What does “Introibo ad altare Dei” mean in Ulysses?
“Introibo ad altare Dei” is Latin for “I will go up to the altar of God”, the opening words of the old Catholic Mass. Buck Mulligan intones them on the roof of the Martello tower, holding up his shaving bowl like a chalice. They are the first words spoken in Ulysses.
Edited by Aidan O'Leary · Last updated 30 October 2026
Where it appears
Episode 1, Telemachus. Buck Mulligan, mock-celebrating Mass with his shaving bowl at the start of the novel.
He held the bowl aloft and intoned: —Introibo ad altare Dei.
What it means in plain English
In the Latin Mass the priest spoke these words at the foot of the altar. Mulligan uses them as a joke, blessing the tower and the mountains and calling Stephen up to join him.
The Mass returns in Circe as a Black Mass, where Father Malachi O'Flynn says “Introibo ad altare diaboli”: to the altar of the devil.
Literary context
The words come from Psalm 42 (43 in other numbering), recited at the start of the Tridentine Mass used until the 1960s.
References
- Ulysses, Episodes 1 and 15
- Psalm 42 (Vulgate)
- Don Gifford with Robert J. Seidman, Ulysses Annotated (revised edition, 1988)
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Questions readers ask
What are the first words spoken in Ulysses?
“Introibo ad altare Dei”, said by Buck Mulligan.
Is Mulligan religious?
No. He is mocking the Mass, partly to needle Stephen.
Related terms
The first line of Ulysses
The first line of Ulysses is "Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed." It opens the novel at the Martello tower in Sandycove on the morning of 16 June 1904, with Mulligan mock-celebrating Mass using his shaving bowl.
The Mass parody
The novel opens with Buck Mulligan parodying the Catholic Mass: holding up his shaving bowl like a chalice, saying Latin words, and pretending to turn the lather into Christ's body. The parody returns in Circe as a Black Mass.
Buck Mulligan
Stephen's witty, blasphemous flatmate, a medical student. He opens the novel parodying the Catholic Mass at the tower.
Kinch
Kinch is Buck Mulligan's nickname for Stephen Dedalus. The name is usually read as the sound of a blade, something sharp and thin like Stephen's wit. It is the first name Mulligan shouts down the tower stairs.