the coffin containing the body is sprinkled with holy water and incensed. While usually conducted in church, it may be conducted in the cemetery. If the commendation is in church, then a shorter service is used at the cemetery. In the United States, England, and Wales, the post-Vatican II form allows the use of white vestments, besides violet and (where it is customary) black, which alone are envisaged in the original Latin text of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. The sequence Dies Iræ, recited or sung between the Tract and the Gospel, is an obligatory part of the Requiem Mass in the Tridentine forms. As its opening words, Dies irae (Day of wrath), indicate, this poetic composition speaks of the Day of Judgment in fearsome terms; it then appeals to Jesus for mercy. Some of these differences may have arisen from treating this Mass as supplementary to the Mass of the day. In other cases, the Requiem Mass preserves the tradition of a more primitive age. In the early Christian ages, it seems that the Alleluia, especially in the East, was regarded as especially appropriate to funerals, and it has returned as an option in the renewed ritual following Vatican II, which emphasizes Christian hope of resurrection and the paschal character of the Christian celebration, with the option of placing the paschal candle at the coffin in church. Final Commendation and Farewell The part of the church service that follows the Mass includes the sprinkling of the coffin with holy water and incensing it on both sides. This part was commonly called the absolution and in the Tridentine version is longer and contains several chants that, in the absence of a choir capable of singing them, are read in Latin by the celebrating priest: the Libera me, Domine before the honoring of the coffin, and the In paradisum while the body is carried from the church. Graveside Usually the final commendation is conducted in church and then the body is carried to the grave. The tomb or burial plot is then blessed, if it has not been blessed previously. A grave newly dug in an already consecrated cemetery is considered blessed, and requires no further consecration. However, a mausoleum erected above ground, or even a brick chamber beneath the surface, is regarded as needing blessing when used for the first time. This blessing is short and consists only