With the singing of the Creed, the Mass of the Catechumens reaches its culmination and the threshold opens toward the Mass of the Faithful. Situated after the Gospel and the homily, the Creed is the solemn response of the Christian people to the Word they have just heard. It is not a personal reflection or an intimate feeling, but a public, conscious, and total adherence to the truths revealed by God: “Yes, Lord, I believe.” That is why the faithful stand to recite it, outwardly manifesting the firmness of their faith.
The origin of the Creed: from baptism to the liturgy
In its origin, the Creed was not composed for the Mass. The great professions of faith—the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Symbol and the Apostles’ Symbol—were born in the context of the baptismal catechumenate. They were formulas transmitted to those preparing to receive baptism, as an essential summary of the Christian faith. The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Symbol, as we know it today, appears in the Council of Chalcedon (451) as a synthesis of the faith defined previously in Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381), in the face of heresies that threatened the heart of dogma.
The term “symbol” comes from the Greek sýmballein, “to unite.” It originally designated an object broken into two parts, whose halves allowed those who possessed them to recognize each other. Thus, the Creed is that which unites man with God and, at the same time, constitutes the sign of communion among all Christians who profess the same faith.
The entry of the Creed into the Roman Mass
The introduction of the Creed into the Latin liturgy is probably due to the impetus of Charlemagne, at the end of the eighth century, in a context marked by persistent doctrinal errors about the person of Christ. Its use spread progressively in Europe during the ninth and tenth centuries, although Rome resisted for a time. When Emperor Henry II attended Mass in Rome in 1014 and was surprised not to hear the Creed, the Roman clergy responded that the Church of Rome, not having been reached by heresy, did not need to proclaim it so frequently. Over time, however, the Creed was stably admitted into the Roman Mass.
From then on, the Creed became a theological text for the defense of the faith, proclaimed especially on Sundays and great solemnities, to publicly affirm the dogma in the face of errors.
A Trinitarian profession of faith
The Creed is structured in a clearly Trinitarian way. In its first part, it confesses God the Father, creator of heaven and earth. In the second, it proclaims Jesus Christ, eternal Son of the Father, true God and true man, consubstantial with the Father, against Arianism that denied his divinity. In the third, it affirms the divinity of the Holy Spirit, Lord and giver of life, against the Macedonians who considered him inferior.
This structure is also reflected in the liturgical gestures. During the Creed, the head is bowed three times: when mentioning God the Father, when naming Jesus Christ, and when confessing the Holy Spirit. At the center of the text, like a jewel in the heart of the prayer, the mystery of the Incarnation is proclaimed: the Son of God made man by the work of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. At that moment, the priest descends from the altar and kneels, adoring the unfathomable mystery by which God entered history to save us.
The Creed as the threshold of the Eucharistic mystery
The Creed occupies a pivotal position within the Mass. It closes the part of proclamation and teaching—to which catechumens could attend—and opens access to the mysterium fidei, the Eucharistic sacrifice. Before offering the Body and Blood of Christ, the Church demands a clear and complete confession of faith. There is no Eucharist without faith, nor sacrifice without adherence to the revealed truth.
That is why the Creed is not a private prayer, but an ecclesial proclamation. In it, interior faith becomes word, song, and visible witness. The Church believes as a single body, with a single voice.
Faith: gift, responsibility, and witness
Faith is a gift from God, a grace that must be humbly asked for and carefully nurtured. It demands formation, study, prayer, and fidelity to the Church’s magisterium. One cannot accept part of the faith and reject another: denying a single revealed truth endangers the entire faith. At the same time, faith cannot remain enclosed in the private sphere. It is called to radiate, to illuminate, to be proclaimed without fear in a world that often lives with its back turned to God.
The Creed expresses precisely this public dimension of faith. By singing it, the faithful outwardly confess what they live inwardly and commit themselves to bearing witness to Christ in the world.