TRISAGION. - From the Greek τρεῖς - ἅγιος: a hymn in which the word Sanctus is repeated three times. A distinction is made between the so-called biblical form and the non-biblical form of liturgical origin.
1) The biblical T., or the triple Sanctus at the end of the Preface, is derived from Is. 6:3 (cf. Rev. 4:8), and is therefore also called the "seraphic hymn." Already in use in the synagogue (cf. the "Kedushah" of the morning Office), it is found in Clement of Rome (ad Corint., ch. 34), in the liturgy of the Apostolic Constitutions, and in all the Eastern liturgies beginning with the Euchologion of Serapion, from which it passed into Spain and Gaul (St. Hilary). It is not found in St. Justin or in the Traditio Apostolica of Hippolytus of Rome. It entered the Roman liturgy perhaps under Sixtus III (d. 440) from the Syriac liturgy. The liturgical form differs from the biblical one by adding the words Deus and caeli, while retaining the Hebrew word sabaoth. It was originally sung in common by the priest and the people, then in Carolingian times by the subdeacons, and now by the choir. It also occurs in the Te Deum (v.).
2) The T. of liturgical origin, an acclamation or hymn in honor of the Most Holy Trinity, occurs in the Byzantine rite in all the offices; in the other Eastern rites it is used many times. In the Roman liturgy it is used in the preces at Prime, in the Rituale (ed. 1952, tit. X, 12) at the procession in quacunque tribulatione; it is found in the invocations engraved on bells. It comes, especially together with the Improperia (v.) of Good Friday, between the 9th and 10th centuries, from the Gallican liturgy as a dramatic element of the act of adoration of the Holy Cross; it is sung in Greek with a Latin translation. A simple form is distinguished from a paraphrastic one with various additions, e.g., "qui crucifixus es pro nobis," "qui venisti ab excelsis pati pro nobis" (Missal of Bobbio, 25: dicitur post dios), "[Agnē Dei] qui tollis peccata mundi [miserere nobis]" or similar to Rev. 4:10-11, etc.
Bibliography10 works
lit., 61 (1947), pp. 309-34; M. Righetti, Man. di Stor. liturg., I, 2nd ed., Milan 1950, pp. 201-202; II, ibid. 1946, p. 162; III, ibid. 1949, pp. 297-300; J. A. Jungmann, Missarum Sollemnia, II, Vienna 1949, pp. 161-64.
Pietro Siffrin