Baptisms
The celebration of Baptism is always a joyful occasion. Children and babies are baptised on the understanding that they are brought up in the Christian faith, and experience regularly the worship of the Christian community.
If you want your child to be baptised, please join us for one of our Sunday masses and speak to the Priest afterwards.
You will also need to complete a Baptism application form, available here to print.
Weddings
Christian Marriage is the life-long union of a man and woman who share their lives together in such a way that that they mirror the love which Christ has for the Church.
Weddings are the joyful celebration of the beginning of that life together. In a wedding, bride and groom give each other their consent, make solemn vows to one another, and have their union blessed in the presence of God. The service may also, if the couple want, take place in the context of a celebration of the Eucharist, referred to as a nuptial Mass.
You may get married at one of our churches if either you or your fiancé(e) live in our parish, or attend our churches and are on our electoral roll. You may also be married here if you have a qualifying connection with the Parish, such as if a member of your family was baptised or married here.
To find out if you live in our Parish, please click here. For more information on Church weddings, please click here
Contact the Priest of the relevant church if you have any questions.
St Mary’s Church | St Michael’s Church | St Pancras Old Church | St Paul’s Church
Banns Of Marriage
It is a legal requirement that your banns of marriage are published before you get married. This means the Church publishes your intent to marry so that anyone who knows of a genuine legal reason why the union can not happen may lodge an objection. A valid objection must be something recognised in law as prohibiting your ability to marry. It does not mean that someone who wishes to cause trouble, or who is simply not happy with the idea of your wedding can prevent you getting married.
Banns are usually called on three successive Sundays one of Masses within a three month period before the wedding. It is almost unknown for any objection ever to be made. A certificate proving that no objection was made must then be given to the priest officiating at the wedding.
Banns must be called in the Church of England parishes in which both bride and groom are resident. If you both live in the same parish, then banns only need to be published in one parish. Banns should only be published here if you live within the boundaries of our parish, which are shown here.
Please contact the Parish Administrator if you would like to have your banns published at this Parish. You need to fill in this application form and return it to her. There is a standard fee of £44 (as of Jan 2019) required to be charged by all churches for the publication of banns and the issuing of a certificate.
When someone dies, the funeral is our most important opportunity to bid them farewell, give thanks for their life, and pray for their soul.
Christians bury their dead in the sure and certain hope of resurrection. On the Last Day, we will be resurrected in our bodies, and the whole of creation will be renewed as God reigns in judgement over all he has created.
When we die, we need God to make us ready for the life of heaven. He removes from those he has chosen all vestige of sin and the consequences of our mortal frailty so that we can spend eternity with him. For Christians, it is Christ’s death and Resurrection that give us the promise of eternal life and open the gates of heaven to us.
When a friend or loved one dies, the easiest way to organise a funeral is through a firm of funeral directors, or undertakers. They will care for the body of the deceased until the funeral, and will make all necessary arrangements for the funeral liturgy.
There are basically three sorts of funeral which can be celebrated in the Parish of Old St Pancras:
1. Funeral service at the crematorium.
This is the most common form of funeral. It usually takes place at a crematorium chapel and lasts about half an hour. The service will involve readings, prayers, hymns, and the opportunity for people to offer eulogies and reflections on the departed person’s life. At the end of the liturgy, we commend the mortal remains of the departed to be cremated. The ashes from that cremation will then need to be buried on another occasion, either by the next of kin, or as part of a further burial service.
2. Funeral Service in one of the churches of our Parish followed by burial or cremation.
This form of funeral is the most elaborate and lengthy. It involves bringing the mortal remains of the deceased to one of our churches, where a Funeral service takes place or a Funeral mass is celebrated.
A Funeral Mass is a celebration of the Eucharist (also called Holy Communion by some) in which we pray for the soul of our departed loved one, give thanks for their life, and commend their soul to God. This form of funeral is particularly suitable for someone who, in this life, had a strong and lively Christian faith, or who was a part of our regular worshiping community. It can also be preceded by a reception of their body into the church the night before. This allows us to celebrate Vespers of the Dead, and for the body to remain in church over night before the funeral the next day.
After the Funeral Service or Mass, we proceed either to the crematorium to commend the mortal remains of the departed to be cremated, or to the cemetery, where the body is buried.
3. Burial service at the graveside.
This is probably the shortest and simplest form of burial service. It involves burying either the body of the deceased, or the remains which were cremated after an earlier funeral liturgy. A few short prayers are said at the graveside, and the remains of the departed are than lowered into the grave.
For further questions, please contact the Parish Priest of the relevant church.