Dies irae
Dies Iræ is also called the Sequence of the Requiem mass. This Missal text of the sequence is found, with light verbal variations, in a thirteenth-century manuscript in the Biblioteca. Nazionale at Naples. Father Eusebius Clop, O.F.M., in the Revue du chant Grégorien (November-December, 1907, p. 49) argues a date between 1253-1255 for the manuscript -- a. Franciscan Missal whose calendar does not contain the name of St. Clare, who was canonized in 1255, and whose name would have been inserted if the manuscript were later date. The same writer would assign a still earlier date (1250) to a copy of the Dies Iræ inserted at the end of a so-called Breviary of St. Clare dating about 1228. Its authorship has been most generally ascribed to Tomaso da Celano, the friend, fellow-friar, and biographer of St. Francis. Reasons for this particularity of ascription are given by Keyser and also by Duffield, an ardent champion of the ascription to Tomaso. Ten other names have been suggested by various writers as the probable author of the Dies Iræ:
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Original text and translations
Latin text
Dies irae, dies illa Quantus tremor est futurus, Tuba mirum spargens sonum, Mors stupebit et natura, Liber scriptus proferetur Iudex ergo cum sedebit, Mors stupebit et natura, Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? Rex tremendae maiestatis, Recordare, Iesu pie, |
Quarens me, sedisti lassus: Iuste Iudex ultionis, Ingemisco tamquam reus: Qui Mariam absolvisti, Preces meae non sunt dignae: Inter oves locum praesta, Lacrymosa dies illa Confutatis maledictis, Lacrymosa dies illa |
English translation
A day of wrath; that day, What trembling will there be, The trumpet's wondrous call sounding abroad Death and nature shall stand amazed A written book will be brought forth So when the Judge is seated, Death and nature shall stand amazed What shall I, wretch, say at that time? King of awesome majesty, Remember, dear Jesus, |
Seeking me, Thou didst sit down weary, Just Judge of vengeance, I groan like one condemned: Thou who didst absolve Mary (Magdalen), My prayers are not worthy: Give me a place among the sheep, That day will be one of weeping When the accursed have been confounded That day will be one of weeping |