Lux aeterna
“Eternal light.”
Requiem Mass, Communion
What does “Lux aeterna” mean?
Lux aeterna translates as “Eternal light.”
A wish for everlasting peace and light for the dead.
“Lux aeterna” word by word
| Latin | English | Grammar |
|---|---|---|
| Lux | light | nominative singular feminine of lux, “light”; the subject of the phrase |
| aeterna | eternal, everlasting | nominative singular feminine of the adjective aeternus, “eternal”; agrees with lux |
How to pronounce “Lux aeterna”
Classical ae sounds like English “eye”, church Latin makes it “eh”, and the x is a hard “ks” in both, so lux sounds like “looks” in church Latin. Stress falls on the second syllable of aeterna in both systems (ae-TER-na).
The story behind it
Word for word the phrase is simply “eternal light”: a noun with its adjective, with no verb. The longer line it comes from is “Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine”, “May eternal light shine on them, Lord”.
Those words open the communion chant of the Requiem Mass, the Catholic Mass for the dead, which took its familiar form in the Middle Ages. The text of the chant grew out of older Christian prayers for the dead and has been sung in the liturgy for centuries.
Many composers have set the Requiem text to music, and the phrase is also used on its own, for example as a title for a memorial piece or a line on a gravestone.
How to use “Lux aeterna”
It suits a memorial card, a tribute to someone who has died, an inscription on a gravestone or urn, or a tattoo in someone’s memory. It also works as a short motto for anyone drawn to its image of lasting light.
- Latin
- Lux aeterna
- English
- Eternal light.
- Source
- Requiem Mass, Communion
- Era
- Middle Ages
- Theme
- Faith
Common mistakes
- The phrase is not a full sentence. In the Requiem it is the start of a prayer, “may eternal light shine on them”, so the wish for the dead is only implied when it stands alone.
- Both words are feminine singular nominative. If you adapt it to another noun, the adjective must change to match: for example lumen aeternum (neuter), not lumen aeterna.
- Spell it aeterna, not eterna. Medieval texts sometimes write the ae as e, but the classical spelling keeps the ae.
- Do not confuse it with lux aeterna as the title of the Ligeti choral work or the film Lux Aeterna; those borrow the phrase and are not its source.
Questions about “Lux aeterna”
What does “Lux aeterna” mean literally?
“Eternal light”. Lux is “light” and aeterna is the matching feminine adjective “eternal” or “everlasting”.
Where does “Lux aeterna” come from?
From the communion chant of the Requiem Mass, which begins “Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine”, “May eternal light shine on them, Lord”.
How do you pronounce “Lux aeterna”?
In church Latin it is roughly “looks eh-TEHR-nah”; in restored Classical Latin it is “loox eye-TEHR-nah”. The stress is on the second syllable of aeterna.
Is “Lux aeterna” correct Latin for a tattoo?
Yes. It is a correct noun and adjective pair in the nominative. Keep the spelling aeterna, and check that it suits a memorial theme, since that is what the phrase is tied to.
More to explore
Translation and grammar checked by Latin Quoter · last reviewed November 2026
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