Eternal Rest (Requiem Aeternam)
Also known as: Requiem Aeternam Eternal Rest Grant Unto Them Prayer for the Dead
English Text
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
Translation tradition: Traditional English
Latin Text
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Requiescant in pace. Amen.
Scripture: 2 Maccabees 12:46; 4 Ezra 2:34–35
When to pray: For deceased persons: after the Rosary, at funerals, visiting a cemetery, and after the Grace After Meals.
History & Background
The Requiem Aeternam is the introit antiphon of the Mass for the Dead (Missa pro Defunctis), taking its name from its opening words in Latin. The text draws on 2 Esdras (4 Ezra) 2:34–35, a deuterocanonical text. It appears in the Gregorian repertoire of the Roman Rite by at least the 8th–9th centuries and in the Sacramentary of Hadrian. The antiphon gives its name to the entire Requiem Mass. As a brief prayer for the dead it came to be used outside Mass — after the Rosary, in passing a cemetery, and as a closing prayer at table. The Second Vatican Council's Lumen Gentium (1964) affirmed the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory and the efficacy of prayer for the dead (§ 51), the theological foundation for this prayer.
Related Prayers
Source
https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html verbatim