The Glory Be

The Glory Be (Latin: Gloria Patri) is the brief doxology by which Catholics praise the Most Holy Trinity. It is the shortest of the Catholic foundation prayers, recited in two short verses, and it is also one of the most frequently prayed: at the close of every Psalm in the Liturgy of the Hours, at the end of every decade of the rosary, in countless novenas, and as the simplest spontaneous prayer of praise the Catholic soul knows.

Origin and historical development

The Glory Be is a developed form of the Trinitarian doxology that has been part of Christian worship from the apostolic age. The doxology in its current form is the result of theological refinement in the fourth century, when the dogmatic clarification of the doctrine of the Trinity at the Councils of Nicea (325) and Constantinople I (381) sharpened the Church's verbal formulations of praise to the three divine Persons.

The first verse ("Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit") is the Trinitarian acclamation. The second verse ("As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen") was added in the West around the seventh century, and the addition was confirmed by the Second Council of Vaison (529). The combined form has been the standard Catholic doxology from that time forward.¹

Theological foundation

The Glory Be confesses two truths of Catholic faith. First, that the praise we offer to God is a praise that goes to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit equally, because the three Persons of the Holy Trinity are one God in being, in glory, and in honor. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: "The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons, the consubstantial Trinity" (CCC 253). The doxology is the lived Catholic confession of this truth.

Second, the Glory Be confesses that the glory of the Trinity is eternal: "as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be." The praise we offer in time joins the eternal praise that the angels and saints offer in heaven, the praise that has no beginning and no end because it is the praise of the eternal God by His eternally created beings. "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come" (Revelation 4:8).

When the Glory Be is prayed

The Glory Be is prayed:

• At the close of every Psalm in the Liturgy of the Hours.
• At the end of every decade of the Holy Rosary, after the Our Father and ten Hail Marys.
• At the close of every novena's daily prayers.
• In the Litany of the Saints and other litanies of the Catholic tradition.
• In the daily morning and evening prayers as a brief Trinitarian acclamation.
• Spontaneously in moments of small thanksgiving throughout the day.

The brevity of the Glory Be makes it one of the easiest Catholic prayers to incorporate into daily life. Many Catholics pray a Glory Be in moments of small relief or joy: when a difficulty has been resolved, when a phone call has gone better than feared, when the day has begun well. The prayer is short enough to be added to any moment without reshaping the moment.

Pairing the Glory Be with other prayers

The Glory Be is paired in Catholic practice with:

• The Our Father and the Hail Mary, in the rosary's basic structure.
• The Apostles' Creed, at the opening of the rosary.
• The Psalms of the Liturgy of the Hours, at the close of each Psalm.
• The Catholic litanies (the Litany of the Saints, the Litany of the Sacred Heart, the Litany of Saint Joseph, etc.).

Sources

Footnotes

1. Catholic Encyclopedia (1907), "Doxology," available at newadvent.org. Second Council of Vaison (AD 529), confirming the Western form. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 253-256 (the Trinity), 1090-1109 (the liturgy as praise of the Trinity). ↩