Gloria in excelsis Deo, also known as the Greater Doxology or Angelic Hymn, is a song of praise used during the Roman Catholic Mass and in the services of many other churches. It has its source in the words of the angels as they announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds in the Gospel of Luke.

We give the first sentence of the text, that we supplemented with macrons to mark etymologically long vowels.

The translation comes from the Modern English text of the prayer, which is sung during traditional Roman Catholic masses.

The text’s transcription emulates the capitalis rustica, a style of the Latin alphabet that was in use in the imperial Rome and Late Antiquity for writing on papyrus or parchment with a reed pen. We made use of Hasan Guven’s typeface Vatican Rough Letters.