THE LITURGY OF DEATH

T H E F U N E R A L RITE O F
THE NEW ROMAN RITUAL
B y P.-M. G Y

i~ FEW MONTHS after the publication of the Ordo celebrandi

L..~ matrimonium (19 March 1969) , and the Ordo baptismipar-
ff--~ vulorum (I 5 May), a further section of the roman ritual
. a ~ o f Paul VI, the Ordo exsequiarum, made its appearance.
As in the case of the baptismal ritual, the decree of promulgation
was issued by the newly established congregation for divine worship,
which on 8 M a y replaced the old congregation of rites (1588-1969).
The reform of the funeral rites had to meet not only the general
programme outlined in the conciliar constitution on the liturgy, but
also a series of more specific directives:
8x. The rite for the burial of the dead should evidence more clearly
the paschal character of christian death, and should correspond
more closely to the circumstances and traditions found in various
regions. This latter provision holds good also for the liturgical colour
to be used.
82. The rite for the burial of infants is to be revised, and a special
mass for the occasion provided.
These two articles, which relate to two distinct rites in the ritual
of Paul V, the Ordo exsequiarum and the Ordo sepeliendi parvulos, laid
down the general lines along which the reform of the funeral liturgy
should proceed. It should give clearer expression than did the older
rites to the paschal mystery. It should reflect the variety of existing
situations and traditions, and take account of the two particular
directives bearing respectively on the liturgical colour for funeral ser-
vices and on the production of a proper mass for the burial of infants.
The question of liturgical colour arose from a double considera-
tion. The first was the symbolism obtaining in non-european
civilizations, where white stands in many cases for mourning and
not, as in the bible, for resurrection. The second was the importance
of giving more adequate expression to the paschal mystery than is
found in the 1614 ritual, which reserves black for the funerals of
adults and white for those of infants.
60 THE LITURGY OF DEATH

The romanfuneral liturgy before the council

According to the roman ritual, the parish priest and clergy
should proceed to the house of the deceased and from there conduct
the body to the church in procession, to the accompaniment of
psalms. On the completion of the responsory Subvenite, sung on
entering the church, the office of the dead is recited (or if this is not
possible, at least one nocturn). Next, unless the interment takes
place in the afternoon, comes the celebration of mass. After mass,
before the body is taken from the church, prayers are offered for the
deceased, in particular for liberation from his sins (the absohtio
defuncti or absolution). The body is then borne in procession to the
grave, presumed to lie close to the church. There, after the singing
of the Benedictus, the priest offers a final prayer and returns to the
church.
This is a reasonably exact account of the roman funeral liturgy
for the last three and a half centuries. Various modifications in the
degree of solemnity adopted were imposed by circumstances, but
the same basic pattern was always adhered to. Only certain partic-
ular liturgies, notably those of the monastic type, retained (as
indeed, some of them still do) a far more developed ritual of the
dead, inherited from the middle ages. Here, intercession for the
deceased, continuing without interruption from the moment of
death to the conclusion of the burial, provided an accompaniment
of prayer and faith to every detail of the actions performed for the
deceased from the washing of the body to the interment. 1
It will be useful to consider this I6I 4 ritual first in comparison
with the preceding tradition, and then in the light of subsequent
developments in the pastoral situation and the attitudes of the
faithful: developments which were to bring certain modifications
to the rite and to create the felt need for others.

The _r6.r4 ritual and the older tradition

Compared with the ancient tradition, the 1614 ritual considerably
curtails that part of the funeral liturgy which took place at the
graveside following the celebration of mass, though more probably
it simply ratifies a curtailment which had already come about in
pastoral liturgical practice in the towns. ~ Furthermore, the revised

t We may notice here khe observations of 9hillipeau, H. R.: 'Textes et rubrlques des
Agenda Mortuorum', in Archivfi~r Liturgiewissenschafi, 4/I (I955) , p 59.
2 C f m y article 'Les fundrailles d'apr~s le rituel de I614' , in La Malson-Dieu, 44 (I955),
pp 76-78.
 THE LITURGY OF DEATH 6I

