The modern English word 'parody' derives from Latin: parodia 'parody', from Ancient Greek: parōidia, 'burlesque song or poem', from para- 'beside, parallel to' (in this case, "mock-") + ōidē 'song, or ode".
[4] The parody or imitation mass was a very popular model during the Renaissance: Palestrina alone wrote some 50-odd examples, and by the first half of the 16th century this style was the dominant form.
The Council of Trent, in a document dated 10 September 1562, banned the use of secular material, "...let nothing profane be intermingled ... banish from church all music which contains, whether in the singing or the organ playing, things that are lascivious or impure.
In his colossal 22-volume El melopeo y maestro of 1613, Italian music theorist Pietro Cerone gave some general guidelines for writing a parody mass: each of the main sections of the mass should start with the beginning of the source; the interior section of the Kyrie should use a secondary motive; and some portions, for example the second and third Agnus Dei, should not be chained to the model but be freely composed.
The Missa Mater Patris by des Prez is considered to be the first true parody mass as it does not include a structural cantus firmus.