Funeral Masses and Masses for the Dead

Nov 11, 2014

Q1: “In line with funerals and Masses for the dead, can you please clarify the difference between funeral Masses and Masses for the dead? We find in the Ordo, particularly during Lent and some solemnities, instructions that no Masses for the dead are celebrated except funeral Masses. Does ‘no Masses for the dead’ imply that during these seasons, the faithful cannot make requests for anniversary or memorial Masses for their deceased ones during the weekday Masses of the parish? If so, what is the reason?” — a reader from Dublin, Ireland

A: A “funeral Mass” is usually the Mass in which the remains of the deceased are present and at which the rites of aspersion, incensing and final commendation may be celebrated. On some occasions, for example, if the body is unavailable for burial, a funeral Mass can also be celebrated, obviously omitting the rites that imply the presence of the remains.

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), No. 380-381, says:

“380. Among the Masses for the Dead, the Funeral Mass holds first place. It may be celebrated on any day except for Solemnities that are holy days of obligation, Holy Thursday, the Easter Triduum, and the Sundays of Advent, Lent, and Easter, with due regard also for all the other requirements of the norm of the law.

“381. A Mass for the Dead may be celebrated on receiving the news of a death, for the final burial, or the first anniversary, even on days within the Octave of Christmas, on obligatory Memorials, and on weekdays, except for Ash Wednesday or weekdays during Holy Week.

“Other Masses for the Dead, that is, ‘daily’ Masses, may be celebrated on weekdays in Ordinary Time on which optional memorials occur or when the Office is of the weekday, provided such Masses are actually applied for the dead.”

Therefore the Church distinguishes three classes: funeral Masses, Masses for the dead for the specific reasons mentioned in 381, paragraph 1, and all other Masses for the dead.

The possibility of celebrating each kind effectively depends on the liturgical season. This is done to respect the importance of the liturgy’s message during these seasons, so that its continuity is not lost by the celebration of Masses for the dead. After all, every day of the year is somebody’s anniversary.

So, the answer to our reader’s enquiry is that effectively, during the restricted liturgical days it is not possible to ask for a Mass for the dead except in the cases foreseen in 381, paragraph 1.

However, this does not mean that there is nothing that the priest can do.

We must distinguish between offering a Mass for the Dead and celebrating a Mass whose intention is the eternal repose of a particular soul or souls.

Since the latter is basically the private intention of the priest, albeit offered at the request of others, almost any intention can be admitted and on any day. This private intention has no effect on the formulas of the Mass which follow the liturgy of the day but is no less efficacious than the Mass for the Dead, properly speaking.

In such cases, although the names of the deceased are not mentioned either in the prayers of the proper or in the Eucharistic Prayer, they may be recalled at the beginning of Mass and/or during the prayer of the faithful. --Answered by Legionary of Christ Fr Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy and dean of theology at the Regina Apostolorum University.