The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1919-02-08
WHY THE CHURCH OPPOSES
CREMATION. H..

Though the custom of burning the
dead was very common among the
pagans, says Father William Devlin,
S. j., it was wholly known to and
forbidden by the Jews. The Chris
tians never burned their dead, but
followed the practice of the Jews and
the personal example of their Divine
Founder.
What Christian Faith has always
held, in this regard, is clearly put by
a churchman of the third century
after Christ:
1--WE do not fear that if the body be
burned, there will be no resurrection;
but we adhere to the custom handed
down to u.s.
In all the legislation of the Church,
the placing of the body in the earth
or tomb, constituted a part of Chris
tian burial, and in the fourteenth,
century, Pope Boniface issued a de-
cree communicating all who neg
lected to closely follow the iniunc-
lions of the Church in regard to burial
Of Christian dead.
In 1886, Pope Leo XIII issued an
other decree in which he forbade
membership in cremation societies,
and declared the unlawfulness of de-
handing cremation for ones own
body or that of another Why the
Church has legislated SO in the mat
ter of cremation, and in forbidding it,
rests on strong motives; for crema-
ton in the majority of cases is knit
UP with circumstances that make of
it public profession of materialism
and irreligion. E..
1t was the Freemasons who first
obtained recognition of the practice
from the various governments. And
it was clear enough that the move
ment was both anti-clerical and anti
Catholic.
Reasons, based on the spirit of
Christian charity and the plain inter
ests of humanity, have but strength
ened her in her opposition She holds
it unseemly that the human body,
once the living temple of God, the
instrument of heavenly virtue, sane
titled so often by the Sacramento,
should finally be subjected to a treat
ment that filial piety, conjugal and
fraternal love, or even mere friend
ship seems to revolt against as in
human.
Another argument against crema-
ton, and drawn from medico-legal
sources lies in this: that cremation
destroys all signs of violence or
traces of poison, and makes examina-
ton impossible; whereas a judicial
autopsy is always possible after in
humation, even of some months.
1t is in the interest of all murder
ers by poison to have the bodies Of
their victims cremated, in order that
; the evidence of their foul deeds might
be undiscovered, or at least be be-
logged in smoke "
There exist in Europe ninety crema-
tories, and the number of incinera-
tons is above 125,000. In France
there are three crematories, in the
United States Twenty-Five, in Great
Britain twelve, in Italy thirty, in Ger
many nine, in Switzerland four, in
Sweden two, in Denmark, Canada,
Argentina and Australia one EACH
At first sight $4,000 seems large
number; but a glance at the Paris
statistics from 1889 to 1905 show there
were 1880 cremations in Paris.
Of these only 3,4S4 were by request;
1902 were hospital cases; 32,757
were embryos
Of requested cremation, there were
ZIG in 1894. and 354 in 1904-an in
crease of 1873 in ten years.
1t cannot, therefore, be said to be
a fact that cremation is a sign of
progress in civilization. The world
| would appear to be against it almost
wholly.
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