath a wax likeness in the Basilica of San Crisogono in Rome. She was beatified by Pope Benedict XV on May 30, 1920, and is honored today as the patroness of housewives, mothers, and victims of verbal and spousal abuse.
Her Mystical Gift and Religious Affiliation
Nearly two decades after this mystical life began she formally entered the secular Order of the Most Holy Trinity as a lay tertiary, aligning her private spiritual gifts with a recognized religious rule of life she would follow for the rest of her days.
A Note on Popular Prophecy
Among the many stories that circulate about Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, one of the most well-known is a prophecy concerning “three days of darkness.” While this prophecy is widely repeated in popular devotional literature, it cannot be formally or officially attributed to her — it does not appear in the documented beatification process, nor in the careful contemporary record kept by the priest who lived with her family for years and testified to the accuracy of her visions. This sets it apart from her documented mystic-sun visions and her counsel to popes and heads of state, which are part of the historical record. The Church has never required belief in private prophecies of this kind, even those attached to beatified souls, so readers are free to hold this tradition as they see fit.
Chaplet of 100 Requiems
for the Holy Souls in Purgatory
The Crown of the Hundred Requiems, in Suffrage for the Dead
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
Meditation 1 — The Agony in the Garden
I offer You, my beloved Jesus, in aid of the souls in Purgatory, the merits of the sufferings and sorrows You endured for our redemption; and I begin by contemplating the blood that flowed from Your body in the sadness and anguish that overwhelmed You in the Garden of Olives.
Pray the Eternal Rest 10 times: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. AMEN.
Holy souls, souls in Purgatory, pray to God for me, and I will pray for you, that He may grant you the glory of Paradise.
Meditation 2 — Before Annas, Caiaphas, Pilate, and Herod
I offer You, my beloved Jesus, for the souls in Purgatory, the deep affliction that gripped Your Heart on seeing one of Your disciples, Judas, whom You loved and blessed, become Your betrayer, delivering You into the hands of cruel enemies with a sacrilegious kiss.
Pray the Eternal Rest 10 times: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. AMEN.
Holy souls, souls in Purgatory, pray to God for me, and I will pray for you, that He may grant you the glory of Paradise.
Meditation 3 — Barabbas Chosen, the Scourging
I offer You, my beloved Jesus, for the souls in Purgatory, the admirable patience with which You bore so many outrages from that vile soldiery, who dragged You from Annas to Caiaphas, and from Pilate to Herod, who, to further mock You, dressed You in the robe of a fool amid the jeers of the crowd before sending You back to the Roman governor.
Pray the Eternal Rest 10 times: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. AMEN.
Holy souls, souls in Purgatory, pray to God for me, and I will pray for you, that He may grant you the glory of Paradise.
Meditation 4 — The Crowning with Thorns
I offer You, my beloved Jesus, for the souls in Purgatory, the bitterness that troubled Your spirit when You, innocent and just, were passed over by the Jews in favor of Barabbas, a seditious murderer; then bound to the pillar and struck without mercy by countless lashes.
Pray the Eternal Rest 10 times: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. AMEN.
Holy souls, souls in Purgatory, pray to God for me, and I will pray for you, that He may grant you the glory of Paradise.
Meditation 5 — The Road to Calvary
I offer You, my beloved Jesus, for the souls in Purgatory, the humiliation You endured when, to mock You as a false king, they placed a purple rag upon Your shoulders, put a reed in Your hand for a scepter, and crowned Your head with the tormenting crown of thorns, so that Pilate presented You to the people with the words: Behold the Man.
Pray the Eternal Rest 10 times: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. AMEN.
Holy souls, souls in Purgatory, pray to God for me, and I will pray for you, that He may grant you the glory of Paradise.
Meditation 6 — Meeting His Mother
I offer You, my beloved Jesus, for the souls in Purgatory, the ineffable sorrow You felt when the crowd cried out against You, “Crucify Him, crucify Him,” and the painful weight You bore with sublime resignation along the road to Calvary, the heavy wood of the cross upon Your shoulders.
Pray the Eternal Rest 10 times: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. AMEN.
Holy souls, souls in Purgatory, pray to God for me, and I will pray for you, that He may grant you the glory of Paradise.
Meditation 7 — The Nailing to the Cross
I offer You, my beloved Jesus, for the souls in Purgatory, the tender compassion and profound sorrow You fully felt when, as Your beloved Mother came to meet and embrace You, You were violently torn away from her.
Pray the Eternal Rest 10 times: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. AMEN.
Holy souls, souls in Purgatory, pray to God for me, and I will pray for you, that He may grant you the glory of Paradise.
Meditation 8 — The Three Hours on the Cross
I offer You, my beloved Jesus, for the souls in Purgatory, the unheard-of torments You suffered when, Your bleeding body stretched upon the cross, You were horribly pierced with nails through Your hands and feet, and lifted up upon that shameful gallows.
Pray the Eternal Rest 10 times: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. AMEN.
Holy souls, souls in Purgatory, pray to God for me, and I will pray for you, that He may grant you the glory of Paradise.
Meditation 9 — The Descent from the Cross
I offer You, my beloved Jesus, for the souls in Purgatory, the anguish and pain You endured for three unbroken hours hanging upon the cross, and the spasms that wracked every part of Your body, made greater still by the presence of Your sorrowful Mother, witness to that agonizing torment.
