Parce Domine is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

antiphon An antiphon ( Greek ἀντίφωνον, ἀντί "opposite" and φωνή "voice") is a short chant in Christian ritual, sung as a refrain. The texts of antiphons are usually taken from the Psalms or Scripture, but may also be freely compo ...

sung especially during the Lenten season.

Source

The text is derived from Joel 2:17. Early

sacramentaries In the Western Church of the Early and High Middle Ages, a sacramentary was a book used for liturgical services and the mass by a bishop or priest. Sacramentaries include only the words spoken or sung by him, unlike the missals of later centurie ...

record a variety of prayers inspired by this quote from the prophet Joel, the variant ending to the prayer ''Parce, domine, parce ...'' having in common these three first words. ''Parce, Domine'' was copied and adapted into local liturgies, and served as a model for the Irish prayer of Saint Mugint, which was allegedly composed in the 6th century by

Finnian of Movilla Finnian of Movilla (–589) was an Irish Christian missionary. His feast day is 10 September. Origins and life Finnian (sometimes called Finbarr "the white head", a reference to his fair hair), was a Christian missionary in medieval Ir ...

as imitation of the Roman antiphon. It is found in a 9th-century manuscript of a learned Irish monk possibly at the court of King

Æthelstan Æthelstan or Athelstan (; ; ; ; – 27 October 939) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and King of the English from 927 to his death in 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his first wife, Ecgwynn. Modern histori ...

. To the initial ''Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo'' is appended in a different handwriting : ''Parce domine peccantibus, ignosce penitentibus, misere nobis te'' suggesting a strong link to Lent as the liturgical season of conversion for penitents. It occurs in the Breviary of Sarum and also in the Breviary of Aberdeen after the seven penitential psalms.

Liturgical use

''Parce Domine'' is a

Lent Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, t ...

lament A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form. The grief is most often born of regret, or mourning. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about something ...

. The first half of the text comes from one of the responsories designated to be sung by the choir during the imposition of the ashes on

Ash Wednesday Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and marks the first day of Lent: the seven weeks of Christian prayer, prayer, Religious fasting#Christianity, fasting and ...

. It has been prescribed universally for the Latin Church by the ''

Missale Romanum The Roman Missal () is the book which contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of the Roman Rite, the most common liturgy and Mass of the Catholic Church. There have been several editions. History Before the Council of Trent (1570) B ...

'' of

Pope Pius V Pope Pius V, OP (; 17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (and from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 January 1566 to his death, in May 1572. He was an ...

since 1596 as the hymn to be sung during the imposition of the ashes which was to be done before the celebration of the Holy Mass on Ash Wednesday. The 1961 Liber Usualis lists Parce Domine is an antiphon to be sung "at a time of penance." In a final plea for conversion, ''Parce Domine'' was also sung during executions of criminals before the '' Miserere''. After the Restoration, Father J. Marbeuf composed a canticle entitled ''Parce Domine'' which was used in particular for the blessing of the Blessed Sacrament during Lent. This canticle is composed of seven verses which each include the evocation of a disorder of the world, of France, of society or of the troubles caused by infidel Christians; it was a sort of ''catharsis'' where all the sins were brought to light. The sinners then asked Christ for his forgiveness, declared their love to him and asked him to forget their faults. ''Parce Domine'' was a popular hymn in the parish through the 20th century. Along '' O, Roma nobilis'', it was chosen as one of the hymns of the 1950 Jubilee decreed by

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

, and was meant to insist on the penitential dimension of this Holy year after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Text

Music

The Gregorian melody to which ''Parce, Domine'' was set served as a basis for rich musical developments. The Gregorian ''Parce Domine'' refrain is also sung with verses from the ''miserere'' using the ''

tonus peregrinus Tonus Peregrinus is a British vocal ensemble specialising in early music and contemporary sacred music, especially that of founder and director, Antony Pitts. Established in 1990, the ensemble have recorded numerous CDs for Naxos, their first wi ...

''.

Jacob Obrecht Jacob Obrecht (also Hobrecht; 1457/8

composed an evocative motet, with challenging soprano and alto lines but a simple cantus firmus in half notes for the baritones, based on ''Parce Domine '' in 1547 in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, with the characteristic Flemish use of free contrapuntal lines with occasional suggestions of imitation. It is an illustration of the

Aeolian mode The Aeolian mode is a musical mode or, in modern usage, a diatonic scale also called the natural minor scale. On the piano, using only the white keys, it is the scale that starts with A and continues to the next A only striking white keys. Its a ...

in the ''Dedokachordon'' compiled by

Heinrich Glarean Heinrich Glarean also styled Henricus Glareanus (born as Heinrich Loriti on 28 February or 3 June 1488 – 28 March 1563) was a Swiss music theorist, poet, humanist, philosopher and cartographer. He was born in Mollis (in the canton of Glarus, he ...

, an important sixteenth century theoretical work in which the traditional system of eight modes is extended to twelve. The complexity of its polyphony has been traced back to a symbolising method of composition based on cabbalistic and mathematical principles. Using the source text of ''Parce Domine'',

Thomas Tallis Thomas Tallis (; also Tallys or Talles; 23 November 1585) was an English composer of High Renaissance music. His compositions are primarily vocal, and he occupies a primary place in anthologies of English choral music. Tallis is considered one ...

and his pupil

William Byrd William Byrd (; 4 July 1623) was an English Renaissance composer. Considered among the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he had a profound influence on composers both from his native country and on the Continental Europe, Continent. He i ...

composed ''In Jejunio et Fletu'' in 1575, as part of a publication of ''Cantiones Sacrae'', a large collection of sacred motets: he treats the original text with great freedom, piling on the emotion with repetitions of 'parce populo tuo'.

Claire Delbos Louise-Justine Messiaen (née Delbos; 2 November 1906 – 22 April 1959), more commonly known under her pseudonym Claire Delbos, was a French violinist and composer, and first wife of the composer Olivier Messiaen. Biography Delbos was born i ...

wrote and published the last work of her life in 1952 — that is, contemporaneous with Messiaen's "Hands of the Abyss" — a piece for organ solo entitled ''Parce, Domine'' for the season of Lent.

Popular culture

As a ''locus terribilis'' of Ash Wednesday, ''Parce Domine'' entered

popular piety Popular piety in Christianity is an expression of faith which avails of certain cultural elements proper to a specific environment which is capable of interpreting and questioning in a lively and effective manner the sensibilities of those who liv ...

as a desperate cry to God in a plea for conversion. It is found in such a construction in a sonnet by

Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine ( ; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolism (movement), Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' ...

Adolphe Willette Adolphe Léon Willette (30 July 1857 – 4 February 1926) was a French Painting, painter, illustrator, caricaturist, and lithographer, as well as an architect of the famous Moulin Rouge cabaret. Willette ran as an "antisemitism, anti-semitic" c ...

painted a canvas entitled ''Parce Domine'' in 1884, which appears to be his masterpiece. The name was also picked as an episode title by the ''

Westworld ''Westworld'' is an American science fiction dystopia media franchise that began with the Westworld (film), 1973 film ''Westworld'', written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced Wild West, Wild-West-th ...

'' television series " Parce Domine", directly inspired by Willette's painting.

External links

Version with extra versesChoralWiki - Midi fileParce Domine
for Piano and Voices, Latin & English lyrics, including vocal sheet.

References

{{reflist Christian hymns in Latin Lenten hymns