Traditional Catholic Funeral Songs

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Lormar said:
Yes, I know that, but they might be able to help you adapt the hymns to piano. That’s why I mentioned them. Sorry I wasn’t more clear in my post. 🙂
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I used to go to the FSSP Mass when I still lived in Vancouver. It was an incredibly amazing experience, being immersed in such reverence and awe inspiring holiness. One priest had a line up for confessions so long that he was there for the entire Mass. He came out to assist with Holy Communion and then went back to the confessional to hear confessions. What a beautiful place it was!
 
paramedicgirl said:
Hi all! I am looking for some traditional Catholic funeral songs, pre 1962 & pre Marty Haugen. I would love to know what the hymns are that used be sung in days past, before On Eagles Wings became popular in our Churches.

I’ve done a search of old threads, but didn’t find anything really traditional. Is How Great Thou Art appropriate for a funeral?

Thanks!
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It’s sung a lot at funerals. I doubt you would have heard it pre 1962, but I don’t think there is anything wrong with it.
 
I have requested Eternal Father, Strong to Save (Navy Hymn) for my funeral, I’ve heard it can only be played as the recessional.
 
pianistclare said:
Softly and Tenderly.
Diers Irae.
What Wondrous Love is This?
Ubi Caritas
May the Angels Lead you Into Paradise
In Paradisium
Panis Angelicus for communion.
I Come with joy to meet my Lord

There’s oodles. No need to used the tired Be Not Afraid, Eagles Wings, Amazing Grace.

Although Healer of Our Every Ill is really nice form that era.
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👍
 
Abide with Me
Onward, Christian Soldiers!
Great is thy Faithfulness
It is well with my soul
Softly and Tenderly
The Lord Bless you and Keep You (there’s a few different versions, and there’s ones from as far back as 1885)
I’ll Sing a Hymn to Mary (beautiful as the recessional)
Cead Mile Failte
Be Still my Soul

They’re common still today, at least where I’m at.
 
Here’s the traditional proper chants for a funeral Mass. I’ve put the 1962 (Liber Usualis) and 1974 (Graduale Romanum) versions side by side for comparison

Introit: Requiem aeternam/Requiem aeternam
Gradual: Requiem aeternam/Requiem aeternam
Tract: Absolve Domine/Absolve te or De Profundis
Sequence: Dies Irae/not in 1974 Mass for the dead
Offertory: Domine Jesu Christe/Domine Iesu Christe
Communion: Rex aeterna/Rex aeterna
Absolution: Libera me Domine/Libera me Domine (one of 6 options)
After absolution: ant. In Paradisum/In Paradisum (one of 3 options)

These are the major chants. I’ve left out the ordinary and the kyries and other minor chants in the service. For the 1974 Graduale, I’ve kept to the first choices, leaving out the optional chants.

The schola I sing with occasionally does funerals, and we’ve done the Requiem, Dies Irae, Lux aeterna and In Paradisum. We use a responsorial psalm instead of the Gradual, and a French alleluia
 
pianistclare said:
You’re not wrong. We sing at during the incensing of the casket and on the way out of the funeral Mass, since we have no cemetery on the property.

May the Angels Greet You (in Gather) is a doable version of the same piece.
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Its not that difficult. I have been singing it in my car for months. The Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz and I rock out in the Ford Focus regularly.

-Tim-
 
TimothyH said:
Its not that difficult. I have been singing it in my car for months. The Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz and I rock out in the Ford Focus regularly.

-Tim-
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Haha, I do the same with the Benedictines of Solesmes in the VW Golf 😃

I do have some CDs from Stift Heiligenkreuz; sometimes I listen to their Compline in my car if I’m driving home at night so I don’t have to recite it at home. I also listen to the Benedictine Compline of Solesmes. I noticed though that the Cistercian one was recorded at Lent… no “A” word. So I listen to that one at Lent, and the Solesmes one at other times. And I pull the appropriate Marian antiphon from memory 🙂 (although the Cistercians don’t vary it seasonally like the Benedictines or Romans; it’s always Salve Regina, on their own melody, for them).
 
Other than the Dies Irae, I don’t recall that any particular songs were sung at funerals pre-1962. It seems that the funerals I went to may have had organ music playing at certain parts but without singing.
I think maybe John F. Kennedy’s funeral could give you some insight as to sung music at funerals in that time, even though the funeral took place in 1963 - things were still fairly traditional. From the JFK library, a description of the part of the funeral that took place in the cathedral:
2:13 p.m.: The bronze doors of the cathedral close and the requiem mass commences. The choral music during the mass was sung by the St. Matthew’s Choir, Eugene Stewart, organist and choirmaster, the tenor soloist was Luigi Vena. The program was as follows: “Subvenite” (choir); “Pie Jesu,” Leybach (tenor solo), “Ave Maria,” Schubert (tenor solo); “In Manus Tuus,” Novello (tenor solo); “Sanctus and Benedictus,” Perosi (choir). Mr. Stewart conducted the Perosi “Sanctus and Benedictus;” the Gregorian “Subvenite” and the “In Paradisum” were led by James Walsh.
 
