04/23/2026
The Cipher Told Me So latest installment on the Masonic Funeral Dirge!
What exactly is a dirge? Where did the one we use come from and has anyone really stopped to listen to the lyrics? This week we dive into the funeral dirge.
The dirge is a, usually, short song or lament, expressing grief and mourning. The word is derived from Latin meaning “to direct” as in as in asking God to direct your way into his sight and was the first word in a chant said during the Matins (midnight/2a) prayers. The dirge eventually came to be known with the Office of the Dead within the Catholic Church. It was eventually even deemed important enough to be retained as an allowed liturgical performance following the Protestant Reformation. Of course, by the 18th century, it became to be known as any sad, slow, chant about death. An interesting thing about the dirge used by masons is that, while the lyrics of most dirges reference Christ or Christianity, ours is noticeably “non-denominational” in its content so that it can be applied to any brother of any faith. The composer was an Austrian named Ignaz Pleyel, and the piece is called “Pleyel’s Hymn”. Pleyel was a Freemason, belonging to a lodge in Hungary, and became a prolific composer who wrote 42 symphonies, 70 string quartets, several operas as well as our hymn in 1791. So why has no one heard of him? Because a year after he was born, another composer was born on the other side of Austria, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The lyrics are from an American freemason, David Vinton in 1816. He was what was called a “traveling ritualist”, as he would travel around the Eastern states to speak and teach rituals, particularly York Rite. He wrote a volume called “The Masonic Minstrel," of which the full title was "The Masonic Minstrel, a Selection of Masonic, Sentimental, and Amorous Songs. Duets, Glees, Canons, Rounds and Canzonets, Respectfully Dedicated to the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons”, but went by the name “The Masonic Minstrel” for obvious reasons.
Let’s look at the lyrics. It’s interesting to note that while Kansas uses 4 or 5 verses, there are actually 8 (all of which are used by some jurisdictions):
1. Solemn strikes the funeral chime.
Notes of our departing time,
As we journey here below
Through a pilgrimage of woe.
2. Mortals now indulge a tear;
For mortality is here!
See how wide her trophies wave
O’er the slumbers of the grave.
3. Here another guest we bring;
Seraph of Celestial wing,
To our funeral altar come,
Waft this friend and brother home.
4. There enlarged, thy soul shall see,
What was veiled in mystery;
Heavenly glories of the place
Show his maker face to face.
5. Lord of all! below – above-
Fill our hearts with truth and love;
When dissolves our earthly tie,
Take us to Thy Lodge on High.
6. Calm, the good man meets his fate;
Guards celestial ’round him wait.
See! he bursts these mortal chains,
And o’er Death the victory gains.
7. God of life's eternal day!
Guide us, lest from Thee we stray,
By a false, delusive light,
To the shades of endless night.
8. For beyond the grave there lie
Brighter mansions in the sky!
Where, enthroned, the Deity
Gives man immortality.
Out of the few articles I’ve found on this hymn, none have attempted to summarize or explain the lyrics other than “referencing death”. So, I attempted to de-lyricize them into a readable paragraph myself:
"Remember, life on earth is a temporary journey of woe and we all must eventually depart at the funeral chime. Mortality comes for all men, her trophies (gravestones) are an always present reminder. We come here today to bring another guest (brother) home. My brother: after arriving home, you’ll finally see what is hidden from the living and finally see the Great Architect face to face. But for us still down here, please God, fill our hearts so that when we die, we’ll finally go home as well. For a good man (a mason) will greet death like an old friend, surrounding by a heavenly host. God, don’t let us be led astray by false light and endless night, because a good man knows that there are better things that await him, most of all, immortality."
This dirge is very much one that you would sing on your way to a gravesite (temporary or not). Its central theme is, of course with all things masonic, memento mori, remember your death. But more than that, this hymn highlights the prayer of good men for God’s help to keep them on the true and narrow path. For all masons know that there is an everlasting supply of strength through the power of prayer. A prayer for Him to fill our hearts so that we can meet Him face to face after our untimely demise. My favorite verse is six, it emphasizes the core tenets of masonry that a man who has led a true masonic life and upheld our teachings while holding faith in God will go not like a quarry slave at night but as someone who greets death like an old friend who can finally lay down their working tools.
