The Nunc dimittis (), also known as the Song of Simeon or the Canticle of Simeon, is a

canticle A canticle (from the Latin ''canticulum'', a diminutive of ''canticum'', "song") is a hymn, psalm or other Christianity, Christian song of praise with lyrics usually taken from biblical or holy texts. Canticles are used in Christian liturgy. Ca ...

taken from the second chapter of the

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-volu ...

, verses 29 through 32. Its

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

name comes from its

incipit The incipit () of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin and means "it beg ...

, the opening words, of the

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

translation of the passage, meaning "Now you let depart". Since the 4th century it has been used in services of evening worship such as

Compline Compline ( ), also known as Complin, Night Prayer, or the Prayers at the End of the Day, is the final prayer service (or office) of the day in the Christian tradition of canonical hours, which are prayed at fixed prayer times. The English wo ...

Vespers Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic (both Latin liturgical rites, Latin and Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern), Lutheranism, Lutheran, and Anglican ...

, and

Evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. In origin, it is identical to the canonical hour of vespers. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which became ...

Biblical account

The title is formed from the opening words in the Latin Vulgate, “''Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine''" ("Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord"). Although brief, the

abounds in

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

allusions. For example, "Because my eyes have seen thy salvation" alludes to Isaiah 52:10. According to the narrative in Luke 2:25-32,

Simeon Simeon () is a given name, from the Hebrew (Biblical ''Šimʿon'', Tiberian ''Šimʿôn''), usually transliterated as Shimon. In Greek it is written Συμεών, hence the Latinized spelling Symeon. Meaning The name is derived from Simeon, son ...

was a devout Jew who had been promised by the

Holy Spirit In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...

that he would not die until he had seen the

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...

. When

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

and

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

brought the baby

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

to the

Temple in Jerusalem The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two now-destroyed religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusa ...

for the ceremony of redemption of the firstborn son (after the time of Mary's purification: at least 40 days after the birth, and thus distinct from the

circumcision Circumcision is a surgical procedure, procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin ...

), Simeon was there, and he took Jesus into his arms and uttered words rendered variously as follows:

Versions

Folio 63r - The Presentation in the Temple

The "Nunc dimittis" passage in the original

Koiné Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

: Transliterated: Latin (

): English (Translation of the

): English (''

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

'', 1662): English (

Roman Breviary The Roman Breviary (Ecclesiastical Latin, Latin: ''Breviarium Romanum'') is a breviary of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church. A liturgical book, it contains public or canonical Catholic prayer, prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notati ...

): The

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

(1611) contains the same text as the Book of Common Prayer, except for the last line (), which simply reads "A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." Church Slavonic (in Slavonic)

Commentary

Friedrich Justus Knecht Friedrich Justus Heinrich Knecht (7 October 1839 – 31 January 1921) was a German Catholic theologian, writer and bishop in Freiburg, Germany. Early life and education Justus Knecht was born in Bruchsal, the fourth of seven children of Heinrich ...

draws the conclusion from this passage, that "''belief in Jesus Christ drives away all fear of death.''" He writes:

Simeon now rejoiced at the prospect of death. Such a sensation was hitherto unknown in Israel. “Pious Israelites closed their eyes in death, weary of life and submissive to God’s will; not altogether hopeless, but full of horror of the future. Death was a thing to be feared, and each new day of life which was granted was looked on as a gain” (Grimm). But all at once every thing was changed. Holy Simeon had seen the Saviour, and was now ready to die joyfully. In fact, he did die very soon after; a pious tradition even goes so far as to say that he died before he left the Temple. He was thus the first to take the joyful news to Limbo that the Saviour was born and the day of salvation at hand.

Roger Baxter Roger Baxter (1784–1827) was an English Jesuit, a Catholic missionary in the United States, and Prefect of Studies at Georgetown College. Life Baxter was a native of Walton-le-Dale, near Preston, in Lancashire and studied at Stonyhurst Col ...

reflects on this passage in his ''Meditations'', saying: "Oh that you would also bid farewell to all earthly things, and say with the Apostle, 'But I am straitened — having a desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ.' (Phil. 1:23.)"

Liturgy and musical settings

The Nunc Dimittis is the traditional 'Gospel Canticle' of Night Prayer (

), just as

Benedictus Benedictus may refer to: Music * ''Benedictus'' (''Song of Zechariah''), the canticle sung at Lauds, also called the Canticle of Zachary * The second part of the Sanctus, part of the Eucharistic prayer * "Benedictus" (Simon & Garfunkel song), a ...

and

Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for "

y soul Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or seventh ...

magnifies

he Lord He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Eastern Christianity, Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated ...

are the traditional Gospel Canticles of Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer respectively. Hence the Nunc Dimittis is found in the liturgical night office of many western denominations, including

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

in the 1662 ''Book of Common Prayer'', Compline (A Late Evening Service) in the 1928 ''Book of Common Prayer'', and the Night Prayer service in the

Common Worship ''Common Worship'' is the name given to the series of services authorised by the General Synod of the Church of England and launched on the first Sunday of Advent in 2000. It represents the most recent stage of development of the Liturgical Movemen ...

