Book of Common Prayer · Burial of the Dead (1662) · All versions
Stowe Missal: the Dead in the Canon and the Mass for Several Dead (Irish) (written in Ireland c. 792–812)
English translation by AnglicanGuide from the Latin. Read the Latin edition. Words in [brackets] are supplied or summarise omitted matter.
The oldest Irish Mass book has no burial order, but it prays for the dead: the remembrance of those who "sleep in the sleep of peace" in the canon, with its diptych of names from Adam to the Irish saints, and a short Mass for several dead ("misa pro mortuis pluribus") asking for "a place of light… the bosom of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob". Translated by AnglicanGuide; the list of names is summarised.
Source: G. F. Warner (ed.), The Stowe Missal, vol. 2, HBS 32 (1915), pp. 13–16 and 23 (Internet Archive). Public domain (translation © AnglicanGuide).
Prayers for the Dead
The Remembrance of the Dead in the Canon
Remember also, O Lord, the names of those who have gone before us with the sign of faith and sleep in the sleep of peace: with all who throughout the whole world offer the spiritual sacrifice to God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, our elder N., the priest, offers for himself and for his own, and for the whole assembly of the Catholic Church, and in commemoration of the champions' rank of the venerable patriarchs, prophets, apostles and martyrs, and of all the saints, that they may vouchsafe to entreat the Lord our God for us.
[The diptych of the dead follows: a long list of names, from the patriarchs and Irish saints such as Patrick, Columba, Comgall and Coemgen, ending:] And of all those at rest who have gone before us in the Lord's peace, from Adam until this present day, whose names our God has named and knows: to them and to all who rest in Christ we pray thee to grant a place of refreshment, light and peace.
The Mass for Several Dead
Grant, we beseech thee, almighty and merciful God, that the souls of thy servants N. may find forgiveness of sins and the joys of perpetual light.
Grant us thy mercy, we beseech thee, O Lord, that the souls of thy servants N., cleansed from all vices, may await the day of the resurrection to come in safety under thy protection. Through Christ.
[Over the offerings.] Look, O Lord, upon the gifts which we bring to thine altars in commemoration of thy saints N., and which we offer for our offences.
[Preface.] It is truly right… We await in him the promises, full of the highest good things, that are to be made manifest, in whom we know they are hidden, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the true life of believers and the resurrection of thy servants N., for all of whom we offer this sacrifice, beseeching thee that thou wouldest vouchsafe to number among the blessed those cleansed in the font of regeneration and kept from temptations, and bid those whom thou hast made partakers of adoption to be sharers of thine inheritance. Through.
Let us pray, dearest brethren, for our dear ones N., who have already gone before us in the Lord's peace, whom their due end and the order of passing over has enclosed: that God the almighty Father of our Lord Jesus Christ may bid their flesh, soul and spirit be received into the place of light, into the portion of refreshment, into the bosom of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; that he may forgive whatever they have sinned unfittingly through ignorance and by the stealth of the enemy; and that he may vouchsafe to refresh them with the breath of his mouth. Through.