Dies Irae

“ However, the translation of Dies Irae in The Catholic Prayer Book and Manual of Meditations is not incidental to the work, as it forms part of the Service for the Dead, so it should be listed on the {{translations}} page as a link to the anchor in The Catholic Prayer Book. ”

“ This scholar of Cambridge, and this monk of Cluni, have given to the religious world the sweetest and dearest religious poem that our language contains. Dr. Neale says that he looks upon the lines of Bernard "as the most lovely, in the same way that the Dies Iræ is the most sublime, and the Stabat Mater the most pathetic of mediæval poems," but his own poem may claim more justly that word. The Celestial Country is better than De Contemptu Mundi. The beautiful simplicity of its artless, childlike lines portrays more naturally the fervid imagery of the monk. ”

“ This rugged, but grand Judgment Hymn, [1] is at least as early as the 7th century, because quoted by V. Bede. It manifestly contains the germ of the Dies Iræ, to which, however inferior in lyric fervour and effect, it scarcely yields in devotion and simple realisation of its subject. In the original it is acrostic.
That great Day of wrath and terror,
That last Day of woe and doom,
Like a thief that comes at midnight,
On the sons of men shall come;
When the pride and pomp of ages
All shall utterly have pass'd,
And they stand in anguish, owning
That the end is here at last ”

“ Let man, the guilty, tremble,
⁠For Man, the God, shall doom!
II.
The Dies Iræ is undoubtedly the greatest of the mediæval hymns. It stands "majestic and solitary" in the words of Mr. Benedict; its strain is "so clear and deep that its softest tones are heard throughout Christendom," in the words of Mrs. Charles. The zeal of the translator has not cooled, and many translations have been published, and many, unpublished, have been sent to me since the first edition of this work. ”

“ The music of the Dies Iræ is as old as the hymn, if not older; and with those who are familiar with both, they are inseparably connected in thought. To satisfy the exactions of such minds, the cadences must be the same."
In this endeavor the author has so well succeeded, that when this version is compared stanza by stanza with the original, it will be found to be in the same trochaic measure, in the same difficult double rhyme, in stanzas of the same triplicate construction, and, with fewest errors, to be as a translation the most literal and just that has been made. ”

“ The Requiem.—The Missa pro defunctis or Requiem Mass has a far less definite musical history than the ordinary Mass; and such special musical forms as it has produced have little in common with each other. The text of the Dies Irae so imperatively demands either a very dramatic elaboration or none at all, that even in the 16th century it could not possibly be set to continuous music on the lines of the Gloria and Credo. ”

“ Taking this version all in all, its adherence to the measure of the original, its retention of the double-rhyme, its avoidance of the English participle ending in "ing," its preservation of the ideas and imagery of the original, I doubt whether a better translation will ever be made by a translator of the critical school.
Nevertheless, these things must be borne in mind—that power is the great characteristic of the Dies Iræ; that its power cannot be transferred to English verse by means of the weakest form of English words ”

“ In the beautiful fervor of its devotion, Roscommon's excels all other translations, but its verse is not that of the Dies Iræ.
VI.
Crashaw, the contemporary of Herbert, and friend of Cowley, is the author of this version. It is the oldest in our language (1646) , though there is a weak paraphrase by Drummond of Hawthornden, beginning:
Ah, silly soul! ”

“ Wilder (J. A. V. van) , iv. 457a; Willmann (M.) , iv. 461a; Wind-band, iv. 473a; Winter (P.) , iv. 475b; Zaide, iv. 499a; Zauberflöte, iv. 503b; Ach Gott vom Himmel, iv. 518a; Dance Rhythm, iv. 608a; Dies Iræ, iv. ”

“ Isaias had already foretold that our blessed Redeemer should be condemned to death, and as an innocent lamb brought to the sacrifice : He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter. [5] What a cause of wonder it must have been to the angels, O my God, to behold their innocent Lord led as a victim to be sacrificed on the altar of the cross for the love of man! And what a cause of horror to heaven and to hell, the sight of a God extended as an infamous criminal on a shameful gibbet for the sins of his creatures! ”

