Libera me

For other uses, seeLibera me (disambiguation).

"Libera me"(" Deliver me ") is aresponsorysung in theOffice of the Deadin theCatholic Church,and at theabsolution of the dead,a service ofprayers for the deadsaid beside the coffin immediately after theRequiem Massand beforeburial.The text asks God to have mercy upon the deceased person at theLast Judgment.

In addition to theGregorian chantin theRoman Gradual,many composers have written settings for the text, includingTomás Luis de Victoria,Anton Bruckner(two settings),Giuseppe Verdi,Gabriel Fauré,Maurice Duruflé,Igor Stravinsky,Benjamin Britten,Sigismund von Neukomm,Orlande de Lassus,Krzysztof Penderecki,Antonio Salieri,Lorenzo Perosi,Arnold RosnerandPatrick Gowers(first stanza only).

Libera me, Domine, de morte æterna, in die illa tremenda Quando cœli movendi sunt et terra Dum veneris iudicare sæculum per ignem. Tremens factus sum ego, et timeo, dum discussio venerit, atque ventura ira Quando cœli movendi sunt et terra. Dies illa, dies iræ, calamitatis et miseriæ, dies magna et amara valde Dum veneris judicare sæculum per ignem. Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Deliver me, O Lord, from death eternal on that fearful day, When the heavens and the earth shall be moved, When thou shalt come to judge the world by fire. I am made to tremble, and I fear, till the judgment be upon us, and the coming wrath, When the heavens and the earth shall be moved. That day, day of wrath, calamity and misery, day of great and exceeding bitterness, When thou shalt come to judge the world by fire. Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord: and let light perpetual shine upon them.

The responsory is begun by a cantor, who sings the first part of theversicles,and the responses are sung by the choir. The text is written in thefirst-person singular,"Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death on that fearful day", a dramatic substitution in which the choir speaks for the dead person.

In the traditional Office,Libera meis also said onAll Souls' Day(2 November) and whenever all threenocturnsofMatinsof the Dead are recited. On other occasions, the ninth responsory of Matins for the Dead begins withLibera me,but continues with a different text (Domine, de viis inferni...).