Pray the Eternal Rest 10 times: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. AMEN.
Holy souls, souls in Purgatory, pray to God for me, and I will pray for you, that He may grant you the glory of Paradise.
Meditation 10 — The Sorrow of Mary
I offer You, my beloved Jesus, for the souls in Purgatory, the desolation that overwhelmed the Most Holy Virgin as she witnessed Your death, and the breaking of her tender heart as she received Your lifeless body, taken down from the cross, into her arms.
Pray the Eternal Rest 10 times: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. AMEN.
Holy souls, souls in Purgatory, pray to God for me, and I will pray for you, that He may grant you the glory of Paradise.
The Litany for the Dead
℣. Lord, have mercy.
℟. Lord, have mercy.
℣. Christ, have mercy.
℟. Christ, have mercy.
℣. Lord, have mercy.
℟. Lord, have mercy.
℣. Christ, hear us.
℟. Christ, hear us.
℣. Christ, graciously hear us.
℟. Christ, graciously hear us.
℣. O God the Father, Creator of the world,
℟. have mercy on the faithful departed.
℣. O God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
℟. set the faithful departed free.
℣. O God the Holy Spirit, Sanctifier of the elect,
℟. fulfill the desire of the faithful departed.
℣. Holy Trinity, three Persons in one God,
℟. give peace to the faithful departed.
℣. Virgin Mary, assumed body and soul into Heaven,
℟. pray for the faithful departed.
℣. Blessed Angels, who behold the face of God and serve His plan of salvation,
℟. pray for the faithful departed.
℣. Holy Patriarchs and Prophets, who enjoy the clear vision of God,
℟. pray for the faithful departed.
℣. Holy Apostles, who will judge the twelve tribes of Israel,
℟. pray for the faithful departed.
℣. From the punishments inflicted for attachment to sin,
℟. deliver them, O Lord.
℣. By Your mercy, which led You always to have compassion on human frailty,
℟. deliver them, O Lord.
℣. By the merits of Your death on the cross, by which You reconciled the world to the Father,
℟. deliver them, O Lord.
℣. By Your resurrection from the dead, by which You opened the kingdom of Heaven to Your faithful,
℟. deliver them, O Lord.
℣. By Your glorious ascension into Heaven, where You promised to prepare a place for Your servants,
℟. deliver them, O Lord.
℣. By Your glorious coming at the end of time,
℟. deliver them, O Lord.
℣. We sinners,
℟. we beseech You, hear us.
℣. Grant that the day of full communion with You may soon come for those who are being purified,
℟. we beseech You, hear us.
℣. Holy Disciples of the Savior, who reached the heavenly Jerusalem,
℟. pray for the faithful departed.
℣. Holy Martyrs, who through the sacrifice of your blood have come into full possession of the Kingdom’s blessings,
℟. pray for the faithful departed.
℣. Holy Virgins, who were ready at the first call of the divine Bridegroom,
℟. pray for the faithful departed.
℣. All you Saints, who enjoy full communion with God,
℟. pray for the faithful departed.
℣. Have mercy, O Lord,
℟. and forgive their sins.
℣. Have mercy, O Lord,
℟. and listen to their prayers.
℣. From the agony deserved by their negligence and ingratitude,
℟. deliver them, O Lord.
℣. From the captivity they suffer for the disorder of their earthly attachments,
℟. deliver them, O Lord.
℣. Through the prayers of the Church, and especially through the merits of Your Paschal sacrifice, be pleased to bring them into eternal joy,
℟. we beseech You, hear us.
℣. May Your vision comfort them and the glorious light of the Cross shine upon them,
℟. we beseech You, hear us.
℣. May the college of the Apostles open to them the gates of the Kingdom, and the victorious host of Martyrs lead them to Your side,
℟. we beseech You, hear us.
℣. May the whole heavenly Jerusalem celebrate their release, and the choir of Angels sing the hymn of joy for their eternal happiness,
℟. we beseech You, hear us.
℣. Son of God,
℟. we beseech You, hear us.
℣. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
℟. forgive them, O Jesus.
℣. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
℟. hear them, O Jesus.
℣. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
℟. grant these poor departed eternal rest.
AMEN.
Closing Prayer
Hear, O God, the prayer that the community of believers raises to You in the faith of the risen Lord, and confirm in us the blessed hope that, together with our departed brothers and sisters, we will rise in Christ to new life. He is God, and lives and reigns with You, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and ever.
AMEN.
A Note on Attribution
This chaplet is traditionally attributed to Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, who prayed it faithfully and testified to the many graces she received through it. As with several devotions connected to her name, the prayer itself reflects her devotion rather than her authorship — there’s no evidence she composed the words herself, only that she practiced this devotion and it has been passed down in her memory ever since. We share it here in that same spirit: not as her original composition, but as a devotion the faithful have long associated with her deep love for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.
More Devotional Prayers for the Holy Souls
If you enjoyed this devotional attributed to Blessed Anna, you may also like our prayers for the holy souls in purgatory by St. Gertrude the Great and other popular Catholic prayers for the Church suffering.
One Response
I loved the above story and I will pray the chaplet as much as possible.