V. On Ecclesiastical Burial

What is ecclesiastical burial? Ecclesiastical burial, concerning which in the preceding paragraph it has often been said, consists of two things: a sacred or blessed place, which by the Bishop or by use has been assigned for burying the faithful piously dying in Christ, and a sacred rite in carrying out and burying the dead person. It is tolerated that the bodies of the faithful be carried by carriage to the church and cemetery, and then also the parish priest and clergy, vested in sacred vestments and with the cross raised, can conduct the funeral. Sacred Congregation of Rites, March 5, 1870, n. 3212. Before the corpse is carried to the cemetery, it must be borne into the church, so that there it may at least receive absolution, and, insofar as this can be done, Mass may be celebrated for him with the body of the deceased present. Therefore the Mass can be postponed to another day. Nor indeed is there an obligation concerning it. Roman Ritual, de Exsequiis, de Bened. Coem.; C. Ad haec 4, de Relig. dom.; Suarez, disp. 12, sec. 4, n. 6; Salmanticenses, tract 10, chap. 3, n. 75. When a new cemetery is blessed, some outer part must be left without blessing for burying infants not baptized and others to whom ecclesiastical burial is denied. Nor indeed is it necessary that that part be separated by a wall, provided that it can be distinguished from the other. But if, because of civil law, all are to be buried indiscriminately in the cemetery, then the blessing of the cemetery must be omitted; but on each occasion on which a Catholic is to be buried, the place in which his body is to be deposited must be blessed as in the Ritual. E.M.

What is to be said about the choice of burial? All can choose burial where they prefer, although outside their parish church or cemetery, provided they do not choose the churches of nuns, and choose a religious place, or at least one not profane, such as a private oratory, and the place has the right of burial. But these are excepted: 1. regulars, unless they die so far removed from their own monasteries that they cannot conveniently be carried to them; 2. those not yet pubescent, for whom the father can choose burial, or the mother, if he is dead. One who dies with no burial chosen for himself is to be buried in the tomb of his ancestors, namely the family tomb (which someone established for himself and his family), or the hereditary tomb (which he established for himself and his heirs). But otherwise someone is to be buried in that parish in which he died, if in it he had domicile or quasi-domicile. And if he died outside these places, he must be carried to the place of domicile or quasi-domicile; but if this is so remote that he cannot conveniently be carried there, he will be buried either in the cathedral church, if one exists there, or in the church of that parish in which he finished his day.

For acquiring the right of burial for oneself and one's family or heirs, with others excluded, the license of the Ordinary of the place is required, or of Regulars who can grant it from privilege for their churches, chapels, and cemeteries. Pirhing, book 3, title 28, sec. 3, n. 24.

By special law Bishops are to be buried in the cathedral church if they do not choose another place for themselves; a wife will be buried in the tomb of her last husband if she does not choose her own burial; but a husband, if he dies first without burial chosen, in that which the wife has chosen; exposed infants in the tomb of the hospital by which they were nourished; clerics in that church in which, when dying, they possessed a residential benefice; regulars in the church of their order, although they died outside the monastery, if they can conveniently be carried to it, and therefore all who enjoy the law of regulars, namely novices, servants, tertiaries, and female tertiaries who live perpetually in a monastery. But those who live apart can be buried in the church of the order whose habit they had assumed, if in these there exists their common burial and they have not died having chosen another; otherwise they are to be buried in the parish church. Women who, with license of the Apostolic See, had entered a monastery with the intention of remaining there perpetually are to be buried there; not likewise girls who were staying in the monastery for the sake of education, who are to be buried in the parish where the monastery is. C. 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, h.t.; C. 1-5, e.t., in VI; Clementine 2, e.t.; S.C. Bishops and Regulars, June 8, 1731; May 6, 1870; April 5, 1878; A.S.S., vol. 5, p. 568; vol. 11, p. 352; Ferraris, h.v., n. 102; v. Moniales, art. 1, nn. 61, 62, 63; Schmalzgrueber, book 3, title 28, nn. 1-38, 72-82; Giraldi, Animadvers. ad Barbosa de Off. et Potest. parochi, part 3, chap. 26, n. 25; E.M.

