Search

1. Typical contents, societal role The graveside speech, or funeral sermon (Lat. oratio funebris, German Leichenpredigt, French  sermon funèbre), was a firmly established component of European burial culture discernible as far back as pre-Christian Greco-Roman antiquity. In the 16th century, the practice developed all over the Christian world of printing these sermons and distributing them to the survivors, relatives, and friends of the deceased. In the following two centuries, printed funeral sermons became widespread as a form of commemoration of the dead [5], especially …