ritual attests to, and does little or nothing to reverse, a decline in the
use of the office of the dead; ~ it is the celebration of mass, except
when this is not possible, that is considered as the centrepiece of the
funeral rite. Nevertheless, though deeply embedded in western
devotion since the high middle ages, the practice of celebrating
mass before burial and in the presence of the body would seem to
have been neither primitive nor universal. I n the east, the principal
liturgical action of the funeral service is a sort of orthros, similiar to
our own office of the dead, and not accompanied by the celebration
of mass. As for the older funeral practice in the roman rite, it is still
an unresolved question whether, as Dora H. Frank considers, 4 the
mass was regularly celebrated or whether, as Canon D. Sicard would
hold, 5 it was confined to monastic funerals.
Whatever we are to make both of this question and of the state-
ment of St Augustine that mass was celebrated according to the
roman rite at the funeral of his mother Monica, 6 one point about
the mass for the dead at this time is important: the eucharistic
sacrifice offered for the deceased on the third, seventh or thirteenth
day after death was just as significant - and perhaps even more
so - than the mass on the day of the funeral itself. After all, in each
case the meaning of the action is the same: the Church is begging
God that the eucharist, Christ's sacrifice, m a y bring definitive puri-
fication to the soul of the deceased and associate it with the elect.
T h e characteristic features of the prayers for the deceased in the
I6I 4 ritual and the roman missal go back to a time (between the
sixth and seventh centuries) when the catholic doctrines of the
particular j u d g m e n t and purgatory, defined respectively by Bene-
dict X I I (i336) and by the Council of Florence (I439) , were not yet
developed. In the New Testament and the various forms of the
creed, both of which affirm so forcibly the resurrection of the flesh
at the time of the parousia and of the last judgment, a certain
obscurity surrounds the destiny of the soul between death and the
general resurrection. Doctrinal reflection on this subject was to
mature gradually over the centuries, helped particularly by the
mythical image of a journey undertaken by the soul after death,
protected by the angels and threatened by hostile powers. The stages

3 Ibid., pp 79-80.
4 'Der ~iltesteerhaltene r6mlsche Ordo Defunctorum', in Archly fiir Liturgiewissenschaft,
7/2 (I962), p 37I.
s 'Le rituel des fun4raillesdans la tradition', in La Maison-Dieu, IoI (I97o), pp 33-35.
e ConfessionsIX, I2.
62 TI-IE LITURGY OF DEATH

of this development are not well known to us; and studies in the
history of doctrine, which might have enabled us to trace its course,
are still very i n a d e q u a t e J The process consisted in the spontaneous
re-alignment of the ritual texts in the direction taken by the develop-
ment of doctrine; a phenomenon of which there are abundant
examples, notably in the bible itself. Only now and again did this
development meet with difficulties. One instance of incomplete
transition car~ been seen in the offertory antiphon Domine Jesu
Christe, where a combination of mythical imagery and profound
psychological insight testify to an as yet uncertain and undeveloped
state of the doctrine. 8
At the same time as the content of the old prayers was being more
or less re-interpreted to accord with the development of dogma, a
change also comes about in christian attitudes to death. W h a t
occurs is a sort of cleavage between two approaches: on the o n e
hand the somewhat pietistic approach to the happiness of heaven
that finds expression at the end of the middle ages in the funeral rite
for infants, and on the other, the painful fear of death. There is no
doubt that with the abridgment of the funeral rite which resulted in
the I6I 4 ritual, texts expressing the fear of judgment were retained
at more than one point in preference to those that conveyed ideas
of peace and the hope of heaven. 9
In a study that I made fifteen years ago of the x6I 4 funeral rite, I
emphasised the book's pastoral character. 1° In fact, it is inspired
by a pastoral spirit absent from other sections of the roman liturgy at
the time of the tridentine reform. But I failed to notice then the
extent to which the i6i 4 funeral ritual shares in the clerical charac-
ter which marks the whole approach to funerals at this period. From
the start to the finish of the ceremony, the role of the faithful is to
assist with devotion and recollection at actions, prayers and singing
performed for their benefit by the clergy. This is characteristic of
the theory and practice of the medieval liturgy. The liturgy, by its
nature public, is celebrated by the Church's officials, the priests and

T h e r e is, however, a n excellent study o n the first centuries by Stuiber, A. : Refrigerium

interim ( T h e o p h a n e i a II, Bonn, I957).
s This a n t i p h o n was in use to the tenth century (cf Gay, C1. : Formulalres andens des messes
pour les ddfunts Etudes gr6goriennes, 2 (I957) , p p 96-97 a n d IoI), b u t it is clearly m o r e
ancient t h a n this. It has been the object of discussion in more recent theology. C f C o n g a r ,
"f. : La Myst~re de 2a mort et sa edldbrat~on (Lex Orand~, Is, Paris, I95I), p 305 : cF also the
text of J o h n Gerson published in Rdcherches de Thgologie andenne et mgdigvale, I95I, p 25 I.
9 Cf on this point La Maison-Dieu, 44, PP 78-79 •
10 I n La Maison-Dieu, 44, PP 71-72 •
 THE LITURGY OF DEATH 63

clergy, in the name of the whole Church and for the benefit of
the faithful, n Such a conception reveals both an exalted idea of the
priestly ministry of prayer (certainly a New Testament notion) TM
and neglect of the active role of the whole assembly of the baptized
at prayer. Perhaps there is no section of the liturgy which, right up
to our own time, has been so deeply marked by this imbalance as
the funeral rite, despite significant attempts to introduce the faithful
to the singing of the gregorian chant.

