Rest in peace

{{Short description|Epitaph or idiomatic expression to someone who has died}}

{{About|a tombstone inscription|The Walking Dead episode|Rest in Peace (The Walking Dead){{!}}Rest in Peace (The Walking Dead)|the song by Extreme|Rest in Peace (song)}}

Rest in peace (R.I.P.),{{Cite web|title=RIP Full Form - What Is RIP?|url=https://fullformdunia.com/rip-full-form/|access-date=2021-05-29|website=Full Form Dunia|date=15 May 2021 |language=en-US}} a phrase from the Latin {{lang|la|requiescat in pace}} ({{IPA|la-x-church|rekwiˈeskat in ˈpatʃe|lang|link=yes}}), is sometimes used in traditional Christian services and prayers, such as in the Catholic,{{cite book|title=Catholic Prayers in Spanish and English|year=1900|publisher=Harvard University Press|language=en |page=45}} Lutheran,{{cite book|last=Kurtz|first=Benjamin|title=Lutheran Prayer Book|year=1860|publisher=T. Newton Kurtz|language=en|page=124}} Anglican, and Methodist{{cite book|last=Langford|first=Andy|title=Christian Funerals|date=1 December 2010|publisher=Abingdon Press|language=en|isbn=9781426730146|page=56}} denominations, to wish the soul of a decedent eternal rest and peace.

It became ubiquitous on headstones in the 19th century, and is widely used today when mentioning someone's death.

Description

The phrase dormit in pace (English: "[he] sleeps in peace") was found in the catacombs of the early Christians and indicated that "they died in the peace of the Church, that is, united in Christ."{{cite book|last1=Yaggy|first1=Levi W.|last2=Haines|first2=Thomas Louis|title=Museum of Antiquity: A Description of Ancient Life—the Employments, Amusements, Customs and Habits, the Cities, Places, Monuments and Tombs, the Literature and Fine Arts of 3,000 Years Ago|year=1886|publisher=Law, King & Law|page=885}}{{cite book|last1=Tuker|first1=Mildred Anna Rosalie|last2=Malleson|first2=Hope|title=Handbook to Christian and Ecclesiastical Rome: The Christian monuments of Rome|url=https://archive.org/details/handbochristecc00tuke|year=1900|publisher=A. and C. Black|page=411|chapter=Introduction to the Catacombs|quote=Dormit, he sleeps, as an expression for death is proper to Christianity. Dormitio, in somno pacis, dormivit are therefore very frequently found. These and the expression Dormierit in Domino (may he sleep in the Lord) are to be seen especially in loculi of the II. and II. centuries, and occur in S. Agnese.}}{{cite book|last=Leahy|first=Brendan|title=His Mass and Ours: Meditations on Living Eucharistically|year=2012|publisher=New City Press|isbn=9781565484481|page=53|quote=Signs such as "RIP" (Rest in Peace) on the tombs of the early Christians did not just mean they died "peacefully" but that they died in the peace of the Church, that is, united in Christ in the Church and not apart from it. }} The abbreviation R.I.P., meaning Requiescat in pace, "May he/she rest in peace" (present/subjunctive/active/3rd person/singular), continues to be engraved on the gravestones of Christians,{{cite book|last=Mytum|first=H. C.|title=Mortuary Monuments and Burial Grounds of the Historic Period|date=31 December 2003|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9780306480768|page=139|chapter=Christian Denominations}} especially in the Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican denominations.{{cite book|last=Tarling|first=Nicholas|title=Choral Masterpieces: Major and Minor|date=16 May 2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=9781442234536|page=87}}

In the Tridentine Requiem Mass of the Catholic Church the phrase appears several times.{{citation | url=http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/music/gregorian-chant/choir/graduale-romanum-1961.html | pages=94*–112* | title=Graduale Romanum, 1961 Edition by the Benedictines of the Solesmes Monastery | author=Holy See | publisher=Desclée | year=1961 | access-date=2012-10-29 | archive-date=2019-08-30 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830043612/https://www.sanctamissa.org/en/music/gregorian-chant/choir/graduale-romanum-1961.html | url-status=dead }}

