Funerals
We at St. Anthony of Padua want to express our sympathy at the loss of your loved one. Our faith reminds us that our Lord is the God of all consolation! He comforts us in all our afflictions, and enables us to comfort those who grieve with the same consolation we have received from Him. May our compassionate Lord be with you in a special way during this time of grief.
If you need to contact us in an emergency please call 352 -588-3081. If this is outside of office hours select the option to contact a priest on call. or by filling out the Funeral contact form, this form goes directly to the Pastor or priest on call. During office hours please call the office so that we can immediately assist you.
The Church, through its funeral rites, commends the dead to God’s merciful love. During our funeral rites, especially at the celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice, the Christian community affirms and expresses the union of the Church on earth with the Church in heaven in the one great communion of saints. The celebration of the Christian funeral brings hope and consolation to the living. While proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and witnessing to Christian hope in the resurrection, the funeral rites also recall to all who take part in them, God’s mercy and meet the human need to turn always to God in times of crisis, while we hold each other in prayer. Your first step is to contact us with the details of the deceased. If you have not already done so, please complete the Funeral Contact Form. Then download the Funeral Planning Sheet that is located further down this page.
Funeral Procedures and Protocol
St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church is staffed from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm Monday through Thursday, 9:00 am -12:00 noon on Friday. When the parish office is closed, please follow phone prompts for an emergency. The on-call priest will respond to the call as soon as possible. Please complete the Funeral Contact Form, which will also notify the office and priest that you need to speak with us.
Funerals with a Funeral Director
The standard procedure for a funeral at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church is that a funeral director (funeral home or mortuary) work with St. Anthony’s parish staff to plan the funeral date/time for the funeral mass and internment (burial). Funeral directors are very helpful to the parish. In addition to helping set the date, they also provide valuable assistance with programs, easels and tables for pictures and guest books. Normally the procedure is that, after news of death, the funeral home is contacted first. The funeral home will then contact St. Anthony’s to determine possible times and dates for a funeral Mass/Liturgy. The family will meet with the funeral director and confirm the date/time of the funeral. At this point, if you have not completed the Funeral Contact Sheet, you should do so. The system will notify our office that you have completed this form and someone from our office will contact you. While you are waiting for our call, you can begin completing the Funeral Planning Sheet.
Funeral Planning Sheet
The funeral planning sheet is a guide to begin the planning process. Please print the document and complete as much of the form as you can. Toward the bottom you will see a list of the Old Testament, New Testament, and Gospel readings. Click on the verse number to read the full passage. Please select one reading from the Old Testament, one reading from the New Testament and one Gospel reading.
Recommended Funeral Stipends
The following suggested stipends/fees are based on services rendered by St. Anthony's staff. [In case of financial hardship, please talk with the parish staff member who is planning the funeral with you.]
- Sacristan $50.00
- Church $175.00
- Organist $150.00
- Cantor $100.00
- Server $20.00
- Priest/presider: $200.00*
*While no stipend/fee is expected, families often choose to make a gift as a sign of their appreciation for the pastoral services rendered by the presiding priest and assisting deacon. In addition to the funeral service itself, this may include wake/vigil and burial services. In funerals without a Mass, a deacon usually presides.
Guest Priest/Deacon
If the family of the deceased requests a guest clergy, they must inform the parish staff member who is planning the funeral. The staff member will inform St Anthony's Pastor to obtain permission. The family will still work with our parish staff member to ensure that the funeral liturgy is planned according to our customs at St Anthony’s. If the visiting priest or deacon is not clergy of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, they will need to provide a letter of good standing from their diocese before being allowed to celebrate or assist at the funeral.
Vigils / Wakes
St Anthony's does not participate in vigil services. We focus on the Funeral Mass and Internment.
Eulogies
The grieving process necessarily includes time to remember the life of the deceased loved one. In the Catholic funeral rite, this is most appropriately done during the time of visitation, or at the Vigil (Wake) Service.
Since the Funeral Mass is primarily the time for praise and thanks for God's gift of eternal life in Jesus, we do not allow the inclusion of a eulogy at the Funeral Mass. Please be sure to plan for eulogies at the Vigil (Wake) Service.
Funeral Music Specific to St. Anthony of Padua
The Music Ministry at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church extends to you our deepest sympathy. Music is integral to the funeral rites. It allows the community to express convictions and feelings that words alone may fail to convey. It has power to console and uplift the mourners and to strengthen the unity of the assembly in faith and love. The texts of songs chosen for a particular celebration should express the paschal mystery of the Lord’s suffering, death, and triumph over death and should be related to the readings from Scripture.
Because music has such a dignified place within the funeral liturgies, at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church we presume that our music director and available members of the choir will be assisting at each funeral. Guest musicians or cantors will be considered at the family’s request and could be incorporated into the funeral liturgy according to specific abilities and preferences of each musician or cantor, but must always work in cooperation with our music director. Please contact the office 352-588-3081 for assistance.
During the final commendation, we will sing a short refrain of “May the choirs of angels come to greet you.”
