Christian burial

Ascension Parish Burial Ground, Cambridge, UK.

A Christian burial is the burial of a deceased person with specifically Christian rites; typically, in consecrated ground. Until recent times Christians generally objected to cremation and practiced inhumation almost exclusively. Today this opposition has largely vanished among Protestants and Catholics alike, and this is rapidly becoming more common, although Eastern Orthodox Churches still mostly forbid cremation.

History and antecedents of Christian burial rites

Early historical evidence

The Greeks and Romans practiced both burial and cremation, with Roman funerary practices distinctly favoring cremation by the time Christianity arose during the Principate. However, the Jews only ever buried their dead. Even God himself is depicted in the Torah as performing burial: "And [God] buried him (Moses) in the depression in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor. No man knows the place that he was buried, even to this day." (Deuteronomy 34:6). Similarly, early Christians used only burial, as can be demonstrated from the direct testimony of Tertullian and from the stress laid upon the analogy between the resurrection of the body and the Resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:42).

In the light of the dogma of the resurrection of the body as well as of Jewish tradition, the burial of the mortal remains of the Christian dead has always been regarded as an act of religious import. It is surrounded at all times with some measure of religious ceremony.

Little is known with regard to the burial of the dead in the early Christian centuries. Early Christians did practice the use of an ossuary to store the skeletal remains of those saints at rest in Christ. This practice likely came from the use of the same among Second Temple Jews. Other early Christians likely followed the national customs of the people among whom they lived, as long as they were not directly idolatrous. St. Jerome, in his account of the death of St. Paul the Hermit, speaks of the singing of hymns and psalms while the body is carried to the grave as an observance belonging to ancient Christian tradition.

Several historical writings indicate that in the fourth and fifth centuries, the offering of the Eucharist was an essential feature in the last solemn rites. These writings include: St. Gregory of Nyssa’s detailed description of the funeral of St. Macrina, St. Augustine’s references to his mother St. Monica, the Apostolic Constitutions (Book VII), and the Celestial Hierarchy of Dionysius the Areopagite.

Probably the earliest detailed account of funeral ceremonial which has been preserved to us is to be found in the Spanish Ordinals of the latter part of the seventh century. Recorded in the writing is a description of "the Order of what the clerics of any city ought to do when their bishop falls into a mortal sickness." It details the steps of ringing church bells, reciting psalms, and cleaning and dressing the body.

Traditionally, the Christian Church opposed the practice of cremation by its members. While involving no necessary contradiction of any article of faith, it is opposed alike to ancient canon law and to the usages (praxis) of antiquity. Burial was always preferred as the method of disposition inherited from Judaism and the example of Jesus' burial in the tomb. During times of persecution, pagan authorities erroneously thought they could destroy the martyrs' hope of resurrection by cremating their remains. Though the church always taught that the destruction of the earthly remains posed no threat to the bodily resurrection, many Christians risked their lives to prevent this desecration of the relics of the saints. Furthermore, the bodies of Christians were considered to have been sanctified by baptism and the reception of the sacraments, and thus were to be treated with dignity and respect, as befits a "Temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 3:16–17, 6:19). In reaction against the Christian opposition to cremation some have deliberately instructed that their remains be cremated as a public profession of irreligion and materialism. The revival of cremation in modern times has prompted a revision of this opposition by many Christian churches, though some groups continue to discourage the practice, provided there is no intent of apostasy or sacrilege.

During the Middle Ages a practice arose among the aristocracy that when a nobleman was killed in battle far from home, the body would be defleshed by boiling or some such other method, and his bones transported back to his estate for burial. In response, in the year 1300, Pope Boniface VIII promulgated a law which excommunicated ipso facto anyone who disembowelled bodies of the dead or boiled them to separate the flesh from the bones, for the purpose of transportation for burial in their native land. He further decreed that bodies which had been so treated were to be denied Christian burial.

The wake

The custom of watching by the dead (the wake) is an ancient practice probably derived from the similar Jewish custom of a pious vigil over the remains. Its origins are not entirely known. This was a Christian observance, attended with the chanting of psalms.

In the Middle Ages, among the monastic orders, the custom was practiced in a desire to perform religious duties and was seen as beneficial. By appointing relays of monks to succeed one another, orderly provision was made that the corpse would never be left without prayer.

Among secular persons, these nocturnal meetings were sometimes an occasion of grave abuses, especially in the matter of eating and drinking. The following is found in the Anglo-Saxon canons of Ælfric, addressed to the clergy:

Ye shall not rejoice on account of men deceased nor attend on the corpse unless ye be thereto invited. When ye are thereto invited then forbid ye the heathen songs (haethenan sangas) of the laymen and their loud cachinnations; nor eat ye nor drink where the corpse lieth therein, lest ye be imitators of the heathenism which they there commit.

In the earliest Ambrosian ritual (eighth or ninth century), which Magistretti pronounces to be derived from Rome, the funeral is broken up into stages: at the house of the deceased, on the way to the church, at the church, from the church to the grave, and at the grave side. But it is also clear that there was originally something of the nature of a wake (vigilioe) consisting in the chanting of the whole Psalter beside the dead man at his home.

Absolution

The Absolution became common in the second half of the eleventh century. It involves laying a form of absolution upon the breast of the deceased. This is enjoined in the monastic constitutions of Archbishop Lanfranc. Occasionally, a leaden cross etched with a few words was used for this purpose. Many such crosses have been recovered in opening tombs belonging to this period.

Offertory

The medieval ritual also included an offertory in the funeral of well known and distinguished people. Generous offerings were made in money, and in kind, in the hope of benefiting the soul of the deceased. It was also usual to lead his war-horse up the church fully accoutered and to present it to the priest at the altar rails. It would later be redeemed by a money payment.

Western Catholic burial ritual

The various Roman Catholic Church religious observances surrounding mortal remains can be divided into three stages. The following three stages assume, however, that the full funeral rites are celebrated, including the Funeral (Requiem) Mass, which, since it is a Mass, must be celebrated by a priest. If a Catholic deacon celebrates, the Funeral Mass does not occur, however, a Memorial Mass may be said later for the deceased. The deacon leads the prayer services at the home and the funeral home, blesses the remains at the church during another prayer service, and then leads the prayers of final commendation at the graveside. In an increasing number of cases where there are not enough priests and deacons, lay people will lead prayers in the home of the deceased, the Vigil for the Deceased at the church, and also prayers at the graveside (the only funeral service which requires an ordained priest is the Requiem Mass itself). If the traditional three-part funeral rites are celebrated, they proceed as follows:

Conveyance of the body to the church

The first stage involves the parish priest and other clergy going to the house of the deceased. One cleric carries the cross and another carries a vessel of holy water. Before the coffin is removed from the house it is sprinkled with the holy water. The priest, with his assistants, says the psalm De profundis with the antiphon Si iniquitates. Then the procession sets out for the church. The cross-bearer goes first, followed by members of the clergy carrying lighted candles. The priest walks immediately before the coffin, and the friends of the deceased and others walk behind it.

Note that in the vast majority of cases none of the above will happen. The priest or deacon will go to the house without procession, or lay people will lead the prayers in the presence of the body if clergy are not available.

As they leave the house, the priest intones the antiphon Exsultabunt Domino, and then the psalm Miserere is recited or chanted in alternate verses by the cantors and clergy. On reaching the church the antiphon Exsultabunt is repeated. As the body is placed "in the middle of the church," the responsorial Subvenite is recited.

Once again, this seldom happens. The coffin is brought to the church by the undertaker in a hearse. It may arrive the evening before, for a Vigil in the church, or it may arrive on the day of the funeral before the service.

Historical precedence provides that if the corpse is a layman, the feet are to be turned towards the altar. If the corpse is a priest, then the position is reversed, the head being towards the altar. The earliest reference to this is in Johann Burchard's "Diary". Burchard was the master of ceremonies to Pope Innocent VIII and Pope Alexander VI.

A little-known custom also exists that both before the altar and in the grave, the feet of all Christians should be pointed to the East. This custom is alluded to by Bishop Hildebert at the beginning of the twelfth century, and its symbolism is discussed by Guillaume Durand. "A man ought so to be buried", he says, "that while his head lies to the West his feet are turned to the East…" For clergy, however, the idea seems to be that the bishop (or priest) in death should occupy the same position in the church as during life, facing his people who he taught and blessed in Christ's name. In practice, facing the east is scarcely ever observed today, but appears to have been a common custom in the early middle ages. Post-conversion cemeteries can be distinguished in England from their pre-conversion counterparts from the orientation and direction of inhumation burials. Such an example can be seen in the Chamberlain's Barn cemetery near Leighton Buzzard - around 650 CE, graves were increasingly organised into rows, facing west, and grave furnishings (commonly associated with pagan burial practices) decreased.

Ceremony in the church

The second stage is a cycle of prayers, the funeral Mass, and absolution. In the Tridentine Rite, candles are lit around the coffin, and they are allowed to burn throughout this stage. In the post-Vatican II rite there are no candles.

Prayers

The prayers offered are the Office of the Dead. Throughout the prayers, certain omissions are made. For example, each psalm ends with Requiem aeternam instead of the Gloria Patri.

Mass for the Dead

As in the case of the Office, the Mass for the Dead (Missa de Requiem) is chiefly distinguished from ordinary Masses by certain omissions. Some of these may be due to the fact that this Mass was formerly regarded as supplementary to the Mass of the day. In other cases it preserves the tradition of a more primitive age. The suppression of the Alleluia, Gloria in excelsis, and the Gloria Patri seems to point to a sense of the incongruity of joyful themes in the presence of God's searching and inscrutable judgments. In the early Christian ages, however, it would seem that the Alleluia, especially in the East, was regarded as especially appropriate to funerals, as Christians rejoiced that the deceased was now closer to God than they were themselves.

