Irish Memorial & Sympathy Wording
Wording that will be carved or printed in memory of someone carries the least room for error of anything this site covers, and the most reason to check the source. Every saying below shows exactly where its wording comes from.
The choice runs between prayer and proverb. The prayers (God rest his soul, God have mercy on them) are what Irish speakers actually write and say, and several change form with who is being remembered; the notes flag where. The proverbs about grief are for the card you write yourself: they console less and mean more.
10 sayings each with its source, and its job
- Beannacht Dé lena anamGod rest his soul.The plainest thing to write in a sympathy card. This is the form for a man.See it as a print
- Beannacht Dé lena hanamGod rest her soul.The same blessing for a woman: recorded in the Folklore Collection, said of the writers’ own mothers.See it as a print
- Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anamMay he rest at God’s right hand.The best-known graveside prayer, in the form for a man; its page states the one open scholarly question honestly.See it as a print
- Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanamMay she rest at God’s right hand.At God’s right hand: the form for a woman.See it as a print
- Go ndéana Dia trócaire orthuMay God have mercy on them.Said of the dead collectively: the form for remembering more than one person.See it as a print
- Níl cara ag cumha ach cuimhneMemory is the only friend that grief has.Grief has no friend but memory. It belongs on a memorial card precisely because it does not pretend to console.See it as a print
- Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoineWe live in one another's shelter.Read at Irish funerals as often as at weddings: what a community is for, said in nine words.See it as a print
- Is gaire cabhair Dé ná an dorasGod is never far away when you need help.For the bereaved rather than the dead. Help is nearer than the door.See it as a print
- Ní lúide an trócaire a roinntMercy is not diminished by being shared.Mercy is not lessened by being shared. A line for a eulogy about a generous life.See it as a print
- Níl sa saol ach gaoth agus toitThe world is only wind and smoke.The tradition’s hardest and oldest note on mortality. Not for every card; right for some.See it as a print
Not the occasion you meant? Start from the chooser: or browse every sourced saying.