Dies Irae by Giovanni Vianini

01	Dies iræ! Dies illa Solvet sæclum in favilla: Teste David cum Sibylla!	Day of wrath! O day of mourning! See fulfilled the prophets' warning, Heaven and earth in ashes burning!
02	Quantus tremor est futurus, Quando iudex est venturus, Cuncta stricte discussurus!	Oh, what fear man's bosom rendeth, when from heaven the Judge descendeth, on whose sentence all dependeth.
03	Tuba mirum spargens sonum Per sepulchra regionum, Coget omnes ante thronum.	Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth; through earth's sepulchers it ringeth; all before the throne it bringeth.
04	Mors stupebit, et natura, Cum resurget creatura, Iudicanti responsura.	Death is struck, and nature quaking, all creation is awaking, to its Judge an answer making.
05	Liber scriptus proferetur, In quo totum continetur, Unde mundus iudicetur.	Lo! the book, exactly worded, wherein all hath been recorded: thence shall judgment be awarded.
06	Iudex ergo cum sedebit, Quidquid latet, apparebit: Nil inultum remanebit.	When the Judge his seat attaineth, and each hidden deed arraigneth, nothing unavenged remaineth.
07	Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? Quem patronum rogaturus, Cum vix iustus sit securus?	What shall I, frail man, be pleading? Who for me be interceding, when the just are mercy needing?
08	Rex tremendæ maiestatis, Qui salvandos salvas gratis, Salva me, fons pietatis.	King of Majesty tremendous, who dost free salvation send us, Fount of pity, then befriend us!
09	Recordare, Iesu pie, Quod sum causa tuæ viæ: Ne me perdas illa die.	Think, good Jesus, my salvation cost thy wondrous Incarnation; leave me not to reprobation!
10	Quærens me, sedisti lassus: Redemisti Crucem passus: Tantus labor non sit cassus.	Faint and weary, thou hast sought me, on the cross of suffering bought me. shall such grace be vainly brought me?
11	Iuste iudex ultionis, Donum fac remissionis Ante diem rationis.	Righteous Judge! for sin's pollution grant thy gift of absolution, ere the day of retribution.
12	Ingemisco, tamquam reus: Culpa rubet vultus meus: Supplicanti parce, Deus.	Guilty, now I pour my moaning, all my shame with anguish owning; spare, O God, thy suppliant groaning!
13	Qui Mariam absolvisti, Et latronem exaudisti, Mihi quoque spem dedisti.	Thou the sinful woman savedst; thou the dying thief forgavest; and to me a hope vouchsafest.
14	Preces meæ non sunt dignæ: Sed tu bonus fac benigne, Ne perenni cremer igne.	Worthless are my prayers and sighing, yet, good Lord, in grace complying, rescue me from fires undying!
15	Inter oves locum præsta, Et ab hædis me sequestra, Statuens in parte dextra.	With thy favored sheep O place me; nor among the goats abase me; but to thy right hand upraise me.
16	Confutatis maledictis, Flammis acribus addictis: Voca me cum benedictis.	While the wicked are confounded, doomed to flames of woe unbounded call me with thy saints surrounded.
17	Oro supplex et acclinis, Cor contritum quasi cinis: Gere curam mei finis.	Low I kneel, with heart submission, see, like ashes, my contrition; help me in my last condition.
18	Lacrimosa dies illa, qua resurget ex favilla Iudicandus homo reus. Huic ergo parce, Deus:	Ah! that day of tears and mourning! From the dust of earth returning man for judgment must prepare him; Spare, O God, in mercy spare him!
19	Pie Iesu Domine, dona eis requiem. Amen.	Lord, all pitying, Jesus blest, grant them thine eternal rest. Amen.

REQUIEM aeternam dona Jeff, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.

ETERNAL rest grant unto Jeff, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.

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Is Hell Empty?

A LETTER FROM ONE OF OUR READERS

 

Reverend Father: I would be much obliged if you could enlighten me about the following question: The affirmation according to which God, by eternal decree, has predestined certain specific persons, in anticipation of their grave sins, to eternal reprobation; that is to say, the affirmation according to which a certain number of human beings are actually languishing and will continue to languish forever in hell; is this, yes or no, a de fide truth? If so, it is a matter of what kind of truth (divine, divino-Catholic, ecclesiastical, etc.)? Are there any passages in Holy Scripture or in official documents of the magisterium which touch on and unequivocally (i.e., doubtlessly or unquestioningly as to meaning or intention) define this matter? And if so, what are they? Signed, .

 

OUR ANSWER

It is, indeed, a de fide truth that God, by eternal decree, has predestined certain persons, in anticipation of their grave (i.e., mortal) sins to eternal reprobation, and this is, precisely, a (yet) undefined truth of divine and Catholic Faith.

Let us explain these terms:

(1)     A truth of divine Faith, because it is contained in the word of God (i.e., divine Revelation), both written and orally transmitted to us.

(2)     A truth of the Catholic Faith, because the Church, in its ordinary and universal magisterium, has always proposed it to the faithful.

(3)   Undefined, because it has not yet ever been solemnly defined either by a pope or by an ecumenical council (which does not prevent it from belonging to the "deposit of Faith").

Let us now briefly examine Holy Scripture, Tradition, and the magisterium of the Church.

All of Holy Scripture unequivocally affirms that not all men are saved, but that some of them are lost by their own fault and will suffer eternal punishment. It is quite sufficient here simply to recall the Last Judgment mentioned in Mt. 25:31ff., and especially from v .41 :

And when the Son of man shall come in His majesty...and all nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He shall separate them one from another...and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left. Then shall the king say to them that shall be on His right hand: Come ye blessed of my Father….Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels ...and these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting.

And, in the same vein, in Jn. 5:28-29:

For the hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment (i.e., condemnation).

And in the Old Testament, we need only to refer to Daniel (12:2)..:

...and those that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake; some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach, to see it always.

And thus it is throughout the Sacred Scriptures, both in the New as well as the Old Testament.

Against the Pelagians and semi-Pelagians, who (as some of today's modernists) reduced God down to the level of a simple spectator of man's salvation or perdition, St. Augustine and his disciples have already defended predestination as a traditional teaching of the Catholic Faith:

The Church has always had faith in this truth of predestination, a faith which nowadays she defends with a renewed solicitude against the new heretics (St. Augustine, De dono perseverantiae, 23, 65).

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Dominican Saints by a Sister of the Congregation of St. Catherine of Siena