RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Repentance Resch
before the altar to signify the connection of the eucharistic sacrifice with the dead, and to characterize it as an act performed expressly in his behalf. If the burial has already taken place, a catafalque, draped in black, is substituted for the coffin. The burial service is incomplete without the requiem; the latter, on the other hand, in itself constitutes a full and sufficient act. It is repeated at regular intervals, as on the anniversary of death; in the early Church and in the Greek Church on the third, ninth, and fortieth day after death; and in the Roman Church on the third, seventh, and thirtieth day.
The basis of the requiem is the same as that of every other mass, but the special occasion, the mourning, the profound underlying Ritual. resignation, and the particular purpose of intercession for the repose of the soul of the faithful are clearly emphasized by the character imparted to the ordinary of the mass. Black, being the color of mourning, is appropriate to the requiem. As during the Passion-tide, the hallelujah is omitted after the gradual; in its stead appears the tract and the sequence " Dies irse," Yvith the exception of the original three opening verses and the addition of the closing one. The sequence originally used on the first Sunday of Advent was incorporated in the office for the dead. Neither the Gloria nor the creed is said or sung, the latter omission being peculiar to the requiem. In the Agnus Dei, dona eis requiem (sempiternam) is substituted for miserere nobis and dona nobis pacem. The closing benediction is not used, since the absolution and the benediction of the dead immediately follow. Instead of the Ite, missa est, the words Requiescant in pace are pronounced. Besides this, as the office concerns only the departed, all commemorations of a festival nature and for the living are omitted, such as the incensing of the faithful and the blessing of the water at the sacrifice. After the close of the mass, the priest, with the ministrants, descends the steps of the altar, approaches the coffin (or the catafalque), and, while it is incensed and aspersed, pronounces the absolution and benediction according to the prescribed ritual. The early Church was content with appropriate interpolations (cf. the form of intercession for the dead in the Apostolic Constitutions, viii. 41), many of which have been preserved in the Roman missal. The Greek Church has no special form for the mass celebrated at the burial, or for that said for the dead; at the prothesis a portion of the oblates is designated by the name of the dead for whom the mass is celebrated, and a short commemoration is incorporated in the prayer. A requiem mass may be either public (or solemn), or private. In the former case it is choral, incense is used, and two or more of the clergy officiate; in the latter case the mass is simply read and a single priest officiates.
Strictly speaking, even in a choral requiem the music should be kept in the background; the organ should not accompany the responses; and the very character of the requiem forbids the use of other musical instruments. The singing should be confined to a musically embellished enunciation of the words of the liturgy. If given in a dignified
and appropriate manner, a choral rendering of a requiem mass is, from a musical point of view, a
unity, and a deeply impressive artistic Musical creation. Nevertheless, it is quite com- Settings. prehensible that a more developed
musical art, when once admitted to a share in the liturgy, should turn with special favor to the requiem. Indeed, the " Dies irae," with its wealth of varying emotions and its imagery, seems almost to challenge creative fancy to a musical reproduction and representation. Accordingly, all periods and styles of modern music have participated in the composition of requiems. It is true that in these efforts musical art has not confined itself to the limits set by the liturgical purpose of the requiem, since in the interest of a fuller rendering all means of expression and all the wealth of orchestral harmony have been employed. The requiem has thus become an independent musical creation, artistically complete in itself and suggesting the oratorio; it no longer has the sacrifice but the " Dies irse " for its central point; and only the designation of the separate parts suggests its liturgical origin. H. A. KosTLiNt.
Bibliography: Missat pro defunctis . . . ex missali Romano desumtas, Regensburg, 1903; Officium defunctorum. Choramt fur die Abgestorbenen, new ed., Paderborn, 1903; V. Thalhofer, Handbuch der katholischen Liturgik, ii. 323 sqq., Freiburg, 1890; J. Auer, Das Dies irm in den gesungenen Requiem-Messen, Musica sacra, Regensburg, 1901; J. Erker, Missa) de requie juxta rubricas a Leone XIII. reformatas, Laibaeh, 1903; F. X. Rindfleisch, Die Requiem-Messe nach den gegenwartigen liturgischen Rechte, 2d ed., Regensburg, 1903; P. Wagner, in Gregorianische Rundschau, no. 11, Graz, 1904. For the musical side consult: H. Kretzschmar, Fuhrer durch den Konzertsaal, ii. 1, pp. 220-267, Leipsic, 1895; Tursot, in he Guide musical, no. 8, Brussels, 1900.
RESCH, resh, ALFRED: German Lutheran; b. at Greiz (49 m. s. of Leipsic) Apr. 21, 1835. He was educated at the universities of Leipsic (1853-56) and Erlangen (1856-57), after which he was successively first teacher of religion and instructor in ancient languages at the Lutheran gymnasium at Wiborg, Finland (1857-59), a teacher at the Biirgerschule in Greiz (1860-61), and head teacher at the normal school in the same city (1861-63). From 1863 to 1900 he was first pastor and school-inspector at Zeulenroda, but since 1900 has lived in retirement, first in Jena and, since 1902, in Klosterlausnitz, near Jena, in Saxe-Altenburg. In theology he is a conservative and orthodox member of his denomination. He has written the following works on theological subjects: Die lutherische Rechtfertigungslehre dargestellt und gegen ihre neueste Verfdlschung verteidigt (Berlin, 1868); Melodienbuch zu dem Landesgesangbuch der preussischen Landeskirche (Zeulenroda, 1875) ; Das Formalprinzip des Protestantismus, neue Prolegomena zu einer evangelischen Dogmatik (Berlin, 1876); Agrapha, aussercanonische Evangelienfragmente (Leipsic, 1889; 2d ed., 1906); Aussercanonische Paralleltexte zu den Evangelien (5 vols., 1893-97); Die Logia Jesu nach dem griechischen und hebrdischen Text wiederhergestellt (1898); Das lutherische Einigungswerk (Gotha, 1902); Der Paulinismus und die Logia Jesu in ihrem gegenseitigen Verhdltnisse untersucht (Leipsic, 1904); and Das lutherische Abendmahl (1908).
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