Lamb of God Lamb of God sung or recited during the fraction of the Host. It is said to have been introduced into the Mass by Pope Sergius I (687–701). "Agnus Dei" has been set to music by many composers, usually as part of a Mass setting. In Christian iconography, an Agnus Dei is a visual representation of Jesus as a lamb, since the Middle Ages, usually holding a standard or banner with a cross. This normally rests on the lamb's shoulder and is held in its right foreleg. Often the cross will have a white banner suspended from it charged with a
Missa Papae Marcelli effect. This was a new technique, using "tonal planning" to replace imitation as the means to keep the music moving forward. The Agnus Dei returns to the imitative polyphony of the Kyrie (the opening of Agnus Dei I repeats that of the Kyrie). As was frequently done in the 16th century, Palestrina adds an extra voice in Agnus Dei II, making seven for this movement, in which is embedded a three-part canon that begins with the head-motive. Missa Papae Marcelli Missa Papae Marcelli, or Pope Marcellus Mass, is a mass "sine nomine" by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. It is his