The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-05-27
CREMATION CONDEMNED.

CREMATION CONDEMNED.
Why The Church Discountenances the
Practice.
Persons who consent to the cremation
OF their bodies after death put them
selves outside the pale of the Church,
and are therefore denied the sacraments
and Christian burial. In cases where
owing to infectious malady the destruc-
ton of the body by means OF fire is rend-
cred desirable, there is no objection to
priests according the last rites to the
dead OF celebrating public mass for the
repose of the soul. The same excep-
ton is made in the case of those who
have persisted in any conAagration.W With
regard to those whose bodies have been
cremated without their ante-mortem
consent, the Church authorizes full re-
ligious rites. with the provision, how
ever, that whereas, in the case of chill
dren, the Mass may be public, the cele-
bratiou must be private where adults
are concerned.
1t is only since 1886 that cremation
has been officially discountenanced by
the Catholic Church, save in the case
OF the exceptions enumerated Among
the principal reasons which prompted
Leo XIII. to take this step was the fact
that incarceration had been adopted by
the atheist Freemasons of Continental
Europe as feature of their funeral
rites, for the purpose OF giving pub
lie expression to their disbelief in the
doctrine of the resurrection or the life
hereafter; in the second place, there is
the veneration of the body which was
once the temple OF the Holy Ghost See
the Church's respect for relics, which,
OF course, could not exist if cremation
were practiced. Lastly, cremation is
rude treatment, altogether at variance
with our human instincts, which lead
US to dispose OF the dead with tenderest
care, and there is no doubt that crema-
ton tends to diminution of the tokens
of respect for the dead which constitute
SO beautiful feature OF most OF the
recognized religions.
Thus in Vienna, where crematorium
is situated at distance OF five miles
from the city, the management has es-
tablished system of pneumatic tubes,
which the dead are shot in the
space OF few seconds from the receiv-
ing house in the centre OF the town to
the building in which the furnaces are
located, just as if they were mere pack
ages OF New York mail matter; while
in Paris, since secular management has
taken the place OF religious control in
the great hospitals OF the metropolis,
all the so-called debris anatomiques"
are consigned pell-mell to the flames of
the crematories at the great cemetery OF
Pere Lacllaise. The debris anatom-
iques' are the bodies and fragments OF
bodies OF the paupers and unknown to
the doctors and medical students for
study and scientific investigation. Al
ter they have served this purpose they
are returned to the hospitals, which,
thereupon ship them by the CARLOAD to
the Pere Laclaise crematorium, where
they are roughly shot into the furnace
like SO much offal, with just as little
ceremony and without any religious
rites. According to the latest official
returns, the corpses of no less than
1900 human beings are disposed of
each year in this manner, which is we'll
calculated to offend the religious senti-
ments not alone of Catholics, but like
wise the members of every other faith,
no matter whether Christian, Hebrew
or Mahomedan.
The Pope takes the ground that the
ordinary form Of burial has been, so to
speak, consecrated by usage ever since
the foundation of the Christian faith;
that it has been accepted from time i'm
memorial as forming part and parcel of
the religious old-fashioned form of
Christian burial may be said to have
become one of the most solemn features
of the rites OF the church and a conso-
lation alike to the dying and to the be-
reaved.
For these reasons the Pope disproves
OF incarceration save under the excep-
tional circumstances just mentioned,
and in decree dated May II, 1886, he
forbids the members of the Catholic
Church to give directions for the cre-
nation of their bodies after death, and
ordains that those who render them
selves guilty OF disobedience in this re-
spect shall be deprived not only of the
sacraments prior to their demise, but
likewise of the religious services at
their obsequies.
Ordination at st. Paul Seminary.