Arkansas true Democrat., 1859-11-23
Why Duelist is not Buried in Conse-
 crated Ground.

The Monitor of San Francisco assigns the following as the reason why the Catholic Church refuses to one dying in duel, or from wounds received therein, the rights of sepulture in consecrated ground:
 Many persons are at a loss to understand why the rites of sepulture in consecrated ground and the funeral ceremonies of the Church should be denied to one whose death was the result of duel, when pre- vious to such death he had made his peace, received the last sacraments, and was there by relieved from the censure and excom- munication of the Church. There are others, too, who would regard the denial of sepulture in consecrated ground not alone as inconsistent in a case where the sacra- ments of the Church had been previously administered, but also as piece of arbi- trary uncharitableness to the dead. These views no doubt are entertained by many persons, among whom may be found Catho- lies who are not instructed in the discipline of the Church, and who are not fully ac- quainted with the general spirit that ani- mates the exercise of such discipline in ex- ceptional cases, such as that under conside- ration. We therefore propose, for the benefit of those persons, to place the matter in its true light
 The interment in consecrated ground of any party who has fallen during, or in con- sequence of a duel, Is not a matter of discre- tion with clergymen or bishops in the Catholic Church; they are imperatively compelled to refuse interment or the burial offices of the Church, in obedience to can onical decree of Pope Benedict XIV, which says: 7ransloted)
 Moreover, from similar motive, and by the same authority, we decree and de- clare that the deprivation of ecclesiastical sepulture, imposed by the Sacred Council of Trent, on persons dying in the place of the duel or conflict, Is perpetually incurred, even without any subsequent judicial sen- tence, by the person who shall die off tho ground of conflict, but of the wound re- ceived there, whether the duel shall have been arranged publicly or privately, and even though the wounded man may have given undoubted signs of repentence, and received dissolution from both sins and censures; moreover, we hereby withdraw from bishops and local ordinaries all facul- ties of interpreting or dispensing with the above named penalty" BuHorians of Benedict Me XIV, page Ss, art. 13, sec. 9, 1Kechlin edition.
 The Church having at all times set it's authority against tho practice of dueling. in any and every form, found it necessary, in order to check the tendency toward the practice of the combat, to denounce the heaviest penalties and ecclesiastical censure on all persons taking part in such These penalties involved censure and excommu- nication as the instant consequence of talk ing part in any duel, and in case of death resulting from the conflict, the person SO perishing was to be denied the rites of ec- clesiastical sepulture. The offender might repent his act, after its commission, and receive the sacraments, and be relieved from censure, while the deprivation of the rites of sepulture would be still held in force. against the body, in the same man. ner that penance- satisfaction-is retained and exacted, after dissolution has passed to the penitent.