Other variations include "Requiescat in pace et in amore" for "May he/she rest in peace and love" and "In pace requiescat et in amore". The word order is variable because Latin syntactical relationships are indicated by the inflexional endings, not by word order. If "Rest in peace" is used in an imperative mood, it would be "Requiesce in pace" (acronym R.I.P.) in the second person singular, or "Requiescite in pace" in the second person plural.{{cite web |author=Expert: Maria – 7/31/2009 |url=http://en.allexperts.com/q/Latin-2145/2009/7/Quote-requiescat-etc.htm |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713050210/http://en.allexperts.com/q/Latin-2145/2009/7/Quote-requiescat-etc.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-07-13 |title=Experts on Latin phrase |publisher=En.allexperts.com |date=2009-07-31 |access-date=2014-04-17 }}

History

File:Inscription de Narbonne.jpg beginning with {{lang|la|requiescunt in pace}} and includes the Hebrew phrase "שלום על שראל" (peace be upon Israel). It has been interpreted variously as an "inscription relating to the Jews of France",{{cite encyclopedia|last=Broydé|first=Isaac Luria|author2=Executive Committee of the Editorial Board|display-authors=1|editor1-last=Funk|editor1-first=Isaac Kaufmann|editor1-link=Isaac K. Funk|editor2-last=Singer|editor2-first=Isidore|editor2-link=Isidore Singer|editor3-last=Vizetelly|editor3-first=Frank Horace|editor3-link=Frank Horace Vizetelly|encyclopedia=The Jewish Encyclopedia|title=France|hdl=2027/mdp.39015064245445?urlappend=%3Bseq=583|year=1906|publisher=Funk and Wagnalls Company|volume=V|location=New York and London|oclc=61956716|page=445|df=mdy-all}} or as a Jewish inscription.{{cite book|last1=Fellous|first1=Sonia|date=2018-05-03|chapter=Les noms des juifs à Paris (XII^e-XIV^e siècle)|url=https://books.openedition.org/pan/1018|editor1-last=Nadiras|editor1-first=Sébastien|title=Noms de lieux, noms de personnes: la question des sources|lang=fr|doi=10.4000/books.pan.951|isbn=9791036512308|oclc=1193020908|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200529105842/https://books.openedition.org/pan/1018|archive-date=2020-05-29|access-date=2020-09-26|df=mdy-all|quote=Mais la date du décès est calculée en fonction du calendrier local, ici celui du règne du roi Egica, et non en fonction du calendrier juif comme au bas Moyen Âge.}}]]

The phrase was first found on tombstones some time before the fifth century.{{cite book |title=Epitaphs of the Catacombs During the First Four Centuries |url=https://archive.org/details/EpitaphsOfTheCatacombs |page=[https://archive.org/details/EpitaphsOfTheCatacombs/page/n97 79] |year=1878 |publisher=London: Longmans, Green |author=Spencer Northcote}}{{cite book |title=The Church of England magazine |page=208 |year=1842 |publisher=Church Pastoral-aid Society}}{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xtQRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA206 |page=206 |title=The Baltimore literary and religious magazine |volume=3 |author=Robert Jefferson Breckinridge, Andrew Boyd Cross |chapter=Antiquity of the Religion|year=1837 }} It became ubiquitous on the tombs of Christians in the 18th century, and for High Church Anglicans, Methodists,{{cite book|last=Gould|first=James B.|title=Understanding Prayer for the Dead: Its Foundation in History and Logic |date= 2016-08-04 |access-date= 2017-07-25 |publisher= Wipf and Stock |isbn=9781620329887|page= 58 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Lz3kDAAAQBAJ&q=%22The+Roman+Catholic+and+English+Methodist+churches+both+pray+for+the+dead.%22&pg=PA58}} as well as Roman Catholics in particular, it was a prayerful request that their soul should find peace in the afterlife. When the phrase became conventional, the absence of a reference to the soul led people to suppose that it was the physical body that was enjoined to lie peacefully in the grave.{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z6oULX3wr58C&pg=PA269 |page=269 |title=The English poetic epitaph |author=Joshua Scodel |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-8014-2482-3}} This is associated with the Christian doctrine of the particular judgment; that is, that the soul is parted from the body upon death, but that the soul and body will be reunited on Judgment Day.{{citation |title=Epitaph culture in the West |page=336 |author=Karl Siegfried Guthke |year=2003}}