What is to be said about the right of carrying out and conducting the funeral? "The rite of the Church commands that the bodies of the faithful, however they are carried (even by carriage), whether to the church or to the cemetery, always be accompanied by a priest." Sacred Congregation of Rites, July 15, 1876, Santander. The right of carrying out the dead and conducting the funeral to the church, as today they call the exposing church, as regards seculars, regularly belongs to the parish priest alone, namely the proper parish priest of each one by reason of domicile or quasi-domicile, if someone has died in his own parish and is buried in it; or if, although he died in his own parish, he is to be buried in another, although the church is of regulars; or, if he died in another parish and is to be buried in his own. To the church: for from this to the cemetery, without pomp and by a direct route, it belongs to those to whom, if cemeteries did not exist, the right of burying would belong. Cf. Decree on funerals of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, April 23, 1895, n. 3854. The canons of the Cathedral Church furnish these things to a Bishop; the prelate to regulars; the ordinary chaplain of the monastery, or confessor, to nuns, although the cemetery is outside their church and one must pass through the parish, "provided that the body is carried with stole and cross, but without pomp and by a direct route to the cemetery." S.C.C., February 24, 1872; August 12, 1872. Yet "dispersed Religious as regards funerals are subject to the parish priest of the place just as the other parishioners." S.C. Bishops and Regulars, February 26, 1864; A.S.S., vol. 1, p. 168. Roman Ritual, de Exseq.; S.C.C., August 21, 1869; A.S.S. cited, vol. 5, pp. 126, 221, 611; S.C. Bishops and Regulars, March 21, 1884; A.S.S. cited, vol. 16, p. 551; Ferraris, v. Parochus, art. 3; Benedict XIV, Notification 33, n. 16; Notification 105, n. 33 ff.; E.M.

Therefore, if the deceased is to be entombed or exposed outside his own parish, it belongs to the parish priest to carry the stole, to raise the body from the house, and to conduct the funeral up to the door of the entombing or exposing church, whether this is secular or regular. Regulars in whose church the deceased is to be entombed or exposed can go together with the parish priest from the parish church to the house of the deceased and, when the body has been raised by the parish priest, accompany it to their own entombing church; or they can wait at the door of their own church without going to the association of the funeral. A single Cross is to be carried in funerals, and it is that of the entombing or exposing church, under which the parish priest himself is bound to walk, if it belongs to regulars and the regulars accompany the funeral together with the parish priest. If the Chapter of the Cathedral or Collegiate church is present, it belongs privatively to it to raise the cross. Sacred Congregation of Rites, April 23, 1895, A.S.S., vol. 36, p. 421 ff.

Regulars can accompany and conduct the deceased, but by a direct route, from their own church in which he is exposed to the cemetery without the intervention of the parish priest. S.C. Bishops and Regulars, May 5, 1905, A.S.S., vol. 38, p. 207.

S.C.C., August 27, 1904, resolved: As regards strangers deceased elsewhere, who chose burial in the cemetery of some place, with no church designated by the deceased himself in which the solemn rites of the funeral are to be fulfilled, the right of conducting the funeral and burying belongs to the parish priest of the cathedral or to the principal church of the place, with customs and particular constitutions preserved. As regards pilgrims who are staying perfunctorily in a city and die there without choosing burial, while they cannot be transferred to the place of their domicile, the right of conducting the funeral and burying belongs to the parish priest of the place in which the pilgrim completed his life, with customs and particular constitutions preserved. A.S.S., vol. 37, p. 462 ff.

Since a family tomb is not judged canonically erected unless the license of the Ordinary is added, hence tombs which in modern cemeteries have been instituted by civil authority alone, without the intervention of ecclesiastical authority, can in no way be said to have been founded in the sense of canon law. Therefore the right of conducting the funeral and receiving the emoluments of the funeral of that deceased person who is to be buried in a canonically erected tomb belongs to the entombing parish priest, the funeral fourth being reserved to the parish priest of domicile.

