A creed, or profession of faith (the word creed comes from the Latin credo, meaning "I believe"), was developed in the early Church to affirm the teachings of the faith and was further refined at the First Council of Constantinople in 381. It expanded on previous creeds in order to be more precise in what the Church believed and is now known as the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.
This came at a time when the Catholics were coming out from underground and were finally able to affirm their Christian faith publicly.
At the same time, the Church needed to correct various heresies that had sprung up since the formation of Christianity and so developed a particular formula that was written in both Greek and Latin.
While we have printed the English version of the creed in the past, we've also provided the original Latin version of the creed below that is still recited or sung in many churches throughout the world, such as the Vatican during papal Masses.
Credo in unum Deum,
Patrem omnipotentem,
factorem caeli et terrae,
visibilium omnium et invisibilium,
Et in unum Dominum Iesum Christum,
Filium Dei unigenitum,
et ex Patre natum, ante omnia saecula,
Deum de Deo, lumen de Lumine,
Deum verum de Deo vero,
genitum, non factum, consubstantialem Patri:
per quem omnia facta sunt.
Qui propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem descendit de caelis.All bow during the following two lines:
Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto
ex Maria Virgine, et homo factus est.
Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato;
passus et sepultus est,
et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas,
et ascendit in caelum, sedet ad dexteram Patris.
Et iterum venturus est cum gloria,
iudicare vivos et mortuos,
cuius regni non erit finis.
Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et vivificantem:
qui ex Patre Filioque procedit.
Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur:
qui locutus est per prophetas.
Et unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam.
Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum.
Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum,
et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.
