Blessing (funeral rite)

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The blessing ceremony called in the Protestant liturgy a prayer service, in which the dying person or the deceased is again blessed. In earlier times and regionally, the term " consecration" came and still does . In terms of its origins, it was the first of three parts of the church burial if the burial was carried out soon after death. However, if the blessing takes place today, it is temporally separated from it. The opening of the three-part Protestant burial in the mourning house, which was customary in the past, is only rarely carried out and when it is, it is usually in rural areas.

In the Roman Catholic Church, the blessing corresponds to a “farewell” in the house where the dead were before the deceased was transferred to the lay-up, a short prayer service, which is also known regionally as a “blessing”.

The funeral ceremony takes place in the death room, in the hospital, hospice or old people's home also in a separate cemetery. Depending on the possibility, the room can be designed for worship with a cross and a candle.

Evangelical blessing

The prayer usually leads the prayer. However, it can also be led by a church leader, a congregation member or a relative, who can orientate himself on suggestions from the Evangelical Hymnbook . In nursing homes, the nursing staff and roommates are often given the opportunity to say goodbye before the coffin leaves the care facility.

The bedside blessing of a dying person before death can consist of the following elements:

After death, devotion can take the following form:

Depending on the possibility, a song can be sung at the beginning, at the end or at another suitable point.

The parting blessing can be the Aaronic blessing or another blessing. A common valet or farewell blessing is:

May God the Father bless you,
who created you in his image.
May God, the Son, bless you, who
redeemed you through his suffering and death. May
God bless you, the Holy Spirit,
who has called and sanctified you to believe.
God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
guide you through the darkness of death.
May he be gracious to you in judgment
and give you peace and eternal life. Amen.

In East Friesland, the custom of "coffin" is still widespread, which takes place on the evening of the day of death or the following day in the cemetery chapel or in the morgue and in which relatives, neighbors and friends say goodbye in a short devotion.

Catholic farewell

The short service can be led by a priest or a layperson. In some places it is customary to sprinkle the corpse or the coffin with holy water. The process can be as follows:

For the prayers immediately before and after death, see: Church prayers for the death .

literature

  • Agende for Evangelical Lutheran churches and communities, Volume III: The official acts, Part 4: Service to the sick. Hanover 1994
  • Agende for Evangelical Lutheran churches and communities, Volume III: The official acts, Part 5: The funeral. Hanover 1996

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christian Grethlein: Art. Consecration. In: RGG 4, Vol. 2, p. 1173.
  2. ↑ Austrian dictionary. 38th edition, p. 272.
  3. ↑ Prayer in the mourning house in: The church funeral in the Catholic dioceses of the German-speaking area. Benno Verlag, licensed edition, 2nd edition, Leipzig 1988, p. 24.
  4. ^ Agende for Evangelical Lutheran churches and communities, Volume III: The official acts, Part 5: The burial, page 33
  5. ↑ So z. B. No. 851 in the Appendix Rhineland / Westphalia / Lippe or No. 835 in the Appendix Mecklenburg.
  6. ^ Agende for Evangelical Lutheran churches and communities, Volume III: The official acts, part 4: Service to the sick, page 117f.
  7. ^ Agende for Evangelical Lutheran churches and communities, Volume III: The official acts, Part 5: The burial, page 32ff.
  8. ↑ Divine service book, chapter Burial: Farewell blessing , pp. 22–32. ( Memento from January 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ Explanation of the coffin on the website of the Evangelical Lutheran Church District Aurich
  10. ↑ Prayer in the house of mourning. in: The church funeral in the Catholic dioceses of the German-speaking area. Benno Verlag, licensed edition, 2nd edition, Leipzig 1988, p. 24f.