Day of wrath! O day of mourning! So begins the sequence hymn for the Requiem Mass, which is celebrated on All Souls Day (November 2) and at all funerals, echoing the words of the prophet Zephaniah: A mighty day of wrath has been appointed: a day of affliction and distress… [Zeph. 1:15]. The prophet was speaking of the judgement of God against the people of Judah who had forgotten the one True God and were worshiping Baal, the god of their Assyrian overlords. But the Church recognizes God’s judgement of his people in every age and historical context. God will judge us, both at the time of our death and also in the Last Judgement at the end of time.
If this sounds like too much gloom and doom for Christians, listen to the words of our Lord: Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light…Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away… Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. [Matt. 24:29, 35, 42] In the Nicene Creed, we say that we believe that “he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead” so it is appropriate to be in expectation of the Last Judgement.
Expectation for the Second Coming of Christ was prominent at the beginning, as the first Christians thought it would happen in their lifetimes. But as the eye-witnesses to Christ’s life on earth began to die, the admonition of Jesus that “You do not know what hour your Lord is coming” became clearer – that all Christians in all ages must be ready, for it will happen at a time unknown to us.
In the Dies Irae, vivid descriptions of the day of judgement are contained in verses 1-6; in verses 7-12, we are reminded that God is merciful and in verses 13-18, that if we repent, we will be forgiven as were the sinful woman and the penitent thief and we will be numbered with the sheep rather than the goats [Matt. 25]; and in the final verse, we ask for eternal rest.
The text for this hymn is often attributed to the Franciscan monk, Thomas of Celano (1200-1265), and the earliest known copy is in a Franciscan missal dating from 1253-55. The form of a Mass used at the death of a Christian probably developed over many centuries, but the establishment of All Souls Day as an opportunity to offer a Mass for all the departed can be dated to the end of the 10th century, when Abbot Odilo of Cluny ordered its use, and from there it gradually began to be celebrated in all the West. The hymn Dies Irae as a part of the Requiem Mass was probably limited to the Franciscans in Italy at first but by the 15th century was sung in other places.
The 13th century when the Dies Irae was written – and every century before and since – saw many events that must have affected this attention to the end times. Unstable weather conditions led to failed crops and famine; a major eruption of a volcano in 1257 spread so much ash across Europe that this was called a “dark year”; the initial enthusiasm for the Crusades led to disillusionment (from the terrible sack of Constantinople in 1204 and in all the conflicts throughout the century). These were days of wrath and mourning, but Christians still awaited the Second Coming of our Lord and the end of the world.
Another sign of the concern for the Last Judgement expressed in the Requiem hymn is reflected in Medieval church architecture. Many churches – from small village chapels to the great cathedrals of France, England and Germany – depicted the Last Judgement in paintings above the West door of the church, visible to all as they left Mass to go back into the workaday world. Sometimes the scene appears on a tympanum over the exterior of the west door and is carved in stone. In each case, the figures are the same: Christ is in the center, usually seated in judgement, with the apostles and angels near Him, and with the departed coming out of their graves below Him, His right hand directing some upward to Heaven and His left pointing downward, condemning some to Hell.
The plainsong (or Gregorian chant) melody for the Dies Irae is probably older than the text but has always been associated with it. The first eight notes are as familiar to the ear of the general public as the first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony! This theme has been used in secular compositions from Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique to the opening theme for the movie The Shining.
Year after year, at every All Souls Day and in every funeral, we Christians continue to sing this hymn as a reminder of the Last Judgement. We pray for God’s mercy and that we will be forgiven our many sins as Christ forgave the penitent thief. Lord, all pitying, Jesu blest, grant them – and us – thine eternal rest. Amen.
Resources: The St. Ambrose Hymnal; The Hymnal 1940 Companion; The Liturgical Year, Vol. 6 by Abbot Prosper Guéranger; The Orthodox Study Bible; Wikipedia articles on the Dies Irae and the Crusades.