May The Angels
Lead You Into Paradise
Funeral Song for the Rite of Commital
May the angels lead you into Paradise.
May the martyrs come to greet you on the way.
May they lead you home to the holy city,
to the new and eternal Jerusalem.
May the choirs of angels come to welcome you.
May they take you to the arms of Abraham,
where Lazarus is poor no longer,
and there may you find rest, rest eternal.
Lux eterna luceat eis. Requiescat in pace. Amen.
[Light eternal shine on him. May he (she) rest in peace. Amen.]
A Reflection on 'In paradisum deducant te angeli' (voice a) and 'May the angels lead you into paradise' (voice b)
voice a in tuo adventu sucipiant te martyres,
voice b May the martyrs await your coming.
voice a Et perducant te in civiatem sanctam Jerusalem.
voice b May they lead you into Jereusalem, the holy City.
voice a Chorus angelorum te suscipiat,
voice b May the choirs of angels welcome you,
voice a et cum Lazaro quondam paupere, aeternam habeas requiem.
voice b With Lazarus, who is poor no longer, may you find eternal rest.
Composer's Reflection
Since early times, in Christian tradition In Paradisum deducant te angeli or May the angels lead you into paradise has been part of the Christian funeray tradition. It is sung at the Rite of Committal, which takes place after the communion rite in the Requiem Mass. It may also be sung during the procession from the church, and at the Rite of Commendation at the place of burial. But is this merely fine poetry, or do the the images have actual meaning?
References to Angels are common throughout the later Scriptures, after the return from Babylonian Exile. The concept of angels, unkown in pre-Exilic Judaism, was acquired from Persian tradition, when Alexander, the benign Emperor, defeated Babylon and allowed those who wished to return from their captivity to Jerusalem. These heavenly beings or figures became symbols of God's power, extensions of God's presence. The angel who appeared to Mary at the annunciation may be understood as the appearance and personification of the invisible God.
The Martyrs were not only the heroes but the life blood of the Early Church. Those who were martyred for the Faith in the great persecutions sweeping through the rapidly growing community gave rise to the phenomenon of pilgrimages, the sites of martyrdom regarded as especially holy places; these soon became the great basilicas which established the geographical presence of Christianity as it spread further and further away from the Holy Lands. The martyrs found immediate favor in God's sight. The imagery of their welcoming the recently deceased into the heavenly community is another symbolic reference to the divine embrace.
Devout Jews lived in hope of a restored Jerusalem. Those who returned from Bablyonian Exile in 584 BC found the temple in ruins, the holy places a heap of weed-strewn rubble, with birds nesting among the stones and remaining ledges and arches. A post-Exilic theology emerged which evolved into an early December Feast of the Dedication, to commemorate the eventual rebuilding of the Temple. But it also anticipated the return of the Lord at the endtimes, not as mighty conqueror but as Shepherd, to reunite the scattered tribes of Israel, restored in a single land ruled by God alone. Their city would surmount a land abundant with flowing waters. This dream of restoration of good fortunes (which probably never existed but which nurtured a desire for the future) became enshrined in the vision of a new, gleaming and indestructible City, with the golden temple as its jewel.
The mention of Lazarus in the arms of Abraham alludes to the story in Luke 16:19-25, where the beggar Lazarus, whose life was spent in poverty, disease, and misery, died and went directly to heaven. He would no longer be poor. This image reflects the Jewish belief of the endtimes as days of limitless prosperity, where all would live together in harmony and peace.