Conversely, if there is question of a tomb not canonically erected, the right of conducting the funeral of the aforesaid deceased person and of receiving all emoluments from it pertains to the parish priest of domicile; although in the case the parish priest of burial can, from the will of the deceased or of the parents, perform another funeral and receive its emoluments. From S.C.C., June 17, 1905, A.S.S., vol. 38, p. 230.

In which church is the funeral to be performed? The funeral rites are to be performed in that church in which the deceased commanded; and if he commanded nothing, since they are part of ecclesiastical burial, in that church in which he is buried, or would be buried, if there are common public cemeteries there. But if a church of this kind is the parish church, the heirs cannot require that the exposition of the body and the funeral rites be done elsewhere; but if it is not the parish church, the parish priest likewise cannot require that they be done in the parish church. Nor indeed is it then lawful for the parish priest to perform the rites in another's church, Sacred Congregation of Rites, April 23, 1895, unless there is question of a public oratory of Confraternities, when the one to be entombed is a subject of the parish priest within whose parish boundaries the oratory is located. Sacred Congregation of Rites, July 7, 1877, n. 3423; S.C.C., March 24, 1821, A.S.S., vol. 5, p. 566.

It is lawful in another's church, even of Regulars, to sing a Mass of Requiem after the funeral rites have been fulfilled in the parish church, even if the exequial Mass was not celebrated in the parish church. Sacred Congregation of Rites, May 1879, n. 3494. From the Roman Ritual, Mass is not a necessary part of a funeral, and therefore it can be omitted. Thus also from the Sacred Congregation of Rites, May 13, 1879, n. 3474.

Regulars can celebrate exequies on the third, seventh, and thirtieth day. For parish priests cannot claim anything except the funeral right when burial is chosen elsewhere. Sacred Congregation of Rites, July 26, 1637, n. 643. Likewise Regulars can celebrate Masses of Requiem on anniversary days. Sacred Congregation of Rites, January 24, 1902.

The use can be tolerated of covering with branches and flowers the tombs which are erected in churches on the occasion of funerals. Sacred Congregation of Rites, June 16, 1893, Goana, ad 6; E.M.

What is to be said about funeral emoluments? Funeral emoluments go to the church in which someone is buried or exposed, if he is buried in public cemeteries. From these, if the aforesaid church is not the parish church, some portion is owed to the parish priest in compensation for the work which he sustains in administering the sacraments to his parishioners; this, because it has been established by Canon Law, is called canonical. But it is a fourth by common law, unless something else has been introduced by the custom of the place or by privilege. It is owed to the parish priest of domicile or quasi-domicile; and if someone has been laid in another church, it must be deducted by the burying or exposing church, unless a contrary custom or privilege is present. Council of Trent, sess. 25, chap. 13, de Ref.; St. Pius V, constitution Etsi Mendicantium, May 16, 1567, sec. 11; Paul V, Brief Decet Romanum Pontificem, IV Kalends of May, 1725; S.C. Bishops and Regulars, April 19, 1790; August 18, 1843; S.C.C., November 26, 1864, A.S.S., vol. 1, p. 86; S.C.C., February 16, 1867, A.S.S., vol. 3, p. 305; vol. 5, p. 209 ff.; vol. 9, p. 27; vol. 15, p. 553 ff.; vol. 11, p. 381; C. 1, 4, 8, 9, 10, h.t.; C. 2, e.t., in VI; Clementine 2, e.t.; Schmalzgrueber, l.c., nn. 83-93; Ferraris, v. Quarta Funeralis.

The celebration of funerals and the receipt of emoluments in families of mixed rite, Latin and Ruthenian, in the Canadian region and in the United States of North America, pertain to the parish priest of that rite to which the deceased belonged. Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, August 8, 1913, art. 32; August 17, 1914, art. 26.

