Funeral Mass

[A.Pelliccio]

Greetings,

I went to my first Funeral Mass on Monday in many many years, and was wondering when did the Priest stop wearing black. I typically attend the Trindentine Mass but this gentleman was buried under the NO rubrics.

In my missal the intro read " the Priest vested in black meets the body . . . " At his parish the Priest was dressed in white as if it was a baptism or communion.

Any insight?

 

[Phemie]

Greetings,

I went to my first Funeral Mass on Monday in many many years, and was wondering when did the Priest stop wearing black. I typically attend the Trindentine Mass but this gentleman was buried under the NO rubrics.

In my missal the intro read " the Priest vested in black meets the body . . . " At his parish the Priest was dressed in white as if it was a baptism or communion.

Any insight?

I haven’t seen black vestments in decades, our parish owns none. White is generally used to symbolize the Hope of the Resurrection. That’s not to say that black vestments are no longer allowed, they certainly are. It’s just that most parishes I’m familiar with don’t use them.

 

[PhilotheaZ]

Most priests wear white at funerals now. One priest in our town wears black at every funeral, but he’s the exception. (And he gets his share of complaints for wearing black.)

 

[cameron_lansing]

Greetings,

I went to my first Funeral Mass on Monday in many many years, and was wondering when did the Priest stop wearing black. I typically attend the Trindentine Mass but this gentleman was buried under the NO rubrics.

In my missal the intro read " the Priest vested in black meets the body . . . " At his parish the Priest was dressed in white as if it was a baptism or communion.

Any insight?

First of all, sympathy and prayer.

In the United States, white, violet or black vestments may be worn at the funeral rites and at other offices and Masses for the dead. See *Order of Christian Funerals, *39 and General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 346e.

Some personal use missals will reflect that and some will not.

 

[A.Pelliccio]

Thanks for the update. I am 22 and hadn’t been to a NO funeral service in a while. I am disappointed about the white though and the Priest didn’t go out to the hearse to meet the body. Maybe that is not something in the rubrics but I thought it was something they did.

 

[Phemie]

Thanks for the update. I am 22 and hadn’t been to a NO funeral service in a while. I am disappointed about the white though and the Priest didn’t go out to the hearse to meet the body. Maybe that is not something in the rubrics but I thought it was something they did.

I’ve never seen that, even when I was growing up in the 50s & 60s. Usually the priest receives the body at the back of the church in the same way he greets the parents bringing their child for Baptism and the couple presenting themselves for Marriage.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Greetings,

I went to my first Funeral Mass on Monday in many many years, and was wondering when did the Priest stop wearing black. I typically attend the Trindentine Mass but this gentleman was buried under the NO rubrics.

In my missal the intro read " the Priest vested in black meets the body . . . " At his parish the Priest was dressed in white as if it was a baptism or communion.

Any insight?

Keep in mind that the TLM which you attend, is the extraordinary where the NO is the ordinary. This is why you don’t see the priest wearing black vestments. They haven’t been used in decades.

Jim

 

[Joe_Kelley]

I’ve never seen that, even when I was growing up in the 50s & 60s. Usually the priest receives the body at the back of the church in the same way he greets the parents bringing their child for Baptism and the couple presenting themselves for Marriage.

Right, I think that is specifically stated in the rubrics.

 

[snhs]

Keep in mind that the TLM which you attend, is the extraordinary where the NO is the ordinary. This is why you don’t see the priest wearing black vestments. They haven’t been used in decades.

Jim

Keep in mind that black is just as valid a choice for a NO funeral as for one celebrated in the extraordinary form.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Keep in mind that black is just as valid a choice for a NO funeral as for one celebrated in the extraordinary form.

But the OP wasn’t questioning black vestments, but the use of white that he saw.

Jim

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Keep in mind that black is just as valid a choice for a NO funeral as for one celebrated in the extraordinary form.

But it may be a major project to find a set of black vestments.

