English 
Chinese 
Dutch 
Arabic 
Spanish 
Portuguese 
Russian 
French 
Italian 
German 
Japanese 
Continue reading with a subscription
Get unlimited access to all our premium content and exclusive features.
Enjoy unlimited access, cancel anytime.
Summary
- Dark, modest, clean clothes suit a Catholic wake, funeral Mass and burial; black is not required, and no Church rule asks women to cover their heads.
- A Catholic funeral has three parts in three places: the vigil or wake, usually at the funeral home; the funeral Mass, as a rule in the parish church (canon 1177); and the committal at the grave (Catechism 1686).
- In the United States even the priest may wear violet, white or black at a funeral (General Instruction of the Roman Missal 346), and Cyprian of Carthage told his people in the third century “that the black garments should not be taken upon us here.”
- The US bishops’ guidelines say that members of churches not in full communion with the Catholic Church “are ordinarily not admitted to Holy Communion,” and they ask everyone not receiving to pray for unity.
- The Church sets no period for mourning dress, but it keeps praying for the dead: a Mass card tells the family that a Mass will be offered, since “a priest is free to apply the Mass for anyone, living or dead” (canon 901), and the Catechism mentions the anniversary of a death and the seventh or fortieth day after it (Catechism 1687).
- The Church allows cremation but prefers burial (canon 1176); its 2016 instruction Ad resurgendum cum Christo says ashes must be laid to rest in a sacred place, and a December 2023 note says Church authorities may consider a family’s request to keep “a minimal part of the ashes” in a place significant to the person who died.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture: King James Version, 1 Thessalonians 4:13, BibleGateway.
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “An Overview of Catholic Funeral Rites”, usccb.org.
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Bereavement and Funerals” (with excerpts from the General Introduction of the Order of Christian Funerals), usccb.org.
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Guidelines for the Reception of Communion”, approved 14 November 1996, usccb.org.
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Non-Catholic Readers at Funeral Mass”, citing the Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism (1993), no. 133, usccb.org.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1685–1688, The Celebration of Funerals, Holy See.
- Code of Canon Law (1983), canon 6, Preliminary Canons; canons 901 and 945, The Most Holy Eucharist, and canons 1176–1177, Ecclesiastical Funerals, Holy See.
- General Instruction of the Roman Missal, with the adaptations for the dioceses of the United States, no. 346, Holy See.
- Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction Ad resurgendum cum Christo regarding the burial of the deceased and the conservation of the ashes in the case of cremation, 15 August 2016, Holy See.
- Vatican News, “Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith responds to questions about cremation”, 12 December 2023, on the Dicastery’s response approved by Pope Francis on 9 December 2023, vaticannews.va.
- Cyprian of Carthage, On the Mortality, 20–21, tr. Robert Ernest Wallis, Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 5 (1886), New Advent.
- John Chapman, “St. Cyprian of Carthage”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 4 (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908), New Advent.
Leave a Reply