What is the funeral fourth? The funeral fourth is that portion of emoluments to be paid to the parish priest when someone is buried outside his own parish. The aforesaid portion is determined by diocesan statutes or by custom. It is deducted only from those emoluments which come to the entombing church on the occasion of the funeral, from the candles and wax candles offered, but by no means from legacies for Masses. "The funeral fourth, or canonical portion, is owed from all things which come by reason of the funeral, namely on the day of the funeral." Barbosa, De Parocho, part 3, chap. 25, n. 36. Benedict XIII, constitution Romanus Pontifex, April 28, 1725, sec. 4, issued for Italy and the adjacent islands, established: "That... to the parish priests of the deceased who will be entombed in the churches of any regulars whatsoever, there be paid and actually handed over the fourth part of all torches and candles by which the body of the deceased will be accompanied on the journey to the entombing church, and also of all torches and candles which will be lit in the same church around the body, or also on the altars on the day of the funeral. Yet from the aforesaid funeral fourth are to be understood as excepted, and are excepted, the candles which priests, even regulars, or the confreres of pious sodalities accompanying the funeral will manually carry lit along the way.

But if the funeral is not done on the day of entombment, but is deferred to a different day or to another longer time, nevertheless to the parish priest there is to be assigned the fourth part of all torches and candles which on the very day of the funeral performed will have been lit in the church where the deceased was buried, around the cenotaph or honorary tomb, and also on the altars of the same church.... Under the aforesaid funeral fourth we do not intend legacies of Masses and anniversaries to be comprehended; indeed we expressly except from it these and similar pious things left in favor of the entombing or exposing church as disposed by the deceased," etc. It must be added that "a fourth is also owed to the parish priest from funerals performed in second place." S.C.C., August 3, 1621. Barbosa, l.c.; Ferraris, v. Quarta funeralis; A.S.S., vol. 5, p. 598 ff.

Are rights changed by the constitution of a public cemetery? By the constitution of a public cemetery only the material place of burial is changed; but the rights of churches and of the faithful as regards burial and funerals are by no means changed. Likewise by the illegitimate suppression of regulars their ecclesiastical rights cannot be suppressed; nor do the same rights cease if regular families in some way persist and live together, although before civil law they are not recognized as ecclesiastical institutes; for in that case the subject of those rights still persists. S.C.C., November 26, 1814; February 16, 1867; September 16, 1871; February 24, 1872; A.S.S., vol. 1, pp. 87, 124, 239; vol. 5, p. 569; vol. 13, p. 419; vol. 20, p. 587.

Who are to be deprived of ecclesiastical burial? Burial is part of ecclesiastical communion, and therefore "no Christian who has died in the communion of the faithful ought to be buried outside a church or cemetery duly blessed." Roman Ritual, de Exsequiis. But those to whom it is not lawful to give ecclesiastical burial you have in the Roman Ritual, ibid.; E.M.

What is to be said about suicides and duellists? As regards suicides, the Holy Office, May 16, 1866, has these things: "When it is certainly established either concerning anger or despair, ecclesiastical burial must be denied and the pomps and solemnities of exequies must be avoided; but when insanity is certainly established, ecclesiastical burial is given with the solemnities of exequies; yet when doubt remains whether someone gave death to himself through despair or through insanity, ecclesiastical burial can be given, with the pomps and solemnities of exequies nevertheless avoided."

Duellists, according to Benedict XIV, constitution Detestabilem, sec. 9, are deprived of ecclesiastical burial, although they have been absolved, and even before the sentence of a judge, whether they die in the place of the duel or afterwards outside that place. But duellists do not incur the penalties of duellists because of an unexpected encounter, although those fighting, from the same impulse of quarrel, have gone equally to some suitable place. S.C.C., October 5, 1744; E.M.

What is to be said about sectarians and heretics? To sectarians, if they are notorious, "neither sacraments, nor exequies, nor ecclesiastical burial can be granted, unless, after due retraction has been emitted, they have been reconciled to God and the Church through absolution. But if sometimes the same persons, prevented by death, could not duly emit retraction, yet before death gave signs of repentance and devotion, then ecclesiastical burial can be granted to them, with ecclesiastical pomps and solemnities of exequies nevertheless forbidden." Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, May 10, 1898.

