The Gloria is a solemn and revered hymn of joyful admiration in which the composer admired the greatness of God. The oldest witness for the Latin text is the manuscript Antiphonary of Bangor tracing back to the year 690. Originally, the Gloria was only sung in the liturgy once a year, during the Christmas midnight Mass. The festive hymn glorifies the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and proclaims what the Trinity has accomplished. According to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), number 53, “No other text or song may be substituted for the Gloria […]. The Gloria is sung or said on Sundays outside of Advent and Lent, on solemnities and feasts, and in more solemn celebrations.” Also, in the Kyriale Romanum, the Gloria is only available until Mass XV, under the chants of the Ordinary of the Mass. Mass XVII and XVIII are designated for the Advent and Lenten seasons, in Feriis and in Dominicis (on daily and on Sundays).
And so, why is it that the Church does not sing “Glory to God in the highest…” during the Sundays of Advent? Jesús Castellano explains in his book El año litúrgico Memorial de Cristo y mistagogía de la Iglesia (The Liturgical Year Memorial of Christ and Mystagogy of the Church) that the omission of the Gloria in the liturgy on the Sundays of Advent is meant to have a psychological and pedagogical function: to wait to be sung solemnly and majestically on Christmas day; additionally, it is not supposed to possess the character of the penance of Lent.
Furthermore, Joseph A. Jungmann, S.J. can help us to better understand the reason why this angelic hymn is not sung during Advent in his book The Mass of the Roman Rite Its Origins and Development: “In the structure of the Gloria three sections are plainly discernible: The song of the angels on the night of the Nativity, the praise of God, and the invoking of Christ. With the coming of Jesus into this world, two things were demonstrated: Glory is given to God and peace to men.” Fr. Joseph Jungmann also says in other words that the angelic hymn of the Gloria must be seen as the proclamation of a plan that occurred from the Birth of Jesus to his Passion and that God’s step-by-step design is still taking place and needs to be fulfilled. By knowing this, we can visualize the double character of Advent, and recognize that the writer is also referring to Christ’s second coming. This is the motive why we omit the Gloria from the liturgy every Sunday of Advent, to experience the joy and longing of what is going to happen during the celebration of the mystery of Redemption, to seek the Kingdom of God, the advent, for the realization of God’s purpose for humanity. This is what is expressed and manifested when we sing the Gloria on Christmas day.
The message of the Gloria hymn was true when the angels sang it on Christmas day and nowadays is truer than ever when we sing Gloria in excelsis Deo, Glory to God in the highest. Let us wait and continue to long with burning hearts until we congregate, on the day of the Birth of Christ, as a praising Church to sing with the angels from heaven the Gloria: in the Holy Spirit, to glorify God the Father, and to glorify and supplicate to the Lamb…Peace to men! Please join the Neumz team, the nuns of Jouques, and the monks of Le Barroux singing with joy the Gloria IX.
©Text by Catherine Restrepo