During the Mass it used to be customary to distribute candles to the congregation. These were lit during the Gospel, during the latter part of the Holy Sacrifice from the Elevation to the Communion, and during the absolution which follows the Mass. As already remarked the association of lights with Christian funerals is very ancient, and liturgists here recognize a symbolical reference to baptism whereby Christians are made the children of Light, as well as a concrete reminder of the oft repeated prayer et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Today, giving candles to the congregation is hardly ever done.

In the ordinary form of the Roman Rite (the Mass of Paul VI) the order of choice for liturgical colors is white, or violet, or black. It is recommended that the coffin be covered by a white pall. In the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, the funeral Mass is a Requiem. In a Requiem Mass the priest always wears black vestments, and the pall is black. There are also slightly different ceremonies of the Mass and slightly different texts. When the deceased is a baptised child under the age of reason the priest wears white vestments as a symbol of the innocence of the deceased and the attendant belief that the child will immediately be received into heaven without the need to endure purgatory. The liturgical books for the extraordinary form have never prescribed a particular Mass for the funeral of such children, but the custom is that the votive Mass of the Angels is said.

The funeral Mass is sometimes called the "Mass of Christian Burial", "Mass of the Resurrection", or "Memorial Mass", but these terms are not found in the Order of Christian Funerals, which is the official book in the ordinary form of the Church, and should be discouraged.

Absolution

The absolution of the dead was removed from the ordinary form of the Roman Rite, and replaced with the Final Commendation and Farewell, when the new Order of Christian Funerals was promulgated following the Second Vatican Council. However, the absolution of the dead remains part of the funeral service of the Tridentine Mass.

The absolution of the dead is a series of prayers for pardon that are said over the body of a deceased Catholic following a Requiem Mass and before burial. The absolution of the dead does not forgive sins or confer the sacramental absolution of the Sacrament of Penance. Rather, it is a series of prayers to God that the person's soul will not have to suffer the temporal punishment in purgatory due for sins which were forgiven during the person's life.

During the absolution, the Libera me, Domine is sung while the priest incenses the coffin and sprinkles it with holy water. The prayer for absolution is said by the priest, and then the In paradisum is sung while the body is carried from the church.

Ceremony by the graveside

After the absolution, the body is carried to the grave. The tomb or burial plot is then blessed, if it has not been blessed previously. A grave newly dug in an already consecrated cemetery is considered blessed, and requires no further consecration. However, a mausoleum erected above ground or even a brick chamber beneath the surface is regarded as needing blessing when used for the first time. This blessing is short and consists only of a single prayer after which the body is again sprinkled with holy water and incensed. Apart from this, the service at the graveside is very brief.

In the Tridentine tradition, the priest intones the antiphon "I am the Resurrection and the Life", after which the coffin is lowered into the grave and the Canticle Benedictus is recited or sung. Then the antiphon is repeated again, the Lord's Prayer is said silently, while the coffin is again sprinkled with holy water. Finally, after one or two brief responses, the following ancient prayer is said:

Grant this mercy, O Lord, we beseech Thee, to Thy servant departed, that he may not receive in punishment the requital of his deeds who in desire did keep Thy will, and as the true faith here united him to the company of the faithful, so may Thy mercy unite him above to the choirs of angels. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The final petition made by the priest is "May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace." At that point, the graveside ceremony and the burial is complete.

In the post-Vatican II rite, the prayers are different.

Burial fees

In principle, there was no fee for Christian burial. According to Canon Law, any faithful could be buried by the priest for free; and this has been confirmed by several Ecumenical council during the Middle Ages, such as the Third (1179) and the Fourth (1215) Council of the Lateran. Charging money to conduct burials, bless a marriage or to celebrate any of the sacraments was considered as a crime of Simony. Nevertheless, since the beginning of the Western Christianity, but especially after the 11th century, a considerable part of the doctrine, as well as the Canon Law itself, accepted a rightful compensation for the work of the minister. This compensation had to be based on local "laudable customs" or on a voluntary payment, but many parishes turned these fees into a standard scale of charges. This attitude resulted above all from the desire to strengthen parish incomes, often very small especially in rural areas. Although many critics attacked these exactions, in all Christian countries burial fees were regularly perceived by the clergy. Moreover, in contexts where parishes hosted a vestry (such as in England and France), the parishioners had to pay a certain amount to the wardens for the use of the churchyard or the church itself, when the burial took place inside it. This contribution was often called the right "for breaking the ground". After the Reformation, in both Catholic and reformed areas, burial payments were standardized in tables of fees that had to be displayed at the entrance of the church or inside the sacristy. These tables registered also payments due for marriages, christenings, and, in some countries such as England, for the churching of women. The promulgation of tables of fees continues today in most of the Christian countries where there is an organized church.

Protestant burials

Protestant burial services and rituals vary enormously between denominations.

Lutheran funeral

The Lutheran Church - International stipulates that pastors preside over funerals.

Anglican funeral

In the Church of England, "Where possible the minister prepares the dying person in private, using the Preparation and Reconciliation" (cf. last rites). The Anglican Church in North America provides a liturgy, with various parts, titled "The Burial of the Dead".

Methodist funeral

Methodist denominations, such as the Methodist Protestant Church, United Methodist Church and the Methodist Church of Great Britain, have funeral liturgies that emphasize "the paschal character of Christian death and connected the last rite with baptism". To this end, the Methodist Protestant Church, in its Book of Discipline, specifies "Standing before the coffin, if the service is held in the residence, or preceding it from the entrance if the service is held in the Church", the minister recites John 11:25 and Revelation 14:13. The Order for the Burial of the Dead in the Methodist Book of Worship for Church and Home (1965) specifies that "Funeral Services of church members should be held in the sanctuary. The casket should be placed before the altar". The casket or coffin is traditionally covered with a white pall symbolizing the resurrection of Christ. The official name for the liturgy in the United Methodist Church is "A Service of Death and Resurrection"; it includes the elements found in a standard liturgy celebrated on the Lord's Day, such as the Entrance, Opening Prayer, Old Testament Reading, Psalm, New Testament Reading, Alleluia, Gospel Reading, Sermon, Recitation of one of the ecumenical creeds, prayers of the faithful, offertory, and celebration of the Eucharist, as well as the Commendation. The Commendation contains prayer for the dead, including a variation of the Eternal Rest prayer. Following this, "A Service of Committal" takes place in the graveyard or cemetery.

Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic burial ritual

The full burial service of the Eastern Orthodox Church is lengthy, and there are several features unique to the Eastern Church. There are five different funeral services, depending upon the deceased's station in life: laity, children, monks, priests, and a special form served for all of the above during Bright Week (Easter week).

Ablutions

When an Orthodox Christian is preparing for death, the priest comes to hear the final confession and give Holy Communion, if the dying one is conscious (Holy Unction is not a part of Orthodox last rites). The priest then reads the Office at the Parting of the Soul from the Body, which consists of prayers and a canon to encourage repentance, and help ease the soul's transition from earthly life to the hereafter. There is a special form of this service "For One who has Suffered Long".

Immediately after death, a unique memorial service, called the "First Pannikhida" is celebrated. After this, the body is washed and clothed for burial. Traditionally, this act of love is performed by the family and friends of the deceased (Acts 9:37).

A crown (sometimes referred to as a phylactery), is placed upon the dead layman's head. This consists of a strip of paper upon which the Trisagion is written, and sometimes an icon of the Deesis is printed on it as well. A small icon of Christ, the Theotokos or the deceased's patron saint is placed in the right hand; or, alternately, a cross. A prayer rope may be placed in his left hand. If the deceased served in the military or held some other high office, he or she may be dressed in his or her uniform. If a man had been tonsured as a Reader, he will be vested in a sticharion. If he had been ordained a Subdeacon he will be vested in his sticharion and orarion. A deceased deacon is vested in sticharion and orarion, and a censer is placed in his right hand.

A monk's body is prepared by one of his brethren in the monastery. He will be clothed in his monastic habit and a prayer rope placed in his hands. If he was a Stavrophore or Megaloschema-monk he will be wrapped in his mandyas (cloak), from which two strips will be cut. These strips are wound around the body, so that they cross over the breast, the waist and the legs, thus symbolising not only the cross, but also the swaddling bands in which Jesus was wrapped as a baby, since the death of the body is considered to be a birth for the soul into new life. His klobuk will be placed backwards over his head so that the veil covers his face. Nuns are similarly arrayed.

The body of a deceased priest or bishop is prepared by the clergy, and is anointed with oil. He is then clothed in his full Eucharistic vestments (however, if he was a hieromonk he will usually be clothed in his monastic habit and be vested only in his epitrachelion [stole] and epimanikia [cuffs]). His face is covered with an Aër, the liturgical veil with which the Holy Mysteries (chalice and paten) are covered during the Divine Liturgy. Also a Gospel Book is laid upon his breast (a similar practice was found in the West in the early Spanish Ordinal).

When a bishop dies, he is vested by the clergy in his full episcopal vestments, including mitre. As each vestment is placed on him, a Protodeacon swings the censer and reads the vesting prayers, exactly as was done for him when he served the Divine Liturgy. After the vesting the bishop is set upright in a chair and the dikirion and trikirion (candlesticks used by a bishop to bless the people) are placed in his hands as the clergy chant Eis polla eti, Despota! for the final time. He is then placed in his coffin. In ancient times, and still in some places, the bishop is not placed in a coffin, but remains seated in a chair, and is even buried in a sitting position. This custom was taken from the burial customs of the Byzantine Emperors.

After the clothing of the deceased, the priest sprinkles the coffin with holy water on all four sides, and the deceased is placed in the coffin. Then the wake begins immediately. Often, an Orthodox casket will have a solid lid which is removable. The lid, with a large cross on it, is often placed outside the front door of the house as a sign that the house is in mourning, and to invite all who pass by to pray for the deceased and give comfort to the bereaved.