The roman ritual in modem usage

Since the seventeenth century, the funeral liturgy has been affected
by two sorts of change: firstly, those resulting from the develop-
ments in city-dwelling, and secondly, changes in popular attitudes
towards death. O n the grounds that cemeteries constituted a threat
to health, the eighteenth century placed them at a distance from
tile churches, on the boundaries of the towns and villages. 13 Again,
the general development of the urban style of life and the advent of
motor traffic led to the disappearance in the towns of the funeral
procession. I n some cases, the priest no longer escorted the body
from house to church, or offered prayers at the graveside. O n the
other hand, in certain towns, for example in the german-speaking
countries, the funeral liturgy ill the strict sense started ill the house
of the deceased and concluded at the cemetery without taking ill
the church at all; mass for the deceased was celebrated at another
time or on another day.
Furthermore, attitudes have also changed, There has grown up,
even in the christian milieu, a sort of taboo with regard to death;
one which has come to d e m a n d considerable discretion both in
preaching and in formulating liturgical prayers in the vernacular.
In m a n y cases, the language of the traditional prayers on the subject
of hell, judgment or the sins of tile deceased would strike us today
as unbearably cruel, had they not been softened down or adapted
when the ritual was reformed or in the course of translation.
By the end of the second world-war the rediscovery of the paschal
character of christian death and burial had been forcefully affirmed
ix So St T h o m a s , Summa Theol. II, I l a e q. 83, a. 12 : ' C o m m u n a l prayer is t h a t w h i c h
is offered to G o d t h r o u g h the ministers of the C h u r c h in the n a m e (in persona) of all his
faithful people'. C f Marllangeas, B.-D. : In persona Christi- inpersona .Ecclesiae (Unpublished
thesis in the Institut Supgrieur de liturgie, Paris, i966), pp. i 13 ft.
as C f Acts 6, 4.
18 CfAri~s, Ph. : ' C o n t r i b u t i o n A l'fitude d u cuite des morts A l'fipoque contemporaine',
i n Revuedes travaux de l'Acaddmie des sciences morales et politiques, 119 (I966), p p 25-34.
64 THE LITURGY OF DEATH

and in a theologically balanced manner. 14 The result is to be seen in

article 8I of the constitution on the liturgy. But unless we are care-
ful, there is a real possibility that the keen sensitivity of our contem-
poraries with regard to death could reduce the new approach to a
merely unreal pietism.

The development of the new funeral ritual

Once the Gonsilium for the implementation of the constitution on the
liturgy was set up, with its various work-groups of which two (later
three) were entrusted with the ritual, priority was given to baptism
among the sacraments and to the funeral liturgy among the sacra-
mentals. The work on the funeral ritual had three main objectives:
I) to set out clearly t h e essential elements of the tradition together
with their doctrinal implications; 2) to ascertain the actual practice
and needs in different countries; and 3) in collaboration with the
group entrusted with baptism, to specify in what manner the general
principles of liturgical reform should be applied to the ritual.
The inquiry into pastoral usage in the matter of funerals led to
discoveries which would provide the basis for the work of reform. In
the first place, as I have indicated above, existing styles of funeral
liturgy proved to be far more diverse than could be inferred from a
mere reading of the roman ritual. The varieties of local usage may be
reduced broadly to three main types. In the first type, which comes
closest to the traditional practice of the roman ritual and was to be
found generally in such countries as Italy or France, the main litur-
gical action took place in the church. In the second type, very
widespread in the towns of german-speaking countries, the body of
the deceased was taken not to the church, but directly to the ceme-
tery, where the principal liturgical action was performed. In the
third type, the principal action took place in the home of the de-
ceased, either because of distance from the church or in accord with
local traditions. This usage is found in certain regions of Africa.
The work-group of the Consilium concluded that each of these types
of funeral service catered for real needs, that they constituted legiti-
mate customs and that they should find their place in the new
roman ritual.
Secondly, it became d e a r that the general development of urban
life, so characteristic of contemporary civilization, had left its mark
on the funeral liturgy. I t had favoured the development of the

a4 Le Myst#e de la mort et de sa cdldbration (Lex Orandi i2, Paris, 195i ).

