Dominus Noster Jesus Christus Universorum Rex
This is the week for singing the Dies Irae at Matins, Lauds, and Vespers.
The Solemnity of Christ the King has passed, and we wrap up the passing liturgical year and look towards the Advent of the next. This week is indeed a week of considering the Lord's coming kingdom, and nothing draws our attention to it like this hymn, perhaps the greatest ever written.
1. Dies irae, dies illa
solvet saeclum in favilla,
teste David cum Sibylla.
2. Quantus tremor est futurus,
quando iudex est venturus
cunta stricte discussurus!
3. Tuba mirum spargens sonum
per sepulcra regionum,
coget omnes ante thronum.
4. Mors stupebit et natura,
cum resurget creatura
iudicanti responsura.
5. Liber scriptus proferetur,
in quo totum continetur
unde mundus iudicetur.
6. Iudex ergo cum sedebit,
quicquid latet apparebit;
nil inultum remanebit.
7. Quid sum miser tunc dicturus,
quem patronum rogaturus,
cum vix iustus sit securus?
8. Rex tremendae maiestatis,
qui salvandos salvas gratis,
salva me, fons pietatis.
9. Recordare, Iesu pie,
quod sum causa tuae viae,
ne me perdas illa die.
10. Quaerens me sedisti lassus,
redemisti crucem passus;
tantus labor non sit cassus.
11. Iuste iudex ultionis,
donum fac remissionis
ante diem rationis.
12. Ingemisco tamquam reus,
culpa rubet vultus meus;
supplicanti parce Deus.
13. Peccatricem qui solvisti
et latronem exaudisti,
mihi quoque spem dedisti.
14. Preces meae non sunt dignae,
sed tu, bonus, fac benigne
ne perenni cremer igne.
15. Inter oves locum praesta
et ab haedis me sequestra,
statuens in parte dextra.
16. Confutatis maledictis,
flammis acribus addictis,
voca me cum benedictis.
17. Oro supplex et acclinis,
cor contritum quasi cinis,
gere curam mei finis.
18. Lacrimosa dies illa,
qua resurget ex favilla
iudicandus homo reus:
huic ergo parce, Deus.
19. O tu, Deus maiestatis,
alme candor Trinitatis,
nos coniunge cum beatis. Amen.
The power of these words is accented by the simple sing-song meter and rhyme of the lyrics. This hymn is probably best known in America today in the magnificent orchestration of Mozart, but all of Mozart's bombast cannot do justice to the weight of these lyrics. I far prefer the understatement of the lowly plain chant, which intensifies the gravity of these words.
There are many beautiful translations of this hymn into English. There are also a few accurate ones too. This attempt belongs to the latter group:
1. The day is Wrath's. That day shall unravel a lifetime in bright embers, David being its witness, with the Sibyl.
2. How much fear there is going to be when the judge is going to come, going to burst all things in constriction.
3. The trumpet showering a wonderful sound through the tombs of realms shall drive all before the throne.
4. Death will be awed, and birth, when creation shall rise again, which shall answer the one judging.
5. A written scroll will be brought forth in which all shall be contained whence the world will be judged.
6. Thus when the judge shall sit, whatever lurks shall appear. Nothing shall remain unavenged.
7. What am wretched I going to say then, what patron beg, when a just man be scarcely at ease?
8. O King of a majesty which is to be feared, who freely savest those who shall be saved, save me O font of devotion.
9. Remember O devoted Jesus, that I am the object of thy path. Mayest thou not lose me on that day.
10. Seeking me thou hast sat weary, suffering the cross thou hast redeemed me. Let so much labor be not empty!
11. O righteous judge of vengeance, make a gift of forgiveness before the day of reckoning.
12. I groan like a guilty man; my face is red with guilt; grant pardon to the one who kneels.
13. Thou who hast unbound the sinful woman and who hast heard out the thief, to me also thou hast given hope.
14. My prayers are not worthy, but thou, who art good, do kindly, lest I be burned in perennial fire.
15. Among the sheep grant a place, and from the goats sequester me, standing me in the right-hand portion.
16a. By the quenching of the assigned flames, stinging and cursed, call me with the blessed.
17. I pray kneeling and clinging; my heart is ground down like ash. Bear thou the care of my end.
18. Tearful will that day be, on which man will rise again out of the bright embers, guilty and to be judged: to this one, therefore, grant pardon, O God.
19. O thou God of majesty, loving brilliance of the Trinity, wed thou us with the blessed. Amen.
The word "resurget," in verses 4 and 18, is the same word that makes our form "resurrection" in English. I have translated it as "will rise again."
The "Favilla" referred to in the first and last verses means hot embers in general, but it also is used particularly to refer to the still glowing ashes of the recently cremated dead in pagan Rome.
Particularly striking in the Latin is the ambiguity of verse 16. My translation above does not follow the punctuation found in the Breviary, but interprets it minus its first comma, the one after "maledictis." Using the Church's punctuation, verse 16 could be translated like so:
16b. When the cursed have been oppressed, assigned to the stinging flames, call me with the blessed.
The ambiguity in the meaning of the un-punctuated verse 16 epitomizes the contrast between terror and hope that the last day will bring.
