Glossary of Terms (from the CA Department of Consumer Affairs, Cemetery & Funeral Bureau)

Casket/Coffin - A box or chest for burying human remains.

Cemetery Property - A grave, crypt, or niche.

Cemetery Services - Opening and closing graves, crypts, or niches; setting grave liners and vaults; setting markers; and long-term maintenance of cemetery grounds and facilities.

Columbarium - A structure with niches (small spaces) for placement of cremated remains in urns or other approved containers. It may be outdoors or part of a mausoleum.

Cremation - Exposing human remains and the container holding them to extreme heat and flame and processing the resulting bone fragments to a uniform size and consistency.

Crypt - A space in a mausoleum or other building to hold cremated or whole human remains.

Disposition - The placement of cremated or whole human remains in their final resting place. A Permit for Disposition must be filed with the local registrar before disposition can take place.

Endowment Care Fund - Money collected from cemetery property purchasers and placed in trust for the maintenance and upkeep of the cemetery. The State monitors the fund and establishes the minimum amount that must be collected. However, the cemetery is permitted to collect more than the minimum to build the fund. Only the interest earned by such funds may be used for the care, maintenance, and embellishment of the cemetery.

Entombment - Burial in a mausoleum.

Funeral Ceremony - A service commemorating the deceased with the body present.

Funeral Services - Services provided by a funeral director and staff, which may include consulting with the family on funeral planning;transportation, shelter, refrigeration, and embalming of remains; preparing and filing notices; obtaining authorizations and permits; and coordinating with the cemetery, crematory, or other third parties.

Funeral Society - See Memorial Society

Grave - A space in the ground in a cemetery for the burial of human remains.

Grave Liner or Outer Container - A concrete cover that fits over a casket in a grave. Some liners cover tops and sides of the casket. Other liners (vaults) completely enclose the casket. Grave liners minimize ground settling on the cemetery grounds.

Graveside Service - A service to commemorate the deceased held at the cemetery prior to burial.

Interment - Burial in the ground, inurnment, or entombment.

Inurnment - The placing of cremated remains in an urn.

Mausoleum - A building in which human remains are buried (entombed).

Memorial Service - A ceremony commemorating the deceased without the body present.

Memorial Society - A consumer organization that provides information about funerals and disposition but is not part of the State-regulated funeral industry. May also be called a funeral consumer alliance.

Niche - A space in a columbarium, mausoleum, or niche wall to hold an urn.

Urn - A container to hold cremated human remains. It can be placed in a columbarium or mausoleum, or it can be buried in the ground.

Vault - A grave liner that completely encloses a casket.

Terminology (provided by our staff)

Chapel Service is with human remains present & religious or other rites are conducted in our chapel.

Funeral Service is with human remains present & religious or other rites are conducted at an offsite location.

Funeral Mass is with human remains present & communion at church.

Memorial Mass is without the human remains present & communion at church.

Memorial Service is without the human remains present & serves to preserve remembrance, also known as a celebration of life.

Direct Cremation is no services just cremation.

Vigil is a Roman Catholic religious service with prayer & devotions held on the eve of the funeral service.

Rosary is a Roman Catholic devotion consisting of meditation on usually five sacred mysteries during recitation of five decades of Hail Marys of which each begins with an Our Father & ends with a Gloria Patri.

Visitation is an opportunity for survivors & friends to visit with the family & pay their respect - no human remains present.

Viewing is an opportunity for survivors & friends to view the deceased & visit with the family & pay their respects- human remains present.

Clergy is the official or sacerdotal class of anon-Christian religion, or one who is ordained to perform pastoral or sacerdotal functions in a Christian church.

Human Remains is the body of a deceased person &includes the body in any stage of decomposition & cremated remains.

Cremated Remains is the ashes of the human remains after incineration & necessary processing in a crematory.

Transit is transferring human remains to another state or country.

Cremation is the reduction of the body of a deceased person to cremated remains by incineration in a furnace.

Interment is the disposition of human remains by inurnment,entombment, burial, or burial at sea.

Inurnment is placing cremated remains in an urn &placing it in a niche.

Entombment is placement of human remains in a crypt or vault.

Burial is placement of human remains in a grave.

Burial at Sea is disposing of human remains in casket or scattering cremated remains from urn into the ocean, conducted by the Navy.

Cemetery is a place used & dedicated for cemetery purposes with one or more of the following: a burial park, mausoleum, columbarium, crematory.

Burial Park is a tract of land for the burial of human remains in the ground.

Mausoleum is a building or structure for the entombment of human remains in crypts or vaults.

Columbarium is a structure or room containing niches for inurnment of cremated remains.

Crematory is a building or structure containing one or more furnaces for the reduction of the body of a deceased person to cremated remains.

Grave is a space of ground in a burial park, used for burial of a casket.

Crypt is a space in a mausoleum of sufficient size, used to entomb a casket also known as a vault.

Niche is a space in a columbarium used for inurnment of an urn.

Death Certificate is a permanent record of the fact of death for an individual. It provides important personal information about the decedent and about the circumstances and cause of death. Information from death records serves several important legal and statistical uses.

Permit is not a permanent record as it may change reflecting a change in the final disposition of human remains. It authorizes a specific final disposition of human remains.