Dies Irae
Categories: Christian hymns | Latin poems | Italian poems
Dies Iræ ('Day of Wrath') is a famous Latin hymn written by Thomas of Celano. 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.
It is used in the Sequentia of the Requiem mass. For a literal word-for-word translation, see Dies Irae Word By Word.
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The poem itself
Notes that this particular English translation attempts to preserve the trochaic meter of the Latin, and the final result is certainly better than vers de mirliton. Most other translations into English do not attempt to do this.
The text:
- Dies Iræ! dies illa
- Solvet sæclum in favilla
- Teste David cum Sibylla!
'Day of wrath and terror looming! Heaven and earth to ash consuming, David's word and Sibyl's truth foredooming!'
- Quantus tremor est futurus,
- quando judex est venturus,
- cuncta stricte discussurus!
'What horror must invade the mind, when the approaching judge shall find, and sift the deeds of all mankind.'
- Tuba mirum spargens sonum
- per sepulcra regionum,
- coget omnes ante thronum.
'The trumpet casts a wondrous sound, through the tombs of all around, making them the throne surround.'
- Mors stupebit et natura,
- cum resurget creatura,
- judicanti responsura.
'Death is struck and nature quaking, all creation is awaking, to its judge an answer making.'
- Liber scriptus proferetur,
- in quo totum continetur,
- unde mundus judicetur.
'The written book shall be brought forth, in which all is contained, from which the world will be judged.'
- Judex ergo cum sedebit,
- quidquid latet apparebit:
- nil inultum remanebit.
'So when the Judge shall sit, whatever is hidden shall be clear, no unpunished thing shall remain.'
- Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
- Quem patronum rogaturus,
- cum vix justus sit securus?
'What am I, wretched, to say, What patron (am I) to call, when the just will (only) narrowly be safe?'
- Rex tremendæ majestatis,
- qui salvandos salvas gratis,
- salva me fons pietatis.
'King of awesome majesty, who saves the chosen please save me, O fountain of such piety[1]'.
- Recordare, Jesu pie,
- quod sum causa tuæ viæ:
- ne me perdas illa die.
'Remember, gracious Jesus, that I am the cause of your journey; do not forget me that day.'
- Quærens me, sedisti lassus:
- redemisti Crucem passus:
- tantus labor non sit cassus.
'Seeking me, you sat exhausted; you redeemed me by suffering on the Cross; so great a work should not be in vain.'
- Juste judex ultionis,
- donum fac remissionis
- ante diem rationis.
'Just judge of vengeance, grant me the gift of forgiveness, before the day of reckoning'.
- Ingemisco, tamquam reus:
- culpa rubet vultus meus:
- supplicanti parce, Deus.
'I groan beneath the guilt which thou, canst read upon my blushing brow, but spare O God thy supplicant now'.
- Qui Mariam absolvisti,
- et latronem exaudisti,
- mihi quoque spem dedisti.
'You who forgave Mary (Magdalene), and heard the plea of the thief (Dismas), have also given me some hope.'
- Preces meæ non sunt dignæ:
- sed tu bonus fac benigne,
- ne perenni cremer igne.
'My prayers are unworthy; but you, the Good, show me favour, that I may not be consumed by eternal fire.'
- Inter oves locum præsta,
- et ab hædis me sequestra,
- statuens in parte dextra.
'Prepare me a place among the sheep, and keep me from the goats, standing at your right hand.'
- Confutatis maledictis,
- flammis acribus addictis:
- voca me cum benedictis.
'With the slanderers silenced, sentenced to piercing flames, call me with the blessed.'
- Oro supplex et acclinis,
- cor contritum quasi cinis:
- gere curam mei finis.
'Kneeling I plead, (my) contrite heart like ash: carry my trouble until the end.'
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.
'Ah, that day of tears and mourning, from the dust of earth returning,
man for judgement must prepare him.
Spare, O God, in mercy spare him;
Lord, all pitying, Jesu blest, grant them thine eternal rest. Amen'.
[1] fons pietatis is sometimes translated 'fount of grace.'
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)
A number of English translations of the poem have been written and proposed for liturgical use. A Franciscan version can be read here. A very loose Protestant version was made by John Newton; it opens:
- Day of judgment! Day of wonders!
Hark! the trumpet’s awful sound,
Louder than a thousand thunders,
Shakes the vast creation round!
How the summons wilt the sinner’s heart confound!
[1]
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 words have often been set to music as part of the Requiem service, originally as a sombre Gregorian chant. Famous classical versions include those by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giuseppe Verdi and Hector Berlioz.
The traditional Gregorian melody has also been quoted in a number of other classical compositions, 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.
The opening music to Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, arranged by Wendy Carlos, is based upon the work.
"Dies Irae (Day of Wrath)" is the title of an instrumental song by Christian heavy metal band Believer. The song features an operatic rendition of the Dies Irae poem.
"Dies Irae" is the title of a song by Swedish black metal band Bathory, from the album Blood Fire Death.
More modern renderings of both the lacrimosa (the last 6 lines) and the body of the poem, appear in works such as Preisner's Requiem for my friend.
Dies Irae is also the subject of a concept album by Slovenian orchestrated progressive metal group Devil Doll in which a character describes the Day of Wrath as the world experiences it. The album, aptly-titled "Dies Irae", is all basically one song; however, it is split up into eighteen parts (or sixteen/seventeen, depending on the release edition). The album includes excerpts and quotes from the original Latin hymn as well as "The Fly Song (Night Of The Hunter)" by Charles Laughton and Edgar Allan Poe's The Conqueror Worm.
The Dies Irae from the Roman Mass for the Dead is quoted in the song "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" from Stephen Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, as well as later on in the work, in a musical inversion.
Liturgical use
The hymn was used as a sequence in the Roman Catholic Requiem service until the Missal of Paul VI, released in 1969. (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, following the feast of Christ the King and leading up to the beginning of the Advent season.
External links
- Text of Dies Iræ at The Latin Library: http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/diesirae.htmlde:Dies irae