Wake

For Orthodox Christians the wake consists of continuous reading of the Psalter aloud, interrupted only by the occasional serving of Panikhidas (brief memorial services). Anyone is allowed to read, and the family and friends will often take turns reading the psalms throughout the night up until it is time to take the body to the church.

If the deceased was a priest or bishop the reading is done by the higher clergy (bishops, priests and deacons) and instead of reading the Psalter, they read from the Gospel Book. If there are not enough clergy to read continuously, the laity may read the Psalter at times clergy are unavailable.

Conveyance of the Body to the Church

After a final Panikhida at the house of the deceased, the body is brought to the church in a procession headed by the cross and banners. The priest or deacon walks in front of the coffin with the censer. During the procession all sing the Trisagion. Bells may be rung during the procession, though they are not required by the rubrics.

Once the procession arrives at the church, the coffin is placed either in the center of the nave or, if the narthex is large enough it is placed there. Four candlestands are placed around the coffin, forming a cross. The priest censes around the coffin and begins a Panikhida. Then, the reading of the Psalter continues until the beginning of the services.

Ceremony in the Church

Throughout the service, upon a table close to the coffin stands a dish containing kolyva, made of wheat—symbolic of the grain which falling to the ground dies and brings forth much fruit (John 12:24)—and honey—symbolic of the sweetness of the Heavenly Kingdom. A taper is placed in the kolyva and is lit during the service.

In the Orthodox funeral, the coffin is usually open in church (unlike the West, where it is usually closed), and the lower part of the coffin is covered with a funeral pall. The lid of the casket may be left outside the church door, as an invitation to all who pass by to enter and join in the funeral.

Divine Liturgy for the departed

In some Slavic traditions, Divine Liturgy takes place as usual, with the addition of special hymns for the departed. There are also special Epistle and Gospel readings for the dead, which vary according to the day of the week on which the funeral is served. There will also be a special ektenia (litany) for the departed, and at the end another Panikhida will be served around the coffin.

Funeral service

The funeral will usually begin immediately after the dismissal of the Divine Liturgy. The funeral service is called in Greek, Pannychis, meaning vigil, and it originally lasted through the entire night and into the next morning. Today, it has been considerably shortened, but it may still last around two and a half hours.

Throughout the entire service, everyone holds lighted candles, and the censer is swung by the deacon or priest throughout much of the service.

Because death is not defeat for a faithful Christian, the Alleluia is sung as part of the service, with special funeral verses.

As mentioned above, there are five different funeral services, all of which have different outlines:

• Laymen—This is the most common form of funeral; it is used for all adult members of the laity and for lower clergy and deacons. It is the form detailed below.
• Children—Because young children are generally not held to be morally responsible for their sins, the funeral for a child has none of the usual penitential elements, or prayers for the forgiveness of the sins of the deceased.
• Monks—The burial of monks and nuns differs in a number of respects, most noticeably that there is no canon, but rather special antiphons are chanted in all the eight tones in succession, as if recalling the monastic's participation in the whole life of the Church. This funeral is used for all tonsured monks, and for hierodeacons. Some hieromonks (priest-monks) are buried using the monastic ritual.
• Priests—When bishops and priests are buried, their funeral is different from those of laymen or monks (a hieromonk may be buried either as a monk or as a priest). Because of their important role as preachers of the Word, the funeral for priests has numerous Gospel readings in it. These are usually read from the Gospel Book which has been placed in the coffin.
• Paschal—Because of the joy and extraordinary grace of the Paschal season, any funeral performed during Bright Week (Easter week) is remarkably different from that served at any other time of year. In place of the mournful melodies and penitential nature of the normal funeral services, joyful paschal hymns are chanted. There is also a special paschal funeral for children.

Important features of the funeral service are as follows:

Psalm 118

Right at the beginning of the funeral, Psalm 118 (Septuagint numbering; KJV: Psalm 119) is chanted. In the Orthodox Psalter this is known as the 17th Kathisma, and is the longest psalm in the Bible. The psalm is divided into three sections, called Stases, the first two of which is followed by a brief Ektenia (litany) for the Dead. Each verse of the Psalm is followed by a refrain. The refrain at the first and third stases is "Alleluia", the refrain for the second stasis is "Have mercy upon Thy servant." The Kathisma is followed by a set of hymns called the Evlogitaria, which is based upon a similar Paschal hymn chanted during the Easter season and on Sunday. Thus the themes of prayer for God's mercy and of the General Resurrection are tied together.

Kontakion

The Kontakion of the Dead is one of the most moving portions of the service. It is linked to the Ikhos, another hymn which follows it. During the funeral it takes place after the Sixth Ode of the Canon. It is also chanted during panikhidas (memorial services) which are conducted both before and after the funeral:

Kontakion: With the saints give rest, O Christ, to the soul of Thy servant where there is neither sickness, nor sorrow, nor sighing, but life everlasting.

Ikhos: Thou alone art immortal, who hast created and fashioned man. But we are mortal formed of the earth, and unto earth shall we return, as Thou who madest me didst command and say unto us: Thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return. Whither, also, all we mortals wend our way, making as a funeral dirge the song: Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

The Russian melody for this Kontakion was famously sung during the funeral scene in the movie, Doctor Zhivago.

Hymns of St. John Damascene

After the canon, the choir chants stichera that were composed by St. John Damascene. According to tradition, Saint John composed these hymns to help one of the brethren in his monastery as he grieved for a family member. There are eight stichera, each composed in one of the tones of the Octoechos. These hymns are also chanted on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings throughout the year, since Saturday is a day set aside for general commemoration of the departed.

Absolution

At the end of the funeral service, the spiritual father of the deceased will read the Prayer of Absolution, which is printed on a separate piece of paper. After the prayer, he will roll the paper up and place it in the deceased's hand.

Last kiss

Symbolic farewell is taken of the deceased by a "last kiss", during which the faithful come forward and give a last kiss of peace to the departed. Though traditions vary, often they will kiss the phylactory on the deceased's forehead and the icon or cross in his hand. During this time, the choir chants moving hymns which are intended to assist the mourners as they work through their grief and love for the deceased.

Memory Eternal

After the last kiss, the choir chants, "Memory Eternal" (Slavonic: Vyechnaya pamyat) three times, to a slow and solemn melody. If the deceased has a shroud, it is pulled over the face of the deceased. Finally, the coffin is closed. In some traditions, the priest will sprinkle a little earth on the remains, in the shape of a cross, before closing the coffin.

Ceremony at the graveside

A procession forms, with the cross and banners going from the church to the cemetery. This procession is similar to the one during which the body was taken to the church. If the deceased is a priest, instead of singing the Trisagion, the clergy chant the Irmoi of the "Great Canon" written by St. Andrew of Crete.

Tolling of bells

During the procession, the bells are tolled. In the Russian tradition, the funeral toll is called Perebor. Each individual bell is struck once, from the smallest to the largest, in a slow, steady peal. After that, all of the bells are struck together at the same time. Striking the bells from the smallest to the largest symbolizes the stages of a person's life from birth to death; the final striking of all the bells together symbolizes the end of this earthly life.

Committal

Upon arriving at the grave, the Panikhida is again chanted.

The coffin may be sealed with nails. Traditionally there are four nails, reminiscent of the nails with which Christ was affixed to the Cross.

As the body is lowered into the grave, the choir chants:

Open wide, O earth, and receive him (her) that was fashioned from thee by the hand of God aforetime, and who returneth again unto Thee that gave him (her) birth. That which was made according to his image the Creator hath received unto himself; do thou receive back that which is thine own.

Then the priest takes a shovelful of dirt and makes the Sign of the Cross with it in the grave, saying:

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.

If the deceased received the Sacred Mystery (Sacrament) of Unction, the priest will pour some of the consecrated oil on the coffin (in some places, this is done at the funeral, immediately before the coffin is closed). The priest then pours the ashes from the censer into the open grave, after which the family and friends fill in the grave as the choir chants hymns.

Orthodox Christians are buried facing east; that is to say, with their feet to the east. When a cross is placed at the grave, it is not normally placed at the head of the grave, but at the foot, so that as the faithful stand at the grave and pray facing the cross, they will be facing east, in the traditional Orthodox manner.

In the Byzantine era, bishops were buried sitting upright in a chair, a practice that is still observed in some places. After the remains were lowered into the ground, the bishop's mitre would be removed, and his monastic klobuk placed on his head so that the veil covered his face.

In the Orthodox Church, it is only permitted to celebrate a funeral for a person who is a member of the Orthodox Church in good standing. Generally speaking, funerals are not permitted for persons who have committed suicide, or who will be voluntarily cremated. In cases where the local authorities impose cremation, such as for reasons of public health, this is no obstacle to an Orthodox funeral. For those persons for whom a funeral is not allowed, the most that may be done is the chanting of the Trisagion as the body is being carried to the cemetery.

The Orthodox burial rite is discussed in several sources.

Mourning period

Orthodox Christians do not consider death to be an end, but a beginning. However, sorrow at the separation from a loved one is natural to the human condition. In Orthodox theology, Jesus' weeping for his friend Lazarus is understood as a manifestation of the fullness of his humanity (John 11:35). But Christians are taught not to grieve "even as others which have no hope" (1 Thessalonians 4:13). In the light of the Resurrection, the death of a believer is not considered to be a tragedy but a triumph. Both the funeral and the memorial services feature the singing of "Alleluia" many times.

The first traditional mourning period of Orthodox Christians lasts for forty days. During this period, certain days are considered to have special significance: the third day (on which the funeral is usually held), the ninth day, and the fortieth day. Of these three days, the fortieth is the most important, because it is believed that on that day the soul undergoes the Particular Judgment, which will determine the state of the soul until its reunification with the glorified body at the Second Coming.

