Κύριε ἐλέησον
Kyrie eleison
KEER-ee-eh eh-LAY-ee-sohn
The Greek plea “Lord, have mercy,” kept in that language in the Latin Mass since antiquity and still sung at the start of Mass today.
Lord, have mercy
Kyrie eleison is one of the few Greek phrases that survived in the Roman liturgy after it moved into Latin. It echoes the Gospel cries for mercy of the blind men, the Canaanite woman and the ten lepers, and it opens the Mass in the Penitential Act, either in Greek or in English. The Catechism notes that the cry “Lord, have mercy” is the constant prayer of the Church for God's mercy.
Sources
Church teaching
- The Roman Missal, third typical editionThe Roman Missal, English translation according to the third typical edition (2011), Order of Mass, Penitential Act, nn. 4–7.
Sources checked 29 September 2026