In paradise - a gentle variation on the age-old antiphon

As an organist, I’m used to choosing music for funerals. Some years ago, a priest asked me if I’d be willing to sing something as the coffin was carried out of church. His only stipulation was that I should include some English psalm verses, and that I should keep it as brief as possible, as the aisle was particularly short and the family group very small.

Now of course, I immediately thought of the beautiful antiphon ‘In paradisum', translated as ‘Into paradise’. The opening words are:

In paradisum deducant te Angeli; in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem. Translated into English, they read: May the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs receive you at your arrival and lead you to the holy city Jerusalem.

Although the words continue (…Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem or May choirs of angels receive you and with Lazarus, once [a] poor [man], may you have eternal rest.), I reluctantly bowed to the time constraints and decided to halve the antiphon, and finish at the double bar line. This would give me time to insert some psalm verses, as requested. It seemed natural to use the two verses that conclude psalm 4 (the first psalm of Compline):

You have put into my heart a greater joy
than they have from abundance of corn and new wine.

I will lie down in peace and sleep comes at once
for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Since then, the little ‘home-made’ antiphon has stuck in my mind, and I often sing it as a personal prayer for the dead. Recently, I was saying my private divine office in the beautiful Oxfordshire Church of St Mary, Swinbrook (where some of the Mitfords are buried) and, to mark the day’s office for the dead, I sang this in a quiet moment.

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