Organising a Catholic funeral can be daunting for some, but when the funeral is during Lent there may be a few surprises regarding the music.

The choice can seem somewhat limited or at some churches non-existent. The ‘rules’ regarding music do vary from church to church, as each Parish Priest has the last say on what happens in ‘his’ church. 

We are constantly inspired by the people we hear about in eulogies at funerals, but one day this week, we discovered hidden histories amongst our musical colleagues too!

At Singers for Funerals, we often sing for Catholic funerals, including both simple and full mass services. Indeed, soprano Toni is the soloist of choice for several Catholic churches in Hampshire, and in particular the Southampton/Portsmouth areas.

Looking through our records of music sung at funerals brought to light some interesting insights into the most popular Catholic funeral songs and hymns.

When choosing hymns for a funeral service it's often difficult to know where to start, as there are so many hymns to choose from. We've sung at many Catholic funeral masses and funeral services, so here's some help for choosing funeral hymns.

Choosing funeral songs can be difficult, and even more so if you're choosing for a Roman Catholic Funeral.

We have sung at a number of Roman Catholic funerals, when there has been some confusion beforehand about what music may be sung during a requiem mass.

​Many people wish to celebrate a loved one's life with music that is special to them. So families have been surprised by the restrictions on the type and content of the songs and hymns which are considered acceptable for a funeral mass in the Catholic church.

An issue that has come to light is if a funeral takes place during Lent, some priests have insisted there's no music at all in the church.

(This is what caused me to do the investigation and call the Catholic Church to get a definite answer).

We've sung at a many Catholic funeral masses recently, and the choice of hymns has set us thinking.

There are so many different hymns in the hymn books(the Laudate has over 900 listed). Most churches have a repertoire of favourite hymns that suit the priest, congregation and musicians but sometimes these are not the most popular or well known.

A rare treat for singer Kirsty last week, two funerals in two days with her favourite funeral organist Paul Burgoyne. Two very contrasting services too!