Rituals
Latter-day Saint Funeral
Also Known As Mormon Funeral · Dedication of the Grave
Funerary Rituals
Citation Formats
General Reference
APA Style
BibTeX
A Latter-day Saint funeral is a plain service, usually held in an ordinary meetinghouse, conducted by the bishop of the deceased's ward and arranged in large part by the ward Relief Society. The tone is set by the doctrine behind it: death is a change of state within a continuing existence rather than an ending, and the family of a person sealed in a temple expects the relationship to resume, so the service is markedly less mournful than most Christian funerals and is often described by visitors as sounding more like a reunion deferred.
The service is short and follows no fixed liturgy. There are hymns, prayers, a eulogy or several given by family members, and a talk by the bishop or another speaker on the plan of salvation. Latter-day Saints do not hold a requiem, offer no prayers for the repose of the dead, and use no incense, candles or vestments.
A person who received the temple endowment is dressed for burial in the white temple clothing worn in that ordinance, an act the church treats as private to the family. At the graveside a Melchizedek priesthood holder, usually a family member, dedicates the grave in a short priesthood ordinance, a practice the church treats as an ordinance rather than a prayer. The Relief Society commonly provides a meal afterward, which is one of the most consistent expressions of ward life anywhere in the movement.
Facts
Practice
Who Performs ItSourced to the subject's own accountClergy or ordained officiants 1 FrequencySourced to the subject's own accountOnce, or at a turning point in a life 1 Observance
Observance TypeThe movement holds no annual festival of the dead, which is unusual among Christian traditions. The work other traditions do at such a festival is done continuously instead, through proxy ordinances in the temples. 4Tradition: The Latter Day Saint movement Observance NoteSourced to the subject's own accountHeld in an ordinary meetinghouse, conducted by the bishop, arranged by the Relief Society. No requiem, no prayers for the dead, no incense or vestments. The grave is dedicated afterward by a Melchizedek priesthood holder as a distinct ordinance. 1Tradition: The Latter Day Saint movement Meaning
Literal MeaningSourced to the subject's own accountThe name is a plain descriptive English label for the rite rather than a translation of any doctrinal or foreign term; the church's own administrative handbooks refer to it exactly this way, simply as a funeral or a funeral service. 1 Origins
Place of OriginWestern New York State, within the Latter-day Saint movement 2 Historical OriginThe movement's distinctive funeral tone traces to Nauvoo-era teaching in the 1840s, above all Joseph Smith's King Follett discourse, which reframed death as a stage within a continuing, progressive existence rather than a final ending, moving early Latter-day Saint practice away from the mainstream American Protestant funeral customs of the same period. 3 Attributions
PurposeSourced to the subject's own accountBeyond comforting the bereaved, the service functions to draw the ward community formally into the family's loss, with responsibility for arrangements and the customary meal afterward assigned to the Relief Society as an act of official congregational care rather than left to private initiative. 1 Function
Stage of Life MarkedDeath and the disposal of the body 1 Sourced to the subject's own accountFuneral rite, the standard classification in LDS practice manuals. Status
Status TodaySourced to the subject's own accountLiving tradition, practised today 1Tradition: The Latter Day Saint movement Practice Status DetailSourced to the subject's own accountBurial is preferred on the reasoning that the body is to be resurrected, but cremation has never been forbidden and the current published position leaves the decision to the family and to local law and custom. 1 Learn More
A Service That Does Not Sound Like a Funeral
Visitors to a Latter-day Saint funeral frequently remark that it does not sound like one, and the reason is doctrinal rather than temperamental. If death is a change of state within a continuing existence, and if the family of a person sealed in a temple expects the relationship to resume, then the service has less to grieve about than most. Latter-day Saints do grieve, and say so, but the framing of the occasion is an interval rather than an ending.
The service is short and plain. It is held in an ordinary meetinghouse where possible rather than a commercial funeral chapel, conducted by the bishop of the deceased's ward, and arranged in most of its practical detail by the ward Relief Society. There are hymns sung by the congregation, an opening and closing prayer, a eulogy or several given by family members, and a talk by the bishop or another speaker on the plan of salvation. There is no requiem, no prayer for the repose of the dead, no incense, no vestments and no liturgical colour.
The church's handbook has long instructed that the occasion be simple and that it be used to teach the plan of salvation as well as to remember the person, an instruction that has drawn a certain amount of affectionate complaint from members who would prefer rather more about their grandmother and rather less about the degrees of glory.
Dedicating the Grave, and the Festival That Does Not Exist
Two details distinguish the Latter-day Saint handling of death from the Christian traditions around it.
The first is at the graveside. After the service the family gathers at the grave and a man holding the Melchizedek priesthood, ordinarily a son or a grandson, dedicates it. The church treats this as an ordinance rather than as a prayer, performed by priesthood authority, and it asks that the ground be dedicated as a resting place and that it be protected until the resurrection. It takes under a minute and it is the last thing done. Where no priesthood holder is present, a prayer is offered instead and the distinction is observed carefully.
The second is an absence. A person who received the temple endowment is buried in the white temple clothing worn in that ordinance, dressed by family members, an act the church treats as private and which the atlas does not describe further.
And the movement holds no annual festival of the dead. There is no All Souls, no Obon, no Qingming, no Day of the Dead, and no fixed day on which Latter-day Saints go to the graves. That is unusual among Christian traditions and it is not an oversight. The work that other traditions concentrate into one day of the year is done continuously instead, in the temples, by proxy ordinance, on behalf of people the family has identified by name. Recording the absence, and the reason for it, is more useful than leaving a gap where a festival would be.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Belongs to Tradition
Instance Of
Conducted by the bishop of the ward, arranged by the Relief Society, with the grave dedicated afterward by a Melchizedek priesthood holder as a distinct ordinance.
Related To
The ward Relief Society arranges the funeral and commonly provides the meal afterward.
The service is given to teaching the plan of salvation as much as to eulogy, which is why it sounds less mournful than most Christian funerals.
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.