The Dies Irae is probably one of the most famous pieces in the entire repertoire of Latin chant. Its first opening notes have proven to be one of the most enduring musical phrases in our culture, prominently quoted by composers like Mozart, Haydn, Berlioz, and Rachmaninoff, and even in the film scores of movies from Citizen Cane and It’s Wonderful Life, to The Shining, Home Alone, The Lion King, Star Wars: A New Hope, and many, many more.
Written around the 12th or 13th century, it is used as the Sequence hymn for the Requiem Mass (at every funeral Mass and also on All Souls Day). The name comes from the opening words of the hymn in Latin: “Dies irae, dies illa solvet sæclum in favilla,” meaning literally, “Day of wrath, that day will dissolve the world in ashes.” It’s about the final Day of Judgment at the second coming of Christ, and the fear and dread that will accompany that moment.
Over time, this unforgettable tune, with its associations of death and judgment, began to be associated more loosely with dread in general, with the macabre, or the spooky, or even with evil. But these tangential or novel associations sever the melody from its original context as a hymn that’s actually incredibly nuanced, balanced, and ultimately, hopeful.
So what is the Dies Irae really about then, and what ultimately makes it so enduring? In ranking the hymns of the Latin tradition, the renowned 19th century Anglican hymnographer and translator Rev. Dr. John Mason Neale ranked the Dies Irae first among them all for its “unapproachable glory.” The glory of this hymn can be accounted for in its melodic grace, in its masterfully concise and elegantly rhymed verbiage, but of course most of all in the theology it contains.
The language and imagery of the first six stanzas—of wrath and mourning, of the cosmic elements dissolving in fire, of the trumpet blast and Christ the Judge opening his book to pass sentence on all deeds finally revealed—come directly from Scripture (e.g. Zephaniah 1; Revelation 20; 1 Thessalonians 4; 2 Peter 3; Luke 21). These references together paint a picture of inconceivable destruction and of awful power, but also of wickedness punished, righteousness vindicated, and evil utterly destroyed. The awe-inspiring might of God on that day will be overwhelming for all, but the promise of final justice finally reaching back to the beginning of time and to the ends of all creation and righting all that is wrong is a good and beautiful thing.
The next eleven stanzas show us the Christian’s response when considering that great Day of Judgment. They affirm that even the most just of men will need mercy from God in the end, and that, compared with those just Saints, we ought to consider ourselves of lower estate, needing abundant mercy. These lines admit that we have nothing of our own merits worthy to save us in the end, and that we are entirely dependent on God’s mercy. They implore Christ to remember his past mercies and to apply the same treatment to us on that final day: recalling his forgiveness of the sinful woman (John 8:3-11) and of the crucified thief (Luke 23:40-43), and also recalling his entire Incarnation which he undertook for our sakes. Therefore, Jesus is asked to befriend us (stanza 8), to not leave us to reprobation (9), to absolve us (11), to spare us (12), to rescue us from the fires (14), to place us among the sheep and not the goats (15), to call us to be with the Saints (16), and to help us in our last condition (17).
The final two stanzas, probably added after the original composition for the sake of liturgical use, sum up the terrible majesty of the Day of Judgment and makes one final supplication to Christ to mercifully spare mankind, finally concluding with a petition that those who have already fallen asleep may rest in peace.
This great hymn, perfectly balancing the sense we should have of both God’s justice and his mercy, is truly a magnificent aid in rightly forming us in the fear of God while throwing ourselves on his infinite and inexhaustible mercy and love.
Day of wrath! O day of mourning!
See fulfilled the prophets’ warning,
Heaven and earth in ashes burning!Oh, what fear man’s bosom rendeth,
When from heaven the Judge descendeth,
On whose sentence all dependeth.Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth;
Through earth’s sepulchres it ringeth;
All before the throne it bringeth.Death is struck, and nature quaking,
All creation is awaking,
To its Judge an answer making.Lo, the book, exactly worded,
Wherein all hath been recorded,
Thence shall judgement be awarded.When the Judge his seat attaineth,
And each hidden deed arraigneth,
Nothing unavenged remaineth.What shall I, frail man, be pleading?
Who for me be interceding,
When the just are mercy needing?King of Majesty tremendous,
Who dost free salvation send us,
Fount of pity, then befriend us!Think, kind Jesu! – my salvation
Caused Thy wondrous Incarnation;
Leave me not to reprobation.Faint and weary, Thou hast sought me,
On the Cross of suffering bought me.
Shall such grace be vainly brought me?Righteous Judge, for sin’s pollution
Grant Thy gift of absolution,
Ere the day of retribution.Guilty, now I pour my moaning,
All my shame with anguish owning;
Spare, O God, Thy suppliant groaning!Through the sinful woman shriven,
Through the dying thief forgiven,
Thou to me a hope hast given.Worthless are my prayers and sighing,
Yet, good Lord, in grace complying,
Rescue me from fires undying.With Thy sheep a place provide me,
From the goats afar divide me,
To Thy right hand do Thou guide me.When the wicked are confounded,
Doomed to flames of woe unbounded,
Call me with Thy saints surrounded.Low I kneel, with heart’s submission,
See, like ashes, my contrition,
Help me in my last condition.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, Jesus blest,
Grant them Thine eternal rest. Amen.