Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/542

CREMATION meliorem consuetudinem humandi frequentamus" P. L., III, 362).

II. Church Legilslation.—(1) In the Middle Ages. —In all the legislation of the Church the placing of the body in the earth or tomb was a part of Christian burial. In the acts of the Council of Braga (Hardouin, III, 352), in the year 563, while we read that bodies of the dead are by no means to be buried within the basilicas where rest the remains of Apostles and martyrs, we are told that they may be buried without the wall; and that if cities have long forbidden the interment of the dead within their walls, with much greater right should the reverence due the holy martyrs claim this privilege. The same may be seen in the canons of other councils—e. g. of Nantes, between the seventh and ninth centuries; of Mainz, in the ninth century; of Tribur, in the ninth century. This legislation evidently supposes the long-standing custom of burial such as the Church practises to-day, and shows that in the sixth century, in other places than Rome, where even to-day the old law of the Twelve Tables exerts a moral influence, the Church had so far conquered the prejudice of the past as to have gained the privilege of burying her dead within the city walls and within the enclosure of the church yard. Once in the course of the Middle Ages did there seem to be on the part of some a retrogression to the pagan ideals, and as a consequence Boniface VIII, on 21 February, 1300, in the sixth year of his pontificate, promulgated a law which was in substance as follows: They were ipso facto excommunicated who disembowelled bodies of the dead or inhumanly boiled them to separate the flesh from the bones, with a view to transportation for burial in their native land. "Detestandae feritatis abusum", he calls it, and it was practised in case of those of noble rank who had died outside of their own territory and had expressed a wish to be buried at their place of birth. He speaks of it as an abomination in the sight of God and horrifying to the minds of the faithful, decreeing that, thereafter, such bodies are either to be conveyed whole to the spot chosen or buried at the place of death until, in the course of nature, the bones can be removed for burial elsewhere. Those who were party to these enormities either as the cause or agent of their occurrence were to incur excommunication reserved to the Holy See, while the body thus inhumanly treated could not afterward be given ecclesiastical burial ("Extrav. Comm.", Lib. III, Tit. vi, c. i.).

(2) Decrees of Roman Congregations.—This rigid adherence to the principles of the early teaching of the Church may be seen in the later decrees of the Roman Congregations. The Vicar Apostolic of Vizagapatam, in the year 1884, proposed the following difficulty to the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda: The bodies of two neophytes had been cremated, the parents testifying that there had been no idolatrous ceremonies. Should the missioners in such cases protest against what is considered a privilege of caste, or may the following present practice be tolerated?—If a pagan seeks baptism at the hour of death, the missioner grants it, without questioning what mode of sepulture is to be given the body after death, persuaded that the pagan parents will make no account of his desire to be buried, not cremated. The answer was: "You must not approve of cremation, but remain passive in the matter and confer baptism; be careful also to instruct your people according to the principles which you set forth" (Cremationem approbare non debes, sed passive te habeas, collato semper baptismate, et populos instruendos eures juxta ea quæ a te exponun- tur). This was given on 27 September, 1884. In 1886 another decree forbade membership in cremation Bocieties and declared the unlawfulness of demanding cremation for one's own body or that of another. On 15 December in the same year a third decree was issued of more or less the same tenor, and finally on 27 July, 1892, the Archbishop of Freiburg, among other questions, asked whether it was lawful to co- operate in the cremation of bodies either by command or counsel, or to take part as doctor, official, or labourer working in the crematory. It was answered that formal co-operation, the assent of the will to the deed, is never allowed, either by command or counsel. Material co-operation, the mere aiding in the physical act, may be tolerated on condition (1) that cremation be not looked upon as a distinctive mark of a Masonic sect; (2) that there be nothing in it which of itself, are directly and solely, expresses reprobation of Catholic doctrine and approbation of a sect; (3) if it be not clear that the officials and others have been assigned or invited to take part in contempt of the Catholic f Religion. And whereas, under the above restrictions, A co-operators are to be left in good faith, they must always be warned not to intend co-operation in the cremation. (See "Collectanea S. C. P. F.", nn. 1608, 1609; "Acta S. Sedis", XXV, 63; "Am. Eccl. Rev.", XII, 499.)

(3) Motives of this Legislation.—The legislation of the Church in forbidding cremation rests on strong motives; for cremation in the majority of cases to-day is knit up with circumstances that make of it a public profession of irreligion and materialism. It was the Freemasons who first obtained official recognition of this practice from various governments. The campaign opened in Italy, the first attempts being made by Brunetti, at Padua, in 1873. Numerous societies were founded after this, at Dresden, Zurich, London, Paris. In the last city a crematory was established at Père Lachaise, on the passing of the law of 1889 dealing with freedom of funeral rites. The Church has opposed from the beginning a practice which has been used chiefly by the enemies of the Christian Faith. Reasons based on the spirit of Christian charity and the plain interests of humanity have but strengthened her in her opposition. She holds it unseemly that the human body, once the living temple of God, the instrument of heavenly virtue, sanctified so often by the sacraments, should finally be subjected to a treatment that filial piety, conjugal and fraternal love, or even mere friendship seems to revolt against as inhuman. Another argument against cremation and drawn from medico-legal sources, lies in this: that cremation destroys all signs of violence or traces of poison, and makes examination impossible, whereas a judicial autopsy is always possible after inhumation even of some months.

Is cremation a sign of culture? The report of th French Cremation Society for 1905 has the following "There exist in Europe 90 crematories . . . and the number of incinerations is above 125,000." In France there are 3 crematories, in the United States 29, in Great Britain 12, in Italy 30, in Germany 9, in Switzerland 4, in Sweden 2, in Denmark, Canada, the Argentine Republie, Australia, one each. "Let us not number here the appliances of Tokio, let us not speak of the pyres raised in the Indies, in China, in Siam, in Cambogia, at all points of the Asiatic Continent, from time immemorial Asia has burned her dead." At first sight 125,000 seems a large number; but a glance at the Paris statistics will help us to realize its true value. From 1889 to 1905 there were 73,330 cremations in Paris. Only 3484 were by request; were hospital debris; 32.757 were embryos. Of the requested cremations there were 216 in 1894, 354 1904 an increase in ten years of 138-not a number, and it serves to prove that even Paris progressing in the use of cremation very slowly indeed. The arguments in favor of cremation may be reduced duced to a few heads: (1) it will prevent the corruption of the soil; (2) drinking water will be safeguarded against contamination; (3) corruption of the air will be avoided in localities bordering on cemeteries, a consequent lessening of the danger of infection