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 CEMETERY

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CEMETERY

Church, to be exercised according to the government of said Church". Since 7 April, 1891, the same privileges have been extended to those professing the Jewish religion. In the Province of Quebec, pro- visions are also made for the incorporation of ceme- tery companies. The lieutenant-governor may at any time, by order in council, confirm any deed of sale or grant, executed with prescribed formalities, of any one piece of land not exceeding twenty-five arpents in extent, to any persons not less than five in number named in such deed, such persons not being trustees for a religious congregation or society, or Roman Catholics. These associations are subject to the general laws as regards health regulations, and are further obliged to keep registers of all interments or disinterments, as well as a record of all proceedings and transactions of the corporations. Any parish mission, congregation or society of Christians not being a parish recognized by law, may, in the mode indicated by the statute, acquire lands for cemeteries, and, subject to the approval of the lieutenant-gov- ernor, may exchange such lands for others for a like purpose. Each parish must have its cemetery, the exception being in favour of large cities, where many parishes use the same place for interments. This cemetery belongs to the parish represented by the parish priest, or Protestant rector or pastor, and churchwardens. No cemetery can be acquired, ex- changed, or enlarged without the authorization of the bishop. Lands may be expropriated for cemetery purposes. No body may be buried until at least twenty-four hours after death. Special laws exist in all the provinces with reference to burials in time of epidemic. In the Province of Quebec, interments in churches are permitted, but the coffin must be covered by at least four feet of earth, or encased in masonry, of at least eighteen inches in thickness if in stone, or of at least twenty inches if in brick, both brick and stone having been well covered with ce- ment. The same regulations apply to burials in private vaults. Interments in churches or ceme- teries may be prohibited in the interest of public health by the superior or diocesan ecclesiastical authority. In the Province of Quebec the civil and religious authorities are interwoven, thus the pastor of every parish is bound to keep in duplicate registers of births, marriages, and deaths. At the end of each year he deposits one of the copies at the court-house of the district, and the other is retained in the parish record.

As regards burials in consecrated ground, no ques- tion can now be raised affecting the powers of the Catholic Church authorities. By Art. 3460, Revised Statutes, P. Q., 18S8, it is enacted: "it belongs to the Roman Catholic ecclesiastical authority to desig- nate the place in the cemetery, in which each in- dividual of such faith shall be buried, and if the deceased, according to the canon rules and laws, in the judgment of the ordinary, cannot be interred in ground consecrated by the liturgical prayers of .such religion, he shall receive civil burial in ground reserved for that purpose and adjacent to the ceme- ti tv." Virtually the same law is in force in the Pro- vince of Ontario as that shown above. This legis- lation in the Province of Quebec arose from a cele- brated action at law. commonly known as the "Guibord Case". Joseph Guibord was a member of the "Institut Canadien", an organization which had been condemned by the bishop, and whose members were excommunicated as a body. Guibord died, 18 November, 1869. Bis widow applied to the religious authorities for the burial of his body in the cemetery. The parish priest of the church of Notre- Dame, under instructions from diocesan authorities, refused to ac- cede to this demand, offering however to bury the deceased in an adjoining lot, where children who die without having been baptized, public sinners, etc.,

are interred. This the widow refused, and she ap- plied for a writ to force the church authorities to grant a Christian burial. Tins petition was granted by the Superior Court. The Court of Review, reversing the judgment, held that the civil courts had no juris- diction to inquire into the reasons for the refusal of the parish priest to grant Christian burial, and that he and his wardens had the right to subdivide the burial grounds into such lots as they might think fit. and to regulate as to where and how the mode of burial should be carried out. Many other questions were raised, but these were the principal grounds. The Court of Appeal for the Province of Quebec unanimously confirmed the Court of Review. The case was carried before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in England, where the judgment of the Quebec Court of Appeal was reversed. It was held that a Catholic parishioner, who had not been ex- communicated nominatim (i. e. by name), and who had not been proved to have been a public sinner, was not, according to the diocesan regulations, which had been invoked by both parties, under any valid eccle- siastical censure which would deprive his remains of Christian burial. The report of the case may be found in "Lower Canada Jurist", Vol. XX, and covers all the relations of Church and State since the cession of Canada by France to England.

Strict regulations exist as to the disinterment of bodies, which cannot be effected without authority from the Superior Court, as well as from the diocesan authorities. These apply equally to cemeteries, and to churches and chapels where burials have been made. Registers of all such disinterments have to be kept. In 1907 a petition was presented by the Franciscan Order to the Superior Court at Three Rivers, against the rector of the Anglican parish church. It set forth that, prior to the cession of. Canada to England, the Franciscans were known as the "Recollets", and had established a missionary post at Three Rivers, in the earliest days of the col- ony, where they built a church, wherein they buried the members of their order, and some Catholic lay- men as well. When the cession took place, their properties were confiscated. They urged that for many years they had no representatives in the coun- try, and that their church had passed into, and then was in the possession of the minister of the Church of England. The latter body, they said, had never used their church for burial purposes, as was established by the register of burials. They further set forth that recently the Franciscan Order had built a new church, where they desired to have the remains of their brethren who had been buried during the French regime interred according to the discipline of the Catholic Church, and they prayed for an order from the court, to be permitted to make such disin- terments, undertaking to pay all damages. On 3 December, 1907, a judgment was rendered dismissing the petition because, prior to making their applica- tion, the Franciscans had not obtained permission from the authorities of the Church of England, in whose possession and under whose control the church was when the order for the disinterment was sought to be obtained.

SxEwotT, Index to Dominion and Provincial Statutes (Mont- real. 1902); Mignaii.t, Droit Parousial (Montreal, Pagncelo, Liberie retigieu.se en Camilla (Montreal. 1S72 1 ; Bbauchamp, Privy Council Reports in Lower Canada Jurist. XX, L'L'S; Municipal Code, Province of Quebec. Lot i; Case* in Prim Cnum-it (KnclisM. e.l. lioHKKr O.wki.i, BmnvN, Lex Cures et Mari,uilliers ,lc I'tKurrc ,1 Fabriquc de Xotre-Dame <le Montreal, VII, l. r )7.

J. J. O'RRAN.

Early Roman Christian Cemeteries. — This article treats briefly of the individual catacomb cemeteries in the vicinity of Rome. For general information on the Roman catacombs, see Cata- combs, Roman. This summary account of the in-