Dies

DIES IR/E (Day of Wrath), technically this supreme product of Latin hymn-writing is called a sequence because of its place in litur gical usage. It is first found in Italian missals in connection with the office for the burial of the dead and by action of the Council of Trent it became a formal element in the requiem serv ice of the Roman Catholic Church. Its popu larity may be judged from the fact that there are in existence nearly 150 versions of the hymn in English alone; the first one appeared at the close of the 17th century. One of the most pop ular versions, a condensed one, however, comes from the hand of Walter Scott in It is generally recognized that it is a hopeless task to reproduce the sim plicity and vigor of the original phrasing or to imitate the harmonies of the Latin diction. Mr. Saintsbury, the well-known expert in prosody, singles out as unique in this respect the line "Tuba mirum Spargens sonum," and in his eulogy of the poem as a piece of technique places its author by the side of Dante and Shakespeare. Yet the authorship of these verses is not firmly established. Most authorities are willing to accept the ascription to Thomas of Celano, the companion and biographer of Francis of Assisi. The attribution to Thomas is made in a vague way in a work written in 1385, considerably over 100 years after the period in which Thomas lived. There is nothing in Celano's biography of Francis to suggest the power in word painting displayed in the stanzas of this hymn. One of the first literary allusions to the Dies Irae is of a depreciatory nature; a 16th century writer, Sixtus Senensis, speaks of it as an "inconditus an uncouth poem. Assuming that the poem came from one

closely associated with Francis of Assisi it would be easy to explain its eschatological aus terity from the atmosphere known to have pre vailed in Italy during the long struggle between the Papacy and the last Hohenstaufen emperor, Frederick II. Salimbene speaks of the hopeless ness of a world order presided over by Frederick, who in his mind personified all the vices; and Albert de Beham, comparing the emperor to Luci fer, speaks of him as a man who tries to climb up to heaven, raise his throne above the stars and become superior to the vicar of the Most High. The theme of the Dies Ira: and the way it is handled do not reflect the naive joyousness of Francis of Assis's temperament. Thomas of Celano's biography shows how open he was to the brighter side of the nature of his master. The hymn gives that other aspect of Franciscan .teaching which appeared after the death of Francis with strong emphasis on apocalyptic terrors due to the impression made by the long career of Frederick, a versatile, constant and therefore dreaded opponent of the mediaeval church system. Consult Chevalier,