The Gloria that we now use at Mass was originally prayed outside of Mass. The Apostolic Constitutions, a manual for clergy coming from Syria, contains the Gloria as a morning prayer. As the sun was rising, Christians would voice their praise to God who sent his Son to dispel the darkness of sin.
Before Abraham Lincoln was president, only two national holidays were celebrated in the United States. They were Washington's Birthday and Independence Day. Then along came Sarah Josepha Hale.
One of the most beautiful prayers in the Mass is the Gloria. Monks chant it. Composers today, like Vivaldi and Bach in the past, set it to music. Christians echo its sentiments when they sing the popular Christmas carols Angels We Have Heard on High and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.
Along Rome’s Via Appia are perhaps the best known and most visited graves of early Christians: the catacombs. Christians living in ancient Rome tunneled through soft tufa rock outside the city and carved out graves for their dead, since Roman law did not allow burial within the city limits.