CREDO

Thanks to the repeated use of et and, combined with relative clauses (beginning qui  who quem whom and cuius whose), the prayer (except for its last two sentences) is a single sentence driven by its opening word, the verb  credo I believe.

 

The statements about the three persons of the Trinity are linked audibly and visually by the  –um or -em endings of the masculine accusative on nouns and adjectives, while the statement about the church is characterised by feminine nouns and adjectives, all agreeing  and ending in –am, something translation cannot replicate. 

 

CREDO IN   I believe in  UNUM DEUM one God,

(The Father) PATREM  OMNIPOTENTEM  the Father almighty                                                                                                           FACTOREM caeli et terrae maker of heaven and earth

(The Son) 

Like the statements about the Father, those about the Son use masculine nouns and adjecives in the accusative form. In the following, * indicates an adjective, the rest are nouns:

< ET IN UNUM * DOMINUM JESUM CHRISTUM one Lord Jesus Christ

                    FILIUM the Son UNIGENITUM* only-born NATUM *born DEUM VERUM* true God, GENITUM* begotten                     non FACTUM* not made CONSUBSTANTIALEM* consubstantial

The next two statements are in relative clauses referring back to:JESUM CHRISTUM .

            < PER QUEM omnia facta sunt   through  whom all things were made

             < QUI  DESCENDIT de caelis     who came down from heaven

and the next set of statements all follow on from that same QUI which is not repeated:

                INCARNATUS EST,  homo FACTUS EST,  CRUCIFIXUS (EST), PASSUS (EST), et SEPULTUS EST                                      (Who) became incarnate, was made man, was crucified, died, was buried .

The Latin uses the Perfect tense, repeating the ending, –US of the masculine nominative (because the subject of all the verbs is Jesus), before completing its narrative account with two verbs in the simple past which take the same ending as                  DESCENDIT with which it began:  RESURREXIT he rose again   ASCENDIT he ascended.

The transition is then made to the present tense, as Christ is now beyond time, the –ET ending on the third person present of the verb sedere to sit sounds like the  –IT ending on the preceding verbs in the past:

                SEDET ad dexteram Patris  he sits/is sitting at the right  hand of the Father.

Having spoken of Jesus in the past and the present, the prayer completes its rapid survey of salvation history with two verbs in future tenses, one ending  in –US and one in -IT:   

                ET iterum VENTURUS EST and he will come again                                        

    < CUIUS  REGNI NON ERIT FINIS to whose reign there will be no end                                                                   

This is the final reference back to JESUM CHRISTUM

(The Holy Spirit) 

The next item refers the reader right back once more to the opening word, CREDO, so beginning the third unit of the prayer, which refers to the Holy Spirit. The familiar patterns are repeated, with masculine nouns in –UM and –EM, then three relative clauses beginning with QUI referring back this time to Spiritum Sanctum. Two of the verbs have the familiar –IT and –US endings and even the unfamiliar endings on the two passive verbs in the other sentence rhyme!

 < ET IN SPIRITUM SANCTUM, 

                DOMINUM et VIVIFICANTEM  the Lord and giver of life        

•     < QUI   ex Patre Filioque PROCEDIT who proceeds from the Father and the Son                                              
•     < QUI  cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified           
•     < QUI  LOCUTUS est per prophetas who has spoken through the prophets

(The church)

As the noun ECCLESIA church, is feminine, the ending is different, although the feminine accusative –AM sounds quite like the masculine –UM. The ET returns us once more to the beginning and the verb CREDO I believe

< ET IN UNAM* SANCTAM* CATHOLICAM* et APOSTOLICAM* ECCLESIAM                                                                                      in one holy Catholic and apoaolic church

The closing statements of the creed do not follow the pattern

Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipoténtem, factórem cæli et terræ, visibílium ómnium et invisibílium. Et in unum Dóminum Jesum Christum, Fílium Dei unigénitum. Et ex Patre natum ante ómnia sæcula. Deum de Deo, lumen de lúmine, Deum verum de Deo vero. Génitum, non factum, consubstantiálem Patri: per quem ómnia facta sunt. Qui propter nos hómines et propter nostram salútem descéndit de cælis.

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God. Born of the Father before all ages. God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God. Begotten, not made: consubstantial with the Father; by Whom all things were made. Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven

Et incarnátus est de Spíritu Sancto ex María Vírgine: Et homo factus est.

And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary: and was made man

rucifíxus étiam pro nobis: sub Póntio Piláto passus, et sepúltus est. Et resurréxit tértia die, secúndum Scriptúras. Et ascéndit in cælum: sedet ad déxteram Patris. Et íterum ventúrus est cum glória judicáre vivos et mórtuos: cujus regni non erit finis. Et in Spíritum Sanctum, Dóminum et vivificántem: qui ex Patre, Filióque procédit. Qui cum Patre, et Fílio simul adorátur, et conglorifícatur: qui locútus est per Prophétas. Et unam, sanctam, cathólicam et apostólicam Ecclésiam. Confíteor unum baptísma in remissiónem peccatorum. Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum, et vitam + ventúri sæculi. Amen.