 

[Gearoidin]

Greetings,

I went to my first Funeral Mass on Monday in many many years, and was wondering when did the Priest stop wearing black. I typically attend the Trindentine Mass but this gentleman was buried under the NO rubrics.

In my missal the intro read " the Priest vested in black meets the body . . . " At his parish the Priest was dressed in white as if it was a baptism or communion.

Any insight?

I’ve never seen white for a funeral. Only black or purple/violet and I attended a funeral Mass in Japan about a year ago and one in Ireland, my grandmother’s, 2 years ago. At my grandmother’s funeral the priest did meet the body at the back of the cathedral. Maybe it is different in the US?
Gearoidin

 

[brotherhrolf]

Black was the norm when I was a boy before V II and the priest did indeed meet the body at the back of the church. I have not seen black vestments in over thirty years. (Last time was 1972 when my great-aunt died). A good friend of mine died recently and the priest met the body at the foot of the altar. Everything was white. The other thing that surprised me was that the priest did not accompany the body to the grave but rather the deacon. I had not seen that before.

 

[snhs]

But the OP wasn’t questioning black vestments, but the use of white that he saw.

Jim

You had said “the TLM which you attend, is the extraordinary where the NO is the ordinary. This is why you don’t see the priest wearing black vestments”. The distinction you made was between the TLM and NO, and then that this was why black vestments weren’t being used. This isn’t the case. Black remains a valid choice for NO funerals, you can use black vestments just as properly as violet or white just as receiving Communion on the tongue is just as proper a way of receiving Communion in the NO as in the TLM although most people now seem to receive in the hand. The reason he saw white vestments is simply because they are currently a more ‘fashionable’ choice at NO funerals than black vestments.

 

[James0235]

This is why you don’t see the priest wearing black vestments. They haven’t been used in decades.

Not true.

James

 

[puzzleannie]

Greetings,

I went to my first Funeral Mass on Monday in many many years, and was wondering when did the Priest stop wearing black. I typically attend the Trindentine Mass but this gentleman was buried under the NO rubrics. ?

about 40 yrs ago the preferred color was changed to white to enunciate our faith in the resurrection of the body, which is the focus of the funeral liturgy. Like the pall, the color also recalls our white baptismal garment.

 

[James0235]

about 40 yrs ago the preferred color was changed to white to enunciate our faith in the resurrection of the body, which is the focus of the funeral liturgy. Like the pall, the color also recalls our white baptismal garment.

If any color could be said to be “preferred” for Funerals in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite it would be violet and not white.

**Violet or purple is used in Advent and of Lent. It may also be worn in Offices and Masses for the Dead (cf. below).

****Besides violet, white or black vestments may be worn at funeral services and at other Offices and Masses for the Dead in the Dioceses of the United States of America.
*GIRM 346 *(United States)

****Violet or purple is used in Advent and Lent. It may also be worn in Offices and Masses for the Dead.

Black may be used, where it is the practice, in Masses for the dead.
GIRM 346 (Australia and England)
**

White is not the preferred option. At best it is permitted in the United States.

James

 

[JimR-OCDS]

James

White is not the preferred option. At best it is permitted in the United States.

If white is what we been seeing for 30 plus years, apparently it is the preferred option.

Jim

 

[James0235]

If white is what we been seeing for 30 plus years, apparently it is the preferred option.

Not according to the Catholic Church it is not.

I do know of a priest who I have only seen use black. And I know of several others who do (been told but haven’t seen it personally yet). It does seem as though black may be making a comeback among some of the younger priests. They seem to be less likely to take advantage of the indult to use white.

White has been used in every one of the “instant canonization” funerals I have been forced to witness. You know, the ones where the priest tells everyone that the deceased is already in heaven and no mention is made of the need to pray for them.

Strangely I can’t recall ever seeing violet.

James

 

[William_II]

What do “TLM” and “NO” stand for? Traditional Latin Mass, and New Order?