The text of the motet Non mortui qui sunt in inferno is a short antiphon text earlier used in the Office of the Dead. The text comes out of Chapter 2 from the Book of Baruch. This motet is written by Cardoso for six voices (SSATTB). The motet Non mortui is preserved in sources in the Biblioteca Publica de Évora. This Motet was likewise published in the Liber primus missarum issued in 1625 by Pieter van Craesbeeck, royal printer in Lisbon. This motet was published together in the same Volume with the Missa Pro Defunctis, the Antiphon Sitivit anima mea and the responsory Libera me. So in the days of Frei Manuel Cardoso Non Mortui is obviously seen and used as an integral part of the funeral services otherwise it was not published in the Liber primus Missarum.
♫ Non mortui
© Enchiriadis EN 2043
Text:
A. Non mortui qui sunt in inferno quorum spiritus acceptus est a visceribus suis,
Et iustificationem Domino.
Sed anima quae tristis est super magnitudinem mali
Et infirma, et incedit curva dat tibi gloriam
Et iustitiam Domino.
Translation:
A. They are not dead who are in hell, whose souls have passed from their flesh;
They shall give honour and justification to the Lord.
But the soul that is sad over the magnitude of its wrongdoing
and treads a path crooked and weak,
gives thee glory and justice, O Lord.