For close relatives, the mourning period usually lasts for a year. During this period Panikhidas (memorial services) are served to pray for the repose of the soul of the deceased and to comfort their loved ones.

Normally, after forty days, memorials are taking place at three months, six months, nine months (terms corresponding to the Holy Trinity), at a year and in each subsequent year on the anniversary of death, for seven years in a row. It is a common practice for the friends and family to request a memorial at least on the deceased's anniversary of death. The first anniversary is almost universally celebrated, and many families will continue to request annual memorials on every anniversary of death.

Offerings

It is customary for almsgiving to be done in the name of a departed person. This not only honors their memory, but is believed to also be of spiritual benefit to them.

The departed are also commemorated regularly during the Proskomedie of the Divine Liturgy. The name of the departed is given to the priest, who then removes a particle of bread from the prosphoron (loaf of bread) offered for the Liturgy. In the Russian usage, there is a separate prosphoron for the departed, from which these memorial particles are taken. After the consecration, these particles are placed in the chalice, and the church teaches that the departed benefit spiritually from this action more than any other on their behalf.

Consecration of a Cemetery

In the Orthodox Church there is a ritual for the "Consecration of a Cemetery", found in the Euchologion (Slavonic: Trebnik). A large cross is erected in the center of the cemetery. The ritual begins with the Lesser Blessing of Waters. Then the cross and the entire property are consecrated with prayers, incense and the sprinkling of holy water.

Persons for whom a funeral service may not be chanted (see paragraphs above) may not be buried in a consecrated cemetery without the blessing of the local bishop.

If it is not possible to bury an Orthodox Christian in a consecrated cemetery, the individual grave may be consecrated, using the rite called the "Blessing of a Grave".

Burial confraternities

Even from the period of the catacombs such associations seem to have existed among the Christians and they no doubt imitated to some extent in their organization the pagan collegia for the same purpose.

Throughout the Middle Ages the guilds to a very large extent were burial confraternities; at any rate the seemly carrying out of the funeral rites at the death of any of their members together with a provision of Masses for his soul form an almost invariable feature in the constitutions of such guilds.

But still more directly to the purpose we find certain organizations formed to carry out the burial of the dead and friendless as a work of charity. The most celebrated of these was the "Misericordia" of Florence, believed to have been instituted in 1244 by Pier Bossi, and surviving to the present day. It is an organization which associates in this work of mercy the members of all ranks of society. Their self-imposed task is not limited to escorting the dead to their last resting-place, but they discharge the functions of an ambulance corps, dealing with accidents as they occur and carrying the sick to the hospitals. When on duty until recently the members wore a hood which completely disguised them.

See also

• Veneration of the dead
• Fate of the unlearned
• Funerary art
• Cemetery
• Cremation
• Requiem

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

The interment of a deceased person with ecclesiastical rites in consecrated ground. The Jews and most of the nations of antiquity buried their dead. Amongst the Greeks and Romans both cremation and interment were practised indifferently. That the early Christians from the beginning used only burial seems certain. This conclusion may be inferred not only from negative arguments but from the direct testimony of Tertullian, "De Corona" (P.L., II, 92, 795; cf. Minucius Felix, "Octavius", xi in P.L., III, 266), and from the stress laid upon the analogy between the resurrection of the body and the Resurrection of Christ (I Cor., xv, 42; cf. Tertullian, "De Animâ", lv; Augustine, "De civitate Dei", I, xiii). In the light of this same dogma of the resurrection of the body as well as of Jewish tradition (cf. Tob., i, 21; xii, 12; Ecclus., xxxviii, 16; II Mach., xii, 39), it is easy to understand how the interment of the mortal remains of the Christian dead has always been regarded as an act of religious import and has been surrounded at all times with some measure of religious ceremonial. The motives of Christian Burial will be more fully treated in the article Cremation. As to the latter practice, it will be sufficient to say here that, while involving no necessary contradiction of any article of faith, it is opposed alike to the law of the Church and to the usages of antiquity. In defense of the Church's recent prohibitions, it may be urged that the revival of cremation in modern times has in practice been prompted less by considerations of improved hygiene or psychological sentiment than by avowed materialism and opposition to Catholic teaching.

The Law of the Church Regarding Burial

According to the canon law every man is free to choose for himself the burial ground in which he wishes to be interred. It is not necessary that this choice should be formally registered in his will. Any reasonable legal proof is sufficient as evidence of his wishes in the matter, and it has been decided that the testimony of one witness, for example his confessor, may be accepted, if there be no suspicion of interested motives. (S.C. Concilii, 24 march, 1871, Lex, 189.) Where no wish has been expressed it will be assumed that the interment is to take place in any vault or burial place which may have belonged to the deceased or his family, and failing this the remains should be buried in the cemetery of the parish in which the deceased had his domicile or quasi-domicile. Certain exceptions, however, are recognized in the case of cardinals, bishops, canons, etc. Formerly monastic and other churches claimed and enjoyed under certain conditions the privilege of interring notable benefactors within their precincts. It may be said that no such privilege is now recognized as a matter of right to the detriment of the claim of the parish. If a man die in a parish which is not his own, the canon law prescribes that the body should be conveyed to his own parish for interment if this is reasonably possible, but the parish priest of the place where he died may claim the right of attending the corpse to the place of burial. In fine, the principle is recognized that it belongs to the parish priest to bury his own parishioners. The canon law recognizes for regular orders the right to be buried in the cemetery of their own monastery (Sägmäller, 453; l. Wagner in "Archiv f. kath. Kirchenrecht", 1873, xxxix, 385; Kohn, ibid., xl, 329).

Originally, as burial was a spiritual function, it was laid down that no fee could be exacted for this without simony (Decretum Gratiani, xiii, q. ii; c. viii, ix; Extrav. de sim., V, 3). But the custom of making gifts to the Church, partly as an acknowledgment of the trouble taken by the clergy, partly for the benefit of the soul of the departed, gradually became general, and such offerings were recognized in time as jura stoloe which went to the personal support of the parish priest or his curates. It was, however, distinctly insisted upon that the carrying out of the rites of the Church should not be made conditional upon the payment of the fee being made beforehand, though the parish priest could recover such fee afterwards by process of law in case it were withheld. Moreover in the case of the very poor he is bound to bury them gratuitously. If a parishioner elected to be buried outside his own parish, a certain proportion, generally a fourth part, of the fee paid or the gifts that might be made in behalf of the deceased on occasion of the burial was to go to the priest of his own parish. Where an old custom existed, the continuance of the payment of this fourth part under certain conditions was recognized by the Council of Trent (Sess. XXV, De ref., c. xiii). Nowadays the principle is still maintained, but generally the payment to the proprius parochus takes the form of the fourth part of a definite burial-fee which is determined according to some fixed tariff (S. C. Ep. et Reg., 19 January, 1866; S.C. Conc., 16 February, 1889), and which may be exacted by the parish priest for every burial which takes place in his district. He has, however, no right to any compensation if a non-parishioner dies and is taken back to his own parish for burial, nor again when one of his own parishioners dies away from home and has to be buried in the place of his demise.

Only baptized persons have a claim to Christian burial and the rites of the Church cannot lawfully be performed over those who are not baptized. Moreover no strict claim can be allowed in the case of those persons who have not lived in communion with the Church according to the maxim which comes down from the time of Pope Leo the Great (448) "quibus viventibus non communicavimus mortuis communicare non possumus" (i.e. we cannot hold communion in death with those who in life were not in communion with us). It has further been recognized as a principle that the last rites of the Church constitute a mark of respect which is not to be shown to those who in their lives have proved themselves unworthy of it. In this way various classes of persons are excluded from Christian burial -- pagans, Jews, infidels, heretics, and their adherents (Rit. Rom., VI, c. ii) schismatics, apostates, and persons who have been excommunicated by name or placed under an interdict. If an excommunicated person be buried in a church or in a consecrated cemetery the place is thereby desecrated, and, wherever possible, the remains must be exhumed and buried elsewhere. Further, Christian burial is to be refused to suicides (this prohibition is as old as the fourth century; cf. Cassian in P.L., XL, 573) except in case that the act was committed when they were of unsound mind or unless they showed signs of repentance before death occurred. It is also withheld from those who have been killed in a duel, even though they should give signs of repentance before death. Other persons similarly debarred are notorious sinners who die without repentance, those who have openly held the sacraments in contempt (for example by staying away from Communion at Easter time to the public scandal) and who showed no signs of sorrow, monks and nuns who are found to have died in the possession of money or valuables which they had kept for their own, and finally those who have directed that their bodies should be cremated after death. In all such cases, however, the general practice of the Church at the present day has been to interpret these prohibitions as mildly as possible. Ordinarily the parish priest is directed to refer doubtful cases to the bishop, and the bishop, if any favourable construction can be found, allows the burial to proceed.