 THE LITURGY OF DEATH 65

second type of liturgy; and, where the first remained in use, it had
led to the abandonment of the processions and even of the liturgical
action in the house of the deceased or at the graveside. O f course, it
w a s not the business of the ritual either to resist the new demands
made by urban conditions - they are not bad in themselves - or
to promote or accelerate them. But it was fitting that the new ritual
should provide for a truly christian funeral celebration not only
where old conditions still persisted, as in rural districts, but also
where the urban situation was creating new conditions of priestly
ministry.
In the autumn of 1965, an initial project for the funeral rite of
adults was approved by the bishops of the Consilium 15 and submitted
to the Pope. With his authorization, it was put to the test in the
second half of the year I966 in different parts of the world, first in a
small number of churches and then, progressively, in whole coun-
tries. In I968 , the work-group proceeded to examine the reports on
the experiment sent in to R o m e from different parts of the world.
From these reports, of which some few details have been pub-
lished, 16 a number of points emerge: I) the very favourable response
of the sensus fidelium to the conciliar decision to throw into clearer
relief the paschal chapter of christian death; 2) the need for a
strenuous effort to form the clergy, to enable them to benefit from
the pastoral opportunities inherent in a more flexible ritual; 3) the
need to enhance this flexibility still further by allowing certain sup-
plementary modifications; 4) the wide range of difficulties arising
either from the absence of vernacular funeral hymns or the failure
of the people to participate in these, or from circumstances where
singing would be out of place.
Taking into account these results of experience, the work-group
of the Consilium corrected the first project and filled it out on a
number of points. A notable addition was the funeral rite for in-
fants. (One or two episcopal conferences had explicitly requested
of the Apostolic See that the case of children who die before baptism
should be considered.) Thus completed, the Ordo Exsequiarurn was
presented anew to the bishops of the Gonsilium in October I968.
After papal approval, it was promulgated on August 15, 1969 .
(

Cf Gy, P.-M. : 'Ordo exsequiartma pro adultis' : a report presented to the Consilium -
in Notitiae, ,:, (i966), p p 353-63.
le C f W o t i t i a e , ~ (x966), p 363; 3 (I967), PP x55-64.
66 THE LITURGY OF DEATH

The structure of the funeral liturgy

The new ritual recognizes that the roman funeral liturgy falls
into three distinct types, according to country or circumstances. I f
these differ somewhat in the procedures they adopt, each contains
elements of varying importance: between them, these elements
constitute the christian funeral as the expression of the faith and
prayer of a community which accompanies the body of a departed
m e m b e r to the tomb. Four such features m a y be enumerated: the
greeting of faith extended to the friends and relations of the de-
ceased, the celebration of the word, the eucharistic sacrifice, the
farewell to the deceased or the final commendation of him to God.
W h a t I have called the greeting of faith is the first exchange of
words between the priest and the friends and relatives of the
deceased. It concerns not only the president of the celebration, but
in different ways all those who take part in it. It enables those
present to give mutual expression to what has brought them to-
gether, namely a shared sorrow, but also a common prayer and hope.
I n a manner comparable in some ways to the greetings contained
in the rites of baptism and marriage, the priest wishes to intimate
to the relatives of the deceased that he makes their sorrow his own,
that their suffering and the liturgy coincide. Furthermore he speaks
to them of hope, which brings comfort to grief without displacing it.
These few words of h u m a n sympathy are also words of 'consolation'
in the New Testament sense ofparaclesis (no. 16), thus fulfiUing one
of the permanent functions of the ministry of God's word. This
paraclesis, which continues in the readings, the homily and the
prayers, will prove particularly valuable for those whose fa!thgives
little in the way of strength or light in their bereavement.
The paraclesis, the biblical readings and the accompanying
homily have the double function of directing the light of God's
word on to the events of death and burial and of expressing the
faith of the community. N o . , t of the Praenotanda recapitulates some
of the main themes of these readings: the paschal mystery up to
and including the resurrection from the dead (which it would have
•been more appropriate to mention explicitly), the hope of re-union
in the kingdom with those who are dear to us, respect and devotion
towards the dead, and the grandeur of the christian life.
The range of the proposed readings and the rules for their use
call for several comments. First, the variety of the readings is intended
to provide a biblical fare both richer and more varied than we were
given in the past. From now on, priest and faithful alike will be
 THE LITURGY OF DEATH 67

spared the tedium of the same continually repeated texts. It is now

possible to set before people, as the variety of circumstances de-
mands, the great richness of the word of God on the subject of death
and the ultimate meaning of existence. Furthermore, the extensive
range of the proposed texts, together with the rules for the number of
readings to be adopted (nos. 39, 45, 63), provides for a maximum of
adaptation to circumstances and to the particular religious mental-
ity of the deceased and of their families. It will be possible to cater
for widely varying capacities for assimilation, which will not be the
same in a contemplative community and in a group where faith
may be weak. 17 Whenever possible, the family of the community
itself will be invited to choose the readings (cf nos. 23-34) and it
would be good for a relative of the deceased to read one of them, thus
giving a personal witness of his faith.
The message o f the readings is carried on into the homily, the
content of which is governed by them. Hence, the sermon should not
_ normally take place at another moment in the ceremony, except in
the special case of funerals of the second type, where for practical
reasons it is sometimes more convenient to preach at the graveside
than in the cemetery chapel (nos. 64 & 73). In any case, the object
of the sermon is to expound the word of God rather than to eulogize
t h e d e c e a s e d ; though in certain circumstances it will be fitting to
touch on the christian witness borne by the deceased in his lifetime.
The need to break with an older tradition of funeral sermon is
affirmed in the rubrics in the phrase 'avoiding the literary genre of
the panegyric' (no. 4I). It should be added, however, that the variety
of proposed readings makes possible a choice of texts appropriate
to the christian lives of those whose funeral is celebrated and their
efforts to five in fidelity to the gospel. It would be well if in the
funeral liturgy the inspired word should in some sense reflect that
fidelity.
The eucharistic sacrifice which the Church offers for the deceased
belongs to the very heart of the paschal meaning of christian death,
as the Praenotanda recall from the outset. In offering the paschal
sacrifice, the Ecclesia asks of the Lord that this christian who in his
life has been nourished on the pledge of eternal fife, be admitted
to the paschal fulness of the banquet of the kingdom (cfno. 57). In

