In paradísum dedúcant te ángeli; in tuo advéntu suscípiant te mártyres, et perdúcant te in civitátem sanctam Ierúsalem. Chorus angelórum te suscípiat, et cum Lázaro quondam páupere ætérnam hábeas réquiem.
✦May the angels lead thee into paradise; may the martyrs receive thee at thy coming, and lead thee into the holy city Jerusalem. May the choir of angels receive thee, and with Lazarus, who once was poor, mayest thou have eternal rest.
The Requiem Mass — the Missa pro defunctis, the Mass offered for the dead — is among the most solemn and moving of all the Church's rites. It takes its name from its very first word, Requiem ("rest"), sung at the Introit: "Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord." In the traditional Roman Rite the priest wears black vestments, the Gloria and the Alleluia are omitted, and every part of the Mass is bent toward a single plea — mercy for the departed and rest in the light of God. The prayer set above, the antiphon In Paradísum, is the Church's tender farewell, sung as the body is carried from the church to the grave.
Each part of the Requiem has its own prayer. After the Introit comes the Gradual and the Tract, "Absolve, O Lord." Then rises the great Sequence, the Dies Iræ — "Day of Wrath" — a thirteenth-century poem on the Last Judgment traditionally attributed to the Franciscan Thomas of Celano, though its true author is unknown. It moves from dread of judgment to the cry of the sinner: Pie Iesu Domine, dona eis requiem — "Merciful Lord Jesus, grant them rest."
At the Offertory the Church sings the Domine Iesu Christe, Rex gloriæ, begging that the souls of the faithful be delivered "from the pains of hell and from the deep pit," and led by St. Michael "into the holy light." In the Agnus Dei the accustomed petition changes: where at other Masses the Church prays "have mercy on us," here she prays dona eis requiem — "grant them rest." The Communion antiphon, Lux ætérna, again joins light and rest: "May light eternal shine upon them, O Lord."
After the Mass the priest goes to the bier for the Absolution of the dead, singing the solemn responsory Libera me, Dómine, de morte ætérna — "Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death." And finally, as the body is borne to burial, the choir sings In Paradísum: may the angels lead you into paradise, and with Lazarus, once poor, may you have eternal rest — recalling the beggar of the Gospel whom the angels carried into Abraham's bosom (Luke 16:22). Together these prayers form the Church's last and greatest act of charity toward her children: to commend them, washed in the Blood of Christ, into the hands of God.
May the angels lead thee into paradise;
may the martyrs receive thee at thy coming,
and lead thee into the holy city Jerusalem.
May the choir of angels receive thee,
and with Lazarus, who once was poor,
mayest thou have eternal rest.
In paradísum dedúcant te ángeli;
in tuo advéntu suscípiant te mártyres,
et perdúcant te in civitátem sanctam Ierúsalem.
Chorus angelórum te suscípiat,
et cum Lázaro quondam páupere
ætérnam hábeas réquiem.
May the angels lead thee into paradise;
may the martyrs receive thee at thy coming,
and lead thee into the holy city Jerusalem.
May the choir of angels receive thee,
and with Lazarus, who once was poor,
mayest thou have eternal rest.