Funeral and Burial Requests

The parish where I work operates on the same campus as our cemetery for the friars (see this post for a lovely picture.) We also have the funerals for our brothers here in the parish church, and one of the little jobs I have picked up along the way is to be MC and liturgical coordinator for these Masses and Committals. When one of the brothers concludes his pilgrimage in this life, his personnel file is opened and requests he has made for his funeral are sent to me. Some are very detailed, others not. Most have asked for certain readings and nominated friars as potential preachers.

So, after having been through this process a few times, I decided to write up my own requests and send them in to be entered into my file. Here's what I wrote:


Funeral and Burial Requests
Br. Charles L. of New Haven

Anything that I have not delineated is considered ad libitum.

Readings:

Ezekiel 43:1-6
Romans 12: 1-2
John 3:1-10

Vesture:
Black, Violet, and White are all acceptable; my only preference is that everything, i.e. pall and vestments, match.

Personnel:

Preacher: Br. N., if possible. Otherwise, please ask my other classmates, in reverse order of seniority. Then proceed to members of the class immediately before mine, then after, then the next before, etc.

Music:

If possible, I would love if the antiphons and propers of the Mass could be sung instead of replacing them with hymns. This goes especially for the Entrance and Communion antiphons outside of the Easter season, the Requiem aeternam and Lux aeterna, respectively.

If it is not possible to sing the actual Mass and hymns and songs must be used, these are to be selected by the actual musician for the Mass or music director of the place.

Burial:

I would like to be buried in a Capuchin habit. I do not wish to have a rosary wrapped about my hands. Please vest me with the traditional violet stole.