Eternal Rest

A traditional Catholic prayer

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. Amen.

In Latin

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Requiescant in pace. Amen.

Where it comes from

Saint Teresa of Ávila kneels on a cloud in her Carmelite habit and looks up at the risen Christ, one hand on her breast and the other open, and He lets His own hand fall open toward the fire below them, where the souls in purgatory stand to the waist in flame and a child angel is already drawing one of them up by the hand. Rubens painted her pleading for Bernardino de Mendoza. Fire to the waist, and rest is what they are promised. The prayer’s words are those of the Introit of the Mass for the dead, from whose first word Requiem Masses take their name, and that Introit may be traced to the Fourth Book of Esdras: Expectate pastorem vestrum, requiem aeternitatis dabit vobis. When the Introit was adopted is not well known; but from the first century prayers were offered that the dead might have eternal rest. The prayer is that angel’s hand, held out each time we say a name.

Pietro Piacenza, “Masses of Requiem”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 12 (1911): newadvent.org

⁴⁶It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.

2 Machabees 12:46, Douay-Rheims (Challoner)

More in painting

The traditional prayers  ·  The Rosary