Dies Irae Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Dies Iræ is a famous Latin hymn written by Thomas of Celaeno. It is often judged to be the best medieval Latin poem, differing from classical Latin by its accentual (non-quantitative) stress, and its rhymed lines. The meter is trochaic. The poem describes the day of judgment, the last trumpet summoning souls before the throne of God, where the good will be delivered and the evil will be cast into eternal flames.
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2 Manuscript sources 3 Musical settings 4 Liturgical use 5 External links |
The text:
The poem itself
'Day of Wrath! That day (which) will scatter the universe into embers, by the witness of David and the Sibyl!'
- Quantus tremor est futurus,
- quando judex est venturus,
- cuncta stricte discussurus!
- Tuba mirum spargens sonum
- per sepulcra regionum,
- coget omnes ante thronum.
- Mors stupebit et natura,
- cum resurget creatura,
- judicanti responsura.
- Liber scriptus proferetur,
- in quo totum continetur,
- unde mundus judicetur.
- Judex ergo cum sedebit,
- quidquid latet apparebit:
- nil inultum remanebit.
- Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
- Quem patronum rogaturus,
- cum vix justus sit securus?
- Rex tremendæ majestatis,
- qui salvandos salvas gratis,
- salva me fons pietatis.
- Recordare, Jesu pie,
- quod sum causa tuæ viæ:
- ne me perdas illa die.
- Quærens me, sedisti lassus:
- redemisti Crucem passus:
- tantus labor non sit cassus.
- Juste judex ultionis,
- donum fac remissionis
- ante diem rationis.
- Ingemisco, tamquam reus:
- culpa rubet vultus meus:
- supplicanti parce, Deus.
- Qui Mariam absolvisti,
- et latronem exaudisti,
- mihi quoque spem dedisti.
- Preces meæ non sunt dignæ:
- sed tu bonus fac benigne,
- ne perenni cremer igne.
- Inter oves locum præsta,
- et ab hædis me sequestra,
- statuens in parte dextra.
- Confutatis maledictis,
- flammis acribus addictis:
- voca me cum benedictis.
- Oro supplex et acclinis,
- cor contritum quasi cinis:
- gere curam mei finis.
The poem appears complete as it stands at this point. Some scholars question whether the remainder is an addition made in order to suit the great poem for liturgical use, for the last stanzas discard the consistent scheme of triple rhymes in favor of rhymed couplets, while the last two lines abandom rhyme for assonance and are, moreover, catalectic:
- Lacrimosa dies illa,
- qua resurget ex favilla
- judicandus homo reus.
- Huic ergo parce, Deus:
- pie Jesu Domine,
- dona eis requiem. Amen.
[1] fons pietatis is sometimes translated 'fount of piety.'
The inspiration of the hymn seems to have come from the Vulgate translation of Zephaniah I:15-16:
- Dies iræ, dies illa, dies tribulationis et angustiæ, dies calamitatis et miseriæ, dies tenebrarum et caliginis, dies nebulæ et turbinis, dies tubæ et clangoris super civitates munitas et super angulos excelsos.
- That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. (KJV)
Manuscript sources
The oldest text of the sequence is found, with slight verbal variations, in a 13th century manuscript in the Biblioteca Nazionale at Naples. It is a Franciscan calendar missal that must date between 1253 - 1255 for it does not contain the name of Saint Clare, who was canonized in 1255, and whose name would have been inserted if the manuscript were of later date.
Musical settings
The hymn, set to a sombre Gregorian chant, was a part of the Roman Catholic Requiem service, the Mass for the dead. It also forms part of the liturgy of All Souls Day. The words have been set to music by many composers, usually as part of a requiem, of whom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giuseppe Verdi, and Hector Berlioz's versions are the most frequently performed.
The traditional Gregorian chant melody associated with the dies irae has also been quoted in a number of classical pieces, among them Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, Franz Liszt's Totentanz, and several pieces by Sergei Rachmaninoff, including Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, The Isle of the Dead and the finale of his final large work, the Opus 45 Symphonic Dances.
Stanley Kubrick's The Shining opens with a synthesized version of the Symphonie Fantastique version of the Dies Irae, as arranged by Wendy Carlos.
Liturgical use
The hymn was used as a sequence in the Roman Catholic Requiem service until the Missal of Paul VI, released in 1972. (It is still permitted as an optional sequence at that Mass. The hymn is suggested in the current Latin Breviary (Editio Typica Altera, from 2000) for use in the Liturgy of the Hours during the last week of Ordinary Time, leading up to the feast of Christ the King.
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