Dies Irae as a sequence on All Souls on the Novus Ordo
  • dad29
    Posts: 2,217
    Dies Irae could be an alius cantus aptus somewhere else, though.

    Bingo! A former President of CMAA suggested during communion where "alius cantus aptus" is specifically mentioned.
  • Chrism
    Posts: 868
    American law and church law are not one and the same and never were. If current church rubrics and law don't suit your fancy, petition to change it.


    Liturgical "Law" is different from other law, even canon law, in that liturgy approved by the Supreme Liturgical Authority of the Church is once and for all defined as "not intrinsically evil". While some parts of the liturgy can be retired, they can never be considered evil in themselves. So the Dies Irae will always be a Catholic prayer suitable for the Dead.

    Is it licit to bring back the retired parts on one's own authority? Not if it directly contradicts the new rule, of course. For example, GIRM 61-64 does not seem to allow for the singing of sequentiae which are not active in the Missal as such during the period between the Introit and the Gospel, allowing only "Psalms and antiphons" (approved by the Conference of Bishops or the Diocesan Bishop) but not "songs or hymns". But that doesn't exclude singing the text elsewhere.
    Thanked by 5ServiamScores CHGiffen CharlesW smvanroode tomjaw
  • Andris Amolins
    Posts: 152
    Trent did not eliminate any Sequence

    Thank you, Tomjaw, for pointing this out. Indeed, pre-tridentine Missal of Roman Curia contained exactly four (4) sequences (Easter, 2 options for Pentecost, Corpus Christi). After Trent, Pentecost was left with only one option, but Masses of the Dead got one. So again four.

    Are there any sources that witness use of this sequence on Advent? It seems very unlikely. The melody is clearly derived from the verses of responsory Libera me. And the beginning of text, too.

    As to the objection that the text is not a prayer for souls in Purgatory, several other texts of the Mass and Office for the Dead are not such.
    Thanked by 2tomjaw ServiamScores
  • GerardH
    Posts: 411
    Are there any sources that witness use of this sequence on Advent?

    It was several years ago that I went down that rabbit hole and discovered that titbit. I don't remember the actual source, and I would have to go looking again.

    It may be that the text was composed for Advent 1, but the melody was composed later? Or perhaps the Libera me was also previously associated with Advent? Certainly the focus of early Advent is highly eschatological, unlike the most of the Requiem texts
    Thanked by 1Andris Amolins
  • GerardH
    Posts: 411
    So my searching—which was induced by the question of what the sequence at a Requiem might have been in England in the year 1170—led me to the 9th century Frankish sequence Fortis atque amara (pdf attached), which I also seem to remember was intended for Advent 1. Like the Dies irae, it is highly eschatological. A translation from here renders it thus:
    Full of might and bitter that day shall be, on which all things shall perish: what is seen in bodily form, the earth, and all the creatures that swim.

    The gentle judge will draw near, to measure out punishment strictly, and he will judge the ages, he whom created all. The high column of heaven will begin to tremble at his nod. Oh memorable day, on which all things shall be laid open!

    And what shall become of the scribe’s mark, what of the tablet, if the column of the sky shall begin to be so afraid? And what shall human beings feel, or earth’s creatures, if the hosts of the heavens shall begin to tremble so?

    Oh you who as King lavish all things upon us – the eternal, the present – do not let us go into hell’s loathsome places, the dwellings of the devils – no, lead us to the angels’ realms! Amen.

    Translation: Peter Dronke

    I found no evidence of any other sequence used for funerals, but my research was far from thorough.
    Fortis atque amara.pdf
    12K
    Thanked by 3Andris Amolins ServiamScores CHGiffen
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,724
    As to the objection that the text is not a prayer for souls in Purgatory, several other texts of the Mass and Office for the Dead are not such.

    We should remember, too, that we take action on behalf of the deceased, since they can no longer pray for themselves. When we chant the dies irae, it is as much for the deceased as for those chanting and hearing. "Save me on that awful day" etc. very much applies to the deceased. That's literally the whole point of having a Mass for the dead.
    Thanked by 3Salieri tomjaw CHGiffen
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    We had a very good sermon last night, on the topic of...wait for it...Death. We still use the Catafalque for All Souls' Day (Novus Ordo), and he used it as an opportunity not only to exhort us to pray for the dead, but to pray for our own good death, that, as he said "Sister Death may come to welcome us to the resurrection of life, and not to the resurrection of condemnation".

    The Dies Irae was chanted after the Communion Antiphon.
    Thanked by 2tomjaw CHGiffen
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