Agnus Dei

What it means

The Agnus Dei, Latin for "Lamb of God," is the last of the five fixed chants of the Mass Ordinary, the texts of the Catholic Mass that remain the same regardless of the liturgical season. The text addresses Christ as the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world," asking three times for mercy and peace, and is traditionally sung or spoken immediately before communion.

In the notation

In set Mass compositions, the Agnus Dei appears as its own, usually final movement, following the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, and Sanctus. The threefold invocation "Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis" is often set twice with a plea for mercy, and a third time with a plea for peace, "dona nobis pacem."

Musical use

As part of the fixed Mass Ordinary, the Agnus Dei has been set by countless composers, from Gregorian chant through polyphonic Renaissance Masses to large-scale orchestral Masses of the Classical and Romantic eras. Because of its supplicatory character, the movement is often set quietly, intimately, and in subdued dynamics, in contrast to the jubilant Gloria, for instance.

In some settings, particularly requiem Masses, the final plea "dona nobis pacem" is replaced with "dona eis requiem" (grant them rest), to suit the context of the Mass for the dead.