Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace.
ECUMENICAL C. 700 AD (LITURGICAL FORM)
The Agnus Dei
Also known as Lamb of God ยท O Lamb of God
Other forms
Latin (Agnus Dei)
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.
Traditional English (BCP)
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world,
have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world,
have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world,
grant us thy peace.
About this prayer
The Agnus Dei ("Lamb of God") is a short litany addressed to Christ, drawing on the words of John the Baptist in John's Gospel (1:29): "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." The image of Christ as the Lamb of God connects to the Passover lamb of Exodus, to the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, and to the Lamb who appears throughout the book of Revelation. In its liturgical form, the prayer was introduced into the Roman Mass by Pope Sergius I (687-701 AD), who added it in response to opposition to the Quinisext Council. It consists of three invocations of Christ as Lamb of God, each followed by a petition: the first two ask for mercy, the third asks for peace.
When it's said
In Catholic Mass, the Agnus Dei is said during the Breaking of the Bread, just before Communion. In Anglican Communion services it is used at the same point in the liturgy. In Requiem Masses, the third petition changes from "grant us peace" to "grant them rest," with the final petition becoming "grant them eternal rest." The Agnus Dei has been set to music in Requiem settings by Mozart, Verdi, Brahms, and Faure, among others.
Notes on the text
In some early medieval forms, the three invocations all ended with "have mercy on us," with the petition for peace added later as the standard third response. The Requiem variant replacing "peace" with "rest" appears in Masses for the dead from at least the 10th century AD.
Source
Drawn from John 1:29. Liturgical form introduced by Pope Sergius I, c. 700 AD. English text from the Roman Missal (traditional form) and the Book of Common Prayer, 1662. Public domain.
Last reviewed: May 2026 against primary source.