Office of the Dead

Office of the Dead



Common Office of the Dead

Solemn Office of the Dead

This Office has undergone little change from its earliest forms, and is therefore an exemplification of ancient western Catholic usage. Thus this office has no Opening Versicles (which are a later introduction, considered unsuitable for an office of this penitential character), and makes no use of the Alleluja or Gloria Patri. In this respect it is like the Divine Office of the Sacred Triduum. Because burial anciently took place immediately after death, the original form of the Rubrics and Collects assume that such is the case, and need to be adjusted to modern practice. It should be understood that hell is usually quoted in this Office from the Scriptures where, as in the Creed, it means Limbo and has no reference to eternal punishment, unless the context implies it. The word most used for Lord is the sacred Hebrew Name which indicated God as the uncreate and eternal Source of Being who entered into Covenant with his people.

GENERAL RUBRICS

It is fitting that this Office be said on the day of death or burial, or between these times, as occasion offers. It is also said on any other suitable occasion, or according to the prescribed local customs. In particular, where Obligation of Choir exists, it is said in Choir after the Divine Office whenever the Missal orders the Conventual Mass for the Dead.

When this Office is said immediately after the bringing of the body into the church (provided, of course, that this was a liturgical function), or after any other liturgical function for the Dead, it is begun at once with the first Antiphon (or at Matins, with the Invitatory), that is, without the preliminary Dual or Triple Prayer; and this is also the case when it is said in connection with the Divine Office, as noted below.

Vespers is normally said after Vespers of the Day, Matins and Lauds after Lauds of the Day, in which case the Fidelium is not said, but when the V. Benedicamus Domino and R. Deo gratias is ended, the Office for the Dead is begun at the first Antiphon or the Invitatory, as stated above. But in all other cases the Dual or Triple Prayer is first said, as at the Divine Office. However, at the end there is no final Pater, nor is the final Antiphon of the B.V.M. said, as would be done if the Divine Office were being ended.

And the Antiphons are not doubled when this Office is said as the Common Office for the Dead throughout the year, corresponding to the Common Mass for the Dead. But they are doubled whenever it is celebrated as a matter of special obligation or commemoration (eg. on All Souls Day or on some other occasion which constitutes a solemnity for the dead), as : 1. The day of death or burial or the occasion treated as such (eg. upon receipt of the news of death); 2. A special commemoration of the death, such as the Third Day's Mind, the Week's Mind, or the Year's Mind and other like Anniversaries; and 3. At any other time that the Office is solemnly celebrated (eg. on a memorial day when the Mass is to be said with one Collect).