Gloria Patri

Nicholas Ayo is professor emeritus in the Great Books Program at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of a number of books, including The Hail Mary: AVerbal Icon of Mary (University of Notre Dame Press, 1994) and The Lord's Prayer: A Survey Theological and Literary (University of Notre Dame Press, 1993)

The Gloria Patri has been prayed from the beginnings of Christianity. In this one-sentence prayer, time and eternity are combined in a compressed expression of doxology, praise of God. In this brief but comprehensive book, Father Ayo examines the riches in this prayer: the philological, historical, and theological origins of Christian prayer itself, and the profound spiritual implications of the Gloria Patri.At the heart of Christian prayer and at the heart of Christian liturgy we always find worship, honor, and praise of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. In Gloria Patri, Father Ayo examines the lesser doxology word by word, in both its various translations and the history of their combination and controversies. He adds to that an exploration of the boundless meanings of praise of the Triune God it encompasses. After reading Gloria Patri, no one can again take for granted this humble sentence.