Introíbo ad altáre Dei. Ad Deum qui lætíficat iuventútem meam.
Iúdica me, Deus, et discérne causam meam de gente non sancta: ab hómine iníquo et dolóso érue me. Quia tu es, Deus, fortitúdo mea: quare me repulísti, et quare tristis incédo, dum afflígit me inimícus? Emítte lucem tuam et veritátem tuam: ipsa me deduxérunt, et adduxérunt in montem sanctum tuum, et in tabernácula tua.
✦Et introíbo ad altáre Dei: ad Deum qui lætíficat iuventútem meam. Confitébor tibi in cíthara, Deus, Deus meus: quare tristis es, ánima mea, et quare contúrbas me? Spera in Deo, quóniam adhuc confitébor illi: salutáre vultus mei, et Deus meus.
✦Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto, sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, et in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen. Introíbo ad altáre Dei: ad Deum qui lætíficat iuventútem meam.
I will go in to the altar of God. To God who giveth joy to my youth.
Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy: deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man. For thou art God my strength: why hast thou cast me off? and why do I go sorrowful whilst the enemy afflicteth me? Send forth thy light and thy truth: they have conducted me and brought me unto thy holy hill, and into thy tabernacles.
And I will go in to the altar of God: to God who giveth joy to my youth. To thee, O God my God, I will give praise upon the harp: why art thou sad, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me? Hope in God, for I will still give praise to him: the salvation of my countenance, and my God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. I will go in to the altar of God: to God who giveth joy to my youth.
The Prayers at the Foot of the Altar open the traditional Latin Mass. Before ascending to the altar, the priest and the server stand at its foot and pray together in dialogue — first Psalm 42 ("Judica me"), then the twofold Confiteor with its versicles. Only then does the priest go up to begin the Mass.
The heart of these prayers is Psalm 42, the song of a soul longing for God's altar: "I will go in to the altar of God, to God who giveth joy to my youth." Its note of hope in the midst of sorrow — "why art thou sad, O my soul?" — makes it a fitting preparation for the Holy Sacrifice, and it is answered by the humble confession of sin in the Confiteor that follows.
Though psalms and prayers of preparation are ancient, this dialogue at the foot of the altar took its fixed form in the Missal of Pope St. Pius V (1570). In the Requiem Mass and in Passiontide, Psalm 42 is omitted, since its joyful refrain does not suit those days. In the reformed rite of 1969 these prayers were set aside, which is why they are especially treasured in the traditional Mass today.
I will go in to the altar of God.
To God who giveth joy to my youth.
Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy:
deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man.
For thou art God my strength: why hast thou cast me off?
and why do I go sorrowful whilst the enemy afflicteth me?
Send forth thy light and thy truth:
they have conducted me and brought me unto thy holy hill, and into thy tabernacles.
And I will go in to the altar of God:
to God who giveth joy to my youth.
To thee, O God my God, I will give praise upon the harp:
why art thou sad, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me?
Hope in God, for I will still give praise to him:
the salvation of my countenance, and my God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
I will go in to the altar of God:
to God who giveth joy to my youth.
Introíbo ad altáre Dei.
Ad Deum qui lætíficat iuventútem meam.
Iúdica me, Deus, et discérne causam meam de gente non sancta:
ab hómine iníquo et dolóso érue me.
Quia tu es, Deus, fortitúdo mea: quare me repulísti,
et quare tristis incédo, dum afflígit me inimícus?
Emítte lucem tuam et veritátem tuam:
ipsa me deduxérunt, et adduxérunt in montem sanctum tuum, et in tabernácula tua.
Et introíbo ad altáre Dei:
ad Deum qui lætíficat iuventútem meam.
Confitébor tibi in cíthara, Deus, Deus meus:
quare tristis es, ánima mea, et quare contúrbas me?
Spera in Deo, quóniam adhuc confitébor illi:
salutáre vultus mei, et Deus meus.
Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto,
sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, et in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.
Introíbo ad altáre Dei:
ad Deum qui lætíficat iuventútem meam.
I will go in to the altar of God.
To God who giveth joy to my youth.
Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from the nation that is not holy:
deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man.
For thou art God my strength: why hast thou cast me off?
and why do I go sorrowful whilst the enemy afflicteth me?
Send forth thy light and thy truth:
they have conducted me and brought me unto thy holy hill, and into thy tabernacles.
And I will go in to the altar of God:
to God who giveth joy to my youth.
To thee, O God my God, I will give praise upon the harp:
why art thou sad, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me?
Hope in God, for I will still give praise to him:
the salvation of my countenance, and my God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
I will go in to the altar of God:
to God who giveth joy to my youth.