, as well as both the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

service of Compline. In eastern tradition the canticle is found in

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

. One of the most well-known settings in England is a

plainchant Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ''plain-chant''; la, cantus planus) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text. ...

theme of

Thomas Tallis Thomas Tallis (23 November 1585; also Tallys or Talles) was an English composer of High Renaissance music. His compositions are primarily vocal, and he occupies a primary place in anthologies of English choral music. Tallis is considered one o ...

Heinrich Schütz Heinrich Schütz (; 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as one of the most important composers of the 17th century. He ...

wrote at least two settings, one in

Musikalische Exequien Musikalische Exequien (Funeral music), Op. 7, SWV 279–281 is a sacred composition that Heinrich Schütz wrote in 1635 or 1636. Written for the funeral services of Count Henry II, Count of Reuss-Gera, who had died on 3 December 1635, it is Sch ...

(1636), the other i
Symphoniae sacrae II
(1647). The feast day ''Mariae Reinigung'' was observed in the Lutheran Church at J.S. Bach's time. He composed several cantatas for the occasion, including ''Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin'', BWV 125, a chorale cantata on Martin Luther's paraphrase of the canticle, and ''Ich habe genug'', BWV 82. In many Lutheran orders of service the ''Nunc Dimittis'' may be sung following the reception of the

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

. A 1530 rhymed version by , "

Im Frieden dein, o Herre mein "" (In Your peace, o my Lord) is a three-stanza German Christian communion hymn. In 1527 the early Reformer Johann Englisch (Johannes Anglicus) wrote two stanzas as a rhyming close paraphase of the Nunc dimittis, or Canticle of Simeon. The hymn ...

", with a melody by

Wolfgang Dachstein Wolfgang Dachstein (1487–1553) was a German organist, composer, and lyricist. He was born in Offenburg. From 1503 Dachstein studied Music and Theology with Martin Luther at Erfurt. He entered the Dominican convent in Strasbourg and in 1521 b ...

, was written in Strasbourg for that purpose. Many composers have set the text to music, usually coupled in the Anglican church with the

Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for "

magnifies

) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Eastern Christianity, Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated ...

, as both the Magnificat and the Nunc dimittis are sung (or said) during the Anglican service of

Evening Prayer Evening Prayer refers to: : Evening Prayer (Anglican), an Anglican liturgical service which takes place after midday, generally late afternoon or evening. When significant components of the liturgy are sung, the service is referred to as "Evensong ...

according to the Book of Common Prayer, 1662, in which the older offices of Vespers (Evening Prayer) and Compline (Night Prayer) were deliberately merged into one service, with both Gospel Canticles employed. In Common Worship, it is listed among "Canticles for Use at Funeral and Memorial Services" Herbert Howells composed 20 settings of it, including Magnificat and Nunc dimittis (Gloucester) (1947) and

Magnificat and Nunc dimittis for St Paul's Cathedral The and for St Paul's Cathedral, also known as the ''St Paul's Service'', is a setting by the English composer Herbert Howells of the and for the Anglican service of Evensong. Scored for four-part choir and organ, it was written in 1950 for ...

(1951). A setting of the Nunc dimittis by

Charles Villiers Stanford Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic music, Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was ed ...

was sung at the funeral of Margaret Thatcher as the recessional. Stanford wrote many settings of both the ''Magnificat'' and ''Nunc dimittis''. Sergei Rachmaninoff wrote a setting of the Slavonic ''Nunc dimittis'' text, Ны́не отпуща́еши (''Nyne otpushchayeshi''), as the fifth movement of his ''

All-Night Vigil The All-night vigil is a service of the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches consisting of an aggregation of the canonical hours of Compline (in Greek usage only), Vespers (or, on a few occasions, Great Compline), Matins, and the First H ...

.'' It is known for its final measures, in which the basses sing a descending scale ending on the B♭ below the bass clef. A setting by the British composer

Geoffrey Burgon Geoffrey Alan Burgon (15 July 194121 September 2010) was an English composer best known for his television and film scores. Among his most recognisable works are ''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' for film, and ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' and '' ...

featured during the end credits of episodes in the 1979 television adaptation of

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (TV series) ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' is a 1979 British seven-part spy drama by the BBC. John Irvin directed and Jonathan Powell produced this adaptation of John le Carré's novel ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' (1974). The serial, which stars Alec Gu ...

Literary settings

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

, Letter to Marquis de Lafayette (17 May 1816), Joseph Cabell (31 January 1821), and General Andrew Jackson (18 December 1823) *

T. H. White Terence Hanbury "Tim" White (29 May 1906 – 17 January 1964) was an English writer best known for his Arthurian novels, published together in 1958 as ''The Once and Future King''. One of his most memorable is the first of the series, '' The Sw ...

novel ''

The Once and Future King ''The Once and Future King'' is a collection of fantasy novels by T. H. White about the legend of King Arthur. It is loosely based upon the 1485 work '' Le Morte d'Arthur'' by Sir Thomas Malory. It was first published in 1958 as a collection ...

