Office of the Dead, The

The plight of the Holy Souls in Purgatory is far too often ignored, and it is the purpose of this booklet to provide a simple means of fulfilling our most sacred duties towards the departed members of the Mystical Body.   These Faithful Departed are an integral part of our Church, and they rely on those yet living in this vale of tears for comfort and assistance. They are unable to help themselves, and surely, it is one of our most consoling inspirations, when we lose a loved one, that we still have a role to play in helping them endure and hasten their path to final glory.

In publishing the Office of the Dead, we hope that it may be of use in such times of sorrowful bereavement. Not only does it alleviate the sufferings of our departed loved ones, but provides a positive means for us to show our love for them, comforting them spiritually now that we can no longer physically do so.

The prayers and services contained in this booklet can equally be of help in fulfilling our duties towards the Holy Souls in the month of November. This special time, set aside by the Church to remember those who have gone before us, can be a source of untold graces both for them and ourselves.   Indulgenced prayers for the dead are particularly beneficial, and many of them can be said not only in November, but at any time of the year, to bring solace to the Church Suffering.

Finally, this booklet may serve as a prayerbook for members of the Guild of All Souls or Purgatorial Society. Many of the prayers are suitable for gatherings of such guilds, and may be used as common prayer as well as privately. We shall be publishing another volume that will contain the Requiem Mass and other parts of the Funeral Service, and hope eventually to add a third volume to this series that will include other prayers, novenas and chaplets for the dead, thus providing a definitive collection of the Church’s official and devotional prayers for the departed.