“Like the ‘Stabat Mater,’ the ‘Dies Irae’ was originally intended for private devotion,–a sort of pious meditation on the Last Judgment, whose appeal lay in the graphic portrayal of the emotions that fill the soul of man when, conscious of his guilt, he is reminded of the all-knowing and just Judge. Its excellence caused its adoption as a sequence in the Mass for the Dead as early as the second half of the fourteenth century, but it was not until the sixteenth century that its use became universal through a rubric of the Roman Missal as revised by Pius V.

“The ‘Dies Irae’ rests upon a biblical foundation. The contents of the sequence are taken mainly from the prophetical descriptions of the Old Testament, from the eschatological sermons of Christ, and from the teaching and the references of the Apostles concerning the consummation of the world. The description of Christ’s return as Judge of the universe is in full harmony with Holy Scripture, especially the Letters of the Apostles. The time when the end of the world will come is, and will ever remain, a sealed mystery to angels and men. Even the Divine Master refused to answer the question when put by His Apostles (Matth. XXIV, 36), but admonished them to be watchful and ready at any time to render an account of themselves, as the Son of Man would come suddenly and unexpectedly.”

cont.

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