Introibo

See also: introibo

English

Etymology

From Ecclesiastical Latin introībō ad altāre Deī (“I shall go in towards the altar of God”), the first line spoken.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ĭnʹtrō-ēbō, IPA^(key): /ˈɪntɹəʊiːbəʊ/
• Hyphenation: In‧tro‧i‧bo

Noun

Introibo (plural not attested)

1. (Roman Catholicism) The prayers spoken by the priest at the foot of the altar at the start of a Tridentine Mass.
   • 1959, Henri Béchard, The Visions of Bernard Francis de Hoyos, S.J.: Apostle of the Sacred Heart in Spain, a Biography, page 72:

     At the Introibo he noticed at his right, as usual, his guardian angel, who acted as the angel mentioned by St. John in the Apocalypse, standing before the altar and bearing a golden censer.

   • 1964, John William Corrington, The Anatomy of Love and Other Poems, page 9:

     In place of the humble but hopeful supplication of the Introibo, we have the narcissistic, desperate anguish of 1, punctuated by a blues refrain in the key of death and loss, drunkenness, violence, and sexuality.

   • 1994, Georges Perec, translated by Gilbert Adair, A Void, page 273:

     As imposing and plump as Buck Mulligan standing on top of a spiral stairway whilst intoning an “Introibo”, his slowly magnifying body brings to mind a purplish balloon, of a sort that you might buy for your child in Parc Montsouris.