Day Of Wrath

Representative Text

1 Day of wrath, that day dismaying,
Shall fulfill the prophet’s saying,
Earth in smoldering ashes laying.

2 Oh, how great the dread, the sighing,
When the Judge, the All-descrying,
Shall appear, all secrets trying.

3 Then shall ring the trump’s weird knelling
Through each tomb and charnel dwelling,
All before the throne compelling.

4 Death shall stand in consternation;
Nature quake; and all creation
Rise to answer the citation.

5 From the book shall shine the writing,
All the by-gone past reciting,
And the world of sin indicting.

6 Then the Judge shall sit, revealing
Hidden deed, word, thought, and feeling,
And to each just sentence dealing.

7 What shall wretched I be crying,
To what friend for succor flying,
When the just in dread are sighing?

8 King of might and awe, defend me!
Freely Thy salvation send me!
Fount of pity, save, befriend me!

9 Think, kind Jesus, my salvation
Caused Thy wondrous incarnation:
Leave me not to reprobation!

10 Faint and weary Thou hast sought me;
On the cross of suffering bought me:
Shall such grace be vainly brought me?

11 Righteous Judge of retribution,
Grant Thy gift of absolution,
Ere that reckoning day’s conclusion!

12 Guilty, now I pour my moaning,
All my shame with anguish owning:
Spare, O God, Thy suppliant groaning!

13 Thou the sinful woman savedst:
Thou the dying thief forgavedst:
And to me a hope vouchsafest.

14 Worthless are my prayers and sighing,
Yet, good Lord, in grace complying,
Rescue me from fires undying!

15 With Thy favored sheep O place me:
Nor among the goats abase me,
But to Thy right hand upraise me.

16 While the wicked are confounded,
Doomed in flames of woe unbounded:
Call me, with Thy saints surrounded.

17 Low I kneel, with heart-submission:
See, like ashes, my contrition:
Help me in my last condition!

Source: The Cyber Hymnal #14651

Author: Thomas of Celano

Thomas of Celano was born at Celano in the Abruzzi, and joined St. Francis of Assisi c. 1214. He was commissioned by Gregory IX to write the life of St. Francis: the First Legend, 1229; the Second Legend, 1247; and the Tract on the Miracle of St. Francis a few years later. His Legend of St. Clare was composed in 1255. He was probably among the first band of friars to visit Germany, 1221. --The Hymnal 1940 Companion… Go to person page >

Translator: William J. Irons

Irons, William Josiah, D.D., son of Joseph Irons, was born at Hoddesdon, Herts, Sep. 12, 1812, and educated at Queen's College, Oxford (B.A. 1833, D.D. 1854), and took Holy Orders 1835. In 1837 he became Incumbent of St. Peter's, Walworth, and was subsequently Vicar of Barkway, Incumbent of Brompton, Rector of Wadingham; and in 1872, Rector of St. Mary-Woolnoth, formerly held by his father's friend, John Newton. He was also Bampton Lecturer in 1870, and Prebendary of St. Paul's Cathedral. He died June 18, 1883. Dr. Irons took a somewhat prominent part in the ecclesiastical controversies of his day, and published extensively thereon in the form of Sermons, Letters, Pamphlets, &c. His important work, the Bampton Lectures, 1870, was on Christi… Go to person page >

Translator: Frederick William Faber

Raised in the Church of England, Frederick W. Faber (b. Calverly, Yorkshire, England, 1814; d. Kensington, London, England, 1863) came from a Huguenot and strict Calvinistic family background. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and ordained in the Church of England in 1839. Influenced by the teaching of John Henry Newman, Faber followed Newman into the Roman Catholic Church in 1845 and served under Newman's supervision in the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. Because he believed that Roman Catholics should sing hymns like those written by John Newton, Charles Wesley, and William Cowpe, Faber wrote 150 hymns himself. One of his best known, "Faith of Our Fathers," originally had these words in its third stanza: "Faith of Our Fathers! Mary'… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Day of wrath, that day dismaying
Title: Day Of Wrath
Latin Title: Dies Irae
Author: Thomas of Celano
Translator: Frederick William Faber (alt.)
Translator: William J. Irons
Meter: 8.8.8.8.8.8
Source: Hymns of the Faith, by George Harris, William Jewett Tucker & Edward K. Glezen (Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1887)
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

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The Cyber Hymnal #14651

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