Absolution of the dead

Cardinal Woelki blesses the coffin of Joachim Cardinal em. Meisner, Cologne cathedral, 2017

Absolution of the dead is a prayer for or a declaration of absolution of a dead person's sins that takes place at the person's religious funeral.

Such prayers are found in the funeral rites of the Catholic Church,[1] Anglicanism,[2] and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Liturgists analysing the Roman Rite funeral texts have applied the term "absolution" (not "absolution of the dead") to the series of chants and prayers that follow Requiem Mass and precede the solemn removal of the body from the church for burial.[3][4][5] They have not applied the same term (which does not appear in the official Latin-language liturgical books of the Catholic Church) to the chants and prayers preceding the Mass, in spite of the presence among them of the prayer: "Absolve, we beseech thee, O Lord, the soul of thy servant from every bond of sin, that he may live again among thy saints and elect in the glory of the resurrection."[6]

In the early 20th century, the French term absoute was sometimes used instead of "absolution".[4]

  1. ^ Rituale Romanum, "De exsequiis"; Order of Christian Funerals
  2. ^ Anglican Service Book, p. 378
  3. ^ Giuseppe Baldeschi, Ceremonies of the Roman Rite, pp. 376–378
  4. ^ a b Thurston, Herbert. "Christian Burial." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 5 Apr. 2009 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03071a.htm>.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tridentine was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Latin text in Rituale Romanum (Pustet 1872), p. 137; English translation in Frederick Charles Husenbeth, The Missal for the use of the laity (Dolman 1848), p. XCIII