No work of Augustine's contains this wording. His real line, in the commentary on Psalm 72, is that one who sings praise “not only praises, but only praises with gladness” and “also loves him of whom he sings.” The pithy “prays twice” form is an anonymous Latin proverb. Wikiquote ↗ traces it on Google Books to a hymn collection printed in 1554.
“He who sings prays twice” anonymous Latin proverb ("Qui cantat, bis orat"), often misattributed to Augustine of Hippo; not found in his works. Closest passage: Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos 72.1.
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Provenance
What Augustine actually wrote
Work
Enarrationes in Psalmos (Expositions on the Psalms), Psalm 72 [73], §1
Latin
Qui enim cantat laudem, non solum laudat, sed etiam hilariter laudat; qui cantat laudem, non solum cantat, sed et amat eum quem cantat.
Translation
J. E. Tweed, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8, ed. Philip Schaff (1888), as revised for New Advent
Status of the saying
Wording not found in Augustine; listed under “Misattributed” on Wikiquote
Hymns are praises of God accompanied with singing… For he that sings praise, not only praises, but only praises with gladness: he that sings praise, not only sings, but also loves him of whom he sings. In praise, there is the speaking forth of one confessing; in singing, the affection of one loving.
Not “prays twice”
This passage is the one usually offered as the source. It joins singing to praise and love. It never mentions praying twice. Fr. John Zuhlsdorf suggests the proverb came from mixing up laudare (to praise) with orare (to pray).
Wikiquote ↗ lists “Qui cantat, bis orat” under Misattributed and says it is “not found in his writings.” It points to the Psalm 72 passage as the closest thing Augustine wrote.
Wikiquote reports that the earliest occurrence on Google Books of “Qui cantat, orat bis” is on page 4 of Wenzel Nicolaides’s Latin hymn collection Cantiones Evangelicae (Rhaw, 1554) ↗.
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf checked the Latin text ↗ and concluded the saying “does not appear in anything of St. Augustine that has come down to us.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, §1156 ↗ quotes “He who sings prays twice” right after a quotation of Ephesians 5:19. One footnote covers both and cites Augustine’s En. in Ps. 72,1 (PL 36, 914). That note helped the attribution look official.
The exact wording “He who sings prays twice” is an anonymous proverb with no identifiable author, so we make no rights claim about it. Augustine’s own Latin is ancient and long in the public domain. The English passage shown comes from J. E. Tweed’s 1888 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers translation, as revised for New Advent.
Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.
Fact-check
Who gets the credit
A short Latin saying about church music came to be pinned to the best-known Latin Church Father. A Catechism footnote then made the link look official.
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Most commonAugustine of Hippo Not in his works
No work of Augustine’s contains “qui cantat bis orat.” The nearest he comes is his Psalm 72 commentary, where the singer of praise “also loves him of whom he sings,” not that he prays twice (Wikiquote, Misattributed ↗; Zuhlsdorf ↗). Wikipedia ↗ reports that one researcher could not trace the Augustine attribution earlier than the 1940s.
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OccasionalMartin Luther Unsourced
Wikipedia ↗ notes that a 2018 student newspaper credited Luther without giving any source.
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Wording“He who sings well prays twice” Variant
The Latin often appears as “Qui bene cantat bis orat.” Zuhlsdorf ↗ points out that modern English versions usually drop bene (“well”).
✓The saying is an anonymous Latin proverb. Its earliest Google Books appearance is a 1554 hymn collection by Wenzel Nicolaides (Wikiquote ↗). It loosely compresses Augustine’s thought that singing praise adds love to praise.
Context
Why the misattribution stuck
The line is the unofficial motto of church choirs, and the Catholic Church’s own Catechism (§1156) ↗ quotes it in its section on singing and music. The footnote cites Augustine’s commentary on Psalm 72, so most readers reasonably assume he wrote it.
Read the cited passage and it says something richer and different. A hymn is praise, addressed to God, and sung. Singing adds the “affection of one loving” to the “speaking forth of one confessing.” “Prays twice” is a later, catchier summary of that idea, and it is not Augustine’s wording.
“He that sings praise, not only sings, but also loves him of whom he sings.” — Augustine, on Psalm 72
Why the psalm number is 72 in one place and 73 in another
Augustine followed the Greek/Latin (Septuagint) psalm numbering, which the Vulgate later shared. The Catechism therefore cites En. in Ps. 72,1, and New Advent’s English edition files the same sermon as the “Exposition on Psalm 73,” using the Hebrew numbering found in most modern Bibles.
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Filed under
More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
Augustine of Hippo was born in Thagaste in North Africa in 354 and died in 430 as bishop of Hippo Regius. His works, among them the Confessions and The City of God, shaped Western Christianity. His sermon-commentaries on the Psalms (Enarrationes in Psalmos) contain the passage on singing and love that “He who sings prays twice” is usually said to condense.
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Closest genuine source
Not found in Augustine’s works. Closest passage: Augustine of Hippo, Enarrationes in Psalmos 72.1 (“Exposition on Psalm 73”), trans. J. E. Tweed, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8, ed. Philip Schaff (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888). The Latin proverb “Qui cantat, orat bis” appears in Wenzel Nicolaides, Cantiones Evangelicae (Rhaw, 1554), 4, per Wikiquote.
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘He who sings prays twice’?” Last verified 2 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/he-who-sings-prays-twice/