1~ In funerals of the second type, the small dirnemions of the cemetery-chapeldo not
favour a long ceremony. It is taken for granted that ordinarily there will be only one
reading in these cases. The same may be said of funerals of the first type where those
participating can hardly be called devout christians.
68 THE LITURGY OF D E A T H

celebrating the eucharist, the Church takes the sacrifice and Pasch
of Christ into its hands as a means of intercession.
The affirmation by the second vatican council of the paschal is
as well as the propitiatory character 19 of the mass has given a wider
significance to the eucharistic celebration for the dead. The prayers
of the masses for the dead in the new roman missal have sought to
give expression to this rediscovered doctrinal richness. The same
intention is evident in the prayers for the dead, with their dominant
note of hope, which hold an important place in the new roman
eucharistic prayers.
The celebration of mass at funerals is considered by the ritual to
be normal practice, even when the mass has to take place at another
time than that of the interment, as in the case of funerals of the
second type (no. 59). Discreet encouragement is even given to offer-
ing mass at the house where the death occurred, in circumstances
where this is thought desirable (nos. 59, 78) • However, the possibility
remains of having a funeral without mass (no. 46), either because
the ceremony is presided over b y someone who is not a priest ~no.
z9) , or for some pastoral reason. There is one problem, peculiar to
de-christianized countries with a catholic tradition, which the ro-
man ritual does not consider: namely, the family whose faith is
uncertain, which has long abandoned all religious practice b u t
which continues to resort to the priest for marriages and burial. In
such cases a funeral without mass would seem preferable, with the
proviso, of course, that the priest can always offer the eucharistic
sacrifice for the deceased at some other time.
I f the celebration of mass, despite its central importance, can be
separated in certain cases from the funeral service, the same does
not hold for the rite now known as the 'farewell to the deceased or
the recommendation of him to God', 2° a more meaningful conclu-
ding action which has taken the place of the old 'absolution'.
The prayers and responses which are sung before the body is

is Cf Sacrosanctum Concilium, 47; Lumen Gentium, 3; Christus Dominus, z 5; Presbyterorum

Ordlnls, 5.
z~ Cf Council of Trent~ S. X X I I , eh. ~ (Denzinger-Sch6nmetzer x743 and z753).
~0 The word commendatio in liturgical latin signifies the different liturgical aetlons on
behalf of the deceased person as well as the commendatio decedentis animae, the recommenda-
tion of the soul of the dying person. See my observations on this point in L'Eglise en prikre
(3rd ed), p 26I, and, for the mozarable liturgy, l~6rotk% Liber Ordinum eh. Io7, 126 etc.
The word valedictio is specifically christian - the equivalent of the pagan goodbye, vale.
So we find valeas in Christo, or in Domino. The word valefactio is used in the same sense. Cf
F6rotin, op. cir, eh Io8.
 THE LITURGY OF DEATH 69
taken from the church are a feature of the funeral liturgy to be
found in carolingian times. 21 In them the various themes of prayer
for the dead are interwoven without any one of these themes being
the specific characteristic. Whatever the original meaning of the
word 'absolvere' in the roman liturgy, towards the end of the middle
ages the term came to associate the prayers following the funeral
masswith the ideas of remission of sin and 'absolution', z~ which were
a current feature of the funeral ritual in general. 23 In the byzantine
east, on the other hand, we find at this point the rite of the apasmos,
the farewell kiss to the deceased, borrowed from paganism ~4 and
easily reinterpreted to express christian hope, as may be illustrated
by the commentary of Simeon of Thessalonica:
Lastly, t h e f i n a l g r e e t i n g song for t h e i r d e p a r t u r e f r o m this life a n d
t h e i r s e p a r a t i o n f r o m us, a n d also b e c a u s e t h e r e is a c o m m u n i o n a n d
a reunion. Indeed, in death we are by no means separated one from
a n o t h e r , for w e all t r a v e l b y t h e s a m e r o a d a n d w e s h a l l all b e r e u n i t e d
i n t h e s a m e place. W e shall n e v e r b e s e p a r a t e d , since w e live for
Christ. W e a r e g o i n g t o w a r d s h i m ; a n d i n t h e r e s u r r e c t i o n , t h r o u g h
o u r c o m m u n i o n i n t h e t r u e f a i t h , w e f a i t h f u l will all b e g a t h e r e d
t o g e t h e r i n Christ. ~5
It was along the lines indicated by Simeon of Thessalonica that
the Consilium decided to re-interpret the 'absolution'. It is to be
understood, in the words of Cardinal Lecaro, as 'the last farewell by
which the christian community salutes one of its members before his
body is taken to the tomb' (no. i o).
The meaning of the rite must of course govern the manner in
which it is performed. Normally, the main element of the valedictio
should be some hymn, familiar to the entire community and sung
by all. Where the old roman responsory Subvenit# 6 (or its translation)
~1 CfMart6ne, De antiquis Ecdesiae ritibus, III, i5, 3 (sacramentaire de St Denys, 9 fl').
2~ Cf Pontifical de la Curie romaine (ed. Andrieu, Vatican Press, 194o), pp 5o5 ft. ; Jung-
mann, J.-A.: Die lateinischen Bussriten in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwi~lung (Innsbruck,
I932), PP 288-89-
28 Cf the byzantine funeral oration: 'God of spirits and of all f l e s h . . , pardon him,
merciful God, all the sins he has committed in his thoughts, words or deeds'. Goar,
Euchologion, p. 424; cf also the earlier reflections of the Pseudo-Dionysius: 'You may ans-
wer that we are undoubtedly right, but one point remains unclarified: Why does the
priest beseech the thearcic Goodness to pardon the dead man's faults?'
~4 I n itself this farewell is not specifically pagan but profoundly human. One still comes
across it today in different cultures, in Africa for example. So it is stated that the saluta-
tion addressed to the dead m a n by his neighbours may have its place, according to local
custom (no. 65).
a5 De ordine sepulturae, PG I55, 683.
~ Ordo romanus, 49, 3; ef Andrieu, Les Ordines Romani, tom IV, p 529-
7° THE LITURGY OF DEATH

