It occurs in the Mass The formula Deo gratias was used in extra-liturgical prayers and customs by the Christians of all ages.
The rule of St. Benedict prescribes that the doorkeeper shall say Deo gratias, as often as a stranger knocks at the door or a beggar asks for assistance.
When St. Augustine announced to the people the election of his coadjutor and successor, Evodius of Uzalis, they called out Deo gratias thirty-six times.
The name of the deacon for whom St. Augustine wrote his treatise De catechizandis rudibus was also called Deogratias.
The 15th-century poem "Adam lay ybounden" ends with Deo gratias and it has been set by many composers, including the tenth movement of Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols (1942).