Many complications are caused in the administration of the canon law by the political conditions under which the Church exists in modern times in most countries of the world. For instance, the question may often arise whether a non-Catholic can be buried in a consecrated cemetery belonging, not to the civil administration, but to the Church, and perhaps adjoining the sacred building itself; or again in such a case whether non-Catholic worshippers can perform their own rites at the interment. As it often happened that a Catholic graveyard was the only available place of burial in a large district, it has been decided as a matter of necessity that in such cases it was possible to allow Protestants to be buried in a consecrated graveyard (S. C. Inquis., 23 July, 1609). In some instances a special portion of ground has been set aside for the purpose and non-Catholic ritual is permitted to be used there. In cases of necessity the Catholic parish priest may preside at such an interment, but he must not use any ritual or prayers that would be recognized as distinctively Catholic. It hardly needs saying that at the present day in almost every part of the world the prescriptions of the canon law regarding burial are in conflict with secular legislation in more than one particular. In such cases the Church is often compelled to waive her right, in order to prevent greater evils. On the other hand, we may notice that the Church's claim to exercise control over the burial of her members dates back to an age anterior even to the freedom given to Christianity under Constantine. From the beginning the principle seems to have been insisted upon that the faithful should be buried apart from the pagans. Thus St. Cyprian of Carthage makes it a matter of reproach against a Spanish bishop Martial that he had not sufficiently attended to this, and that he had tolerated "filios exterarum gentium more apud profana sepulchra depositos et alienigenis consepultos" (Cyprian, Ep. lxvii, 6). In the same way St. Hilary, a century later, considers that Our Saviour warned His disciples against a similar profanation "Admonuit non admisceri memoriis sanctorum mortuos infideles" (Hilary, in S. Matt., vii). So also the Donatists when they gained the upper hand were so deeply imbued with this principle of exclusive sepulture that they would not allow the Catholics to be buried in the cemeteries they had seized upon. "Ad hoc basilicas invadere voluistis ut vobis solis coemeteria vindicetis, non permittentes sepeliri corpora Catholica" (Optatus, VI, vii). With regard to the exclusion of suicides from the consecrated burial grounds it would appear that some similar practice was familiar to the pagans even before Christianity had spread throughout the empire. Thus there is a well-known pagan inscription of Lanuvium of the year 133: "Quisquis ex quâcunque causâ mortem sibi asciverit eius ratio funeris non habebitur." Probably this was not so much a protest of outraged morality as a warning that in the matter of burial no man had a right to make himself prematurely a charge upon the community. The time of burial is, generally speaking, between sunrise and sunset; any other hour requires the permission of the bishop (Ferraris, s.v., 216, 274, 279). For the rest the diocesan statutes, regulations of the local ecclesiastical authority, and custom are to be considered, also the civil law and the public sanitary regulations.

The Ritual of Burial

Speaking first of the usages of the Catholic Church at the present day it will probably be convenient to divide the various religious observances with which the Church surrounds the mortal remains of her faithful children after death into three different stages. The prayers and blessings which are provided by the "Rituale" for use before death will best be considered under the heading Death, Preparation for, but in the rites observed after death we may distinguish first what takes place in the house of the deceased and in bringing the body to the church, secondly the function in the church and thirdly the ceremony by the grave side. In practice, it is the exception for the whole of the Church's ritual to be performed, especially in the case of the burial of the laity in a large parish; but in religious houses and where the facilities are at hand the service is generally carried out completely.

With regard to the observances prescribed before the body is conveyed to the church it may be noted that according to the rubrics prefixed to the title "De exsequiis" in the "Rituale Romanum" a proper interval (debitum temporis intervallum) ought to elapse between the moment of death and the burial, especially where death has occurred unexpectedly, in order that no doubt may remain that life is really extinct. In southern climates it is not unusual to celebrate the funeral the day after the decease or even upon the day itself, but the practice both in pagan and Christian times has varied greatly. Among the ancient Romans it would seem that the bodies of persons of distinction were commonly kept for seven days, while the poor were interred the day after death. In these matters the Church has generally been content to adopt the usages which were already in possession. The washing of the corpse is so frequently spoken of both in secular and monastic rituals as to wear almost the aspect of a religious ceremony, but no special prayers are assigned to it. Minute directions are given as to the clothing of the dead in the case of all clergy. They are to be attired in ordinary ecclesiastical costume and over this they are to wear the vestments distinctive of their order. Thus the priest or bishop must be clad in amice, alb, girdle, maniple, stole and chasuble. His biretta should be placed upon his head and the tonsure should be renewed. The deacon similarly wears his dalmatic and stole, the subdeacon his tunicle, and the cleric his surplice. In practice it is usual in the case of a priest to place upon the coffin lid a chalice and paten at one end with the biretta at the other; but this is not ordered in the rubrics of the "Rituale". For the laity it is directed that the body should be decently laid out, that a light should be kept burning, that a small cross should, if possible, be placed in the hands, failing which the hands are to be arranged in the form of a cross, and that the body should occasionally be sprinkled with holy water. The burning of more than one candle beside the body is not directly enjoined for all, but it is mentioned in the "Caeremoniale" in the case of a bishop and is of general observance. On the other hand, it is mentioned that the debita lumina, the candles which according to ancient custom are carried in the procession, ought to be provided by the parish gratuitously in the case of the very poor, and it is very distinctly enjoined that in exacting such fees as custom prescribes on these occasions the clergy ought sedulously to avoid all appearance of avarice. It is also laid down that the laity, even in the case of crowned heads, are never to be carried to the grave by the hands of the clergy -- a prescription which can be traced back to a synod of Seville in 1512 and is probably much older. But in the Early Church this does not seem to have been observed, for we have several recorded instances in which ladies who died in repute of sanctity, as for example St. Paula or St. Macrina, were carried to the grave by bishops.

The first stage in the obsequies of a deceased person according to the rite now in use is the conveyance of the body to the church. At an appointed hour the clergy are directed to assemble in the church, a signal being given by the tolling of a bell. The parish priest in surplice and black stole, or if he prefer it wearing a black cope as well, goes to the house of the deceased with the rest of the company, one cleric carrying the cross and another a stoup of holy water. Before the coffin is removed from the house it is sprinkled with holy water, the priest with his assistants saying beside it the psalm De Profundis with the antiphon Si iniquitates. Then the procession sets out for the church. The cross-bearer goes first, religious confraternities, if such there be, and members of the clergy follow, carrying lighted candles, the priest walks immediately before the coffin and the friends of the deceased and others walk behind. As they leave the house the priest intones the antiphon Exsultabunt Domino, and then the psalm Miserere is recited or chanted in alternate verses by the cantors and clergy. On reaching the church the antiphon Exsultabunt is repeated, and as the body is borne to its place "in the middle of the church" the responsory Subvenite (Come to his assistance ye Saints of God, come to meet him ye Angels of the Lord, etc.) is recited. The present rubric directs that if the corpse be that of a layman the feet are to be turned towards the altar; if on the other hand the corpse be that of a priest, then the position is reversed, the head being towards the altar. Whether this exceptional treatment of priests as regards position is of early date in the West is open to considerable doubt. No earlier example seems so far to have been quoted than the reference to it in Burchard's "Diary" noted by Catalani. Burchard was the master of ceremonies to Innocent VIII and Alexander VI, and he may himself have introduced the practice, but his speaking of it as the customary arrangement does not suggest this. On the other hand, the medieval liturgists apparently know no exception to their rule that both before the altar and in the grave the feet of all Christians should be pointed to the East. This custom we find alluded to by Bishop Hildebert at the beginning of the twelfth century (P.L., CLXXI, 896), and its symbolism is discussed by Durandus. "A man ought so to be buried", he says, "that while his head lies to the West his feet are turned to the East, for thus he prays as it were by his very position and suggests that he is ready to hasten from the West to the East" (Ration. Div. Off., VII, 35). But if Roman medieval practice seems to offer no foundation for the distinction now made between the priest and the layman, it is noteworthy that in the Greek Church very pronounced differences have been recognized from an early date. In the "Ecclesiastical Hierarchy" of Pseudo-Dionysius, which belong to the fifth century, we learn that a priest or bishop was placed before the altar (epiprosthen tou seiou thysiasteriou), while a monk or layman lay outside the holy gates or in the vestibule. A similar practice is observed to the present day. The corpse of a layman during the singing of the "Panychis" (the equivalent of the "Vigiliae Mortuorum" or Vigil of the Dead) is usually deposited in the narthex, that of a priest or monk in the middle of the church, while in the case of a bishop he is laid during a certain portion of the service in different positions within the sanctuary, the body at one point being placed behind the altar exactly in front of the bishop's throne and the head towards the throne (Maltzew, Begrabniss-Ritus, 278) It is possible that some imitation of this practice in Dalmatia or in Southern Italy may have indirectly led to the introduction of our present rubric. The idea of both seems to be that the bishop (or priest) in death should occupy the same position in the church as during life, i.e. facing his people whom he taught and blessed in Christ's name.

Supposing the body to have been brought to the church in the afternoon or evening, the second portion of the obsequies, that carried out in the church, may begin with the recital of the Vespers for the Dead. This, however, is not prescribed in the "Rituale Romanum", which speaks only of Matins and Lauds, though Vespers are mentioned in the "Caeremoniale Episcoporum" in the case of a bishop. If the Vespers for the Dead are said they begin with the antiphon Placebo, and the Office of Matins, if we exclude the invitatory, begins with the antiphon Dirige. For this reason the "Placebo and Dirige," of which we so constantly find mention in medieval English writers, mean simply the Vespers and Matins for the Dead. It is from the latter of these two words that the English term dirge is derived. Candles are lighted round the coffin and they should be allowed to burn at least during the continuance of the Office, Mass, and Absolutions. Throughout the Office for the Dead each psalm ends with Requiem aeternam (Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them) in the place of the Gloria Patri. It is interesting perhaps to note here that the liturgist, Mr. Edmund Bishop, after minute investigation has come to the conclusion that in this familiar formula, Requiem oeternam dona eis, Domine; et lux perpetua luceat eis, we have a blending of two distinct liturgical currents' "the second member of the phrase expresses the aspiration of the mind and soul of the Roman, the first the aspiration of the mind and soul of the Goth" (Kuypers, Book of Cerne, 275). It is true that it has been maintained that the words are borrowed from a passage in IV Esdras (Apocrypha), ii, 34-35, but we may doubt if the resemblance is more than accidental.

