Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum.
Amen.

In general [the word Doxa] word means a short verse praising God […]. The custom of ending a rite or a hymn with such a formula comes from the Synagogue (cf. the Prayer of Manasses: tibi est gloria in sæcula sæculorum. Amen). St. Paul uses doxologies constantly (Rom., xi, 36; Gal., i, 5; Eph., iii, 21; etc.). The earliest examples are addressed to God the Father alone, or to Him through the Son (Rom., xvi, 27; Jude, 25; I Clem., xli; Mart. Polyc., xx; etc.) and in or with the Holy Ghost (Mart. Polyc., xiv, xxii, etc.). The form of baptism (Matt.,xxviii, 19) had set an example of naming the three Persons in parallel order. Especially in the fourth entury, as a protest against Arian subordination (since heretics appealed to these prepositions; cf. St. Basil, „De Spir, Sancto“, ii-v), the custom of using the form: „Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost“, became universal among Catholics.

From this time we must distinguish two doxologies, a greater (doxologia maior) and a shorter (minor). The greater doxology is the Gloria in Excelsis Deo (q.v.) in the Mass. The shorter form, which is the one generally referred to under the name „doxology“, is the Gloria Patri. It is continued by an answer to the effect that this glory shall last for ever.