As mentioned in the
Webster 1913 entry for the
Gloria (a term more usually employed for the
Gloria in Excelsis), the Gloria Patri is a short prayer, often used as a
doxology following a
psalm.
From the
Book of Common Prayer,
1662, 'Of Ceremonies':
And at the end of every Psalm, and of every such part of the 119th Psalm, shall be repeated this Hymn,
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.
From
Breviarum Romanum,
1910, following the long-standing
Roman Catholic pattern, the following is the form which gives the prayer its name:
Glória Patri, et Fílio, * et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, * et in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.
NB: That's an a-e
diphthong with an
acute accent in 'saecula'.