With regard to the Office and Mass which form the second portion of the Exsequioe, the Matins after a preliminary invitatorium: "Regem cui omnia vivunt, venite adoremus", consist of nine psalms divided as usual into three nocturns by three sets of lessons and responsories. The first nocturn, as already noted, begins with the antiphon "Dirige, Domine Deus meus, in conspectu tuo vitam meam", and is made up of the three psalms, Verba mea, Ps. v, Domine ne in furore, Ps. vi, and Domine Deus meus, Ps. vii, each having its own antiphon, which is duplicated. The lessons both in this and in the following nocturns are all taken from the Book of Job, chapters vii, x, xiii, xiv, xvii, and xix, in which the sufferer expresses the misery of man's lot, but above all his unalterable trust in God. The lessons are read without the usual absolution and blessing, but each is followed by a responsory, and some of these responsories in their picturesque conciseness deserve to be reckoned among the most striking portions of the liturgy. We may quote for example the last responsory of the third nocturn which occurs again before the absolution. It is this translated in the Roman Breviary of the late Marquess of Bute:

Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death in that awful day when the heavens and earth shall be shaken, and Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.
Verse. Quaking and dread take hold upon me, when I look for the coming of the trial and the wrath to come.
Answer. When the heavens and the earth shall be shaken.
Verse. That day is a day of wrath, of wasteness and desolation, a great day and exceeding bitter.
Answer. When Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.
Verse. O Lord, grant them eternal rest, and let everlasting light shine upon them.
Answer. Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death in that awful day, when the heavens and the earth shall be shaken and Thou shalt come to judge the world by fire.

There seems reason to believe that this responsory is not of Roman origin (Batiffol, Roman Breviary, 198) but it is of considerable antiquity. At present, if the whole three nocturns (the second of which consists of Pss. xxii, xxiv, xxvi; and the third of Pss. xxxix, xl, and xli) are not said owing to lack of time or for any other cause, then another responsory, Libera me de viis inferni, is sung in place of that just quoted. Lauds follow immediately, in which the psalms Miserere and Te decet hymnus replace those usually said at the beginning and the Canticle of Ezechias is sung instead of the Benedicite. The Benedictus is recited with a special antiphon from John, xi, 25-26. This is familiar to many as having been retained in the burial service of the Church of England, "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die". Finally after certain preces follows the impressive collect Absolve, which is also said in the Mass, "Absolve, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the soul of thy servant N. that being dead to this world he may live to Thee, and whatever sins he may have committed in this life through human frailty, do Thou of Thy most merciful goodness forgive; through our Lord Jesus Christ", etc. The "Rituale" directs that if all three nocturns of the office cannot be said, it would be desirable to say at least the first. But it is even more emphatic in urging that Mass should not be omitted except on certain privileged festivals of the highest class which exclude a Mass for the dead proesente cadavere, i.e. even when the body is present. These days include the feasts of Christmas, the Epiphany, Easter, the Ascension, Whitsunday, Corpus Christi, The Annunciation, Assumption and Immaculate Conception, Nativity of St. John Baptist, St. Joseph, Sts. Peter and Paul, All Saints, the last three days of Holy Week, the Quarant' Ore, or Forty Hours, and certain patronal feasts. On all other days, roughly speaking, the Church not only permits but greatly desires that the Holy Sacrifice should be offered for the deceased as the most solemn part of the rite of interment. To secure this the severer regulations of earlier centuries have in many respects been greatly relaxed in recent times. For example it is not now of obligation that the Mass should be sung with music. In the case of poor people who cannot defray the expenses incident to a Mass celebrated with solemnity, a simple low Mass of Requiem is permitted even on Sundays and other prohibited days, provided that the parochial Mass of the Sunday be also said at another hour. Moreover this one Missa in die obitus seu depositionis may still be offered in such cases, even when on account of contagious disease or other serious reason the body cannot be brought to the church. As in the case of the Office, the Mass for the Dead is chiefly distinguished from ordinary Masses by certain omissions. Some of these, for example that of the Psalm Judica and of the blessings, may be due to the fact that the Missa de Requie was formerly regarded as supplementary to the Mass of the day. In other cases, for instance in the absence of hymns from the Office for the Dead, we may perhaps suspect that these funeral rites have preserved the tradition of a more primitive age. On the other hand, the suppression of the Gloria in excelsis, etc., as of the Gloria Patri seems to point to a sense of the incongruity of joyful themes in the presence of God's searching and inscrutable judgments. Thus a tractate of the eighth or ninth century printed by Muratori (Lit. Rom. Vet., II, 391) already directs that in the Vigils for the Dead "Psalms and lessons with the Responsories and Antiphons belonging to Matins are to be sung without Alleluia. In the Masses also neither Gloria in exelsis Deo nor Alleluia shall be sung." (Cf. Ceriani, Circa obligationem Officii Defunctorum, 9.)

In the early Christian ages, however, it would seem that the Alleluia, especially in the East, was regarded as specially appropriate to funerals. Another omission from the ordinary ritual of high Mass is that of the kiss of peace. This ceremony was always associated in idea with Holy Communion, and as Communion was not formerly distributed to the faithful at Masses for the Dead, the kiss of peace was not retained. A conspicuous feature of the Requiem Mass is the singing of the sequence, or hymn, "Dies irae". This masterpiece of medieval hymnology is of late introduction, as it was probably composed by the Franciscan Thomas of Celano in the thirteenth century. It was not designed for its present liturgical use but for private devotion -- note the singular number throughout voca me cum benedictis, quid sum miser tunc dicturus, etc., as also the awkwardness of the added pie Jesu Domine dona eis requiem, but the hymn appears printed in the "Missale Romanum" of 1485, though apparently not in the earlier edition of 1474. However the use of the "Dies irae" in connection with the exsequioe mortuorum is much more ancient, and Dr. Ebner has found it, musically noted as at present, in a Franciscan Missal of the thirteenth century. (Ebner, Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte des Missale Romanum, 120). During the Mass it is customary, though not a matter of precept, to distribute tapers of unbleached wax to the congregation or at least to those assisting within the sanctuary. These are to be lighted during the Gospel, during the latter part of the Holy Sacrifice from the Elevation to the Communion, and during the absolution which follows the Mass. As already remarked the association of lights with Christian obsequies is very ancient, and liturgists here recognize a symbolical reference to baptism (the illumination, photismos) whereby Christians are made the children of Light, as well as a concrete reminder of the oft repeated prayer et lux perpetua luceat eis. (Cf. Thalhofer, Liturgik, II, 529.)

After Mass follows the absolution or Absoute, to use the convenient term by which the French designate these special prayers for pardon over the corpse before it is laid in the grave. These prayers of the Absoute, like those said by the grave side, ought never to be omitted. The subdeacon bearing the processional cross, and accompanied by the acolytes, places himself at the head of the coffin (i.e. facing the altar in the case of a layman, but between the coffin and the altar in the case of a priest), while the celebrant, exchanging his black chasuble for a cope of the same colour, stands opposite at the foot. The assisting clergy are grouped around and the celebrant without preamble begins at once to read the prayer Non intres in judicium cum servo tuo, praying that the deceased "may deserve to escape the avenging judgment, who, whilst he lived, was marked with the seal of the holy Trinity". This is followed by the responsory "Libera me Domine", which, as occurring in the Matins for the Dead, has already been quoted above. Then after the Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison the priest says aloud the Pater Noster and while this is repeated in silence by all, he makes the round of the coffin, sprinkling it with holy water and bowing profoundly before the cross when he passes it. After which, taking the thurible, he incenses the coffin in like manner; where we may note that the use of incense at funerals is derived from the earliest Christian centuries, though no doubt our manner of waving the censer towards persons and objects is relatively modern. Moreover it is possible that the incense was originally employed on such occasions for sanitary reasons. Finally after finishing the Pater Noster and repeating one or two short versicles to which answer is made by the clergy, the celebrant pronounces the prayer of absolution, most commonly in the following form:

O God, Whose attribute it is always to have mercy and to spare, we humbly present our prayers to Thee for the soul of Thy servant N. which Thou has this day called out of this world, beseeching Thee not to deliver it into the hands of the enemy, nor to forget it for ever, but to command Thy holy angels to receive it, and to bear it into paradise; that as it has believed and hoped in Thee it may be delivered from the pains of hell and inherit eternal life through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Although this prayer in its entirety cannot be surely traced to an earlier date than the ninth century, it contains several elements that recall the phraseology of primitive times. It is to be found in most of our existing manuscripts of the Gregorian Sacramentary. At the burial of bishops, cardinals, sovereigns, etc., not one but five absolutions are pronounced according to the forms provided in the "Pontificale Romanum". These are spoken by five bishops or other "prelates", each absolution being preceded by a separate responsory. In these solemn functions the prayer just quoted is not said, but most of the responsories and prayers used are borrowed from the Office for the Dead or from the Masses in the Roman Missal. It may be noted that all these absolutions are not in the declaratory but in the deprecatory form, i.e. they are prayers imploring God's mercy upon the deceased. After the absolution the body is carried to the grave and as the procession moves along the antiphon "In paradisum" is chanted by the clergy or the choir. It runs thus: "May the angels escort thee to paradise, may the martyrs receive thee at thy coming and bring thee into the holy city Jerusalem. May the choir of angels receive thee, and with Lazarus, who once was poor, mayst thou have eternal rest." According to the rubric "the tomb (sepulchrum) is then blessed if it has not been blessed previously"; which has been ruled to mean that a grave newly dug in an already consecrated cemetery is accounted blessed, and requires no further consecration, but a mausoleum erected above ground or even a brick chamber beneath the surface is regarded as needing blessing when used for the first time. This blessing is short and consists only of a single prayer after which the body is again sprinkled with holy water and incensed. Apart from this the service at the grave side is very brief. The priest intones the antiphon: "I am the Resurrection and the Life", after which the coffin is lowered into the grave and the Canticle Benedictus is meanwhile recited or sung. Then the antiphon is repeated entire, the Pater Noster is said secretly, while the coffin is again sprinkled with holy water, and finally after one or two brief responses the following ancient prayer is said: "Grant this mercy, O Lord, we beseech Thee, to Thy servant departed, that he may not receive in punishment the requital of his deeds who in desire did keep Thy will, and as the true faith here united him to the company of the faithful, so may Thy mercy unite him above to the choirs of angels. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