=Use in various religions=

==Irish Protestantism==

In 2017, members of the Orange Order in Northern Ireland called on Protestants to stop using the phrase "RIP" or "Rest in Peace".{{cite news|last= Edwards |first= Rodney |title= Orangemen warned to 'reject Rome' and not use RIP on social media |date= 2017-07-20 |access-date= 2017-07-25 |newspaper= The Impartial Reporter |url= http://www.impartialreporter.com/news/15424137.Orangemen_warned_to____reject_Rome____and_not_use_RIP_on_social_media/}} Wallace Thompson, the secretary of the Evangelical Protestant Society, said on a BBC Radio Ulster programme that he would encourage Protestants to refrain from using the term "RIP".{{cite podcast |series= Talkback |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08yr89r |title= Protestants should not use the phrase 'RIP', Orange Order says |website= BBC Radio Ulster |host= William Crawley |date= 2017-07-24 |access-date= 2017-07-24}} Segment begins at 42:20 into the podcast, and ends at 1:00:11. Thompson said that he regards "RIP" as a prayer for the dead, which he believes contradicts biblical doctrine.{{cite news|title= Orange Order calls on Protestants not to use the phrase 'RIP' |date= 2017-07-24 |access-date= 2017-07-24 |website= BBC News |url= https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-40705687?SThisFB}} In the same radio programme, Presbyterian Ken Newell disagreed that people are praying for the dead when they use the phrase.

==Judaism==

The expression "rest in peace" is "not commonly used in Jewish contexts", though some commentators say that it is "consistent with Jewish practice".Rabbi Julie Zupan, "What is the Jewish expression to refer to someone who has died?", ReformJudaism.org [https://reformjudaism.org/learning/answers-jewish-questions/what-jewish-expression-refer-someone-who-has-died] The traditional Hebrew expression {{lang|he|עליו השלום}}, literally 'may peace be upon him', is sometimes rendered in English as 'may he rest in peace'.Lewis Glinert, The Joys of Hebrew, {{isbn|0190282177}}, 1993, s.v. 'Aláv/aléha ha-shalóm'Jewish Language Project, Jewish English Lexicon, [https://jel.jewish-languages.org/words/421 s.v. 'olav ha-sholom' On the other hand, some Jews object to using the phrase for Jews, considering it to reflect a Christian perspective.David Ian Klein, "Jewish Twitter claps back at Christian-inflected condolences for RBG", Forward, [https://forward.com/fast-forward/454883/jewish-twitter-claps-back-at-christian-inflected-condolences-for-rbg/ September 21, 2020]Shlomo Zuckier, "What Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Online Mourners Got Right and Wrong about Jews, Death, and the Afterlife", Mosaic: Advancing Jewish Thought, [https://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/religion-holidays/2020/09/what-ruth-bader-ginsburgs-online-mourners-got-right-and-wrong-about-jews-death-and-the-afterlife/ September 25, 2020]

Image gallery

File:Requiescat ponaszymu.JPG|This Lutheran Christian grave reads "Rest in Peace" in the local Cieszyn Silesian Polish dialect.

File:San Sebastián - Cementerio de Polloe 175.jpg|The epitaph R.I.P. on a headstone in a churchyard of Donostia-San Sebastián

File:R.I.P..jpg|Excerpt from gravestone in Święciechowa, showing R.I.P

File:Ainhoa Croix1.JPG|This cross from 1720 bears the complete Latin phrase in its plural form ("Requiescant in pace")

File:Early Christian Funerary inscription.jpg|This funerary tablet from 525 AD begins with the phrase

File:Briton Rivière - Requiescat - Google Art Project.jpg|Requiescat, oil on canvas painting by Briton Rivière, 1888, Art Gallery of New South Wales.