The Kyrie Eleison provides a notable distinction between old Mass and New, but its history also provides an interesting challenge to contemporary myths about liturgical development. It is often supposed today that the Kyrie is a remnant of a time when the Mass was said in Greek, and thus a sign for us that just as the Mass was once changed from Greek to Latin, so now it should be changed to the vernacular of the people. Nothing could be further from the truth. The myth that it is left over from a time when the Roman liturgy was said in Greek liturgy nothing more than an instance of bad scholarship and false assumptions made by those eager to push a vernacular liturgy on the Church at the expense of her tradition, and should be dispensed with because it is nonsense, as we shall see.
How the Kyrie Came to Be Included in the Latin Rites
The Kyrie Eleison was not introduced into the Roman liturgy until after it had been celebrated in Latin for many years. It appears nowhere in the account of St. Justin Martyr, nor is it attested in the little we know about the ancient North African liturgy. None of the old Latin writers such as Tertullian nor St. Cyprian mention it, neither does the eminent Latin father St. Augustine. Where did it come from then?
A popular tradition attributes the liturgical introduction of the Kyrie to St. John Chrysostom (d. 407), who is said to have introduced the saying into the liturgy of Constantinople (if it was not already in use), after which it was popularized and introduced into other liturgies. This is probably a fable; the Kyrie likely emerged as a response to litanies in the east far before the age of Chrysostom. Because it was Greek, rather than translate it into the Latin it was imported directly as it was received. In the west, the Kyrie appears first in the Gallican liturgies, then in the Roman liturgy in the 6th century. There were, nevertheless, differences between its use in the east and west. In the Greek rites, the Kyrie was a part of a litany, whereas in the west the manner of its introduction was alternating with the invocation “Christe eleison,” something not found in the Greek liturgy, nor in any other western liturgy save the Mozarabic.
The Problem of Farcing
Interestingly enough, the Kyrie in the Novus Ordo represents a retrograde development, not to the early Church as is often supposed, but rather ironically, to the high Middle Ages. The traditional Latin Mass revised by St. Pius V removed all sorts of local creations with respect to the Kyrie, restoring the ancient usage in the Roman Rite of three yrie Eleisons to God the Father, three Christe Eleisons to God the Son, and three Kyrie Eleisons for God the Holy Ghost, with no invocations, no farcing, no additions to the prayer to fill in the chant. This three-fold division is also fitting due to the Trinitarian aspect of the prayers. The medieval custom ended by Pius V was a musical device called “farcing.” Farcing a text means that where the notes are long, the text would be filled in with other words or invocations.
This practice was not limited to the Kyrie but was also found realization in the Gloria, Agnus Dei, and many of the Church’s antiphons and sequences. The style would go something like this: Kyrie eleison, redemptor mundi et rex creationis, Christe eleison filius David, etc. It could also work the other way, for example: Princeps pacis qui salvare nos venire, Kyire eleison, Redemptor mundi Kyrie eleison, or again Precamur te Domine, Christe eleison, etc. It is possible that this practice grew out of the litany tradition of the Gallican rite. It ought to be noted, however, that the names for certain Kyries (such as Orbis factor ) come from the first farcing of the Kyrie chants of the middle ages.
By the high and late Middle Ages the practice of farcing was getting out of control, the number and enormity of the texts were ridiculous. Since the Roman liturgy did not use farcing, the farced texts disappeared as churches adopted Pius’s missal.
The Kyrie in the Novus Ordo
Now forgetting ICEL, or the manifold abuses existing with respect to the Kyrie, we will go straight to the Latin of the Novus Ordo. There are several options for it. The first: Kyrie eleison twice, Christe eleison twice, Kyrie Eleison twice. Why only twice? If we are going to speak of time, how much time does it really save to take away one extra invocation each to the Holy Trinity? Not only is one reducing the honor paid to the Holy Trinity, he is also reducing the beautiful Trinitarian symbolism for the faithful. There is simply no good reason for this change.
Second, let us look at the options for the Kyrie in the Novus Ordo:
Postea sacerdos, vel diaconus vel alius minister, sequentes, vel alias, invocationes cum Kyrie, eléison profert: Qui missus es sanáre contrítos corde: Kyrie, eléison.
Populus respondet: Kyrie, eléison. Sacerdos: Qui peccatóres vocáre venísti: Christe, eléison. Populus: Christe, eléison. Sacerdos: Qui ad déxteram Patris sedes, ad interpellándum pro nobis: Kyrie, eléison. Populus: Kyrie, eléison.The Priest, or a Deacon or another minister, then says the following or other invocations*
You were sent to heal the contrite of heart:
Lord, have mercy. (or Kyrie, eleison)
The people reply:
Lord, have mercy. (or Kyrie, eleison)The Priest:
You came to call sinners:
Christ, have mercy. (or Christe, eleison)
The people:
Christ, have mercy. (or Christe, eleison)The Priest:
You are seated at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us:
Lord, have mercy. (or Kyrie, eleison)
The people:
Lord, have mercy. (Kyrie, eleison).
With the priest’s interjections between each phrase of the Kyrie, the Novus Ordo has thus reintroduced a foreign element to the Roman Rite, namely textual farcing, which was expunged during the Middle Ages—despite that progressive liturgists were supposed to be eliminating medieval traditions, not returning to them! Farcing was added to the Roman rite in the medieval period, but expunged after Trent. It has again become a part of the official text of the new Roman rite today, a clear novelty in the tradition.
Now, the priest still retains the ability to say the Kyrie without the additional phrases, as the missal allows the following alternate option:
V/. Kyrie, eleison. R/. Kyrie, eleison.
V/. Christe, eleison. R/. Christe, eleison.
V/. Kyrie, eleison. R/. Kyrie, eleison.
In either case, ithe priest is in a bind. If he chooses the more traditional option, he is not able to say it the way it has nearly always been done in the Roman Rite, three each, or even to have it chanted three each, which is even the case in the medieval farced Kyries. If he chooses the less traditional option, he must include the farced text, reflecting a practice expunged by Pius V.
Now, it should be noted that the GIRM does allow an option for the priest to say the three-fold Kyrie:
Each acclamation is usually pronounced twice, though it is not to be excluded that it be repeated several times, by reason of the character of the various languages, as well as of the artistry of the music or of other circumstances. (GIRM, 52)
Though the three-fold Kyrie is allowed, its use is so rare one can attend the Novus Ordo one’s entire life and never hear it. Furthermore, the option is qualified—it is permitted for reasons of local language or music or “other circumstances,” but not simply because it is the traditional method. Thus the protection of the three-fold Kyrie is somewhat backhanded, and the double-Kyrie (with or without farcing) remains normative throughout the overwhelming majority of Novus Ordo masses.
This post by Ryan Grant originally appeared on the blog Athanasius Contra Mundum on January 29, 2010 under the title “Forgetting ICEL: The Kyrie.” The final three paragraphs added by Phillip Campbell to address GIRM 52.
Ryan Grant, “The Farcing of the Kyrie,” Unam Sanctam Catholicam, October 7, 2025. Available online at https://unamsanctamcatholicam.com/2025/07/10/the-farcing-of-the-kyrie