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 BURIAL

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BURIAL

hands, failing which the hands are to he arranged in the form of a cross, and that the body should oc- casionally be sprinkled with holy water. The burn- ing of more than one candle beside the body is not directly enjoined for all, but it is mentioned in the "Ceremoniale" in the case of a bishop and is of gen- eral observance. On the other hand, it is mentioned thai the debita lumina, the candles which according to ancient custom are carried in the procession, ought to be provided by the parish gratuitously in the case of the very poor, and it is very distinctly enjoined that in exacting such fees as custom prescribes on these occasions the clergy ought sedulously to avoid all appearance of avarice. It is also laid down that the laity, even in the case of crowned heads, are never to be carried to the grave by the hands of the clergy — a prescription which can be traced back to a synod of Seville in 1512 and is probably much older. But in the Early Church this does not seem to have been ob- served, for we have several recorded instances in which ladies who died in repute of sanctity, as for ex- ample St. Paula or St. Macrina, were carried to the grave by bishops.

The first stage in the obsequies of a deceased person according to the rite now in use is the conveyance of the body to the church. At an appointed hour the clergy are directed to assemble in the church, a sig- nal oeing given by the tolling of a bell. The parish priest in surplice and black stole, or if he prefer it wearing a black cope as well, sots to the house of the deceased with the rest of the company, one cleric carrying the cross and another a stoup of holy water. Before the coffin is removed from the house it is sprinkled with holy water, the priest with his assist- ants saying beside it the psalm Pe Profundis with the antiphon Si iniquitates. Then the procession sets out for the church. The cross-bearer goes first, religious confraternities, if such there be, and mem- bers of the clergy follow, carrying lighted candles, the priest walks immediately before tin- coffin and the friends of the deceased and others walk behind. As they leave the house the priest intones the an- tiphon Exsultabunt Domino, and then the psalm Miserere i- recited or chanted in alternate verses by the cantors and clergy. On reaching the church the antiphon Exsultabunt is repeated, and as the body is borne to its place "in the middle of the church the responsory Subvenite (Come to his assistance ye Saints of God, come to meet him ye Angels of the Lord, etc.) is recited. The present rubric directs that if the corpse be that of a layman the feet are to be turned towards the altar; if on the other hand the corpse be that of a priest, then the position is re- versed, the head beinc; towards the altar. Whether this exceptional treatment of priests as regards posi- tion is of early date in the West is open to considera- ble doubt. No earlier example seems so far to have been quoted than the reference to it in Burchard's "Diary" noted by Catalani, Burchard was the ter of ceremonies to Innocent Ylll and Alex- ander VI, and he may himself have introduced the practice, but his speaking of it as the customary ar« rangement does not suggest this. On the other hand, the medieval liturgists apparently know no exception to their rule that both before the altar and in the grave the feet of all Christians should be pointed to the East. This custom we find alluded to by Bishop Bildeberi at the beginning of the twelfth century (P. I... CI. XXI. 896 . and its symbolism is discussed by Durandus. "A man ought so to bo buried", he says, "that while his head lies to the West his feet are turned to the East, for thus he prays as it were by his very position and suggests that he is ready to hasten from the Wesl to the last" (Ration. Div. Off., VII, 3.5). But if Roman medieval practice seems to offer no foundation for the distinction now made between the priest and the layman, it is note-

worthy that in the Greek Church very pronounced differences have been recognized from an early date. In the "Ecclesiastical Hierarchy" of Pseudo-Diony- sius. which belongs to the fifth century, we learn that a priest or bishop was placed before the altar {(irltrpoa- 0tp toO Selov dvtnacTTiiptov), while a monk or layman lay outside the holy gates or in the vestibule. A similar practice is observed to the present day. The corpse of a layman during the singing of the "Pan- nychis" (the equivalent of the "Vigilise Mortuorum" or Vigil of the Dead) is usually deposited in the nar- thex, that of a priest or monk in the middle of the church, while in the case of a bishop he is laid during a certain portion of the service in different positions within the sanctuary, the body at one point being placed behind the altar exactly in front of the bishop's throne and the head towards the throne (Maltzew, Begrabniss-Ritus, 278). It is possible that some imi- tation of this practice in Dalmatia or in Southern Italy may have indirectly led to the introduction of our present rubric. The idea of both seems to be that the bishop (or priest) in death should occupy the same position in the church as during life, i. e. facing his people whom he taught and blessed in Christ's name.

Supposing the body to have been brought to the church in the afternoon or evening, the second por- tion of the obsequies, that carried out in the church, may begin with the recital of the Vespers for the Dead. This, however, is not prescribed in the "Rituale Romanum", which speaks only of Matins and Lauds, though Vespers are mentioned in the "Ca>remoniaIe Episcoporum" in the case of a bishop. If the Ves- pers for the Dead are said they begin with the an- tiphon Placebo, and the Office of Matins, if we exclude the invitatory, begins with the antiphon Dirige. For this reason the " Placebo and Dirige," of which we so constantly find mention in medieval English writers, mean simply the Vespers and Matins for the Dead. It is from the latter of these two words that the English term dirge is derived. Candles are lighted round the coffin and they should be allowed to burn at least during the continuance of the Office, Mass. and Absolutions. Throughout the Office for the Dead each psalm ends with Requiem leternam (Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let per- petual light shine upon them) in the place of the Gloria Patri. It is interesting perhaps to note here that the liturgist, Mr. Edmund Bishop, after minute investigation has come to the conclusion that in this familiar formula, Requiem oeternam dona eis, Domine; 1 1 lux perpetua luceai eis, we have a blending of two distinct liturgical currents; "the second member of the phrase expresses the aspiration of the mind and soul of the Roman, the first the aspiration of the mind and soul of the Goth" (Kuypers, Book of Cerne. 275). It is true that it has been maintained that the words are borrowed from a passage in IV Esdras (Apocry- pha ). ii, 34-35, but we may doubt if the resemblance is more than accidental.

With regard to the Office and Mass which form the second portion of the Exsequim, the Matins after a preliminary invitatorium: "Regem cui omnia vivunt, venite adoremus", consist of nine psalms divided as usual into three nocturns by three sets of lessons and responsories. The first nocturn, as already noted, begins with the antiphon " Dirige, Domine Deus meus, in conspectu tuo vitani meam, and is made up of the three psalms. Verba mea, Ps. v. Domine ne in furore, Ps. vi, and Domine Deus mens, Ps. vii, each having its own antiphon, which is duplicated. The lessons l)oth in this and in tin- following nocturns are all taken from the Book of Job, chapters vii, x, xiii, xiv, xvii, and xix. in which the sufferer expresses the misery of man's lot, but above all his unalterable trust in God. The lessons are read without the usual absolution and blessing, but each is followed by a