“ Some scholars question whether the remainder is an addition made in order to suit the great poem for liturgical use, for the last stanzas discard the consistent scheme of triple rhymes in favor of rhymed couplets, while the last two lines abandon rhyme for assonance and are, moreover, catalectic:
18
Lacrimosa dies illa,
qua resurget ex favilla
judicandus homo reus.
Huic ergo parce, Deus:
19
Pie Jesu Domine,
dona eis requiem. Amen.
18
Ah! that day of tears and mourning!
From the dust of earth returning
man for judgment must prepare him ”

“ I am now aged and infirm, and my only wish is to pass the remainder of my days in retirement and repose. Better, then, will it be for thee to pursue the path of peace and friendship, and like me throw away all desire for dominion.
"For if the sword of anger is unsheathed,
And war comes on, thy head will soon be freed
From all the cares of government and life.
There is no cause for thee to quit the world,
The path of peace and amity is thine."
Irij agreed with his father, and declared that he would willingly sacrifice his throne and diadem rather than go to war with his brothers. ”

“ For verily thine eldest born hast thou treated unfairly, and injustice doth cast its black shadow both before and after thee, since thou hast allotted thy realm with iniquity. We say unto thee, therefore, command the stripling Irij to step down from the throne of light, and hide him in some corner of the earth where he will be forgotten as we, and where he shall no longer offend our sight. For, are not we the elder brothers? Now art thou warned, and if thou heedest not, then shall come down upon thee from the mountains, fierce warriors filled with vengeance, who will utterly destroy thee. ”

“ To kill
Pillage
Only a few days before the lighted candles of a chapel. A young monk in prayer. Quietude in his soul. The brown habit—the crucifix lay forgotten.
The maddening din of battle. Its fury burned his soul.
He had been left an orphaned child. At the monastery.
His name was Igor. Some whispered he was the son of a great nobleman.
None knew for sure.
At first his clean soul rebelled at the thought of war, his dark eyes flashed.
Thou shalt not kill called from afar—but the cannons deafened him
They entered the courtyard—into the castle hall. ”

“ We shudder at the answer; we draw a veil over the scene; we are careful not to speak our thoughts. But the strong-hearted martyrs followed the vision to the end. "Would you know what the devil is doing in hell?" exclaimed John Semple, one of the Covenanted ministers. "He is going with a long rod in his hand, crying, Make way, make room, for the king is coming; and the other persecutors are posting hither." How like the scathing irony of Isaiah, in describing the death of the king of Babylon! "Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming." ”

“ All the kings of the nations have all of them slept in glory, every one in his own house.
14:19. But thou art cast out of thy grave, as an unprofitable branch defiled, and wrapped up among them that were slain by the sword, and art gone down to the bottom of the pit, as a rotten carcass.
14:20. Thou shalt not keep company with them, even in burial: for thou hast destroyed thy land, thou hast slain thy people: the seed of the wicked shall not be named for ever. ”

“ You in your multitudes, men, women, and children, have to-day made that protest. Your conduct has been admirable for patience, for good nature, for fine spirit, for solemn sense of that great duty you were resolved to do. You will return home with the same good order and inoffensiveness. You will join with me now in repeating the prayer of the three martyrs whom we mourn—'God save Ireland!' And all of you, men, women, and boys and girls that are to be men and women of holy Ireland, will ever keep the sentiment of that prayer in your heart of hearts. ”

“ Scathed by the fiery blast of death meant only for my foe!"
The king has risen to his feet!—what sight has fixed his gaze?
What mean the wonder in his face, the look of blank amaze?
And what the changed and falt'ring voice, as doubtfully he cries,
"Tell me, ye counsellors of mine, ye ancient men and wise,
"Did we not cast, each firmly bound, into the fiercest flame,
Three mortal men, for death designed, of Hebrew race and name? ”

“ The popular spectacle of gladiatorial fights, the many wars conducted in recent years, and the numerous political murders and massacres, had made people very familiar with violent death. The case of Arria, the wife of Pætus, is an illustration of the light manner in which the termination of life was regarded. ”

