The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-01-07
CREMATION IS
MORE POPULAR
OLD ENGLISH FAMILIES SEEM TO
PREFER IT.
Large Number of British Peers Leave
Directions for the Disposal of Their
Bodies-Why the Roman Catholic
Church and Some Others Have For
hidden This Rite. 49,
New York Tribune,

CieluaI1UH 10 uecou1AR more anu
more the fashion among the aristocra-
cy Of England, and columbariums are
taking the places Of the old-fashioned
mausoleums, ancestral vaults and fam
lily tombs. An extraordinary number
OF British peers in late years have
left, on dying, peremptory directions
for the incineration Of their remains,
and only in two instances have these
the cases of the late Duke of Argyll
and Of the late Marquis of Butte, the
Scottish courts in each case holding
that testementary commands of this
character were not binding upon their
successors and executors. : a
Lady Dixie, who died the other day,
was likewise cremated in accordance
with her own wishes. and those Of her
known statesman. But it is unknown
as yet what disposition he will make OF
her ashes. ....
Those Of the late Lord Monson Gather
OF the present peer of that name, who
is married to the daughter of General
Roy Stone, U. s. AZ, are preserved in
f breef amp which Ibis his elder elder
bridge, caused to be constructed, i'm
mediately adjoining the family mauso-
leum at Carlton.
The columbarium is of carved orna-
mental stone, bearing the Monson her
aldic devices. 1t is something in the
shape of pigeon house, there being
tiers Of inches, like pigeon holes, one
above another, destined to receive the
silver urns or jars containing the ashes
of the Monsons now living and as yet
unborn. Each niche, on receiving its
urn Of ashes, is hermetically sealed with
pane. Of thick glass, while brass
plate Immediately below denotes the
name, the title and the other custom
airy data concerning the person whose
ashes occupy the receptacle. In spite
| Of the ornate character of this colunl-
barium, and of others of the same kind,
| it does not inspire the feelings of
solemnity to which old-fashioned tombs
are apt to give rise.
late Lord Butte for the cremation OF
his remains excited no end of astonish-
ment, since it is difficult to realize how
so erudite a peer, and one 50 deeply
versed in the doctrines of thea Roman
| Catholic church, of which he was most
devout follower could have ignored the
fact that his church strictly prohibits
cremation, and even goes to the length
OF denying the customary funeral rites
in cases where it is insisted upon. Lore
Bute's family and executors, after ob
tanning from the courts release from
the testamentary obligation to crematt
his remains, endeavored to compromise
with his wishes without offending the
Catholic church, and so filed the coffi1
containing his remains with quicklime
as the nearest canonical short cut to thu
fulfllment of his instructions.
1t is only since 1886 that cremation
has been forbidden by the Roman Cath
Ollie church, and among the principa
reasons which prompted Leo XIII to pro
hibit it was the fact that incarceration
continental Europe. as a feature of thei
funeral rites, for the special purpose o
giving public expression to their dis
belief in the doctrine of the resurrec
ton and of the life hereafter. The lat
pope also took the ground that the ordi
nary form of interment has been, s.
to speak, consecrated by usage ever sine
the foundation of the Christian faith
that it has been accepted from tim
immemorial as forming pat and parce
ter, and that the old-fashioned form O
Christian burial may be said to hav
become one Of the most solemn feature
of the rites Of the church, consola
ton alike to the dying and to the be
reaved. 80
The only case in which incarceration
allowed by the Catholic church is where
owing to an infectious malady, the de
struction Of the body is rendered polite
I may add that there are a number o
Lutheran state churches of Denmark
Sweden, Prussia and Wurtemberg, whic
economically prohibit cremation, Will
the Episcopal church of America an
in England contents itself with specie
of mild disapproval.