Dom Prosper Guéranger:
“You are my portion, O Lord, Alleluia, in the land of the living, Alleluia, Alleluia. Bring forth my soul out of prison, to confess to your Name; in the land of the living, Alleluia, Alleluia. Glory and honour be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, world without end, Amen: in the land of the living, Alleluia, Alleluia.”
Such is the opening chant for the departed, in the Mozarabic Missal. With the Greeks, in like manner, no word is of more frequent recurrence in the Office of the Dead, than the Alleluia. Moreover, both Greece and Spain are but observing what was once a general practice throughout the Church. Saint Jerome tells us how, at the death of Fabiola, all the Roman people assembled, the chant of psalms echoed on all sides, and the sublime Alleluia filled the temples till it shook their gilded roofs. Two centuries later, the story of Saint Radegonde’s funeral written by her daughter Baudonivia proves that if submissive tears were not forbidden to the survivors and might at times even flow abundantly, the custom in Gaul was, nevertheless, the same as that of Rome. And again with regard to a later period, the Manuscript of Rheims quoted by Dom Hugh Menard in his notes on the Gregorian Saoramentary prescribes as a prelude to the burial prayers the chanting of the Psalm In ezitu Israel de Aegypto, with Alleluia as Antiphon.
When Saint Anthony buried in the desert the body of Saint Paul the first hermit, the biographer of the latter relates that, in accordance with Christian tradition, Anthony sang hymns as well as psalms. Such was actually the universal Christian tradition, identical in all lands. Saint John Chrysostom remarks the same fact and explains it thus: “Tell me, are they not conquerors, the dead whom we carry in procession with shining torches and the singing of hymns? Yes, we praise God and give Him thanks, for He crowns the departed one. He has put an end to his labour and He keeps him near Himself, free from all fear. Seek no other explanation for these hymns and psalms: they are an expression of joy.”
Saint Dionysius speaks in the same strain in his book on the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy. After alluding to the joy of the dying Christian as he sees approaching the end of his struggle and an eternal security, he adds: “The relatives of the deceased, his friends in God and in holiness, proclaim him blessed for having conquered at last. And they address their songs of thanksgiving to the heavenly Author of the victory. Praying that themselves may obtain a similar lot, they bear him to the hierarch the distributor of the holy crowns, to whom it belongs to perform the sacred rites prescribed with regard to those who have slept in the Lord.”
On this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:
At Tunis, in Africa, the birthday of St. Felix,
martyr, who, having confessed Christ, was sent to prison, his
execution being deferred. But the next day he was found dead, as is
related by St. Augustine, in his exposition of a psalm to the people
on the feast of the saint.
At Theopolis, ten holy martyrs, who are reported
to have been put to death by the Saracens.
At Barcelona, St. Severus, bishop and martyr, who
had his head pierced with a nail, and thus received the crown of
martyrdom for the faith.
In Phrygia, St. Atticus.
At Berg, the departure from this life of St.
Winoc, abbot, who was renowned for virtues and miracles, and for a
long time served his brethren, even those who were subject to him.
At Fundi in Campania, St. Felix, monk.
At Limoges in Aquitaine, St. Leonard, confessor, a
disciple of the blessed bishop Remigius, who was born of a noble
family, and chose to lead a solitary life. He was celebrated for
holiness and miracles, but his miraculous gift shone particularly in
the deliverance of captives.
And in other places, many other holy martyrs,
confessors and virgins.
Thanks be to God.
