Eternal Rest (Prayer)

The "Eternal Rest", or "Requiem Æternam", is a prayer used in the Roman Catholic Church to ask God for the release of the souls of the faithful departed from Purgatory. Versions of this prayer are used in many other Christian churches and denominations at the time of a death or at a yearly mind, usually in English translation.

Latin text

The standard text used in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church is the following Latin text.

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

Vernacular translations

English

The translation used throughout the Roman Catholic English-speaking world is the following.

Eternal rest, grant unto him/her O Lord

and let perpetual light shine upon him/her.

May s/he rest in peace. Amen.

May his/her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed,

through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Amen.

Among Anglicans and Episcopalians, one usual rendering is the following:

Rest eternal grant to him/her, O Lord,

and let light perpetual shine upon him/her. Amen.

This and other slight variants are used by many English-speaking Christian groups.

See also

• Requiem Mass
• Office of the Dead
• All Souls' Day