Home > Dies Irae

The angel sounds the trumpet to summon the dead; a tarot card image.

1 The poem itself

The text:

Dies Iræ! dies illa

Solvet sæclum in favilla

Teste David cum Sibylla!

'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!

'What trembling is to come, when the Judge arrives, everything drawn together to be shattered.'

Tuba mirum spargens sonum

per sepulcra regionum,

coget omnes ante thronum.

'The trumpet, casting a wondrous sound through the tombs of all nations, gathers all before the Throne.'

Mors stupebit et natura,

cum resurget creatura,

judicanti responsura.

'Death shall be stunned, and nature, when creation rises again, to answer the judge.'

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 freely saves the chosen, save me, O fountain of grace[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 as though guilty, sin reddens my face; spare the supplicant, O God'.

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 sheepThis article is about the animal; for other meanings of Sheep see Sheep (disambiguation). A sheep is any of several woolly ruminant quadrupeds, but most commonly the Domestic Sheep Ovis aries , which probably descends from the wild urial of south-central, and keep me from the goatA goat is any of several species of medium-sized grazing animal. All goats (and sheep) belong to the subfamily Caprinae of the family Bovidae. In common use, however, goat is usually understood to mean the Domestic Goat Capra aegagrus hircus a subspeciess, 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.

'That day will be full of tears, when from the grave, guilty mankind rises to be judged. Therefore, have mercy upon me, O God; sweet Lord Jesus, grant them eternal rest. Amen'.

[1] fons pietatis is sometimes translated 'fount of piety.'

The inspiration of the hymn seems to have come from the VulgateThe Vulgate Bible is an early 5th century translation of the Bible into Latin made by St. Jerome on the orders of Pope Damasus I. It takes its name from the phrase vulgata editio "the edition for the people" (cf. Vulgar Latin), and was written in an every translation of ZephaniahZephaniah or Tzfanya "Concealed of/is the LORD", Standard Hebrew fanya Tiberian Hebrew panyh is the name of several people in the Bible Old Testament and Jewish Tanakh. Also called Sophonias as in the New Catholic Encyclopaedia and in Easton's [Bible] Dic 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)