Domine Iesu Christe

The Domine Iesu Christe ("Lord Jesus Christ") is the offertory of the Mass for the deceased ( Requiem or Missa pro defunctis ) and is one of the components of the liturgy that change according to the occasion ( Proprium ). The prayer asks for eternal life for the deceased and implores protection from the abysses of Tartarus , that is, hell .

Compared to the Proprium texts in the other mass forms, the longer responsoric form with verse and repetition of the antiphon ( Quam olim Abrahæ promisisti, et semini eius. ) Has been preserved in the offertory of the funeral mass , as was common until the early Middle Ages, since the sacrifice in funeral services of all believers up to modern times and was initially accompanied by the chant of the offertory.

The prayer is therefore one of the pieces that are usually set to music in Requiems compositions, such as Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in his Requiem .

text

The text of the offertory reads in the missal :

Latin

German

Domine Iesu Christe, Rex gloriae,
libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum
de poenis inferni, et de profundo lacu:
libera eas de ore leonis,
ne absorbeat eas tartarus,
ne cadant in obscurum:
sed signifer sanctus Michael
repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam:
Quam olim Abrah promisisti, et semini eius.

(Hostias et preces tibi, Domine, laudis offerimus:
tu suscipe pro animabus illis, quarum hodie memoriam facimus:
fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam,
quam olim Abrahæ promisisti et semini eius.)

Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory,
keep the souls of all departed believers
from the torments of hell and from the depths of the underworld.
Keep them from the lion's jaws, so
that hell does not devour them,
that they do not plunge into darkness.
Rather, lead them to Saint Michael,
the standard- bearer, into the holy light that
you one day promised to Abraham and his descendants.

(We make offerings and prayer to praise you, O Lord;
accept them for those souls whom we remember today.
Lord, let them pass from death to the life that
you will one day promise to Abraham and his descendants.)

The second part - the so-called Versus - can also be omitted.

Individual evidence

^ Josef Andreas Jungmann SJ: Missarum Sollemnia. A genetic explanation of the Roman mass. Volume II, Herder Verlag, Vienna, Freiburg, Basel, 5th edition 1962, p. 34ff.
↑ Aimé-Georges Martimort (ed.): Handbook of liturgical science. Vol. I, Herder Verlag, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 1963, p. 395.
↑ Benedictines of the Archabbey of Beuron (ed.): The complete Roman missal in Latin and German. New edition. Herder Verlag, Freiburg-Basel-Vienna 1963, p. [209].

[1] Josef Andreas Jungmann SJ: Missarum Sollemnia. A genetic explanation of the Roman mass. Volume II, Herder Verlag, Vienna, Freiburg, Basel, 5th edition 1962, p. 34ff.

[2] Aimé-Georges Martimort (ed.): Handbook of liturgical science. Vol. I, Herder Verlag, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 1963, p. 395.

[3] Benedictines of the Archabbey of Beuron (ed.): The complete Roman missal in Latin and German. New edition. Herder Verlag, Freiburg-Basel-Vienna 1963, p. [209].