Then with the final petition: "May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace", the little procession of cross-bearer, surpliced clerics, and priest return to the sacristy reciting the De Profundis as they go. In some places the custom prevails that the officiating priest before retiring should offer the holy-water sprinkler to the relatives of the deceased who are present, in order that they may cast holy water upon the coffin in the grave. In others it is usual for the priest himself and for all present to throw down upon the coffin a handful of earth. This custom symbolical no doubt of "dust to dust" is certainly ancient and even in the "Rituale Romanum" a rubric is to be found prescribing that "in obsequies which have of necessity to be performed only in private and at the house of the deceased, blessed earth is put into the coffin while the Canticle Benedictus is being said". This no doubt is to be regarded as the nearest available equivalent to interment in a consecrated grave. In other localities, more particularly in Germany, it i[s] customary for the priest to deliver a short discourse (Leichenrede) before leaving the cemetery. This is the more appropriate because nearly everywhere in Germany the civil law forbids the corpse to be taken to the church except in the case of bishops and other exalted personages. The result is that Mass and Office are performed with a catafalque only, and seem even in those rare cases in which they are retained to have nothing to do with the burial, instead of forming, as they should do, its most essential feature. On the other hand the service at the grave side is apt to appear strangely brief and perfunctory unless impressiveness be given to it by the discourse of the officiating priest. It may be noted that many local customs are still allowed to continue without interference in the ritual observed by the grave side. Before the Reformation there was an extraordinary variety of prayers and responsories commonly recited over the grave especially in Germany. The extreme simplicity of the "Rituale Romanum" represents no doubt a reaction against what threatened to become an abuse. Of the peculiar rites which so long survived locally, the Ritual of Brixen may be taken as an illustration. In this when the priest blesses the corpse with holy water, he is directed to say: "Rore coelesti perfundat et perficiat animam tuam Deus". As the body is lowered into the ground he says: "Sume terrâ quod tuum est, sumat Deus quod suum est, corpus de terrâ formatum, spiritus de coelo inspiratus est". Then the priest scatters earth upon the body with a shovel three times, saying, "Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris". After this the Magnificat is recited and the psalm Lauda anima mea Dominum, with various prayers, and then with a wooden cross the priest signs the grave in three places, at the head, in the middle, and at the feet, with the words; "Signum Salvatoris Domini nostri Jesu Christi super te, qui in hac imagine redemit te, nec permittat introire, [and here he plants the wooden cross at the head of the grave] angelum percutientem in aeternum". It is interesting to note that after once more blessing the grave with holy water he recites a prayer over the people in the vernacular. The clergy and all others present also sprinkle holy water on the grave before they depart.

The Burial of Little Children

The "Rituale Romanum" provides a separate form of burial for infants and children who have died before they have reached years of discretion. It directs that a special portion of the cemetery should be set aside for them and that either the bells should not be tolled or that they should be rung in a joyous peal. Further, custom prescribes that white and not black should be used in token of mourning. The priest is bidden to wear a white stole over his surplice and a crown of flowers or sweet foliage is to be laid upon the child's brow. The processional cross is carried, but without its staff. The body may be borne to and deposited temporarily in the church, but this is not prescribed as the normal arrangement and in any case no provision is made for either Office or Mass. One or two psalms of joyous import, e.g. the Laudate pueri Dominum (Ps. cxii), are appointed to be said while the body is borne to the church or to the cemetery, and holy water and incense are used to bless the remains before they are laid in the ground. Two special prayers are included in the ritual, one for use in the church, the other by the grave side. The former, which is certainly ancient, runs as follows: "Almighty and most compassionate God, Who upon all little children that have been born again in the fountain of Baptism, when they leave this world without any merits of their own, straightway bestowest everlasting life, as we believe that Thou has this day done to the soul of this little one, grant we beseech Thee, O Lord, by the intercession of Blessed Mary ever Virgin and of all Thy saints, that we also may serve Thee with pure hearts here below and may consort eternally with these blessed little ones in paradise, Through Christ our Lord, Amen." On the way back to the church the Canticle Benedicite is recited, and the prayer "Deus qui miro ordine angelorum ministeria hominumque dispensas", which is the collect used in the Mass of St. Michael's day, is said at the foot of the altar. The cross without the handle which is carried in the procession is considered to be symbolical of an incomplete life. Many other peculiarities are prevalent locally. Thus in Rome in the eighteenth century, as we learn from Catalani, the dead child was generally clothed in the habit known as St. Philip Neri's. This is black in colour but sprinkled all over with gold and silver stars. A tiny biretta is placed upon the child's head and a little cross of white wax in its hands. Miniature habits of the different religious orders are also commonly used for the same purpose.

History of Our Present Ritual

With regard to the burial of the dead in the early Christian centuries we know very little. No doubt the first Christians followed the national customs of those peoples amongst whom they lived, in so far as they were not directly idolatrous. The final kiss of farewell, the use of crowns of flowers, the intervals appointed for recurring funeral celebrations, the manner of laying out the body and bearing it to the grave, etc., show nothing that is distinctive of the Christian Faith, even though later ages found a pious symbolism in many of these things. Moreover the use of holy water and incense (the latter originally as a sort of disinfectant) was also no doubt suggested by similar customs among the pagans around them. Perhaps we should add that the funeral banquets of the pagans were in some sense imitated by the agapoe or love-feasts of the Christians which it seems to have been usual to celebrate in early times (see Marucchi, Eléments d'archéologie chrétienne, I, 129), also that the anniversary Masses and "months minds" of the Church undoubtedly replaced a corresponding pagan usage of sacrifices. (See Dublin Review, July, 1907, p. 118.) But of the existence of some distinctively religious service we have good evidence at an early date. Tertullian refers incidentally to the corpse of a woman after death being laid out cum oratione presbyteri. St. Jerome in his account of the death of St. Paul the Hermit speaks of the singing of hymns and psalms while the body is carried to the grave as an observance belonging to ancient Christian tradition. Again St. Gregory of Nyssa in his detailed description of the funeral of St. Macrina, St. Augustine in his references to his mother St. Monica, and many other documents like the Apostolical Constitutions (Bk. VII) and the "Celestial Hierarchy" of Pseudo-Dionysius make it abundantly clear that in the fourth and fifth centuries the offering of the Holy Sacrifice was the most essential feature in the last solemn rites, as it remains to this day. Probably the earliest detailed account of funeral ceremonial which has been preserved to us is to be found in the Spanish Ordinals lately published by Dom Ferotin. It seems to be satisfactorily established that the ritual here described represents in substance the Spanish practice of the latter part of the seventh century. We may accordingly quote in some detail from "the Order of what the clerics of any city ought to do when their bishop falls into a mortal sickness". After a reference to Canon iii of the seventh Council of Toledo (646) enjoining that a neighbouring bishop should if possible be summoned, the directions proceed:

At what hour soever the bishop shall die whether by day or night the bell (Signum) shall at once be rung publicly in the cathedral (ecclesia seniore) and at the same time the bell shall ring in every church within a distance of two miles. Then while some of the clergy in turn recite or chant the psalms earnestly and devoutly, the body of the bishop deceased is stripped by priests or deacons. After washing the body... it is clothed with his usual vestments according to custom, i.e. his tunic, his breeches, and his stockings, and after this with cap (capello) and face-cloth (sudario). Thereupon is put upon him an alb, and also a stole (orarium) about his neck and before his breast as when a priest is wont to say Mass. Also a cruet is placed in his hand. Then the thumbs of his hands are tied with bands, that is with strips of linen or bandages. His feet are also fastened in the same way. After all this he is robed in a white chasuble (casulla). Then after spreading beneath a very clean white sheet, the body is laid upon the bier and all the while the priests, deacons and all the clergy keep continually reciting or chanting and incense is always burned. And in this wise he is laid in the choir of the church over which he ruled, lights going before and following behind and then a complete text of the gospels is laid upon his breast without anything to cover it, but the gospel itself rests upon a cloth of lambswool (super pallium agnavum -- this can hardly be the archiepiscopal pallium in its technical sense) which is placed over his heart. And so it must be that whether he die by night or day the recitation of prayers or chanting of psalms shall be kept up continuously beside him until at the fitting hour of the day Sacrifice may be offered to God at the principal altar for his repose. Then the body is lifted up by deacons, with the gospel book still lying on his breast, and he is carried to the grave, lights going before and following after, while all who are of the clergy sing the antiphons and responsories which are consecrated to the dead (quoe solent de mortuis decantare).

After this when Mass has again been celebrated in that church in which he is to be buried, salt which has been exorcised is scattered in the tomb by deacons, while all other religious persons present sing the antiphon, In sinu Abrahae amici tui conloca eum Domine. And then when incense has a second time been offered over his body, the bishop who has come to bury him advances and opening the dead man's mouth he puts chrism into it, addressing him thus: 'Hoc pietatis sacramentum sit tibi in participatione omnium beatorum'. And then by the same bishop is intoned the antiphon: In pace in idipsum dormiam et requiescam. And this one verse is said, "Expectans, expectavi Dominum et respexit me'; and the chanting is so arranged that the verses are said one by one while the first is repeated after each. When Gloria has been said the antiphon is repeated but not a second time.

Two impressive collects are then said and another prayer which is headed "Benedictio". After which "the tomb is closed according to custom and it is fastened with a seal". Probably this rather elaborate ceremony was a type of the funerals celebrated throughout Spain at this epoch even in the case of the lower clergy and the laity. Of the final prayer we are expressly told that in may also be used for the obsequies of a priest. Further it is mentioned that when the priest is laid out he should be clothed just as he was wont to celebrate Mass, in tunic, shoes, breeches, alb, and chasuble.

