Last year when I visited a Benedictine monastery, I noticed that all the monks were bowing during the first part of the Glory Be during their Hours. What is the history and significance of this? Should lay-people bow too, (or only if the Spirit moves them)? Is it just a Benedictine thing?

In Church History, when and how did The Glory Be (The Doxology) originate? Is the history of this prayer known as to when and how it originated? The Glory Be is part of those basic prayers like the Our Father and the Hail Mary . Related question: How are doxologies formed for common prayers?

This is one rendering of The Glory Be: > Glory be to the Father, and to the son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it > was in the beginning, is now, **and ever shall be, world without end**. > Amen. And this is another: > Glory be to the Father, and to the son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it > was in the beginning, is now, **and will be forever**. Amen. Does the Catholic Church say which of these is the correct rendering in english of The Glory Be (The Doxology)? If none is, what is the correct rendering in english of The Glory Be (The Doxology) according to the Catholic Church? This is what got me thinking, that the Mass in English has a New Translation .

The *Gloria Patri* or "Minor Doxology" is, in Latin: >Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen. Who was the first to translate "*in sæcula sæculorum*" as "world without end"? "*Sæculum *" can mean "generation, age, world, worldliness," so a more literal translation would be "into the ages of ages" or "generation after generation." To say "into worlds of words" makes little sense in this context. "World without end" makes even less sense. We Christians do not believe in an eternal world; the world will have an end.