Agnus Dei

This article is about an element of Western liturgy. For the Christian theological concept, see Lamb of God. For other uses of the term, see Agnus Dei (disambiguation).
The fraction rite at which the Agnus Dei is sung or said

Agnus Dei is the Latin name under which the "Lamb of God" is honoured within Christian liturgies descending from the historic Latin liturgical tradition, including those of Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism and Anglicanism. It is the name given to a specific prayer that occurs in these liturgies, and is the name given to the music pieces that accompany the text of this prayer.[1][2]

13th century ivory carving, Louvre.

The use of the title "Lamb of God" in liturgy is based on John 1:29, in which St. John the Baptist, upon seeing Jesus, proclaims "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"

Agnus Dei from Schubert's Mass No. 2
  1. ^ Randel, Don Michael, ed. (2003). The Harvard Dictionary of Music (4th ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. p. 28. ISBN 0-674-01163-5.
  2. ^ Atkinson, Charles Mercer (1975). The Earliest Settings of the Agnus Dei and Its Tropes. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina. p. 14.