These are some of the things we did for our grandparents’ funerals. I cantored all of them, so we did not have a choir.

Abide With Me
Lord of All Hopefulness
In Paradisum (chant - I prefer hearing women’s voices because it sounds like a chorus of angels)
youtube.com/watch?v=Hg43i3Nsl9g
Panis Angelicus
Ave Maria (As requested by all of the Grandmothers)
Pie Jesu (Three of the funerals had the one from Faure’s Requiem. One of them had the one from Durufle’s Requiem)
youtube.com/watch?v=_VLY2bd5w8k
This is usually a solo, but they had the females in the choir sing it: youtube.com/watch?v=39dmOQF0FaQ
Be Still My Soul (Finlandia - This was actually just done as an instrumental for harp and violin)
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
I Heard the Voice of Jesus

Other hymns and such I have done at funerals when the families consulted me or when I had free reign to choose what I wanted:
Ave Verum Corpus (Mozart - either one voice or choir)
Ave Verum Corpus (Faure - For two treble voices or treble choir - I actually had this sung at my wedding as well, even though it has been used for funerals. We’ll sing the Mozart, too, at weddings.)
youtube.com/watch?v=KuM4ibLy_MY
N’aie pas peur
youtube.com/watch?v=SjVCih5OyG8
I Know that My Redeemer LIves (Duke Street)
O Breathe on Me, O Breath of God (St. Columba)
The King of Love My Shepherd Is (St. Columba)
What Wondrous Love is This
He Comes to Us As One Unknown
Ubi Caritas

Unless otherwise indicated by the particular parish I’m singing in (I freelance all over), I will chant the In Paradisum at the end.
 
Subvenite Sancti Dei
For a traditional Requiem Mass, when the procession has entered the church, one of the cantors intones the responsory, which is continued by two alternating choirs. I find this chant extremely moving.
youtube.com/watch?v=GJVAQyS7YNs

Help him, Saints of God.
Meet him, Angels of the Lord.
Receive his soul and present it to the Highest.
May Christ, who called you, receive you,
and may the Angels carry you to the bosom of Abraham.
Receive his soul and present it to the Highest.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
Let your eternal light shine on them.
 
OraLabora said:
Haha, I do the same with the Benedictines of Solesmes in the VW Golf 😃

I do have some CDs from Stift Heiligenkreuz; sometimes I listen to their Compline in my car if I’m driving home at night so I don’t have to recite it at home. I also listen to the Benedictine Compline of Solesmes. I noticed though that the Cistercian one was recorded at Lent… no “A” word. So I listen to that one at Lent, and the Solesmes one at other times. And I pull the appropriate Marian antiphon from memory 🙂 (although the Cistercians don’t vary it seasonally like the Benedictines or Romans; it’s always Salve Regina, on their own melody, for them).
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You do understand that you are a total geek, right?

-Tim-
 
TimothyH said:
You do understand that you are a total geek, right?

-Tim-
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Yeah I know :rolleyes:

My wife always marvelled that I couldn’t remember our anniversary yet I can remember all sorts of trivia about planes, trains and automobiles 😃

And chant and liturgy, especially the Divine Office 😉
 
OraLabora said:
Haha, I do the same with the Benedictines of Solesmes in the VW Golf 😃

I do have some CDs from Stift Heiligenkreuz; sometimes I listen to their Compline in my car if I’m driving home at night so I don’t have to recite it at home. I also listen to the Benedictine Compline of Solesmes. I noticed though that the Cistercian one was recorded at Lent… no “A” word. So I listen to that one at Lent, and the Solesmes one at other times. And I pull the appropriate Marian antiphon from memory 🙂 (although the Cistercians don’t vary it seasonally like the Benedictines or Romans; it’s always Salve Regina, on their own melody, for them).
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I think I’d like to carpool with you.
:rotfl::rotfl:
 
Some ones I haven’t seen mentioned but are fairly common are
Love Divine (Blaenwern and Hyfrydol)
My Song is Love Unknown (various tunes).

Whenever I hear Ave Verum at a funeral, that is the benchmark at which the rivers pour forth from my eyes. What a beautiful hymn/anthem.
 
LoyalViews said:
Some ones I haven’t seen mentioned but are fairly common are
Love Divine (Blaenwern and Hyfrydol)
My Song is Love Unknown (various tunes).

Whenever I hear Ave Verum at a funeral, that is the benchmark at which the rivers pour forth from my eyes. What a beautiful hymn/anthem.
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I’ve never heard “My Song is Love Unknown”. I’ll have to look it up.

I mentioned “Love Divine” as “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”. (Hyfrydol) That’s what I chose for one of my grandmother’s funerals. It’s one of my favorite hymns.

Yes, “Ave Verum Corpus” is such a gorgeous piece. Whenever I can convince the families or whenever I have free reign, I try to incorporate that.
 
What about Mozart’s Requiem Lacrimosa? It is very beautiful. My daughter who just passed yesterday requested this to be played at her funeral.

I am hoping to find an organist and singer who can sing it.

Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Bernadette
 
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