Our Music Director, Jim Carlo, has compiled a list of suggested funeral music. Please use this list when selecting your music for the Funeral Planning Sheet. If you have questions you can speak to the parish office staff member who is planning the funeral or you can email Jim Carlo at music@saopccfl.org. We are here to help in any way we can.
Suggested Funeral Readings
The following is a list of Scriptures appropriate for use at Funeral Masses. One reading is chosen from the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Gospel.
Non-Scripture readings cannot be read in place of these readings.
NOTE: If you click on the reading it will open so that you can read the whole scripture verse.
Old Testament (Select One)
- 2 Maccabees 12.43-46 “…he made atonement for the dead…”
- Job 19 “…I know that my vindicator lives….”
- Ecclesiastes 3.1-15 (1) “…A time to be born, a time to die…”
- Ecclesiastes 3.1-8 “…A time to be born, a time to die…”
- Wisdom 3.1-9 “…The souls of the just are in the hand of God…”
- Wisdom 3.1-6.9“…The souls of the just are in the hand of God…”
- Wisdom 4.7-14“The Righteous One, though he die early, shall be at rest…”
- Sirach 2.1-11 “…in fire gold is tested….Compassionate is the Lord…”
- Isaiah 25.6.7-9 “…he will destroy death forever…”
- Isaiah 26.7-19“…your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise…”
- Isaiah 35.1-10 “…Here is your God, he comes with vindication…”
- Isaiah 40.1-11“…Here is your God, Here comes with power…”
- Lamentations 3.17-26“…My portion is the Lord, says my soul…”
- Ezekiel 37.12-14“O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise…”
- Daniel 12.1-3 “…the wise shall shine brightly…”
- Micah 7.7-9 “…though I sit in darkness, the Lord is my light…”
New Testament (Select One)
- Acts 10.34-43 “Everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins”
- Acts 10.34-36.42-43 “Everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins”
- Romans 5.5-11 “…We were reconciled to God through the death of his Son…”
- Romans 5.17-21 “…through one righteous act acquittal and life came to all…”
- Romans 6.3-9 “…if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall live with him…”
- Romans 6.3-4.8-9 “…if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall live with him…”
- Romans 8.1-11 “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ…”
- Romans 8.14-23 “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are Children of God”
- Romans 8.31-35.37-39 “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
- Romans 14.7-9.10-12 “This is why Christ died and came to life”
- 1 Corinthians 2.6-10 “Eye has not seen, and ear has not heard…”
- 1 Corinthians 15.12-20 “If there is no resurrection of the dead…”
- 1 Corinthians 15.20-28 “In Adam all die, so too if Christ shall all be brought to life.”
- 1 Corinthians 15.51-57“Death where is your victory?”
- 2 Corinthians 4.14-5.1 “The one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us…”
- 2 Corinthians 5.1.6-10 “We would rather leave the body and go home…”
- Philippians 3.7-14 “…I run toward the prize to which God calls me…”
- Philippians 3.20-21 “He will change our lowly body…”
- 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18 “If we believe that Jesus died and rose…”
- 2 Timothy 2.8-13“Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead…”
- 2 Timothy 4.1-2.6-8 “I have competed well, I have finished the race…”
- 1 John 3.1-2“Beloved, we are God’s children now…”
- 1 John 3.14-16 “We know that we have passed from death to life…”
- Revelation 14.13“…Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord…”
- Revelation 20.11-21.1 “…The sea gave up its dead; then Death and Hades…”
- Revelation 21.1-5.6-7 “…I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem…”
Gospel (Select One)
- Matthew 5.1-12 “The Eight Beatitudes”
- Matthew 11.25-30 “come to me . . . and I will give you rest.”
- Matthew 25.1-13 “Look. The bridegroom comes. Go out to meet him”
- Matthew 25.31-46 “Come, you whom my Father has blessed”
- Mark 15.33-39 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
- Mark 15.33-39 “Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last”
- Luke 7.11-17 “Young man, I say to you, arise.”
- Luke 12.35-40 “Be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect,…”
- Luke 23.33.39-43 “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
- Luke 23.44-46.50.52-53 24.1-6a “Father, I put my life in your hands.”
- Luke 23.44-49 “Father into your hands I commend my spirit”
- Luke 24.13-16.28-35“Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer…”
- Luke 24.13-35 “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer…”
- John 5.24-29 “Whoever hears my word and believes has passed from…”
- John 6.37-40 “All who believe in the Son will have eternal life…”
- John 6.51-58 “All who eat this bread will live for ever….”
- John 11.17-27 “I am the resurrection and the life.”
- John 11.21-27“I am the resurrection and the life.”
- John 11.32-45 “Lazarus, come out.”
- John 12.23-28 “If a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies…”
- John 12.23-26 “If a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies…”
- John 14.1-6 “There are many rooms in my Father’s house.”
- John 17.24-26“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me…”
- John 19.17-18.25-39 “Jesus bowed his head and gave up his spirits.”
