In paradisum

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In paradisum means “Into paradise.” It is a short chant (an antiphon) from the traditional Latin Requiem Mass in the Western Church. The choir sings it as the body is carried out of the church toward the grave.

The text of In paradisum is sometimes used by itself or with its Gregorian melody in musical settings for the dead, like the Requiems by Gabriel Fauré and Maurice Duruflé. In Masses for the dead, the chant is sung during the funeral procession from the church to the cemetery.

The Gregorian melody is in the Mixolydian mode, which has a slightly different feel from the modern major scale. The tune features cadences on the words “Chorus Angelorum” and “quondam paupere,” and its highest moment comes on the name Lazarus from Luke’s Gospel.

There are many English settings of the text today. Catholic publishers such as Oregon Catholic Press offer them; Bob Dufford’s “Songs of the Angels” and James Quinn’s “May Flights of Angels Lead You On Your Way” (with “Unde et Memores”) are well known. Other composers include Grayson Warren Brown and Ernest Sands.

Some people think In Paradisum helped inspire the funeral song “When the Saints Go Marching In,” which uses similar notes and is sometimes used in funeral processions in Black Protestant churches.