is known or can be learnt, it would serve very well to express the

passage from the community of this world to that of the angels and
saints. In addition, out of a concern not to abandon the heritage
of the gregorian chant, the ritual has retained a series of ad libitum
responses (nos. 187-191 ). These should be employed in the vernac-
ular only in so far as they convey the essential meaning of the
valedictio and can be given a genuinely popular musical form. The
episcopal conferences have the authority to introduce other hymns
at this point, provided, as is expressly laid down in no. I o, that they
suit the circumstances; which means, once again, that they should
adequately express the farewell of the christian community. More-
over, whatever may have been the original significance of the sprink-
ling and incensation of the body, these actions, too, will be under-
stood in the new ceremony as expressing this last farewell.
A special difficulty arises when no concluding h y m n is possible.
In such a case the celebrant could propose (or the particular ritual
might even suggest) a few invocations or very simple words capable
of expressing the valedictio of those present (no. 47).
Given the significance of the valedictio, it was quite obvious that
its use should be restricted to funerals properly so-called. Absolution
at the end of a mass absente defuncti corpore, whether celebrated for
one deceased person or for the departed in general, loses its meaning.
But it should be possible to vary the position of the valedictio in the
order of the liturgy, according to whether the community disperses
at the end of the church-service or accompanies the body to the
grave. In the latter case, the ritual caters for the possibility of trans-
ferring the valedictio to the final moments of the ceremony at the
graveside. The singing of it by the entire community would then
mark the conclusion of the funeral service.

Hymns and prayers

We have already seen that the structure of the funeral liturgy is
made up of four essential parts. Each of these consists, in different
ways, of readings, hymns and prayers. We have already considered
the subject of the biblical readings, in connection with the liturgy of
the word. But a number of questions remain to be considered on the
subject of hymns and prayers.
In funerals, as in other liturgical ceremonies, it is desirable that
the psalms and non-biblical readings should supplement one an-
other, both in the mass and in the rest of the liturgy. The proportion
between the two will not always be the same. The needs of a monas-
 THE LITURGY OF DEATH 71

