HISTORY OF
CREMATION AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
IN the very
earliest days of the Church one of the negative
reactions toward the Church by the Roman Empire was
that after the Christians had been martyred, their
bodies were cremated and the remains scattered. This
way the Romans could declare that there was no way
the Christian God could reunite the body and soul of
the Martyrs as preached by the Disciples. Two
results of this program were the development of the
Catacombs and the prohibition of cremation as a
choice for Christians for the final disposition of
the body after death.
Permission was
given to use cremation under extraordinary
circumstances such as the years of the plague in
Europe during the Middle Ages but as a general rule
the Catholic Church outlawed cremation as an
un-Christian act that was an attempt to disprove the
basic belief in the reuniting of the body and soul
at the final Resurrection.
{The Romans
practiced cremation as their choice of final
disposition for hundreds of years but then had to
switch to ground burial and Mausoleum entombment
when they ran out of forests in Italy to supply the
wood for all the cremations.}
The church has
always emphasized the dignity of the human body as
the Earthen Vessel of the Holy Spirit. It has
supported this position from the moment of
conception, through the life cycle, at the time of
death and particularly how this Earthen Vessel is
handled after death. Since the human body has been
the receptacle for the Holy Spirit and we do believe
it is our destiny to resurrect our body and soul
with God, the Church has always taught that during
the Christian Funeral Rite and the final
disposition, the body must at all times be treated
with Christian dignity.
“This is the
body once washed in baptism, anointed with the oil
of salvation, and fed with the bread of life. This
is the body whose hands clothed the poor and
embraced the sorrowing.” (1)
During the
Vatican II Council a discussion was started of how
to use cremation in a manner that would fit into the
Christian Funeral Rite and allow the human body to
be treated with the dignity it deserves. It had
become apparent that many times the use of cremation
was following a local custom, was necessary for
economic or health reasons and was no longer an
anti-Christian statement.
Following
Vatican II the “Order of Christian Funerals” was
developed to present the Church’s plan for the
celebration of the death of one of its members.
“When the rites of the Order of Christian Funerals
are fully celebrated, they ritualize the paschal
exodus of one of the Lord’s disciples: the journey
from life to death to fullness of life in God.” (2)
The desire to
allow for cremation led to canon 1176 in the 1983
Code of Cannon Law. “The Church earnestly recommends
that the pious custom of burying the bodies of the
dead be observed; it does not, however, forbid
cremation unless it has been chosen for reasons
which are contrary to Christian teaching.”
“Although
cremation is now permitted, it does not enjoy the
same value as burial of the body. Catholic teaching
continues to stress the preference for burial
entombment of the body of the deceased.” (3)
The disposition
of the cremated remains (they are not ashes, what
they really are, are the ground up bones that did
not incinerate during the cremation process) is also
of prime importance to the Church. The Church
requires that at all times that human remains be
treated with dignity and respect be they corporeal
of cremated remains. Therefore the Church has stated
that all human remains must be buried or entombed,
preferably in a Catholic Cemetery. “The practices of
scattering cremated remains on the sea, from the
air, or on the ground or keeping cremated remains in
the home of a relative or friend are not the
reverent disposition that the church requires.” (4)
Quick
Synopsis:
>The Code of
Canon Law does allow cremation unless this option is
chosen in opposition to Christian teachings.
>The Church
prefers that the full body be present in the church
for the funeral liturgy and cremation occur after
the funeral.
> With the
permission of the local Ordinary the cremated
remains may be allowed in the church for the full
funeral liturgy.
>The
scattering of cremated remains, the keeping of
cremated remains in a place other than a cemetery,
the division of the cremated remains into more than
one container is not permitted by the church because
it does not allow for the reverent disposition of
the “Earthen Vessel of the Holy Spirit”.
(1) Reflections
of The Body, Cremation, and Catholic Funeral Rites,
Committee on the Liturgy, National Conference of
Catholic Bishops, United States Catholic Conference,
Washington, D.C., Copyright 1997, Page 4.
(2) Ibid, page 6
(3) Ibid, page 9
(4) Ibid, page
11
See also
Cremation and the Catholic Church (PDF)
