Funeral Masses In Cases Of Suicide

A reader writes:

Is a funeral mass permitted for a person who committed suicide?

The rule on who can receive a funderal Mass is Canon 1185:

Any funeral Mass must also be denied a person who is excluded from ecclesiastical funerals.

This means you have to look at the previous Canon (1184) to find out who can be granted ecclesastical funerals:

§1. Unless they gave some signs of repentance before death, the following must be deprived of ecclesiastical funerals:

1/ notorious apostates, heretics, and schismatics;

2/ those who chose the cremation of their bodies for reasons contrary to Christian faith;

3/ other manifest sinners who cannot be granted ecclesiastical funerals without public scandal of the faithful.

§2. If any doubt occurs, the local ordinary is to be consulted, and his judgment must be followed.

No mention is made in this canon of suicide cases. The closest it comes is §1 no. 3, which refers to manifest sinners, but it qualifies this, restricting it to the individuals who cannot be granted funerals without scandal being given to the faithful. Scandal does not mean offending the sensibilities of the faithful. It means leading the faithful into sin. But allowing a funeral for an ordinary person who has committed suicide will be construed as an act of mercy on a person who did something wrong–not an endorsement of suicide–and thus will not result in scandal to the faithful. Thus an ordinary suicide victim would not be prohibited from having an ecclesiastical funeral or a funeral Mass.

This is not to say that all suicide victims can be given funeral Masses. Some may not be able to because doing so would cause scandal to the faithful, but this is not the case with an ordinary suicide.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

9 thoughts on “Funeral Masses In Cases Of Suicide”

  1. Question:
    In regards to “Any funeral Mass must also be denied a person who is excluded from ecclesiastical funerals.”
    Does this mean only “Funeral Masses” per se? Or does this prohibit also having a ‘normal Mass’ said for the person asside from a ‘funeral’? I had this question posed to me recently.

  2. <>
    Jimmy, thank you for once again making sense!
    Here’s a linguistics lead for you to track down (I’m not sure if this data is quite right): Scandal comes from the Hebrew for “stumbling block”. So I think it has a slightly more expansive definition than just something which “leads faithful into sin”. I’ve heard, for example, theologians refer to the differentiation in blessings/offices between genders/nations/bloodlines as “the scandal of particularity”. In that case, God isn’t leading anyone to sin, but it’s a “stumbling block” for many all the same.
    pax,
    scott

  3. Ummm. . . .
    The “scandal of particularity” may indeed lead people into sin, insofar as they reject God because they do not like his plan.
    When Paul wrote, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” the Jews and Greeks presumably include even those who are not called.

  4. Considering the fact that people who commit suicide often are suffering from mental illness or other mental defect, suicide may not be a sinful act in and of its self. I know of at least situation where a person attempted to kill himself because a doctor in a state mental facility overmedicated that person who became delusional and believed that demons were tormenting him and killing himself was the only way to get away from them. It is my undestanding that sin is a personal act made with a conscious awareness of the wrongfulness of the act. Suicide refers to the action of killing oneself, not to the level of awareness of the consequences of the act.
    Further, there are many situations where suicide (which is perceived as a selfish act) may be become a selfless act. A man who throws himself on a grenade knowing that the act will end in his death but does so to save his friends (John 15:13) certainly would not be considered to have committed suicide.
    I have also found that many times the hopelessness that someone who commits or try to commit suicide feel could have been assuaged if only some person would have reached out to that person as given in the example of Matt 25:31-46.
    Finally, I think that one of the prayers said in connection with Rosary, “O my Jesus, forgive us our sins and save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of thy mercy.” is suggestive of how we should look at this issue.

  5. For suicide, it does not suffice that the person commit an act with the full knowledge that it would likely or even certainly cause death.
    A suicide is an act carried out with the intention of causing one’s own death.
    A soldier throwing himself on the grenade is trying to protect his comrades. Doubtlessly if he had a way to do that without sacrificing his own life, he would.

  6. The traditional concept in Catholic moral theology of “scandal” is “giving bad example,” i.e., example that would be likely to lead others into sin, either by causing them to follow it or by causing them to think lightly of the act in question.
    “Scandal” in the broader sense of stumbling-stone, e.g., the “scandal of particularity,” although a related concept, isn’t quite the same thing.

  7. I wonder if this comes up because it was in the movie Constantine… IIRC, in the movie, the “rules” are that if one commits suicide, one can’t have a funeral.

  8. When I first saw this post, I immediately thought of ‘Constantine.’ Yes, the ‘rule’ about suicides is a key point in the plot.
    I saw the movie last weekend with a friend who was raised Lutheran, but is esentially unchurched at this time. We then had a long discussion about the Catholic theology of several things touched upon by the movie. I hope and pray that I spoke well; I’ve never considered myself much of an apologist. At least he seemed satisfied with my answers.
    The movie’s theology was distorted enough that I don’t think I could recommend it to anyone who can’t go in with a fair grasp of theology (or a friend who hopefully does!) But, going in as I did expecting nothing more profound than mindless entertainment; I think I got my money’s worth.

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