tic community will clearly be different from those of a german

country parish with a long-standing devotion to some canticle of
Christ's passion. The ritual encourages adaptation to such varying
situations, while at the same time laying down a number of impor-
tant directives (no. 12). First of all, it insists that priority be given
to biblical prayer (meaning in this instance the psalms), not in the
sense that such prayer should always predominate in quantitative
terms, but because in itself the inspired word is the privileged
expression of the support afforded by faith to those confronted by
suffering and death. ~7 Of course, to be effective, the psalms, like all
prayers, need to be accompanied by instruction. This instruction
should bring out, above all, the forcefulness with which the psalms
speak simultaneously of suffering and of confidence in God. The
bearing of the psalms on the paschal mystery also needs to be made
clear; and the danger should be borne in mind of their meaning
being narrowed down to the confines of pietistic interpretation, as
sometimes happens with the De Profundis. Furthermore, even if these
principles are observed, the parish priest will need to limit the use he
makes of the psalms to the instruction he has actually given, and to
be careful to select for the different stages of the celebration psalms
(or canticles) which are appropriate. With regard to the psalms, it
is expressly allowed that the more difficult verses may be omitted,
and an attempt has been made to give priority to those psalms
which are more readily intelligible. 2s
A number of questions arise concerning the content and form of
the funeral prayers. The function of these is to convey in a style
acceptable to our contemporaries the essential meaning of the
funeral liturgy, which consists in the expression of three inseparable
elements; the Church's faith regarding the destiny of man, the
human duty of homage to one who has died, and prayer for his
salvation. If the faith of the Churcrh is to be truly reflected in these
prayers, they need to express clearly and comprehensively the
relationship of christian death to the paschal mystery. This need has
indeed been more than adequately met. A further need was to
remove from those prayers which ask for the soups final purification

~ C f the patristic texts cited in La Maison-Dieu, 44, PP 7~-74 •

2s I t i s f o r t h l s r e a s o n t h a t P s i i 3, In exitu lsrad de Aegy~bto, which deals directly with th e
paschal meaning of christian death and has been used in this sense throughout christian
tradition, is mentioned only as a possible substitute because of the pastoral difficulties
it raises. Yet it does express the essentials of the funeral rite better than the Psalm De
Profundis.
72 THE LITURGY OF DEATH

(prayer irt which the substance of the catholic belief in purgatory is

implicitly contained) any remaining allusions to a mystical journey
undertaken by the soul after death. ~9
The criticism is sometimes made, in view of the biblical view of
man, that in the roman prayers for the dead it is the soul in part-
icular that is prayed for. The criticism is partly justifiable. It certain-
ly holds good for the prayers of the ritual for the burial of infants,
which seem to have been composed at the end of the middle ages.
These prayers refer only to the infants' souls, already happy in the
vision of God, and contain no hint of the existence of their bodies. O f
course, it is neither necessary nor desirable that each prayer should
attempt to contain the whole of christian eschatology. But taken as a
whole, the prayers need to make quite clear both that m a n is called
to rise again in his body and that meanwhile, except in the case of
an infant, the soul must be purified in order to enter into the happi-
ness of God. O f these two truths, the first is explicitly and insistently
taught in the New Testament. The second, on which the New
Testament sheds no light, is to be found in the Church's prayer
from the earliest times; and she has recognised in such prayer an
expression of her faith. However, although the two doctrines are
equally true, it does not follow that exactly the same weight should
be given to each. Our task is to work towards a new and ever more
faithful liturgical expression of the deposit of faith, s°
It has been the practice up to now for the liturgy to pray only for
the dead and not for those who are still living and striken by the
grief of bereavement. In the sixteenth century, the reformers
adopted in general the opposite approach. The living had the duty
of praying for themselves, but it was not in keeping with the gospel
to pray for the dead. An examination of the liturgical heritage of the
reformation and of the full religious significance inherent in the
funeral service led the Consilium, while still retaining the importance
of prayer for the deceased as the catholic faith requires, to give
approval to two other elements: first, prayers for those who are
suffering, ~1 and secondly, thanksgiving for all that the Lord brought
about in the life of the deceased. Such prayers might well be intro-
duced at the part of the funeral service which takes place in the

~D Compare, for example, the prayer in no. ,69 with its original (Mohlberg I617). On
the other hand, the text of the Subven~te does not appear to have presented any dlffic~al~iez.
so Cf Unitatls Redlntegratio, 6; Gaudium et Spes, 62.
~1 Cf nos. 34 and I69, and also the 'invitatories' for the farewell to the deceased, the
litanies, and (for little children) nos 225-6 and 235-7.
 THE LITURGY OF DEATH 73

house of the deceased. O n more than one occasion the traditional

anglican liturgies ~2 provided inspiration and even models for the
composition of new texts which are nevertheless in keeping with the
particular genius of the roman ritual. (It is worth noting that, in
comparison with the missal, the ritual has always exhibited a less
austere tone and a greater variety of content.) 33
Two particular difficulties arise in connection with prayers for
the funerals of infants. First of all, either because of the decline in
infant mortality or because of changes in family attitudes, the death
of an infant affects us more painfully today than in the past. It is
appropriate, then, that the prayers, while proclaiming that the
baptized child shares in God's happiness, should not appear
indifferent to the suffering of the parents. The other difficulty had
to do with the funerals of infants whose parents had wished to bap-
tize them but who died before being able to receive the sacrament.
The prayers for this situation should be designed to bring genuine
comfort to the parents and to those who share in their mourning,
without placing the seal of the lex orandi and of the Church's magiste-
rium on the private opinions of theologians. Hence the texts in the
ritual 84 pray only indirectly for the dead child, but implore the
mercy of God for the parents who entrust their child to him in faith
and hope.
There is no point here in discussing in any detail the composition
or the liturgical sources of the ritual, 8~which is a combination of old
texts and new ones composed specifically. It also encourages partic-
ular rituals to complement these by compositions in the vernacular
(nos. 22-3). A difficulty peculiar to the construction of a funeral
liturgy is that, apart from the mass and the valedictio, funerals do
not pre-suppose a progression of themes. For the most part, the
prayers are interchangeable (as the rubric preceding no. 16 7 express-
ly admits). However, a particular importance attaches to the choice
of opening prayers, especially if the faith of those present does not
appear very strong.

