Appendix II. On Ecclesiastical Burial

1010. • The bodies of the faithful deceased are, by precept of the Church, to be buried in a sacred place blessed and consecrated for this purpose, or in the Church itself. But those who do not belong to the Church of Christ can be buried neither according to the ecclesiastical rite nor in a sacred place. Ecclesiastical burial must also be denied to Christians who are deemed unworthy of it because they have either abandoned the faith, departed from the living in contumacy and impenitence, or were rebellious children, as is evident from what was said concerning the effects of excommunication and interdict.

1011. Questions. - QUESTION 1. Who are to be deprived of ecclesiastical burial?

Reply. By common law they are the following:

1. All infidels, whoever they may be, whether pagans, Jews, Mohammedans, or even infants who died without Baptism.

2. Apostates from the Christian Faith. Moreover, all impious men who teach atheism, deism, or pantheism in writings, or in one word, all who deny Christian revelation, must be numbered among apostates.

3. Heretics who profess their errors openly, and their notorious supporters, as well as public schismatics.

4. Public and notorious excommunicated persons, and persons interdicted by name, if they have died without signs of repentance and have manifested no desire for reconciliation with the Church.

5. Suicides who have inflicted death upon themselves under the impulse of anger or despair, unless they gave signs of repentance or insanity. Burial is not denied, however, to those who killed themselves in a state of delirium or during another paroxysm of disease.

1012. • 6. Duelists, if they have perished in the conflict itself. Council of Trent, session 25, chapter 19, On Reformation. Indeed, according to the Roman Ritual, they are to be deprived of burial even if they gave signs of repentance; and according to the Bull of Benedict XIV, even if they were absolved, and even if they died outside the place of the conflict with signs of repentance.

7. Public and notorious sinners who met death in impenitence. Such are, for example, those who publicly live in adultery or concubinage. But for this it is required: 1. that the impenitence be altogether certain; 2. that it be so public that burial cannot be granted without new scandal.

QUESTION 2. Are guilty persons who are punished by death to be buried in a sacred place?

Reply. Affirmatively, if they confessed before death or gave undoubted signs of repentance. But they are to be buried without solemnity.

1013. • QUESTION 3. What is to be done in doubt whether ecclesiastical burial must be denied or not?

Reply. The Bishop is to be consulted if easy recourse to him is available; otherwise action must be taken in favor of granting burial according to the principle: In doubt, odious things are to be restricted. For since great inconveniences, especially in our times, are accustomed to arise from the denial of burial, it is expedient that such denial not be made unless its obligation is certainly established.

QUESTION 4. Is burial to be denied if the Priest alone was a witness to the dying person's rejection and impenitence?

Reply. Negatively, unless burial ought to be denied to him from some other source because of one of the causes set forth above, for example, because of a censure, etc. But the Priest must remain silent concerning the impious disposition of the dying person and allow it to be believed that he was duly purified by the Sacraments. For scandals must be avoided insofar as possible. Indeed, it will be worthwhile for a Priest who is doubtful concerning the disposition of the dying person to speak with him without witnesses and induce him to confession, lest his evil disposition become known, provided that some scandal need not necessarily be repaired. Prudence counsels this, which has been established in various Dioceses.

1014. • QUESTION 5. Is burial to be denied to mimes and actors?

Reply. Negatively, provided they have not refused the Sacraments of the Church, as was said concerning other sinners in the preceding question. For no canonical law is found which excludes them from ecclesiastical burial. Gousset, On Extreme Unction, no. 637.

When a cemetery is blessed, some outer part of it is to be left without blessing so that it may serve for the burial of infants who departed from the living without Baptism, of infidels who died in Christian places, and also of any others to whom ecclesiastical burial must be denied. It is not absolutely required that this part be separated from the rest of the cemetery, for example, by a wall, hedge, or some trench, but it suffices that it can be distinguished in some way.

End of the Treatise on Censures.