1 Day of wrath, that day dismaying,
Shall fulfill the prophet’s saying,
Earth in smoldering ashes laying.
2 Oh, how great the dread, the sighing,
When the Judge, the All-descrying,
Shall appear, all secrets trying.
3 Then shall ring the trump’s weird knelling
Through each tomb and charnel dwelling,
All before the throne compelling.
4 Death shall stand in consternation;
Nature quake; and all creation
Rise to answer the citation.
5 From the book shall shine the writing,
All the by-gone past reciting,
And the world of sin indicting.
6 Then the Judge shall sit, revealing
Hidden deed, word, thought, and feeling,
And to each just sentence dealing.
7 What shall wretched I be crying,
To what friend for succor flying,
When the just in dread are sighing?
8 King of might and awe, defend me!
Freely Thy salvation send me!
Fount of pity, save, befriend me!
9 Think, kind Jesus, my salvation
Caused Thy wondrous incarnation:
Leave me not to reprobation!
10 Faint and weary Thou hast sought me;
On the cross of suffering bought me:
Shall such grace be vainly brought me?
11 Righteous Judge of retribution,
Grant Thy gift of absolution,
Ere that reckoning day’s conclusion!
12 Guilty, now I pour my moaning,
All my shame with anguish owning:
Spare, O God, Thy suppliant groaning!
13 Thou the sinful woman savedst:
Thou the dying thief forgavedst:
And to me a hope vouchsafest.
14 Worthless are my prayers and sighing,
Yet, good Lord, in grace complying,
Rescue me from fires undying!
15 With Thy favored sheep O place me:
Nor among the goats abase me,
But to Thy right hand upraise me.
16 While the wicked are confounded,
Doomed in flames of woe unbounded:
Call me, with Thy saints surrounded.
17 Low I kneel, with heart-submission:
See, like ashes, my contrition:
Help me in my last condition!
Source: The Cyber Hymnal #14651
Raised in the Church of England, Frederick W. Faber (b. Calverly, Yorkshire, England, 1814; d. Kensington, London, England, 1863) came from a Huguenot and strict Calvinistic family background. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and ordained in the Church of England in 1839. Influenced by the teaching of John Henry Newman, Faber followed Newman into the Roman Catholic Church in 1845 and served under Newman's supervision in the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. Because he believed that Roman Catholics should sing hymns like those written by John Newton, Charles Wesley, and William Cowpe, Faber wrote 150 hymns himself. One of his best known, "Faith of Our Fathers," originally had these words in its third stanza: "Faith of Our Fathers! Mary'… Go to person page >| First Line: | Day of wrath, that day dismaying |
| Title: | Day Of Wrath |
| Latin Title: | Dies Irae |
| Author: | Thomas of Celano |
| Translator: | Frederick William Faber (alt.) |
| Translator: | William J. Irons |
| Meter: | 8.8.8.8.8.8 |
| Source: | Hymns of the Faith, by George Harris, William Jewett Tucker & Edward K. Glezen (Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1887) |
| Language: | English |
| Copyright: | Public Domain |
My Starred Hymns