Hello Friends,
Tonight I will be attending a funeral visitation for a friend’s family member who passed away. There is a rosary ceremony at one point and I was wondering how long this usually takes. I will likely be able to make it to the viewing right around the time the rosary starts. I want to plan for the length of time this takes, or figure out when to come after it ends if it takes an extended amount of time.
Thank you!
A regular rosary takes about 20 minutes to recite, plus or minus. It might take some time for people to assemble, and other prayers might be said as well. Figure 1/2 hour tops.
The rosary will take 15-20 minutes, depending on the length of the meditations on the mysteries.
In my experience, a rosary at a wake will rarely begin on time, so it would be wise to allow for another 15 minutes or so for people to get settled.
It can be shorter than half an hour, and even as short as fifteen minutes. In fact, when the rosary takes place immediately before the funeral Mass in our area, it is usually scheduled to start half an hour before the start time given for Mass.
Since many dioceses put a limit on eulogizing within the context of a funeral Mass, though, it is becoming more common for a service held the night before the funeral to include both the rosary and also an open-mike time for eulogies. In that case, the service can go on for quite awhile longer.
You might call the funeral home and ask if they know what sort of service is planned.
Good point…even when the family has a firm schedule in mind, these things seem to take as long as they take.
Thanks everyone, I will assume about 30 minutes. I have nothing against being there for it, I just wanted to know what kind of time frame I was looking at if I was. Is there a lot of participation in the rosary? I don’t want to look out of place as it is performed.
No surprise, because eulogies during funeral Masses are generally forbidden by the Church.
it depends, if it starts on time and there is only the rosary and litany, maybe half an hour. Here the family sometimes has someone to sing a hymn between each decade, give a reflection or talk about the deceased or other things that make it go longer, so I allow at least an hour, plust time before or after to speak to the family. the rosary is not performed, it is prayed.
The Rosary is recited out loud and most people will kneel. However, since it is likely that there will be non-Catholics there who will not participate, you will not look out of place at all. Most will just sit there quietly until the Rosary is finished.
I realize you may want to remain silent during the rosary, but, if you (wish to) participate, you might print out the Hail Mary, Our Father and Glory Be prayers and take them with you. Usually someone leads with the first half of the prayer, and the assembled group responds with the last half of each prayer. Actually holding a rosary will not be noticed.
Thank you for respecting the dead.