Thomas of Celano is so called from Celano, a town on the borders of Lake Fucino, Italy. He was born the latter part of the twelfth century. He joined the order of Friars founded by St. Francis of Assisi soon after its organization in 1208. He had charge successively of the Franciscan convents of Worms, Metz, and Cologne. At the death of St. Francis, in 1226, he returned to Assisi, and by appointment of Pope Gregory IX. wrote the life of St. Francis. The year of his death is not known. His Dies Irae, the greatest of all the Latin hymns, has been attributed to [102]Bernard of Clairvaux, Gregory the Great, and others. The preponderance of evidence, however, seems to be in favor of the authorship of Thomas of Celano. His celebrated hymn has had various renderings into English, among the best of which are the following:

Day of wrath! O day of (Irons) 747
Day of wrath, O dreadful (Stanley) 599
The day of wrath, that (W. Scott) 603