Cemetery

CEMETERY. - It is the place destined for the burial of the dead.

The Christians of the first centuries, conforming to the Roman laws that severely prohibited burying corpses within the city (Mortuorum reliquia, ne sanctum municipiorum ius polluatur, intra civitatem condi iam pridem vetitum est; Code of Justinian, 3, 44, 12), buried them, as has been said above, outside the walls, in specially designated places. Later, observance of these laws gradually relaxed, and cemeteries began to arise next to churches, of which they soon became accessory parts. Within the churches themselves were laid the remains of bishops, priests and certain laypersons of outstanding virtue; but little by little the custom arose of granting burial there to all the faithful (cf. Decree of Gratian, c. 18, C. XIII, q. 2): which induced the ecclesiastical authorities to introduce strict limitations.

The matter is today integrally regulated by the CIC, which permits only the corpses of pontiffs, cardinals and sovereigns, and, limited to their own church, of residential bishops, abbots and nullius prelates, to be buried in churches. Apart from these exceptions, all the faithful without distinction must receive burial in a cemetery that has been solemnly or simply blessed according to the rites described in the liturgical books (can. 1205).

By reason of the character of sacredness that undoubtedly belongs to the place where the dead rest, it is self-evident that the Church claims for herself the full and absolute right to possess her own cemeteries (can. 1206 § 1). Whenever this right, as often happens, is violated without hope of restoration, the Ordinaries are obliged to see to it that civil cemeteries are blessed, if those who are customarily buried there are for the most part Catholics, or that at least a special blessed area is reserved for Catholics (can. 1206 § 2). Where not even this can be obtained, the individual graves must be blessed one by one (can. 1206 § 3). Every parish must have its own cemetery, unless the Ordinary has established one common to several parishes. Exempt religious may have their own cemetery, distinct from the common one; and the same faculty may be granted by the Ordinary to other moral persons or to private families (can. 1208 §§ 1-3).

Both in parochial cemeteries and in those belonging to other moral persons, the faithful may, upon written authorization issued respectively by the Ordinary and by the superior, have special tombs built for themselves and their relatives and may subsequently even alienate them. The tombs of priests and clerics must, as far as possible, be separated from those of the laity and situated in a more dignified place, distinguishing, if the matter does not present excessive difficulty, the tombs of priests from those of clerics of lower orders. Separate burials from the others must also be reserved for the bodies of infants, where this can be done easily (can. 1209 §§ 1-3).

The cemetery must be suitably enclosed on every side and carefully guarded (can. 1210). It is the task of the Ordinaries, parish priests and superiors to see to it that the epitaphs, funeral eulogies and ornaments of the tombs contain nothing that is unbecoming to the Catholic religion and to piety (can. 1211). For the burial of the corpses of those to whom ecclesiastical burial (v.) is not granted, can. 1212 prescribes that a place different from the blessed cemetery be provided, if possible, but likewise enclosed and guarded.

The provisions laid down by the CIC concerning interdict, the violation and the reconciliation of churches (v. CHIESA) apply also to cemeteries (can. 1207): noting that the violation of a church does not entail the violation of the adjoining cemetery and vice versa (can. 1172 § 2), and that in a cemetery struck by interdict the corpses of the faithful may indeed be buried, but without any ecclesiastical rite (can. 2272 § 2).

The violation of tombs or of corpses, committed for the purpose of theft or for another wicked motive, is punished by can. 2328 with personal interdict, with infamy incurred ipso facto and, if the guilty party is a cleric, also with deposition.

IN ITALIAN LAW

The regulation of cemeteries is entrusted to numerous provisions of the communal and provincial law (March 3, 1934, no. 383), of the Consolidated Text of the health laws (July 27, 1934, no. 1265) and of the mortuary police regulations (Royal Decree December 21, 1942, no. 1880). Every municipality must have a cemetery, the construction of which is governed by particular rules of a hygienic character. Thus, for example, the cemetery cannot be located at a distance of less than two hundred meters from inhabited centers, must have an area at least ten times larger than the space necessary for the number of dead to be buried in each year, must be built on land of a friable, permeable and dry nature, etc.

The so-called secularization of cemeteries, completed at the end of the last century, means that, in addition to burial by means of interment (in graves dug in the ground) and entombment (in tombs or niches), cremation in specially designed furnaces is permitted (v. DEFUNTI), and that for entry into the cemetery no distinction whatsoever is made between the bodies of persons entitled to ecclesiastical burial and the bodies of persons deprived of it.

Cemeteries form part of municipal public property; but this does not exclude the real and perpetual right that individual holders of concessions for niches or for areas for the construction of individual, family or particular-community tombs may acquire.

Noteworthy are the provisions of the Penal Code concerning the offenses of violation of a grave (art. 407) and of desecration of tombs or of things destined for the worship of the dead (art. 408), punished respectively with imprisonment from one to five years and from six months to three years.

Ferruccio Liuzzi

LITURGY

The cemetery is a sacred place, and as such must be blessed, according to what the Roman Ritual establishes (tit. VI).

There are two clearly distinct rites, both for the blessing and for the reconciliation of cemeteries. The first is pontifical and reserved solely to the bishop; the second, simpler, belongs to the priest, even if deputed by the bishop. The first is found in the Pontifical, the second in the Roman Ritual.

The principal elements of the solemn (pontifical) rite of the blessing of cemeteries appear between the 10th and 13th centuries; the sprinkling with holy water and the recitation of the litany of the saints are attested in the 10th century, the erection of the five crosses and the recitation of the seven penitential psalms in the 13th century. In the meantime the other elements were inserted, such as the Miserere, various psalms, etc.

