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Deo gratias (Latin for "thanks [be] to God") is a response in the Latin Mass, derived from the Vulgate text of 1 Corinthians 15:57 and 2 Corinthians 2:14.
It occurs in the Mass
The formula Deo gratias was used in extra-liturgical prayers and customs by the Christians of all ages. The rule of St. Benedict prescribes that the doorkeeper shall say Deo gratias, as often as a stranger knocks at the door or a beggar asks for assistance.
When St. Augustine announced to the people the election of his coadjutor and successor, Evodius of Uzalis, they called out Deo gratias thirty-six times. [2]
In Africa it was the salutation used by the Catholics to distinguish themselves from the Donatists who said Deo laudes instead. [3] Therefore, in Africa, Deo gratias was used as a Catholic given name, e.g. St. Deogratias, Bishop of Carthage (r. 453–456). The name of the deacon for whom St. Augustine wrote his treatise De catechizandis rudibus was also called Deogratias. Felix of Cantalice (1515–1587) used this interjection so often that the people called him "Brother Deogratias".
Deo gratias has been set to music by several composers.
The 15th-century poem "Adam lay ybounden" ends with Deo gratias and it has been set by many composers, including the tenth movement of Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols (1942).
A 2005 documentary film on the life of Antonín Dvořák is titled Deo Gratias.
The Roman Breviary is a breviary of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church. A liturgical book, it contains public or canonical prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notations for everyday use, especially by bishops, priests, and deacons in the Divine Office.
Mass is the main Eucharistic liturgical service in many forms of Western Christianity. The term Mass is commonly used in the Catholic Church, and in the Western Rite Orthodox, and Old Catholic churches. The term is used in some Lutheran churches, as well as in some Anglican churches. The term is also used, on rare occasion, by other Protestant churches.
The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Traditional Latin Mass or Traditional Rite, is the liturgy of Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church that appears in typical editions of the Roman Missal published from 1570 to 1962. Celebrated almost exclusively in Ecclesiastical Latin, it was the most widely used Eucharistic liturgy in the world from its issuance in 1570 until the introduction of the Mass of Paul VI.
Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican liturgies. The word for this fixed prayer time comes from the Latin vesper, meaning "evening".
Septuagesima is the name for the ninth Sunday before Easter, the third before Ash Wednesday. The term is sometimes applied to the seventy days starting on Septuagesima Sunday and ending on the Saturday after Easter. Alternatively, the term is sometimes applied also to the period commonly called Shrovetide or Gesimatide that begins on this day and ends on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, when Lent begins.
The Mozarabic Rite, officially called the Hispano-Mozarabic Rite, and in the past also called or the Hispanic Rite, is a liturgical rite of the Latin Church once used generally in the Iberian Peninsula (Hispania), in what is now Spain and Portugal. While the liturgy is often called 'Mozarabic' after the Christian communities that lived under Muslim rulers in Al-Andalus that preserved its use. After experiencing a period of decline during the Reconquista, when it was superseded by the Roman Rite in the Christian states of Iberia as part of a wider programme of liturgical standardization within the Catholic Church, efforts were taken in the 16th century to revive the rite and ensure its continued presence in the city of Toledo, where it is still celebrated today. It is also celebrated on a more widespread basis throughout Spain and, by special dispensation, in other countries, though only on special occasions.
Compline, also known as Complin, Night Prayer, or the Prayers at the End of the Day, is the final church service of the day in the Christian tradition of canonical hours, which are prayed at fixed prayer times. The English word is derived from the Latin completorium, as compline is the completion of the waking day. The word was first used in this sense about the beginning of the 6th century by St. Benedict in his Rule, in Chapters 16, 17, 18, and 42, and he even uses the verb compleo to signify compline: "Omnes ergo in unum positi compleant" ; "et exeuntes a completorio" ….
A lectionary is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christian or Judaic worship on a given day or occasion. There are sub-types such as a "gospel lectionary" or evangeliary, and an epistolary with the readings from the New Testament Epistles.
The Office of the Dead or Office for the Dead is a prayer cycle of the Canonical Hours in the Catholic Church, Anglican Church and Lutheran Church, said for the repose of the soul of a decedent. It is the proper reading on All Souls' Day for all souls in Purgatory, and can be a votive office on other days when said for a particular decedent. The work is composed of different psalms, scripture, prayers and other parts, divided into The Office of Readings, Lauds, Daytime Prayer, Vespers and Compline.
The ordinary, in Roman Catholic and other Western Christian liturgies, refers to the part of the Mass or of the canonical hours that is reasonably constant without regard to the date on which the service is performed. It is contrasted to the proper, which is that part of these liturgies that varies according to the date, either representing an observance within the liturgical year, or of a particular saint or significant event, or to the common which contains those parts that are common to an entire category of saints such as apostles or martyrs.
Solemn Mass is the full ceremonial form of the Tridentine Mass, celebrated by a priest with a deacon and a subdeacon, requiring most of the parts of the Mass to be sung, and the use of incense. It is also called High Mass or Solemn High Mass. However, in the United States the term "High Mass" is also used to describe the less elaborate Missa Cantata, which lacks a deacon and subdeacon and some of the ceremonies connected with them.
Pre-Tridentine Mass refers to the variants of the liturgical rite of Mass in Rome before 1570, when, with his bull Quo primum, Pope Pius V made the Roman Missal, as revised by him, obligatory throughout the Latin Church, except for those places and congregations whose distinct rites could demonstrate an antiquity of two hundred years or more.
The Rite of the Holy Sepulchre, commonly called the Carmelite Rite, is the liturgical rite that was used by the Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre, Hospitallers, Templars, Carmelites and the other orders founded within the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
Ite, missa est are the concluding Latin words addressed to the people in the Mass of the Roman Rite, as well as the Lutheran Divine Service. Until the reforms of 1962, at Masses without the Gloria, Benedicamus Domino was said instead. The response of the people is Deo gratias.
Benedicamus Domino is a closing salutation that was formerly used in the Latin Mass instead of the Ite, missa est in Masses which lack the Gloria. The response, said afterwards, is Deo gratias. It is also sung as a versicle at the end of all Offices.
The Divine Service is a title given to the Eucharistic liturgy as used in the various Lutheran churches. It has its roots in the Pre-Tridentine Mass as revised by Martin Luther in his Formula missae of 1523 and his Deutsche Messe of 1526. It was further developed through the Kirchenordnungen of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that followed in Luther's tradition.
The Ambrosian Rite is a Latin Catholic liturgical Western Rite used in the area of Milan. The Traditional Ambrosian Rite is the form of this rite as it was used before the changes that followed the Second Vatican Council.
The so-called Celtic Mass is the liturgy of the Christian office of the Mass as it was celebrated in the so-called Celtic Christianity of the Early Middle Ages.
Order of Mass is an outline of a Mass celebration, describing how and in what order liturgical texts and rituals are employed to constitute a Mass.
The Daily Office in Anglican churches focuses the traditional canonical hours on daily services of morning prayer and evening prayer, usually following local editions of the Book of Common Prayer. As in other Christian traditions, either clergy or laity can lead the daily office. Most Anglican clergy are required to pray the two main services daily.