“Gloria in excelsis Deo” is Latin for “Glory to God in the highest.”

Basic meaning

  • Gloria = glory, praise, honor.
  • In excelsis = in the highest, on high.
  • Deo = to God.

Put together, it is a short acclamation meaning “Glory to God in the highest,” expressing joyful praise directed toward God.

Where it comes from

  • The phrase is rooted in the angels’ song in the Gospel of Luke: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace…” (Luke 2:14).
  • Over time it became the opening line of a longer Christian hymn known as the Gloria in excelsis Deo , also called the Greater Doxology or Angelic Hymn.

How it’s used today

  • It appears in many Christmas carols and church liturgies, especially around Christmas, as a song of celebration of Jesus’ birth.
  • Some modern Christian writers explain it as “excellent praise that grows bigger and bigger to God,” emphasizing ever-increasing, exalted worship.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.