Glory Be

Where it comes from

History

The Glory Be, also called the "lesser doxology," most likely comes from an early adaptation of the Jewish forms of blessing addressed to God, which already appear in the New Testament. Its present wording was shaped by the Trinitarian baptismal formula in Matthew 28:19. [4]

Tradition · According to a report handed down by Saint Jerome, Pope Damasus (366–384) added the Glory Be to the end of the psalms. The Catholic Encyclopedia records this on the basis of Jerome's testimony and does not present it as an independently documented fact. [3]

In 529, the Second Synod of Vaison in Gaul, in its fifth canon, ordered that the words "Sicut erat in principio" (as it was in the beginning) be said in Gaul. The synod stated that these words were already in use in Rome, in the East, and in Africa as a stand against Arianism. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the synod was mistaken about the East, since the words were never used in any Eastern rite. The phrase "sicut erat" may originally have referred to the Son, echoing the opening of the Gospel of John, and only later been understood as referring to the glory. [5]

The second part of the prayer grew out of the simple response "for ever." That response was later expanded with the word "now," and then, only in the West, with "as it was in the beginning." In the form we know, this doxology has been used throughout the Western Church since around the seventh century. The exception is the Mozarabic Rite, which uses the wording "Gloria et honor Patri et Filio et Spiritui sancto in saecula saeculorum." [6][3]

In the Roman Liturgy of the Hours, the Glory Be is said at the end of the psalms. The prayer has also remained in constant use in devotions outside the liturgy, for example in the Rosary. [7][3]