Funeral reading
Eternal Rest (Requiem aeternam)
Traditional Catholic prayer
“Eternal Rest (Requiem aeternam)” by Traditional Catholic prayer is a prayer read at a funeral or memorial service. It takes about 10 seconds read aloud, usually by everyone together. It is in the public domain, so the full text is printed on this page and goes straight into a ceremony script.
The full text
Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.
Public domain, so these words can be printed in a ceremony script or an order of service.
What it is about
Short, said together, and expected at a Catholic vigil.
Read at a funeral or memorial service. Themes: eternal rest · perpetual light · very short · said together · Catholic vigil.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “Eternal Rest (Requiem aeternam)” take to read aloud?
“Eternal Rest (Requiem aeternam)” takes about 10 seconds read aloud at a ceremony pace, which is slower than conversation — roughly 130 words a minute. That is the figure the run-sheet uses when it works out the timing for the whole service.
Who usually reads “Eternal Rest (Requiem aeternam)”?
Everyone together, rather than one reader. “Eternal Rest (Requiem aeternam)” runs about 10 seconds and needs the words in front of the room — in an order of service, on a screen, or led line by line by the officiant.
Can “Eternal Rest (Requiem aeternam)” be printed in a ceremony script?
Yes. It is in the public domain, so the full text is on this page and can be printed in a script or an order of service.
Where this text was checked
Checked word for word against a full-text edition that is itself the authority — a Project Gutenberg or Wikisource transcription, a publisher’s own edition, or the issuing body’s page.
Checked
A reading is two minutes of the hour.
The rest is the welcome, the life, the remembrances, the committal — and knowing what comes next. Answer some questions about them and get the whole service, written out, with this reading in its place.
Other readings that suit the same service
- The Lord's Prayer40 secondsMatthew 6, King James Bible
- Nunc Dimittis (Luke 2:29–32)20 secondsKing James Bible
- El Malei Rachamima minute and a halfTraditional memorial prayer
- Mourner's Kaddisha minute and a halfTraditional, Aramaic
- Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace50 secondsAttributed to St Francis of Assisi
- Words of Committal (Book of Common Prayer, 1662) — short form20 secondsBook of Common Prayer