Spare us, O God!
The Solemnity of Christ the King has passed, and we wrap up the passing liturgical year and look towards the Advent of the next. This week is indeed a week of considering the Lord's coming kingdom, and nothing draws our attention to it like this hymn, perhaps the greatest ever written.
1. Dies irae, dies illa
solvet saeclum in favilla,
teste David cum Sibylla.
2. Quantus tremor est futurus,
quando iudex est venturus
cunta stricte discussurus!
3. Tuba mirum spargens sonum
per sepulcra regionum,
coget omnes ante thronum.
4. Mors stupebit et natura,
cum resurget creatura
iudicanti responsura.
5. Liber scriptus proferetur,
in quo totum continetur
unde mundus iudicetur.
6. Iudex ergo cum sedebit,
quicquid latet apparebit;
nil inultum remanebit.
7. Quid sum miser tunc dicturus,
quem patronum rogaturus,
cum vix iustus sit securus?
8. Rex tremendae maiestatis,
qui salvandos salvas gratis,
salva me, fons pietatis.
9. Recordare, Iesu pie,
quod sum causa tuae viae,
ne me perdas illa die.
10. Quaerens me sedisti lassus,
redemisti crucem passus;
tantus labor non sit cassus.
11. Iuste iudex ultionis,
donum fac remissionis
ante diem rationis.
12. Ingemisco tamquam reus,
culpa rubet vultus meus;
supplicanti parce Deus.
13. Peccatricem qui solvisti
et latronem exaudisti,
mihi quoque spem dedisti.
14. Preces meae non sunt dignae,
sed tu, bonus, fac benigne
ne perenni cremer igne.
15. Inter oves locum praesta
et ab haedis me sequestra,
statuens in parte dextra.
16. Confutatis maledictis,
flammis acribus addictis,
voca me cum benedictis.
17. Oro supplex et acclinis,
cor contritum quasi cinis,
gere curam mei finis.
18. Lacrimosa dies illa,
qua resurget ex favilla
iudicandus homo reus:
huic ergo parce, Deus.
19. O tu, Deus maiestatis,
alme candor Trinitatis,
nos coniunge cum beatis. Amen.
The power of these words is accented by the simple sing-song meter and rhyme of the lyrics. This hymn is probably best known in America today in the magnificent orchestration of Mozart, but all of Mozart's bombast cannot do justice to the weight of these lyrics. I far prefer the understatement of the lowly plain chant, which intensifies the gravity of these words.
There are many beautiful translations of this hymn into English. There are also a few accurate ones too. This attempt belongs to the latter group:
1. The day is Wrath's. That day shall unravel a lifetime in bright embers, David being its witness, with the Sibyl.
2. How much fear there is going to be when the judge is going to come, going to burst all things in constriction.
3. The trumpet showering a wonderful sound through the tombs of realms shall drive all before the throne.
4. Death will be awed, and birth, when creation shall rise again, which shall answer the one judging.
5. A written scroll will be brought forth in which all shall be contained whence the world will be judged.
6. Thus when the judge shall sit, whatever lurks shall appear. Nothing shall remain unavenged.
7. What am wretched I going to say then, what patron beg, when a just man be scarcely at ease?
8. O King of a majesty which is to be feared, who freely savest those who shall be saved, save me O font of devotion.
9. Remember O devoted Jesus, that I am the object of thy path. Mayest thou not lose me on that day.
10. Seeking me thou hast sat weary, suffering the cross thou hast redeemed me. Let so much labor be not empty!
11. O righteous judge of vengeance, make a gift of forgiveness before the day of reckoning.
12. I groan like a guilty man; my face is red with guilt; grant pardon to the one who kneels.
13. Thou who hast unbound the sinful woman and who hast heard out the thief, to me also thou hast given hope.
14. My prayers are not worthy, but thou, who art good, do kindly, lest I be burned in perennial fire.
15. Among the sheep grant a place, and from the goats sequester me, standing me in the right-hand portion.
16a. By the quenching of the assigned flames, stinging and cursed, call me with the blessed.
17. I pray kneeling and clinging; my heart is ground down like ash. Bear thou the care of my end.
18. Tearful will that day be, on which man will rise again out of the bright embers, guilty and to be judged: to this one, therefore, grant pardon, O God.
19. O thou God of majesty, loving brilliance of the Trinity, wed thou us with the blessed. Amen.
The word "resurget," in verses 4 and 18, is the same word that makes our form "resurrection" in English. I have translated it as "will rise again."
The "Favilla" referred to in the first and last verses means hot embers in general, but it also is used particularly to refer to the still glowing ashes of the recently cremated dead in pagan Rome.
Particularly striking in the Latin is the ambiguity of verse 16. My translation above does not follow the punctuation found in the Breviary, but interprets it minus its first comma, the one after "maledictis." Using the Church's punctuation, verse 16 could be translated like so:
16b. When the cursed have been oppressed, assigned to the stinging flames, call me with the blessed.
The ambiguity in the meaning of the un-punctuated verse 16 epitomizes the contrast between terror and hope that the last day will bring.
Spare us, O God!
posted by Figulus | 6:53 PM
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