Order of Christian Funerals

As the family gathers to prepare the funeral of their loved one, many discussions emerge about how the funeral will be celebrated. One of the most challenging elements of the preparation is the conversation around the choice of music for the Funeral Mass. So often the music is chosen without any reference to the liturgical action which the music supports. The Order of Christian Funerals states:

Music is integral to the funeral rites. It allows the community to express convictions and feelings that words alone may fail to convey. It has the power to console and uplift the mourners and to strengthen the unity of the assembly in faith and love. The texts of the songs chosen for a particular celebration should express the paschal mystery of the Lord’s suffering, death, and triumph over death and should be related to the readings from Scripture (OCF 31).

A further statement of principle supports this vision: In the choice of music for the Funeral Mass, preference should be given to the singing of the acclamations, the responsorial psalm, the entrance and communion songs, and especially the song of farewell at the final commendation (OCF 157)

The Introductory Rites begin with the reception of the body at the entrance of the church. Music could accompany the procession of the presider as he proceeds to the entry where the family of the deceased surrounds the coffin, waiting to accompany their loved one into the gathered assembly. The presider greets the assembly, then sprinkles the coffin with holy water (OCF 160) emphasising the baptismal character of the funeral rites.

The Entrance procession brings the coffin, the family and the ministers into the liturgical assembly. This procession is accompanied by a ‘psalm, song or responsory psalm’ (OCF 162). The choice of music to accompany this procession needs to support, console, and uplift the participants and should help to create in them a spirit of hope in Christ’s victory over death and in the Christian’s share in that victory (OCF 31).

The repertoire contained in Catholic Worship Book II (141-157) covers a breadth of music and texts that enable the assembly to be nourished by words of consolation and hope. Here are a few examples of texts sung to well-known melodies.

Farewell, we come to send you on the way

we all must walk, so final, secret, strange.

In wond’ring awe, in grief and hope we pray,

pilgrims of time, to one who does not change,

whose love can lead us through the darkest night

to live and joy in everlasting light.

CWB 141, Tune FINLANDIA

Go, silent friend, your life has found its ending;

to dust returns your weary mortal frame.

God, who before birth called you into being,

now calls you hence, his accent still the same.

Go, silent friend, your life in Christ is buried;

for you he lived and died and rose again.

Close by your side your promised place is waiting

where, fully known, you shall with God remain.

CWB 143, Tune LONDONDERRY AIR (Danny Boy)

Sing with all the saints in glory,

sing the resurrection song!

Death and sorrow, earth’s dark story

to the former days belong.

All around the clouds are breaking,

soon the storms of time shall cease.

In God’s likeness we awaken,

knowing everlasting peace.

CWB 147, Tune HYMN TO JOY

When human voices cannot sing

and human hearts are breaking,

we bring our grief to you, O God

who knows our inner aching.

CWB 149, Tune ST COLUMBA (O Breathe on Me)

These musical settings use very familiar melodies, and would enable most of the assembly to participate. If there are a number of verses to be sung, and depending on the length of the procession, the final verse of the hymn could be sung after the placing of the pall and the Christian symbols upon the coffin, giving a sense of unity to the music, texts and actions. The Collect is prayed to conclude the Introductory Rites.  

At the end of the Funeral Liturgy, the final commendation includes the Song of Farewell. On many occasions, these words are spoken but, as its name suggests, it is a song and by its very nature needs to be sung. Again various music settings have familiar melodies and, for pastoral reasons, it would be important if one or two of these pieces were a well-known part of the parish repertoire.

Come to her aid, O saints of God,

come meet her angels of the Lord.

Receive her soul, O holy ones;

present her now to God Most High.

CWB 150, Tune OLD 100th

The Song of Farewell usually accompanies the incensing of the coffin and sprinkling it with water – an excellent example of the music accompanying a ritual action.

Then, as the Procession to the Place of Committal begins, one of several ancient texts is sung (sometimes known from classical music as the In Paradisum).

May saints and angels lead you on

escorting you where Christ has gone.

Now he has called you, come to him

who sits above the seraphim.

CWB 155, Tune TALLIS’ CANON

Sometimes the cantor can sing this text as the coffin is turned and the ministers and pallbearers form the procession. The processional hymn begins as the coffin is carried out of the church and the people follow.

So often, the bereaved want the favourite song of the deceased person at this point. Some years ago a newspaper in one of our capital cities conducted a survey and found that popular songs and football songs were often requested by the family to conclude the liturgy. Such musical genre would be more appropriate for the Vigil the evening before the funeral or at a social gathering after the funeral. These are more appropriate times for family and friends to remember the life of the deceased.

To assist with other music choices for the Funeral Mass, some hymnals offer liturgical and topical indices to help identify hymns that express comfort and consolation, eternal life, heaven, hope, victory over sin and death, and resurrection.

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This article was originally published in Liturgy News ​Vol 50(3) September 2020. Reprinted with permission.