“ I were justly sent to perdition for my sins; I lie here, perhaps dying. Have mercy, Lord, have mercy!" Did a voice speak from the blue above? Was it only some forest bird that croaked in Richard's disordered ear? "Lord," cried Richard, half rising, "if Thou canst forgive, do not let me die; let me live, and, by Thy holy agony, I swear I will remember the vow of my youth; I will remember the sorrows of Thy Holy City; and I will rest not day nor night, I will spare not wealth nor love nor blood, till I see the Cross triumphant upon the walls of Jerusalem, or until I die—if so God wills it!" ”

“ Wear it upon your shoulders, upon your breasts; let it shine upon your arms, surety of victory or palm of martyrdom; unceasing reminder that as Christ died for you, so ought you to die for Him and His glory!"
Again rose the clamor, and until they chanted his death-mass Richard forgot not that hour. One wild cry went up, the scope of heaven shook, the earth quaked; and now the shout was, "The Cross! the Cross! to Jerusalem!" The swords danced more madly, and little Bernard rose from his seat, tossed his tiny fists in the air, and joined the mighty cry. ”

“ Chapter XXXIV.—He fortifies his opinions with regard to the temporal and earthly kingdom of the saints after their resurrection, by the various testimonies of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Daniel; also by the parable of the servants watching, to whom the Lord promised that He would minister.
1. Then, too, Isaiah himself has plainly declared that there shall be joy of this nature at the resurrection of the just, when he says: “The dead shall rise again; those, too, who are in the tombs shall arise, and those who are in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew from Thee is health to them.” ”

“ There is news come from Irak which is matter both of sorrow and joy to us-it is the death of Musab, to whom God be merciful. Now what rejoiceth us is, that his death is martyrdom to him, and what is matter of grief to us is the sorrow wherewith his friends will be afflicted at his departure; but men of understanding will have recourse to patience, which is of all the most noble consolation. ”

“ A dead man tied to a tree and gored with many wounds; a woman kneeling dead before his feet, thrust through with a sword; a little child lying near with its head crushed by a stone or a club. The sword was a Saxon sword, and I knew who had done the deed; but sight of the dead folk by their empty home seemed to smite my pity like the thought of the dead Christ. I had pitied but myself and you, Igraine, and had wandered through the land like a brute beast mad with the smart of my own wound. Here was woe enough, agony enough, to shame my heart. ”

“ O Ibla, were it not for my love of thee, I would not be with so few friends and so many enemies! I am departing, and the back of my horse shall be my resting place; and my sword and mail my pillow, till I trample down the lands of Irak, and destroy their deserts and their cities. When the market for the sale of lives is established, and they cry out, and the criers proclaim the goods, and I behold the troops stirring up the war-dust with the thrusts of spear and sharp scimitars—then will I disperse their horsemen, and the foe shall be cut down deprived of their hands. ”

“ Oh, Ireland, how thou remindest me of the sufferings of my Saviour! "a man of sorrow, and the outcast of the people." Had not his divine example been continually before thy eyes, thou never couldst have endured thy load of miseries, of sorrows, and of persecution, and so nobly have proved thy loyal allegiance to thy sovereign, even amidst a deluge of insults, and of wrongs, and of injustices, that would have maddened any other nation, into a whirlwind of fury, and revenge, and rebellion ”

“ For every believer martyred in Persia, the Bahá’í faith has received a hundred new believers into its fold, and the glad and dauntless way in which these martyrs cast the crowns of their lives at the feet of their Lord has furnished to the world the clearest proof that they had found a new life for which death has no terrors, a life of ineffable fullness and joy, compared with which the pleasures of earth are but as dust in the balance, and the most fiendish physical tortures but trifles light as air. ”

“ Thou hast read, no doubt, in history of the followers of Christ put to [Pg 113] death in the persecutions of the kings of Persia and elsewhere. Say, now, which are the more worthy to be called martyrs, these, or thy fellows that fall fighting for the world and the power thereof? How diverse were the barbarities and kinds of death inflicted on the Christian confessors! The more they were slain the more rapidly spread the faith; in place of one sprang up a hundred. ”