From John 1:14: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
And 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God."
The third Mass of Christmas Day, where this same Gospel
is read as the Gospel of the Mass, has no Last Gospel;
before 1954, the Gospel for the Feast of the Epiphany
would be read here. Also, a superseded Mass, e.g. a
Saint's feas...(+)
From John 1:14: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
And 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God."
The third Mass of Christmas Day, where this same Gospel
is read as the Gospel of the Mass, has no Last Gospel;
before 1954, the Gospel for the Feast of the Epiphany
would be read here. Also, a superseded Mass, e.g. a
Saint's feast superseded by a Sunday, could be
commemorated by, among other things, having its Gospel
as the Last Gospel.
The Last Gospel began as a private devotional practice
on the priest's part, known well in the Sarum Rite in
Catholic England, but was gradually absorbed into the
rubrics of the Mass. Immediately after the blessing the
priest goes to the Gospel side of the altar.
He begins with the Dominus vobiscum as at the
Proclamation of the Gospel during Mass; however, since
he reads from an altar card, he makes a Sign of the
Cross with his right thumb on the altar's surface
instead of the Gospel text, before signing his own
forehead, lips, and chest. At the words "Et Verbum caro
factum est" ("And the Word became flesh"), the priest
(and, if present, the congregation) genuflects.
The text of John's Gospel is perhaps best known for its
opening, "In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud
Deum, et Deus erat Verbum," which in most English
translations has been rendered as "In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God."
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Gospel).
Although originally written for Chorus (SATB), I
created this Interpretation of the Medieval Villancico
"Verbum caro factum est" (and the Word became flesh)
for Woodwind Quartet (Flute, Oboe, English Horn &
Bassoon).