page_title: Requiem
section_title: Post–Vatican II
hierarchical_section_title: Requiem / Liturgical rite / Post–Vatican II
caption_attribution_description: English: An example of a pre-Vatican II vestment from Saint Pancras Church
context_page_description: A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead or Mass of the dead, is a Mass in the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal. It is usually, but not necessarily, celebrated in the context of a funeral.
  Musical settings of the propers of the Requiem Mass are also called Requiems, and the term has subsequently been applied to other musical compositions associated with death, dying, and mourning, even when they lack religious or liturgical relevance.
  The term is also used for similar ceremonies outside the Roman Catholic Church, especially in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of Anglicanism and in certain Lutheran churches. A comparable service, with a wholly different ritual form and texts, exists in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as in the Methodist Church.
  The Mass and its settings draw their name from the introit of the liturgy, which begins with the words "Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine", which is cited from 2 Esdras—requiem is the accusative singular form of the Latin noun requies, "rest, repose".
context_section_description: In the liturgical reforms of the mid-20th century in the Roman Catholic Church following the Novus Ordo Second Vatican Council, there was a significant shift in the funeral rites used by the Church. The emphasis on sorrow and grief was to be replaced by one which also includes the whole community's worship of God and in which the deceased is entrusted to God's love, based on trust in the salvific value of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
  The term "Requiem Mass" was often replaced by the term "Mass of the Resurrection" or Mass of Christian Burial, although the former was never official terminology. In the official English ritual, Order of Christian Funerals, published by the Roman Catholic Bishops of England and Wales in 1990, the title is given as "Funeral Mass". Requiem Mass remains a suitable title for other Masses for the dead and for the Funeral Mass itself, (as the proper antiphons remain in force, Introit: "Eternal rest grant ... " / "Requiem æternam dona eis Domine"; Offertory: "Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, deliver the souls of all the faithful departed ... " / "Domine Iesu Christe, Rex gloriæ, libera animas ...", Communion: "Let perpetual light shine ..." / "Lux æterna luceat eis, Domine..."), although the propers are not often actually used. In line with this shift, the use of black vestments was made optional by the Second Vatican Council (and had mostly disappeared by the late 20th century, at least in the United States, although their use is seeing a resurgence), with the preference of many being for white, (the use of which is an indult for some countries, not part of the universal rubrics) the color of joy associated with Easter, or purple, for a muted version of mourning. The texts used for the service experienced a similar change, with more options for the readings, some of which reinforce an overall theme of the promise of eternal life made by Jesus.
caption: Black vestments used in Requiem Masses, from St Pancras Church, Ipswich
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