Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) is a thirteenth century Latin hymn thought to be written by Thomas of Celano (1200 – c. 1265). It is a medieval Latin poem characterized by its accentual stress and its rhymed lines. The metre is trochaic. The poem describes the day of judgment, the last trumpet summoning souls before the throne of God, where the saved will be delivered and the unsaved cast into eternal flames.
The Latin text below is taken from the Requiem Mass in the 1962 Roman Missal.
1Dies iræ! Dies illa
Solvet sæclum in favilla:
Teste David cum Sibylla!2
Quantus tremor est futurus,
Quando iudex est venturus,
Cuncta stricte discussurus!
3Tuba mirum spargens sonum
Per sepulchra 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,
Quidquid latet, apparebit:
Nil inultum remanebit.
7
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
Quem patronum rogaturus,
Cum vix iustus sit securus?
8
Rex tremendæ maiestatis,
Qui salvandos salvas gratis,
Salva me, fons pietatis.
9
Recordare, Iesu pie,
Quod sum causa tuæ viæ:
Ne me perdas illa die.
10
Quærens 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
Qui Mariam absolvisti,
Et latronem exaudisti,
Mihi quoque spem dedisti.
14
Preces meæ non sunt dignæ:
Sed tu bonus fac benigne,
Ne perenni cremer igne.
15
Inter oves locum præsta,
Et ab hædis 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
Judicandus homo reus.
Huic ergo parce, Deus:
19Pie Iesu Domine,
dona eis requiem. Amen.
The English version below, translated by William Josiah Irons in 1849, replicates the rhyme and metre of the original.
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 sepulchers 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 judgment 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, good Jesus, my salvation
cost 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!
Thou the sinful woman savedst;
thou the dying thief forgavest;
and to me a hope vouchsafest.
Worthless are my prayers and sighing,
yet, good Lord, in grace complying,
rescue me from fires undying!
With thy favored sheep O place me;
nor among the goats abase me;
but to thy right hand upraise me.
While the wicked are confounded,
doomed to flames of woe unbounded
call me with thy saints surrounded.
Low I kneel, with heart 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 judgment must prepare him;
Spare, O God, in mercy spare him!
Lord, all pitying, Jesus blest,
grant them thine eternal rest. Amen.