'' – recitation by

Merlyn Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and leg ...

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

poem ''

A Song for Simeon "A Song for Simeon" is a 37-line poem written in 1928 by American-English poet T. S. Eliot (1888–1965). It is T. S. Eliot's Ariel poems, one of five poems that Eliot contributed to the ''Ariel Poems (Faber), Ariel Poems'' series of 38 pa ...

'' (1928) *

Joseph Brodsky Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; russian: link=no, Иосиф Александрович Бродский ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), USSR in 1940, ...

poem "Nunc Dimittis" (1972) *

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

poem "Cantico del Sole" (1918) *

Karel Čapek Karel Čapek (; 9 January 1890 – 25 December 1938) was a Czech writer, playwright and critic. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel ''War with the Newts'' (1936) and play ''R.U.R.'' (''Rossum's Universal Ro ...

play ''

R.U.R. ''R.U.R.'' is a 1920 science-fiction play by the Czech writer Karel Čapek. "R.U.R." stands for (Rossum's Universal Robots, a phrase that has been used as a subtitle in English versions). The play had its world premiere on 2 January 1921 in H ...

'' *

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...

short story "

Nunc Dimittis The Nunc dimittis (), also known as the Song of Simeon or the Canticle of Simeon, is a canticle taken from the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, verses 29 through 32. Its Latin name comes from its incipit, the opening words, of the Vulgate t ...

" (1953–1979) *

Tanith Lee Tanith Lee (19 September 1947 – 24 May 2015) was a British science fiction and fantasy writer. She wrote more than 90 novels and 300 short stories, and was the winner of multiple World Fantasy Society Derleth Awards, the World Fantasy Lifetime ...

story "

" (1984–1986) * Walter Miller, ''

A Canticle for Leibowitz ''A Canticle for Leibowitz'' is a post-apocalyptic social science fiction novel by American writer Walter M. Miller Jr., first published in 1959. Set in a Catholic monastery in the desert of the southwestern United States after a devastating n ...

'' *

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novel ''

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'' *

novel ''

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' is a 1974 spy novel by British author John le Carré. It follows the endeavours of taciturn, aging spymaster George Smiley to uncover a Soviet mole in the British Secret Intelligence Service. The novel has received ...

'' – closing theme of TV adaptation *

novel ''

The Constant Gardener ''The Constant Gardener'' is a 2001 novel by British author John le Carré. The novel tells the story of Justin Quayle, a British diplomat whose activist wife is murdered. Believing there is something behind the murder, he seeks to uncover the t ...

'' – sung at the funeral of Tessa Quayle *

H. W. Brands Henry William Brands Jr. (born August 7, 1953) is an American historian. He holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his PhD in history in 1985. He has authored 30 books on U.S. histor ...

novel '' The Strange Death of American Liberalism * David Mitchell novel ''

Cloud Atlas A cloud atlas is a pictorial key (or an atlas) to the nomenclature of clouds. Early cloud atlases were an important element in the training of meteorologists and in weather forecasting, and the author of a 1923 atlas stated that "increasing use ...

'' – "Pacific journal of Adam Ewing, part 1" *

Edith Pargeter Edith Mary Pargeter (28 September 1913 – 14 October 1995), also known by her ''nom de plume'' Ellis Peters, was an English author of works in many categories, especially history and historical fiction, and was also honoured for her translat ...

novel, writing as Ellis Peters in the 6th and 15th volumes of "

The Cadfael Chronicles ''The Cadfael Chronicles'' is a series of historical murder mysteries written by the linguist-scholar Edith Pargeter (1913–1995) under the name "Ellis Peters". Set in the 12th century during the Anarchy in England, the novels focus on a Bened ...

The Virgin in the Ice ''The Virgin in the Ice'' is a medieval mystery novel by Ellis Peters, set in late 1139. It is the sixth novel in The Cadfael Chronicles, first published in 1982 (1982 in literature). It was adapted for radio by BBC Radio 4 in 1992 and for t ...

and

The Confession of Brother Haluin ''The Confession of Brother Haluin'' is a medieval mystery novel set in the winter of 1142–1143 by Ellis Peters. It is the fifteenth novel in the Cadfael Chronicles, and was first published in 1988. Brother Haluin makes a deathbed confessio ...

References

External links

List of available settings
at

Choral Public Domain Library The Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL) is a sheet music archive which focuses on choral and vocal music in the public domain or otherwise freely available for printing and performing (such as via permission from the copyright holder). It is a ...

. {{Authority control Vulgate Latin words and phrases Canticles Latin-language Christian hymns Christian prayer Gospel of Luke Nativity of Jesus in the New Testament New Testament Latin words and phrases

Biblical account

Versions

Commentary

Liturgy and musical settings

Literary settings

See also

References

External links