Pax vobis: Mass Calls and Answers

Peace and Short Replies

Level 1

Four calls from the Mass, learned whole.

How It Works

Call	Answer
Pax vobis. Peace be with you.	Et cum spiritu tuo. And with your spirit.
Oremus. Let us pray.	(the people pray quietly)
Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.	Dignum et iustum est. It is right and just.
Verbum Domini. The word of the Lord (after a reading).	Deo gratias. Thanks be to God.

Vobis means to you all. Vobiscum adds cum and means with you all. A bishop uses Pax vobis at Mass in place of Dominus vobiscum.

Oremus sounds like oh-REH-moos. Dignum sounds like DEEN-yoom in Church Latin and DEENG-noom in classical Latin.

Oremus and agamus end in -mus, as in laudamus, but they are wishes: let us pray, let us give thanks. Level 5 explains them.

Pax vobis.
Peace be with you.
Pax is peace and vobis is to you all. John 20:19 has Jesus say it.
Oremus.
Let us pray.
A call to pray. It ends in -mus, we, with the sense let us.
Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
Agamus is let us give. Domino Deo nostro is dative: to our Lord God.
Dignum et iustum est.
It is right and just.
The people's answer. Dignum and iustum are neuter.
Verbum Domini.
The word of the Lord.
Domini is the genitive: of the Lord.

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Pax vobis: Mass Calls and AnswersLevel 1Peace and Short Replies

Pax vobis is another greeting like Dominus vobiscum, so that greeting comes first.

paxvosoro

Poppy, your AI tutor, writes Latin lessons at your level. Tap any grammar point in a lesson to see its full explanation.