Day of wrath, 0 day of mourning. By W. J. Irons, from the Paris Missa. It is well known that the Revolution in Paris in 1848 led to many scenes of terror and shame. Foremost was the death of Monseigneur D. A. Affre, the Archbishop of Paris, who was shot on June 25 on the barricades on the Place de la Bastille whilst endeavouring to persuade the insurgents to cease firing, and was buried on July 7. As soon as it was safe to do so his funeral sermon was preached in Notre Dame, accompanied by a religious service of the most solemn and impressive kind. Throughout the service the Archbishop's heart was exposed in a glass case in the Choir, and at the appointed place the Dies Irae was sung by an immense body of priests. The terror of the times, the painful sense of bereavement which rested upon the minds of the people through the death of their Archbishop, the exposed heart in the Choir, the imposing ritual of the service, and the grand rendering of the Dies Irae by the priests, gave to the occasion an unusual degree of impressiveness. Dr. Irons was present, and deeply moved by what he saw and heard. On retiring from the Church he wrote out this translation of the Dies Irae. The surrounding circumstances no doubt contributed greatly to produce this, which is one of the finest of modern renderings of the grandest of mediaeval hymns. It was first issued in the privately printed Introits and Hymns for Advent, issued, without date, for the use of Margaret Street Chapel, London, where it bears the initials "W. J. I." It was also published in 1849 (Lond., Masters), with historical notes by Dr. Irons, and with the music to which it was sung in Notre Dame, harmonized by Charles Child Spencer. Dr. Irons also included it in his Appendix to the Brompton Met. Psalter, in his Hymns, &c, Brompton, 1866, No. 82, and in the new and enlarged edition of his Psalms & Hymns, 1873-1883, No. 60. In popularity and extensiveness of use this translation of the Dies Irae is surpassed only by Sir Walter Scott's. A few important changes have come into use which must be noted. The opening stanza i:—
"Day of wrath, 0 day of mourning,
See once more the Cross returning—
Heav'n and earth in ashes burning!"
This is given in J. A. Johnston's English Hymnal 1852, as "Day of wrath, 0 day dismaying," &c.; in Thrupp's Psalms & Hymns, 1853, as "Day of Judgment, day of mourning "; and in Kennedy, 1863, as "Day of anger, day of mourning.” The second line of stanza i. has also undergone these changes:—in the Salisbury Hymn BookThe thought, however, is changed in the Hymnal Companion and Snepp, where we read, "See the Crucified returning." In Hymns Ancient & Modern the reading of the Roman Missal is adopted in spirit although not in word, "See fulfilled the prophet's warning," and this has been repeated in several hymn-books. The concluding lines which read:—
"Lord, who didst our souls redeem,
Grant a blessed Requiem!"
were changed in the Hymns and Introits, 1852, and the Cooke and Denton Hymnal, 1853, to the translation by I. Williams:—
"Lord all-pitying, Jesu blest!
Grant them Thine eternal rest."
This, with "Grant us," for "Grant them," has been repeated, sometimes with and sometimes without the change, in most hymn-books which have adopted Dr. Irons's translation Thring's Collection is an exception in favour of:—
”Jesu, Saviour ever Blest,
Grant us then eternal rest."
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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