The “Agnus Dei” is the last movement of any mass setting, and it means “Lamb of God”. Throughout the Old Testament, blood sacrifices are offered to please God, to praise him, to thank him, and to ask favour of him. Jesus put an end to that by offering himself as the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. He became the sacrificial lamb, submitting entirely to God’s will and dying a tortuous death on our behalf. Every week, just before receiving communion, we sing the Agnus Dei in remembrance of this:
| Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem. |
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace. |
Every week, after receiving communion, we pray (emphasis added):
Almighty God,
We thank you for feeding us
With the body and blood of your Son Jesus Christ.
Through him we offer you our souls and bodies
To be a living sacrifice.
Send us out in the power of your Spirit
To live and work to your praise and glory.
Amen.
We pledge to be living sacrifices, powered by the Holy Spirit, to live and work to God’s praise and glory. The blood-sacrifice days of the Old Testament have gone.
The Greening setting of the Agnus Dei that we use in our sung services at St Margaret’s is available for you to listen to here: https://stmargaretsprestwich.com/music-at-st-margarets/
Elsewhere, there are many arrangements and settings, some fully orchestrated, some using folk tunes, some ancient, some contemporary:
- The Armed Man: a mass for peace (Karl Jenkins) I have been fortunate enough to sing this a number of times with the Manchester Chorale in the Bridgewater Hall, under the baton of the composer himself. There are no videos of these live performances, but here is the London Philharmonic Orchestra with the National Youth Choir of Great Britain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQTjpREgDjY
- Five-part Mass (William Byrd) Sublime renaissance polyphony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXvvnypcg6k
- Mass in Blue (Will Todd) A sultry and understated end to a superb jazz mass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzHiUMCT3LQ
- Missa Brevis (Jonathan Dove) Ethereal sustained chords in a haunting and ambiguous 54 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ldQgBxdB6c
- Jazz Mass (Don Gillthorpe) The Sing for Pleasure summer school choir sings this sublime final movement, accompanied by piano and double bass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIrJWmEwsZo
- Missa Brevis in D (Mozart) In the summer of 2023 I had the joy of conducting the final movement of this mass setting, complete with soloists, SATB choir, orchestra and organ. Oddly, the “donna nobis pacem” (grant us peace) section is very upbeat and noisy to the point of celebratory. For me, this is contrary to asking for peace! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUVHZt6pKi4
- Little Organ Mass (Haydn) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqRGbauoqx8
- Taizé chants:
This concludes my series of articles on mass settings. I hope you have enjoyed exploring and discovering more about the rich variety of music available to enhance our worship.
Carol P
St Margaret's Church Prestwich 