PRO DEFVNCTIS

LIBERA ME DOMINE

Deliver Me, O Lord

The Libera Me Domine is the great responsory sung at the absolution of the dead, after the Requiem Mass and before burial. Its text combines elements from the Office of the Dead with eschatological imagery of judgment 'per ignem' (by fire). The priest circles the coffin with incense and holy water while this is sung.

LATINE
Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna, in die illa tremenda:
quando caeli movendi sunt et terra:
dum veneris iudicare saeculum per ignem.
Tremens factus sum ego, et timeo,
dum discussio venerit, atque ventura ira.
(Repetatur:)
Quando caeli movendi sunt et terra.
Dies illa, dies irae, calamitatis et miseriae,
dies magna et amara valde.
(Repetatur:)
Dum veneris iudicare saeculum per ignem.
V. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
R. et lux perpetua luceat eis.
(Repetatur ab initio:)
Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna, in die illa tremenda: quando caeli movendi sunt et terra: dum veneris iudicare saeculum per ignem.
ENGLISH
Deliver me, O Lord, from everlasting death on that dreadful day,
when the heavens and the earth shall be moved:
when Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.
I am seized with fear and trembling,
until the trial shall be at hand, and the wrath to come.
(Repeat:)
When the heavens and the earth shall be moved.
That day, a day of wrath, of calamity and misery,
a day of great and exceeding bitterness.
(Repeat:)
When Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.
V. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
R. and let perpetual light shine upon them.
(Repeat from beginning:)
Deliver me, O Lord, from everlasting death on that dreadful day, when the heavens and the earth shall be moved: when Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.
NOTA
FONS
Officium Defunctorum
USUS
Absolution after Requiem Mass, funerals
CONTEXT
This responsory is sung while the priest circles the coffin with incense and holy water before burial.