Cremation

CREMATION. — The term c. (from Lat. crematio = burning) has been reserved by usage for the act of burning the human corpse. As this act is practised today in our countries, it is a rapid, complete combustion of the corpse carried out according to scientific technique, whereas among less civilized peoples it is a more or less complete incineration accompanied by a special religious ceremony, as was the case among the ancients.

According to a rather conventional symbolism, incineration seems intended to signify that bodies are forever dissolved and dispersed, whereas the contrary rite of burial conveys the idea of death understood as sleep,

and expresses more faithfully the Christian faith in the final resurrection. This is so as a symbolic expression, not as a reality.

In the absolute sense, in fact, c. is contrary to no natural or revealed truth; still less does it constitute an obstacle to the omnipotence of God in the resurrection of bodies. Nor can it be said to violate in any way the rights of the human person. The corpse is no longer a person and therefore is no longer, in itself and of itself, essentially inviolable.

In fact, however, c. has been repugnant to the discipline of the Church from its earliest beginnings, and contrary to the refined sentiments of Christian piety toward the dead; whereas the contrary rite, burial, through unanimous, uninterrupted, traditional teaching, has acquired an apt significance of the immortality of the soul and of faith in the resurrection of the flesh; it has become an evident reminder of biblical events and teachings, already operative in the Jewish tradition, such as the idea of the body-seed (I Cor. 15, 36-44), of the mother-earth (Gen. 3, 19; Iob. 1, 21; Eccl. 40, 1), and of death-rest and sleep (Dan. 12, 2; Io. 11, 11-39).

A pagan of the second century said of the Christians, « eseccantur rogos, et damnant ignium sepulturas » (Minucius Felix, Octavius, chap. 11: Pl. 3, 267). He also made known the reason: faith in the resurrection of the flesh. It was therefore not a simple custom opposed to funeral pyres, but an abhorrence, a condemnation made on religious principle and so openly expressed that it was known even to the pagans. The latter, precisely in order to insult Christian convictions, often vented their fury upon the tortured remains of the martyrs, incinerating them (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., V, chaps. 1 and 2, PG 20, 433).