'In Memoriamteksten op bidprentjes. Een verkennend onderzoek naar de relatie met de gevoelens van de nabestaanden', in: Jaarboek van het Katholieke Documentatiecentrum Nijmegen 20 (1990), p.11-35 en tevens in: Archief voor de Geschiedenis van de Katholieke Kerk in Nederland 33 (1991), p.11-35 In the Netherlands mortuary cards came only into use in larger numbers among the catholic population after 1790 and entered the stage of mass production after 1850. The use of a personal "In Memoriam" text on such cards also dates from ca. 1790. This pilot study examines the relationship between the contents of this In Memoriam part and the state of mind of the bereaved. It first summarizes previous research by other scholars on the general development of the catholic mortuary card, then describes the changes in the outward form of the In Memoriam part, and finally analyses the contents and phrases of the text used from the perspective of the feelings of the relatives. During a long period of time praise for the deceased and appeals to the bereaved to accept God's will were the main emotional categories while expressions of grief and references to emotional relationships were virtually absent. The dead person stood out as a paragon of catholic virtue. Values such as a devotion to God and his church, and merits for the local community dominated the texts. In the Netherlands the texts didn't function as an outlet for the feelings of the relatives but were a means to channel their feelings into a direction which served the emancipation movement of the Dutch catholics. Here the In Memoriams were usually written by the parish priest or sexton, in contrast to neighbouring Belgium where relatives seem to have had a greater part which also became visible in small differences in the form and contents of the mortuary cards there. The Netherlands had to wait for the secularising tendencies of the 1960's before the In Memoriam texts could become more personal and more focussed on the next of kin, showing in the mortuary cards studied till 1988, the enddate of the research. But even then the influence of tradition and new standards together forbid a prominent presence of tears and grief , whatever the feelings of the relatives may have been.