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Bereavement

Requiem mass music / songs

(14 Posts)
Grannyjacq1 Fri 11-Oct-19 20:04:25

My 95 year old mother sadly passed away earlier this week, and the family are organising the funeral. As a devout Catholic, she will be having a requiem mass. Does this mean that all the music will have to be very religious? Having just been to see the film 'Judy', and knowing that mum was a Judy Garland fan, I wonder if something like 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' would be suitable for a leaving song/piece of music, or would this be considered too 'non-religious'? Does it depend on the priest? I gave up going to church when I was 13, so feel very out of touch. Advice please!

MawB Fri 11-Oct-19 20:07:26

Ask the priest - I am sure the music will be fine but perhaps not the song with the words.

trisher Fri 11-Oct-19 20:15:50

There is info here www.funeralguide.co.uk/help-resources/arranging-a-funeral/religious-funerals/catholic-funerals But I think some priests make funerals very different. I knew one who regarded the funeral mass as a celebration because the deceased was being welcomed into heaven.

CanadianGran Fri 11-Oct-19 20:17:43

I do think it depends on the priest. Perhaps have a few suggestions and get approval before the mass.
You may even find a hymn sung by a modern artist, such as Amazing Grace by Nana Mouskouri. Over the Rainbbow is a beautiful song, so I hope they would approve it.

GrandmaKT Fri 11-Oct-19 20:19:51

Hi, we've just had my father's funeral. Never having set foot in a Catholic church in living memory, he requested a funeral in the Catholic church and "Faith of our Fathers" (an old traditional Catholic hymn)!
I guess it depends on the priest, but I know ours would not have allowed anything other than traditional hymns. The problem was that, although the church was full, only a handful were church-goers, so nobody knew the words! There was a lot of out of tune humming and foot-shuffling going on!
Are you also having a cremation? If so I would suggest that this is an ideal opportunity for playing tunes such as the one you are considering.
Hope all goes well.

MawB Fri 11-Oct-19 20:41:23

We had a Requiem Mass for Paw and chose music which mattered to us. I am not a Catholic, think there is nothing to beat good C of E hymns and fortunately the priest and organist were totally sympathetic.
Anyway, Paw was carried in by his three SILS among the pallbearers and the two little grandsons holding my hands , (DGD as the youngest held her mummy’s hand ) and the music was Bach’s “Sheep May Safely Graze “ which had been DD1’s entry music at her wedding. (We had laughed on that occasion as they had reached the altar rail far too quickly and then we had to stand while the choir sang the remaining verses. Nice to have a happy memory)
Our hymns were ”Oh Jesus I have promised to serve thee to the end” which was very appropriate as Paw retained a deep and sincere faith and belief at even his lowest points and tge final hymn was “Thine be the glory” from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus which is a favourite at family weddings and funerals ever since my MIL said you need to be able have a “good sing”.
It mattered to me to get it right but I don’t expect anybody else noticed!
Sincere condolences on losing your Mum flowers

paddyann Fri 11-Oct-19 21:40:24

My mother had an old hymn called Take me to thy Sacred heart and Panis Angelicus at hers ,they were special to her the young priest didn't know the first hymn ,it was "before his time" but the organist knew it and arranged a woman to sing it.My mumm used to sing around the house all the time Sinatra,Crosby,Matt Munro and HYMNS .She loved her hymns, and hearing these agian had us in floods of tears .I hope you find some that the priest will be happy with and that the service goes as well as these things can .

paddyann Fri 11-Oct-19 21:47:19

She had Jim Reeves Moonlight and Roses at the crematorium

Jane10 Fri 11-Oct-19 22:02:56

I just love belting out 'Abide with me' at funerals. It's hard to beat some of the old hymns. I used to be in a church choir and loved some of the anthems too. Ave Verum was a particular favourite.

MiniMoon Fri 11-Oct-19 22:06:50

Although we are not Catholic, both my parents being members of the Methodist Church, we had proper hymns at their funerals..

Both of them were cremated, and we chose music that was either a favourite of theirs or that reflected their likes.
The leaving music for my Dad was the instrumental part from The Chain which introduces the Formula 1 championship, played on a loop until everyone had left.
It seemed appropriate, as his great love was motor cars and engines, and he never missed a race.

BlueSapphire Fri 11-Oct-19 22:36:27

DH's parents were devout Catholics. When DMIL died DFIL had a favourite piece of Country and Western music played at the end of the mass. We did similar for him when he passed on. Apart from that it was the usual Requiem Mass with Catholic hymns. Oh and there was a bit of Irish music too! No objections from the priest.

At DH's funeral we had one of our wedding hymns, Love Divine. Our favourite Frank and Nancy song Something Stupid was also played, and John Denver's Hi Calypso at the end, as DH had been a very keen sub-aqua diver, and Cousteau was his hero.

Septimia Sat 12-Oct-19 09:22:50

My FiL was carried out of the church to 'Lazy Bones' sung by Paul Robeson.

There's much more flexibility about the choice of music these days.

jacq10 Sat 12-Oct-19 10:10:02

My DH was Catholic and we had a full Requiem Mass. The Parish Priest and myself chose DH's favourites for the service and I chose a traditional but non-religious Irish song for our exit from the church. The organist had to do a bit of a search to get the music but both he and the priest couldn't have been more helpful.

Norman1939 Mon 09-Dec-19 11:59:35

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