Likewise heretics to whom ecclesiastical burial must be denied are not occult heretics, but public and manifest ones, although not yet declared by the Church. This is established from the constitution of Martin V Inter cunctas, and the Response approved by Urban VIII, Holy Office, November 6, 1641, and also from the constitution Apostolicae Sedis, art. 1 of Excommunications reserved to no one. E.M.

What is to be said about notorious excommunicated persons and about those whose bodies are subjected to cremation? If a notorious excommunicated person dies before he is reconciled to the Church, but before his death has given signs of repentance, "when the signs of repentance have been made known, ecclesiastical burial can be given, with ecclesiastical pomps and solemnities of exequies nevertheless forbidden. But if in some case extraordinary circumstances concur, the parish priest should consult the Ordinary and stand by his mandates." Holy Office, July 6, 1898.

Ecclesiastical burial must be denied to those who by their own will chose cremation, and who certainly and notoriously persevered in this will up to death. It is otherwise if cremation occurs by the will of others. Holy Office, December 15, 1886; E.M.

Cremation of bodies is illicit. Therefore it is illicit to command it, to cooperate formally in it, and to give one's name to societies which promote it. To those who commanded it, it is lawful neither to administer the sacraments nor to give ecclesiastical burial. But if their bodies are cremated by another's will, the rites of the Church can be used both at home and in church, but not as far as the place of cremation, scandal being removed.

What is to be said about public sinners? Ecclesiastical burial is not to be denied to the guilty who are punished with death, if they have given signs of repentance; but they are to be buried without solemnity. The same must be said of prostitutes who die in a public brothel, and who have satisfied public scandal and have confessed their sins. Ecclesiastical burial can be given to them, with the pomps and solemnities of exequies nevertheless avoided, Holy Office, September 19, 1877. Nor is it to be denied to actors and comedians, provided they have not refused the sacraments; for this is prohibited by no law. Those who have not satisfied the precept of Easter Communion or annual confession today are not deprived of ecclesiastical burial, unless after an edict proposed, which is no longer customarily proposed, and after the Ordinary has been consulted.

Likewise it is not to be denied to impenitent sinners if the priest alone was witness of impenitence of this kind, in order to avoid scandals. Hence the priest, doubtful about the dispositions of the dying person, should speak to him without witnesses and induce him to confession, provided public scandal is not to be repaired. E.M.

What is to be done in a case of doubt? "Where doubt occurs, the Ordinary should be consulted." Ritual, l.c.; Holy Office, May 16, 1866, etc. If recourse cannot be had to him, the principle holds: in doubt, odious things are to be restricted; nor indeed, because of the grave inconveniences which could arise from it, is burial to be denied to anyone unless it is certain that this obligation exists. La Croix, book 7, nn. 254-256. "Moreover," says St. Alphonsus, de Priv., n. 91, "no one is to be deprived of burial in any case without the sentence of the Bishop, or of the superior, if the body is that of a religious." Since there is question of positive law, which does not oblige with grave inconvenience, in such a case it is lawful to carry out the dead person with Catholic rite and to pay the solemn funeral rites to him, provided that these are not extorted in contempt of the Church, and provided that the deceased is not carried out with Masonic signs placed on the bier or on banners. The Holy Office, July 13, 1609, judged that the burial of heretics is to be tolerated if it cannot be resisted without scandal. And the Sacred Penitentiary, December 10, 1860, concerning those notoriously excommunicated says, "care must be taken that all things be done according to the norm of the sacred canons; but insofar as this cannot be obtained without danger of disturbances and scandal, the parish priest should in no way concur in the burial either by himself or through other priests," i.e., he should conduct himself passively. E.M.

Masonic or anti-Catholic banners can in no way be admitted in funerals and in churches. Indeed in churches only blessed banners are to be admitted, unless otherwise disturbances and dangers are feared. Sacred Congregation of Rites, July 14, 1887, ad 1, n. 3679; Sacred Penitentiary, April 3, 1887; Holy Office, April 4, 1887.