The Latin Text, with English
Latin · Missale Romanum
Credo in unum Deum,
Patrem omnipoténtem,
factórem cæli et terræ,
visibílium ómnium et invisibílium.
Et in unum Dóminum Iesum Christum,
Fílium Dei unigénitum,
et ex Patre natum ante ómnia sǽcula.
Deum de Deo, lumen de lúmine,
Deum verum de Deo vero,
génitum, non factum, consubstantiálem Patri:
per quem ómnia facta sunt.
Qui propter nos hómines
et propter nostram salútem
descéndit de cælis,
et incarnátus est de Spíritu Sancto
ex María Vírgine,
et homo factus est.
Crucifíxus étiam pro nobis sub Póntio Piláto;
passus et sepúltus est,
et resurréxit tértia die,
secúndum Scriptúras,
et ascéndit in cælum,
sedet ad déxteram Patris.
Et íterum ventúrus est cum glória,
iudicáre vivos et mórtuos,
cuius regni non erit finis.
Et in Spíritum Sanctum,
Dóminum et vivificántem:
qui ex Patre Filióque procédit.
Qui cum Patre et Fílio
simul adorátur et conglorificátur:
qui locútus est per prophétas.
Et unam, sanctam, cathólicam
et apostólicam Ecclésiam.
Confíteor unum baptísma
in remissiónem peccatórum.
Et exspécto resurrectiónem mortuórum,
et vitam ventúri sǽculi.
Amen.
English · Roman Missal 2011
I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men
and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate
of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,*
who with the Father and the Son
is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic
and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
The Latin is the liturgical text of the Roman Missal (Missale Romanum, editio typica tertia, 2002), printed with the acute accents used in liturgical books to mark the stressed syllable for recitation and chant. The English is the 2011 Roman Missal translation.
* On the words Filióque, “and the Son”, a Western addition to the Creed of 381, see the full history of the Filioque.
The Creed of the Roman Rite
The Creed was composed in Greek, but the Western Church has confessed it in Latin since antiquity. Credo in unum Deum is the text appointed in the Roman Missal for Sundays and solemnities: the priest or cantor intones the opening words and the whole congregation continues, exactly as congregations have done for centuries. The great composers set this text, from the chant Credos of the Graduale Romanum to the Masses of Palestrina, Byrd and Mozart, so the Latin Creed is also one of the most set-to-music texts in the world.
The Latin follows the Greek of 381 closely, with two Western features worth knowing. First, Deum de Deo, “God from God”: the phrase stood in the original Creed of Nicaea in 325, was not carried into the Greek text of 381, and was restored in the Latin liturgical text (the English translation follows the Latin). Second, Filióque, “and the Son”, in the article on the Holy Spirit: a later Western addition to the text of 381, first inserted in Spain at the Third Council of Toledo (589) against Arianism, and not sung in the creed at Rome until around 1014. The Catholic Church professes the doctrine it expresses as a true development of the same faith. The whole story, told honestly, is on the Filioque page.
The liturgical singular, Credo, “I believe”, mirrors the Greek liturgical form Πιστεύω. The conciliar original of 381 opened in the plural, “we believe”: the bishops confessed together what each of the baptised now professes personally at Mass.
How to Pronounce Church Latin
The Creed is pronounced in ecclesiastical (Church) Latin, essentially Latin read with Italian vowels and consonants. The acute accents in the text above mark the stressed syllable; in words of two syllables the stress falls on the first. The essentials:
- VowelsPure and open, as in Italian: a as in “father”, e as in “bed”, i as “ee”, o as in “or”, u as “oo”. So unum is “OO-noom”.
- æ and œBoth sound like e in “bed”: cæli is “CHEH-lee”, sǽcula is “SEH-koo-lah”.
- c and ccSoft “ch” before e, i, æ, œ: cælum “CHEH-loom”, descéndit “deh-SHEN-deet” (sc before e/i is “sh”). Hard “k” elsewhere: Credo “KREH-doh”.
- g and gnSoft “j” before e and i: génitum “JEH-nee-toom”. Hard elsewhere: glória. The pair gn is “ny” as in “canyon”: regni “REH-nyee”.
- tiBefore a vowel (and not after s, t or x), “tsee”: tértia “TEHR-tsee-ah”, étiam “EH-tsee-ahm”.
- h and thH is silent: hómines “OH-mee-nehs”. Th is a plain “t”: cathólicam “kah-TOH-lee-kahm”.
- qu and xQu is “kw”: quem “kwem”. X is “ks”: exspécto “ek-SPEK-toh”; Crucifíxus “kroo-chee-FEEK-soos”.
- i as a consonantBefore a vowel at the start of a word or syllable, i sounds like English “y”: Iesum “YEH-soom”, iudicáre “yoo-dee-KAH-reh” (older books print these with a J).
Every Latin prayer in the site's Spiritual Armoury follows the same rules, so the Creed is a complete pronunciation course in itself.
Continue
The Creed in Greek
The original language of 381: the full Greek text with transliteration, and what it says (and does not say) about the Holy Spirit.
The Original Creed of 325
The first form of the Creed adopted at Nicaea, with its anathema against Arianism and a comparison with the text of 381.
The Spiritual Armoury
The essential Catholic prayers in Latin and English: Pater Noster, Ave Maria, Anima Christi, St Michael and more.