We are very sorry.

First, the medical death certificate. If the person died in hospital, the hospital issues it. If they died at home, it must come from a registered doctor who was treating them before they died.

Make a few photocopies before you hand the original to the undertaker, who gives it to the municipality once the burial is done. The doctor’s certificate is used to report the death, for the burial, and for a newspaper notice.

For everything else, from banks to property, you will need the Municipal Death Certificate. Collect it from the ward office; it is usually ready between two weeks and a month after the burial.

Once a doctor has certified the death, contact an undertaker. Ask someone who has used one before, or look for one near your home; most have a website.

• The original medical death certificate
• A full set of clothes for the person to be buried in, and a rosary
• The name of the cemetery or crematorium
• The grave number or the cemetery’s receipt, if the family owns a grave. If not, the undertaker can arrange a temporary plot
• Whether the body is to come home first, or go straight to the church

Ask the undertaker what else is needed, and agree every cost before you say yes. The coffin, the morgue and each journey between the church and the cemetery all add to the bill.

Speak to the parish office, which will go through each of these with you.

• A grave order. The undertaker needs it: it certifies that the person, as a Catholic, may be buried in consecrated ground
• The day and time of the funeral Mass
• A priest from outside the parish, if the family would like one to celebrate. Tell the office, as the parish priest’s permission may be needed
• An announcement of the death and the funeral at the Masses before it, if you would like the parish to know
• Flowers. The sacristan will tell you what is usual and what it costs
• Music. A choir or group will usually sing, and the hymns and readings are chosen to suit the funeral liturgy

A priest goes with the family to the cemetery for the final prayers. Every burial must be finished before sunset.

Most newspapers have someone who will take you through it, and many let you do it online. You will need a copy of the medical death certificate, and a clear photograph if you would like one printed.

Have ready the full name, the date of death (and of birth, if you wish), and the day, time and place of the funeral Mass and the burial. The family may add relationships, where they lived, and how they died, as much or as little as you choose.

It is, and nobody thinks clearly in the first hours of grief. Let neighbours, family and your community leader help. You decide what you would like; they can make the calls and carry it out.

Funerals cost a good deal. Ask the price at every step, so the family is not left with more than it can bear.

Where the parents meant to have their child baptised, the Church can give the child a Church funeral. The parish asks the Archbishop on your behalf; tell the office or the priest.

Someone preparing for baptism is counted among the faithful for their funeral, and may have a Church funeral.

If their own minister cannot be found, the Archbishop may allow a Catholic funeral, unless it is known that they would not have wanted one. Speak to the priest.

Only in a narrow case: someone whose life was in open, public contradiction of the faith, where a Church funeral would cause scandal, and who gave no sign of repentance before death. When there is any doubt, the Archbishop decides, not the parish.

A funeral is the Church praying for God’s mercy on someone who has died, honouring the body that was a temple of the Holy Spirit from baptism, and comforting those left behind with the hope of meeting again. Speak to the priest, who will want to help.

Yes. The Church still hopes for burial, as the older custom, but does not forbid cremation unless it is chosen as a denial of the Christian faith. No special permission is needed.