The complete form of the solemn blessing is found first of all in the Pontifical of Durandus (ed. M. Andrieu, Le Pontifical romain au moyen âge, III: Le Pontifical de Guillaume Durand [Studi e Testi, 88], Vatican City 1940, pp. 504-18). But already the first elements are found in a collection of formulas in cod. 54 of the Civic library of Bamberg (11th century); cf. M. Andrieu, op. cit. in bibl., p. 63 ff.

If the cemetery is adjacent to the church, it cannot be considered blessed indirectly or occasionally by the lustral water that it receives when the bishop proceeds to the external blessing of the church (P. J. De Herdt, Sacrae Liturgiae praxis, III, Louvain 1870, p. 290).

At the four sides of the cemetery four crosses are planted, and one in the center near the large one that must be erected there permanently. The ceremony begins with an occasional discourse by the bishop; then the litany of the saints is recited or sung, with three particular final invocations for the purification, blessing, sanctification and consecration of the place.

Then, once the holy water has been prepared, the bishop sprinkles with it and incenses all around the walls of the cemetery, and stops before the individual crosses, incenses them and affixes three candles to each, one at the top and the others at the two arms.

In the meantime the penitential psalms are sung, followed by an oration that synthesizes the whole liturgical spirit of the ceremony. After the incensing of the central cross and the singing of a penitential psalm, there rises again the cry of hope and of piety, the recourse to the merciful Christ who will give immortality to our bodies. As in all the other solemn rites of the Church, the ceremony ends with an inspired oration and a Preface that develops the informing concept of all the prayers of the consecration.

The rite of blessing, on the other hand, is simpler, and is contained in the Roman Ritual, tit. VIII, cap. 29. A cross is planted in the middle of the cemetery and the celebrant, vested in the sacred paraments, says an oration and intones the litany of the saints. He then sprinkles the cross and all around the cemetery while the Miserere is sung.

The blessing of tombs refers to funeral chapels (Decr. S. Congr. of Rites, nos. 3400, 3524), which, so that Mass may be celebrated in them, must be built in such a way that the corner of the altar is at least one meter from the side tombs: no corpse may be buried in front of or beneath the altar (CIC, can. 1202).

When the cemetery has not been consecrated or blessed, every grave must be blessed with the formula of the Roman Ritual, tit. VI, cap. 3, no. 12 before the burial of the corpse.

Silverio Mattei

ART

Already during the Middle Ages, besides in churches, the dead were buried within sacred enclosures such as the porticoes fronting sacred buildings, the cloisters of monasteries, or in any case in specific areas of land set aside for that purpose. Of such places, many of which, especially abroad, are still in use, or held in particular honor, the best known is the Camposanto of Pisa, begun in 1278 by Giovanni di Simone and whose construction and decoration continued until well beyond the middle of the 15th century. The Pisan Camposanto consists of a quadriportico with arcades that bounds a rectangular area where a great quantity of earth was deposited that Pisan sailors had gathered on Golgotha. Distinguished for the tombs of the city's most illustrious men, many of which are formed from ancient sarcophagi by the work of illustrious masters of the chisel, the Pisan Camposanto draws its greatest fame from the pictorial cycles of the 14th and 15th centuries that adorn its walls and which the recent war has in part gravely damaged. However, during the 18th century the custom of burying in churches or in any case within the inhabited area was gradually abandoned until legislative measures intervened to forbid it as harmful, especially to hygiene.

Thus the first monumental nuclei began to arise and in many cases, especially in the great urban centers, by the middle of the 19th century, architecture was directly engaged for the better decorum of the buildings.

Thus in Milan, in the cemetery opened in 1866, after the suppression of the five small existing cemeteries, a notable Famedio (Maciachini) was built, intended to gather the ashes of illustrious men. In it, which is one of the noblest examples of such monumental complexes, the decoration fused Lombard and late-Byzantine elements into a grandiose and harmonious whole. In Brescia an elegant lighthouse (Rodolfo Vantini) rose in the middle of the area, and especially outside Italy arrangements were made as parks that offered a greater sense of serenity and spiritual rest.

Within the ambit of the great perimeter constructions, the small constructions intended to receive the tombs of a family or of individuals arose later, down to the modest niches or cells for the less well-off.

A typical example is given by the cemetery of Verano near S. Lorenzo fuori le mura in Rome (Vespignani). The first foundation, which dated back to 1834, was later enlarged and determined by the great quadriportico with the chapel in the center, the great statue of the risen Christ and the enormous expanse of gardens and hedges beyond the central enclosure. In Naples the cemetery, built on a slope on the hill of Poggioreale, has a monumental neoclassical entrance which by a broad avenue flanked by beautiful tombs and chapels leads to the so-called "Quadrato degli uomini illustri" which is backed by the Mother church, for funeral ceremonies on the days of the commemoration of the dead. The cemetery of Genoa (C. Barabino and G. B. Resasco), situated in the peripheral locality of Staglieno, against a hill, develops in a great rectangle enclosed by a series of arcades that connect at the center with the great Famedio of the imposing flight of steps. The abundance of vegetation and marbles then creates a highly evocative atmosphere there. Also worthy of remembrance are the cemeteries of Turin, of Naples, of Messina (Savoia and Fiore), of Chiaravalle Milanese, and, outside Italy, those of Cincinnati and Philadelphia, laid out as parks, the Père Lachaise of Paris and that of Barcelona. - See Pl. CVI.

Giovanni Carandente