Chant Comment
Antiphon: In Paradisum
May the Angels lead you into Paradise,
at your arrival may the Martyrs receive you,
and may they lead you into the holy city of Jerusalem.
This antiphon is traditionally sung at funerals when the procession moves off, escorting the deceased person to the cemetery. It is often a poignant moment for the mourners as the body is about to be lowered into the earth, but the Liturgy bids us look up and beyond. What we have here is not a dirge, but a glorious “send-off”. We consign the body to the earth, but the living soul we entrust to God’s friends, the Angels and Martyrs, with the plea that they escort it into Paradise.
The word “paradise” only occurs once in the Gospels: it is found in Jesus’ answer to the “good thief”, a “ne’er-do-well” who at the last moment of a failed life nonetheless recognised his Saviour in the man condemned and crucified with him, and begged forhis forgiveness and mercy. In response, he heard the words: “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Lk23,39-43) The idea of the Angels carrying the soul up to heaven is also taken from the same Gospel according to St. Luke. It occurs in the story of the beggar Lazarus, ignored and abandoned by all in life, but whose soul is triumphantly escorted to heaven by Christ’s angels. (Lk16,19-31) Last of all appear the Martyrs, the heroes who by the total gift of their lives, sacrificed for Christ’s sake, have deserved to reign with him for ever in Paradise.
These three different categories of people, the sinners, the oppressed and the heroes, so different and yet united by their hope in Christ, together form the new society of the heavenly city Jerusalem, at the centre of which stands “the Lamb”, symbol of our Saviour who has saved us by his blood. (Ap5,8-10) Whichever category we belong to, faith and hope in Jesus Christ enable us to look beyond death, seeing it not as the end, but as the possibility for a new beginning
Belief in life after death and in the power of God’s love which encloses all creation within its web has inspired Christians since earliest times to pray for their dead. The first written version of our antiphon is to be found in the 10th cent.Antiphoner of Hartker, in the prayers for the dead. It is most probable however that it had been sung for centuries before the development of musical notation enabled it to be written down.
The antiphon is composed in the 7th mode which has been described as the mode of expectancy or hope. In its sweeping ascents from Soh to Re and higher, it lifts our minds to realities beyond this world, with an impetus that can lift the most sorrowful of hearts. It combines lyricism and upward gravitation in its ascents (vg.In Paradisum deducant te angeli) with a stable solidity in its descents, concluding with the major 3rd Ti-la-soh (vg. Ierusalem). The strength of this conclusion is suggestive of a hope that is no light fancy, but stands on the trustworthy ground of faith in God’s promises. The 7th mode has also been described as the “angelic mode” because of its upward impetus and soaring melodic lines:
In Paradisum deducant te Angeli!