The Praenotanda
Without discussing the Praenotanda of the entire ritual, I would
like here to draw attention to one or two points which have not
been mentioned in the previous pages.
83 T h e Book of Common Prayer, the Scottish Book of Common Order, and the Liturgy of
8outh India. 38 Cfnos. 48, I68, I98 , 199.
8~ Nos. ~35-7 and ~66. 3s C f L a Maison.Dieu, 99, P 1o9.
74 T H E L I T U R G Y OP D E A T H

Numbers I6 to 20 and 23 to 25 afford a general view of the place

of the funeral in the life of the christian community and in the field
of pastoral activity. The funeral celebration concerns not the priest
alone, but the entire community. All its members must be active in
the celebration and it is they who create its religious and h u m a n
context (nos. 2-I6). All are there to give witness to their faith; it is
the concern of everyone that funeral practice be in keeping with the
gospel (no. 2). It is for everyone to give evidence of christian paschal
hope, while at the same time showing respect for those who are
suffering (no. I7) or who do not share their faith (no. i8).
It is with all this in mind that the priest must understand his own
role. W h e n he conducts a funeral service, it falls to him to be 'an
educator in the faith and a minister of the paraclesis' as well as to
preside over the liturgical action and the eucharist (no. 16). A wide
variety of means are placed at his disposal for preparing the celebra-
tion with the family of the deceased and shaping it to suit the concrete
situation (nos. 23-24). The ritual also invites priests to reflect on
the fact that their ministry towards the dead forms an integral part
both of their own pastoral activity and of the christian mystery
(no. 25).
No. 19 provides for the case in which the place of the priest will
need to be taken by a deacon or even a layman. It should be noticed
that the two paragraphs of this section envisage quite different
situations. The second paragraph deals with the case in which the
priest presides over the ceremony in the church but is unable to be
present at the house of the deceased or at the graveside. The
faithful themselves are then encouraged to make the liturgical
prayers which the priest cannot preside over. The first paragraph
envisages a funeral of whatever type from which the priest is absent
altogether. In this case the activities of the priest, with the exception
of the mass, may be undertaken by a deacon or even, in virtue of a
permission granted by the Apostolic See at the request of the epis-
copal conference, by lay people deputed for the purpose.
The responsibility of the episcopal conference in all this stems
from the general task entrusted to it with regard to particular rituals.
This task is the subject of nos. 21 and 22 of the Praenotanda. Briefly,
the role of the conference is to organise and adapt the particular
rituals in such a way that the pastoral liturgy will best meet the needs
of the faithful. For this purpose, the ritual places at their disposition
a n u m b e r of means, two of which call for special mention: the
choice of one or several types of funeral (no. 9) and the option of
 THE LITURGY OF DEATH 75

substituting for the formulas proposed in the principal rite others

taken from chapter iv (no. 22 § 2).
No. 14 of the Praenotanda, together with the first chapter, deals
with the question of the office for the dead, a matter of some impor-
tance for ecclesiastical or religious communities as well as in country
districts where a strong christian tradition survives. No. 14 repre-
sents the first part of a discipline which wiU be complete when the
general instruction on the new roman breviary is published. Mean-
while, four directives are given: I) apart from the office of Novem-
ber and, the existing offices may be retained, but there is no obliga-
tion to retain them; 2) where they cannot be celebrated fittingly,
they should be suppressed; 3) it will often be advantageous to
replace these offices by some celebration of a more fiexible kind;
4) these services or celebrations should not immediately precede the
mass (no. 29). Where the two cannot be separated, it will be best to
concentrate on bringing out the significance of the mass (no. 39).
One last point. Particularly in large towns and in countries of
non-western tradition like Japan, there arises the question of crema-
tion, This was the subject of a holy office instruction in I963. That
instruction, while emphasizing the Church's preference for the
traditional style of burial, authorized the practice of cremation in
circumstances where it does not derive from anti-christian inten-
tions, but prohibited any religious rite in the building where the
cremation takes place. This last condition is modified by no. 15 of
t h e Praenotanda. ~6

This article first appeared in the french review of pastoral liturgy, La Maison-Dieu
Iox (i97o), pp i4-32. It is published here in translation by kind permission.