The rite of putting chrism into the bishop's mouth, as mentioned above, does not seem to be known else-where, but on the other hand, the anointing the breast of a dead person with chrism was formerly general in the Greek Church, and it seems to have been adopted at Rome at an early date. Thus in certain directions for burial and for Masses for the dead contained in the Penitential of Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury (c. 680) we meet the following: "(1) According to the Church of Rome, it is the custom, in the case of monks or religious men, to carry them after their death to the church, to anoint their breasts with chrism, and there to celebrate Masses for them; then to bear them to the grave with chanting, and when they have been laid in the tomb, prayer is offered for them; afterwards they are covered in with earth or with a slab. (2) On the first, the third, the ninth, and also the thirtieth day, let Mass be celebrated for them, and furthermore, let this be observed after a year has passed, if it be wished."

It seems natural to conjecture that the Spanish custom of putting the chrism into the mouth of the dead may have been meant to replace the practice which certainly prevailed for a while in Rome of administering the Blessed Eucharist either at the very moment of death or of leaving it with the corpse even when life was extinct. A clear example of this is forthcoming in the "Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great" (II, xxiv,) and see the Appendix on the subject in Cardinal Rampolla's "Santa Melania Giuniore" (p. 254). There is some reason to believe that the inscription Christus hic est (Christ is here), or its equivalent, occasionally found on tomb-stones (see Leblant, Nouveau Recueil, 3) bears reference to the Blessed Eucharist placed on the tongue of the deceased. But this practice was soon forbidden.

The custom of watching by the dead (the wake) is apparently very ancient. In its origin it was either a Christian observance which was attended with the chanting of psalms, or if in a measure adopted from paganism the singing of psalms was introduced to Christianize it. In the Middle Ages among the monastic orders the custom no doubt was pious and salutary. By appointing relays of monks to succeed one another orderly provision was made that the corpse should never be left without prayer. But among secular persons these nocturnal meetings were always and everywhere an occasion of grave abuses, especially in the matter of eating and drinking. Thus to take a single example we read among the Anglo-Saxon canons of Ælfric, addressed to the clergy: "Ye shall not rejoice on account of men deceased nor attend on the corpse unless ye be thereto invited. When ye are thereto invited then forbid ye the heathen songs (haethenan sangas) of the laymen and their loud cachinnations; nor eat ye nor drink where the corpse lieth therein, lest ye be imitators of the heathenism which they there commit" (Thorpe, Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, 448). We may reasonably suppose that the Office for the Dead, which consists only of Vespers, Matins, and Lauds, without Day-hours, originally developed out of the practice of passing the night in psalmody beside the corpse. In the tenth Ordo Romanus which supplies a description of the obsequies of the Roman clergy in the twelfth century we find the Office said early in the morning, but there is no mention of praying beside the corpse all night. In its general features this Roman Ordo agrees with the ritual now practised, but there are a good many minor divergences. For example the Mass is said while the Office is being chanted; the Absoute at the close is an elaborate function in which four prelates officiate, recalling what is now observed in the obsequies of a bishop, and the service by the grave side is much more lengthy than that which now prevails. In the earliest Ambrosian ritual (eighth or ninth century) which Magistretti (Manuale Ambrosianum, Milan, 1905, I, 67 sqq.) pronounces to be certainly derived from Rome we have the same breaking up of the obsequies into stages, i.e. at the house of the deceased, on the way to the church, at the church, from the church to the grave, and at the grave side, with which we are still familiar. But it is also clear that there was originally something of the nature of a wake (vigilioe) consisting in the chanting of the whole Psalter beside the dead man at his home (Magistretti, ib., I, 70).

A curious development of the Absoute, with its reiterated prayers for pardon, is to be found in the practice (which seems to have become very general in the second half of the eleventh century) of laying a form of absolution upon the breast of the deceased. This is clearly enjoined in the monastic constitutions of Archbishop Lanfranc and we have sundry historical examples of it. (Cf. Thurston, Life of St. Hugh of Lincoln, 219.) Sometimes a rude leaden cross with a few words scratched thereupon was used for the purpose and many such have been recovered in opening tombs belonging to this period. In one remarkable example, that of Bishop Godfrey of Chichester (1088), the whole formula of absolution may be found in the same indicative form which meets us again in the so-called "Pontifical of Egbert". It is noteworthy that in the Greek Church to this day a long paper of absolution, now usually a printed form, is first read over the deceased and then put into his hand and left with him in the grave.

The only other point among the many peculiar features of medieval ritual which seems to claim special notice here is the elaborate development given to the offertory in the funeral of illustrious personages. Not only on such occasions were very generous offerings made in money and in kind, with a view, it would seem, of benefiting the soul of the deceased by exceptional generosity, but it was usual to lead his war-horse up the church fully accoutred and to present it to the priest at the altar rails, no doubt to be afterwards redeemed by a money payment. The accounts of solemn obsequies in early times are full of such details and in particular of the vast numbers of candles burned upon the hearse; this word hearse in fact came into use precisely from the resemblance which the elaborate framework erected over the bier and bristling with candles bore to a harrow (hirpex, hirpicem). Of the varying and protracted services by the grave side, which at the close of the Middle Ages were common in many parts of Germany and which in some cases lasted on until a much later period, something has already been said.

Ritual of the Greek Church

The full burial service of the Greek Church is very long and it will be sufficient here briefly to call attention to one or two points in which it bears a close resemblance to the Latin Rite. With the Greeks as with the Latins we find a general use of lighted candles held by all present in their hands, as also holy water, incense and the tolling of bells. With the Greeks as in the Western Communion, after a relatively short service at the house of the deceased, the corpse is borne in procession to the church, and deposited there while the Pannychis, a mournful service of psalmody, is recited or sung. In the burial of a bishop the Holy Sacrifice or divine liturgy is offered up, and there is in any case a solemn absolution pronounced over the body before it is borne to the grave. Black vestments are usually worn by the clergy, and again, as with us, the dead man, if an ecclesiastic, is robed as he would have been robed in life in assisting at the altar. There are, however, a good many features peculiar to the Eastern Church. A crown, in practice a paper band which represents it, is placed upon the dead layman's head. The priest is anointed with oil and his face is covered with the aer, the veil with which the sacred species are covered during the Holy Sacrifice. Also the open Gospel is laid upon his breast as in the early Spanish ordinal. The Alleluia is sung as part of the service and a symbolical farewell is taken of the deceased by a last kiss. Upon the altar stands a dish with a cake made of wheat and honey, emblematic of the grain which falling to the ground dies and bringeth forth much fruit. Moreover many difference are made in the service according as the dead person is layman, monk, priest, or bishop, and also according to the ecclesiastical season, for during paschal time white vestments are worn and another set of prayers are said. The burial rite of the Greeks may be seen in Goar, "Euchologium Graecorum" (Paris, 1647), 423 sqq.; also in the new Russian edition by Al. Dmitrieoski (Kiev, 1895-1901). For the law of the Church of England concerning burial, see Blunt-Phillimore "The Book of Church Law" (London, 1899), 177-87, and 512-17, text of Burial Laws Amendment Act of 1880.

Burial Confraternities

It would take us too far to go into this subject at length. Even from the period of the catacombs such associations seem to have existed among the Christians and they no doubt imitated to some extent in their organization the pagan collegia for the same purpose. Through-out the Middle Ages it may be said that the guilds to a very large extent were primarily burial confraternities; at any rate the seemly carrying out of the funeral rites at the death of any of their members together with a provision of Masses for his soul form an almost invariable feature in the constitutions of such guilds. But still more directly to the purpose we find certain organizations formed to carry out the burial of the dead and friendless as a work of charity. The most celebrated of these was the "Misericordia" of Florence, believed to have been instituted in 1244 by Pier Bossi, and surviving to the present day. It is an organization which associates in this work of mercy the members of all ranks of society. Their self-imposed task is not limited to escorting the dead to their last resting-place, but they discharge the functions of an ambulance corps, dealing with accidents as they occur and carrying the sick to the hospitals. When on duty the members wear a dress which completely envelops and disguises them Even the face is hidden by a covering in which only two holes are left for eyes. See Cemetery; Cremation; Requiem.

CATALANI, Commentarius in Rituale Romanum (1756); THALHOFER, Liturgik, II, Pt. II; IDEM, in Kirchenlex., s.v.; BINTERIM, Denkwürdigkeiten (Mainz, 1838), VI, Pt. III, 362-514; MARTÈNE, De antiquis Ecclesiæ ritibus, II and IV; RULAND, Geschichte der kirchlichen Leichenfeier (Ratisbon, 1902); ALBERTI, De sepultura ecclesiasticâ (1901); PROCÈS, La sépulture dans l'eglise catholique, in Précis historiques (Brussels, 1882); MURCIER, La sépulture chrétienne en France (Paris, 1855); PROBST, Die Exsequien (Mainz, 1856); MARUCCHI, Eléments d' archéologie chrét. (Rome, 1899), I, 129-131; PÉTRIDÈS, in Dict. d'arch. et lit. s.v. Absoute. -- On the Canon Law of burial, see especially Lex, Das kirchliche Begräbnissrecht (Ratisbon, 1904); also SĀGMÜLLER, Kirchenrecht (Freiburg, 1904), Pt. III; FERRARIS, Bibliotheca, s.v. sepultura; VON SCHERER, Kirchenrecht, II, 601. -- On Burial in the Greek Church: MALTZEW, Begräbniss-Ritus (Berlin, 1896). -- On Absolution Crosses: CHEVREUX, in Bulletin archéol. (Paris, 1904), 391-408; COCHET, La Normandie souterraine; IDEM, Sépultures gauloises (Paris, 1855 and 1857), 71 sqq.; KRAUS, Kunst und Alterthum in Lothringen (Strasburg, 1889), 604-612. See also the bibliography of the article CEMETERY.

External links

• Let's Talk About Death by a Nun of the Orthodox Church
• Christian Funeral Rituals by Funeral Services Singapore