The antiphon “In paradisum” is one of those unique chants in the Western liturgical repertoire which is not exactly liturgical, per se, but is liturgy-adjacent. It’s sung at the very conclusion of the Requiem Mass (Mass for the dead), when the body of the deceased is being borne from the church to the grave. The composer of the text and music is unknown, and I’ve had a hard time tracking down even what century it entered the service books. Its provenance seems shrouded in mystery, but its message is so powerfully universal.
The words to the chant are:
In paradisum deducant te Angeli; in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.
Into paradise may the Angels lead thee; at thy coming, may the martyrs receive thee, and bring thee into the holy city Jerusalem. May the choir of Angels receive thee, and with Lazarus, who was once poor, mayest thou have eternal rest.
The reception of the soul in its journey to paradise by all the angels and martyrs as the body makes its final journey to the grave by the hands of the Ecclesia militans is a powerful image. The character Lazarus from Jesus’ parable (story?) in St. Luke 16:19-31 is referenced as one who, though he was once poor here on earth (as are we all, whether we know it or not), has the blessed gift of requiem æternam, that rest eternal which is not merely a lack of activity, but the fullness that comes from a completed work, the shalom the Hebrews spoke of, and the regal, enthroned, and ruling rest which God took on the seventh day of creation in his great Shabath (שָׁבַת). It’s that rest, that peace which is prayed for on behalf of the newly departed soul.
Regarding its music, In paradisum, like the Sequence hymns which remain—but unlike the psalms, the Ordinary of the Mass, and the various Canticles—has just one traditional melody. In other words, the text is not sung to various other modes, melodies, or psalm tones. Its melody is in the seventh “Gregorian” mode (Mixolydian), and in more modern musical terms, has a very distinct lowered seventh degree of the major scale, sung twice in the phrases Chorus Angelorum and quondam paupere. In recent centuries, the text has been popular for new compositions which are often included in larger choral and orchestral renditions of the Requiem Mass. It also was likely the inspiration for the American folk hymn “When the Saints Go Marching In,” which shares the antiphon’s theme of entering “paradise,” as well as the same four note opening.
It should be noted, however, that while “When the Saints Go Marching In” implies the marching into the presence of God at the final judgement, In paradisum is mindfully about the intermediate state of paradise between death and the final judgement of Christ. The final judgment, in the Scriptures and Orthodox theology, marks the end of this world, but also the end of what was the peaceful “bosom of Abraham” in Sheol which Lazarus in the story enjoys and is now the unlocked paradise promised to the dying thief by Jesus on the Cross. The souls of the righteous (like Lazarus and Abraham) are admitted into paradise when Jesus defeats death and kicks down the doors of Hades/Sheol, and they begin the foretaste of their true eternal rest and peace, which only is finally and truly inaugurated at the final judgment, the melting of the old elements of this cosmos in fire, and the unfolding of the new heavens and earth (which we presume, like Jesus’ own glorified Body, will yet maintain some continuity with the worthy parts of the old heavens and earth).
So In paradisum is an intentionally hopeful yet circumspect prayer. While the angels and martyrs and even the requiem it sings of are all eternal, the paradise itself is only a holding place, fit for a soul which will not be complete nor achieve its telos until it is reunited with its body in the resurrection, and in its concluding judgment will be granted the paradoxically “restful” yet active reward of journeying further and further into the bosom of—not father Abraham—but our heavenly Father, our Creator and God, from glory to glory.
Below is a rendering of In paradisum in a traditional English translation with plainchant notation:
Here’s a recording of In paradisum sung in its original Latin: