Catholic Funerals in "the old days"

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Karl_M

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Hello,

I don’t quite know if this is the right spot, but I’m sure it’ll be moved if it isn’t.

I’m asking for insight into how Catholic funerals were conducted in the past. I have a family member who wants an “old fashioned” funeral, but doesn’t remember too well how it happened.

One “custom” has be absolutely stumped-it came up researching old family obituaries. Up until the early 1970’s almost all of the Catholic funerals had the funeral at the funeral home, then at the church, for instance “Funeral wil be Tuesday at 8:30am at the So-and-So Funeral Home, 9:00am at St. Somebody Catholic Church.”

Is there part of the funeral that isn’t done anymore?
 
Karl_M said:
Hello,

I don’t quite know if this is the right spot, but I’m sure it’ll be moved if it isn’t.

I’m asking for insight into how Catholic funerals were conducted in the past. I have a family member who wants an “old fashioned” funeral, but doesn’t remember too well how it happened.

One “custom” has be absolutely stumped-it came up researching old family obituaries. Up until the early 1970’s almost all of the Catholic funerals had the funeral at the funeral home, then at the church, for instance “Funeral wil be Tuesday at 8:30am at the So-and-So Funeral Home, 9:00am at St. Somebody Catholic Church.”

Is there part of the funeral that isn’t done anymore?
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The funeral Mass, Requiem, was always at Church - absent extraordinary circumstances. The earlier time is, I believe, the start of the procession to the Church.

He may mean he wants the following:

Funeral Home: Rosary (the Glorious Mysteries) during the viewing. Maybe three Hail Marys and the Our Father and a Glory Be when leaving the FH

Requiem Mass in the Rite of John XXIII - Black vestments, 6 candles around the casket, the Dies Irae - the whole shebang

Committal Service at graveside.

Month’s Mind Mass 30 days after death

Anniversary Mass thereafter

There may be other culturally applicable matters.
 
There is a set of prayers that are said at the time that the casket is closed and the family says its final good-bye to the body. We have them in our Rite of Christian Funeral along with the prayers that are said at the time of death or upon the first meeting with the family and the prayers that are said when the family first sees the body at the funeral home. These are all different from the Funeral Vigil. Unless you have a priest on hand they are usually not said.
 
Are you thinking of the Funeral Vigil the night before the Mass of the Resurrection? It’s still done. Mostly in parishes with deacons. The normative rite is contained in the Order of Christian Funerals. It consists of a reading or readings, Gospel, short homily, prayers of the faithful, etc. A lot of people still want the Rosary prayed, which while absolutely beautiful, it should not replace the vigil. The Rosary may be prayed at the Vigil, but in addition to the Vigil.
 
Pax_Vobiscum_57, I am confused. I thought that the funeral Mass today is called the Mass of Christian Burial, while the Mass of the Resurrection refers to Easter Sunday. The pre-Vatican II funeral Mass was the Requiem Mass. (When I was in high school, I sang at almost every one at our parish). I have to admit that even though I have three Novus Ordo missals, not one of them has a funeral Mass in it. Can one of our liturgists straighten me out?!
 
It’s the Rite of Christian Burial, but the Mass itself (the Liturgy) is called the Mass of the Resurrection. We look for the resurrection of the dead in our Creed.

So, you’re right about the rite. 🙂
 
FSSP parishes still follow the traditional format–rosary at the funeral home, with Requiem Mass (black vestments, no alleluia, black pall and bier lights), then burial with altar boys in attendance at the cemetery. There were often local ethnic customs followed at the funeral home, as well.
 
I was an altar boy for many funerals back in the fiftys. They were a very heart wrenching affair, with usually Rosary said at the funeral home the nite before, followed by the funeral Mass the next day, which was as some other posters described. I much prefer the modern funeral Mass, as it seems to center more on the joy of the person finishing his or her race, and being with Jesus. I do remember that a person died from our town, and he was known as a guy that used to like an occasional glass of brew. When the casket was lowered down in the grave, one of his close friends walked over to the grave, reached in his pocket, and threw a silver dollar into the grave, and said, “Now you can get yourself a beer when you get to where you are going”. I still remember that day some sixty years later.
 
My instructions for my funeral clearly state that they are to pray for my release from Purgatory, which I expect to need; not to celebrate my entry into Heaven, which I think can take care of itself.
 
Pax_Vobiscum_57 said:
Are you thinking of the Funeral Vigil the night before the Mass of the Resurrection? It’s still done. Mostly in parishes with deacons. The normative rite is contained in the Order of Christian Funerals. It consists of a reading or readings, Gospel, short homily, prayers of the faithful, etc. A lot of people still want the Rosary prayed, which while absolutely beautiful, it should not replace the vigil. The Rosary may be prayed at the Vigil, but in addition to the Vigil.
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We had this at our parish a few years ago and it was the first time I had seen it. The Vigil was the night before with the casket already at the Church. It was as you described; readings, homily, some kind of special KoC ceremony and ended with the Rosary. I remember Father making the point that this and the Mass the next morning were actually two parts of the same funeral liturgy. It was beautiful.
 
Corki said:
We had this at our parish a few years ago and it was the first time I had seen it. The Vigil was the night before with the casket already at the Church. It was as you described; readings, homily, some kind of special KoC ceremony and ended with the Rosary. I remember Father making the point that this and the Mass the next morning were actually two parts of the same funeral liturgy. It was beautiful.
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The Funeral Vigil is beautiful, unfortunately it’s not well known in many parishes. I wanted it when Dad died but nobody knew what I was talking about.

I think of the ‘old days’ when the wakes were at the homes and the priest was there when the body arrived and again when the casket was closed. Maybe that’s the type of funeral the OP is talking about.
 
Joe_Kelley said:
My instructions for my funeral clearly state that they are to pray for my release from Purgatory, which I expect to need; not to celebrate my entry into Heaven, which I think can take care of itself.
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Amen. My worst fear is that no one will pray for the repose of my soul and I’ll be stuck in Purgatory until Judgement Day. Then again, maybe I need to be there that long.

This modern tendency to canonize every deceased person is troubling. Maybe if the priest wore black vestments, which are still an option, the proper mournful aspect would be somewhat restored. And the reminder of our serious obligation to pray for the dead.
 
A funeral is sort of like the Triduum…one long liturgical action over several days.

In the order of Christian funerals you have prayers for the first viewing of the body…a Vigil service, which is actually quite nice when done well…a service for the transfer of the body…the funeral mass itself…and the burial at the cemetary.

I might add that it I don’t think it’s proper to title the funeral mass the “Mass of Resurrection” because it confuses things with Easter…I believe the proper title is Mass of Christian Burial.
 
Karl (the OP), I don’t see it mentioned, but Catholic wakes, AKA the viewing, used to last two nights in this area of the midwest. Even after funeral homes started to be used, refreshments were offered, and not just coffee, cider and cookies. There were lunchmeat trays, hard rolls, condiments, chips, even sometimes potato salad in the next room. It did not matter if the poor showed up to pray for the dead.

(I have to laugh, as my sister and her friend used to make the rounds at local funeral homes on their days off school, dressed in a skirt and blouse, to pray for the dead and munch on funeral goodies. I heard her friend later became a funeral director.)

The Mass was as early in the AM as possible, because people were fasting from midnight on or for 3 hours, depending on how far back you want to go. A relative or a good friend fasted and went to Communion if possible, offering it for the repose of the soul of the deceased. it was not unusual to accompany the body from the funeral home or house to the church, either by car as we know it today, or even with the hearse and people following on foot if not too far. After Mass and burial, as described, there was a breakfast or an early luncheon. It didn’t have to be fancy, and the luncheon was often provided by the ladies of the parish (and there are still funeral luncheon teams in parishes all over the midwest), but again, it wasn’t just cookies and coffee. Again, hospitality was offered to all.

In line at the wake or after the funeral, the standard lines to the directly bereaved were, “I’m so sorry for your loss” and “I’m sorry for your troubles.” The reply was, “Thank you for your kindness.”

Mass cards were the order of the day. They used to be $2 to $10, but now run more like $10-$25. A truly great (and thoughtful) gift was a Gregorian series of Masses, a Mass each day for 30 days. This was in addition to the Mind’s Mass on the 30th day. Another popular gift was a card for perpetual Masses at an abbey or monastery.

Everybody else got the liturgical practices down. But there is a social aspect to the Catholic funeral, one that engenders hospitality in the midst of grief.
 
For the traditional requiem Masses, using the EF, that I have served, I know prayers were said at the funeral home while we were setting up at the Church. The servers and priest met the coffin for prayers, and then the procession. During the prayers at the foot of the altar, the psalm is omitted. No Gloria Patri during the Introit or the Lavabo at the offertory. Also, the Agnus Dei is different. Instead of have mercy on us, have mercy on us, grant us peace, it is grant them rest, grant them rest, grant them eternal rest .
At the end of Mass, before the coffin is taken out, there are prayers, holy water, and incense.
Roman Catholic Books publishes a Latin-English Sunday Missal that includes the Traditional Nuptial Mass, Requiem, and Rite of Baptism. It is an excellent resource for those who will be attending the EF. For those interested, here is a link to the book.
 
Also, at the ones I have served, Fr. M. brought a smaller black missal containg just the funeral rites, and special altar cards. He wears black, and the tabernacle veil is purple.
 
I remember the old funeral Masses well. Served at some.

I agree that in some respects they were terrifying, particularly the “Dies Irae”, which was always higher pitched than the last previous hymn and much faster. We all knew what the Latin words meant, and they really are scary.

But despite that, I always found them curiously appropriate, even comforting. I remember being told that Requiem Masses were for the living, not really for the dead. The somber tone they had was a reminder that notwithstanding we expect life to flow along like an endless party, death is there waiting for us. It was a “memento mori”. The fear of hell and the expectation of heaven were there. A beautiful hymn was the “Voca me” (“hear me”) quietly sung. If I remember correctly, it followed the “Dies Irae” (“Day of wrath”). The inevitability of death and judgment, and the terror thereof, was thus interrupted and tempered by the smallish voice of the soul “Hear me” asking God to please listen to our prayer for mercy and salvation. Thus, in the face of the monolith that is death, the small voice of the soul is heard.

When she was in college, my daughter wrote a paper comparing the old Requiem Mass to Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ “On Death and Dying”. She showed how the old liturgy paralleled the “stages” in the dying process described by Kubler-Ross, but with the exception that Kubler-Ross’ final “acceptance” is one of annihilation, while that of the Requiem Mass is one of God’s will.
In that, and in other respects my daughter argued that the old Requiem Mass was actually wiser and more profound in its understanding of the psychology of death than Kubler-Ross’ analysis.

A remarkable paper, and her professor thought so as well. Upon reading it, and reflecting on it, I agreed that she was right.

If have been to recent funeral Masses, and I do find them moving. But I don’t know that I consider them to be quite on the same plane as the old Requiem Mass.
 
Some other changes at the Funeral, is that instead of Ite, Missa est. Deo gratias. It is Requiescant in pace. Amen. The last blessing is omited
The above and my other posts will give you the highlights of the changes for a requiem Mass.
 
Another difference in EF funeral Masses is that the casket is placed with the feet of the deceased facing the altar if he is a layman. If the deceased is a priest, the casket is placed with the head facing the altar.
 
lak611 said:
Another difference in EF funeral Masses is that the casket is placed with the feet of the deceased facing the altar if he is a layman. If the deceased is a priest, the casket is placed with the head facing the altar.
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I think that is the practice in the OF also. When our retired pastor died his casket was placed on the floor in the sanctuary with the head end touching the altar and his feet toward the people.

All others are at the end of the main aisle with the feet toward the altar.
 
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