ECCLESIASTICAL BURIAL. - Ecclesiastical burial consists of the following three elements: the removal of the body in order to associate it with the church conducting the funeral, the ritual obsequies in the church, and the accompaniment from the church to the place of burial (can. 1204).
There is a grave obligation to give ecclesiastical burial, according to the order and the norms of the liturgical books (can. 1215), unless there is a grave cause excusing from all or from some of the elements of that same ecclesiastical burial, as, for example, in the case of an epidemic, in large hospitals, etc.
The church conducting the funeral is the one to which the deceased must be transferred by right (cann. 1204, 1215). In determining it, the following order of preference must be followed: first, the church of choice (can. 1216 § 1); then, the family church (can. 1229); finally, by ordinary right, the parish church (can. 1216 § 1). The other provisions are subordinate to this general criterion.
All the faithful are given the faculty of choosing the church for the obsequies and the place for burial, with the sole exception of minors under the age of puberty and of professed religious who are not cardinals, bishops, abbots or prelates nullius, vicars and apostolic prefects. Unless there is an express contrary will, a legitimate custom or a particular provision, the presumption holds: ubi tumulus, ibi funus or ubi funus, ibi tumulus, provided, however, that it is a matter of a strictly ecclesiastical cemetery or of a moral person. The choice of the church conducting the funeral or of the cemetery must be free: thus religious and the secular clergy are forbidden, under penalty of nullity of the act, to induce anyone by vow, oath or promise to choose their own church conducting the funeral or their own cemetery (can. 1227). The choice may be made personally or through a legitimate proxy, who may proceed to it after the death of the principal (can. 1216 § 2). The one invested with paternal authority may choose the burial place of the minors under the age of puberty subject to him, even after their death (can. 1224 § 1). In every case the choice is always revocable. The choice must fall upon one of these four categories: a) the parish church; b) the church of regulars; that of the moniales is reserved to women alone who, for reasons of service, education, infirmity or hospitality, reside habitually within the boundaries of the cloister, even if they should happen to die outside the monastery; c) churches of patronage, limited to the patron; d) a church which, by particular provision, enjoys the funeral right. The choice once made may be proved by all the usual means of procedure.
The family tomb or sepulcrum maiorum is a place, within or outside the cemetery, legitimately chosen and set apart for the benefit of a determined family, of a determined class of persons or of a juridical entity. It may be of four kinds: familial, if it is destined only for the ascendants and descendants of a family; hereditary, if it serves only the heirs; mixed, if it is made for the family and for the heirs; of a moral person, if it is assigned to such a person. Any physical or moral person sui iuris may build a family tomb for himself (cann. 1208 § 31, 1209 § 1), with the written license of the superior on whom the cemetery depends within which it is intended to build (can. 1209 § 1). The place of burial is the family tomb, if the body can be conveniently transported there or if the interested parties provide for it at their own expense (can. 1229 § 1), and the church conducting the funeral will also be that of the family tomb, saving local customs and diocesan statutes.
By ordinary common right the church conducting the funeral is the deceased's own parish, that is, the one in which he had his domicile or quasi-domicile, true or legal (can. 94). If there were more than one own parish, the church conducting the funeral is the church of the parish in whose territory the death occurred (can. 1216). If this occurred outside the own parish, the body must be transported to the nearest parish church, if, in the judgment of the Ordinary, it can be reached commode pedestri itinere; otherwise to the parish church of the place of death, unless the family or the heirs or those having a claim provide at their own expense for the transport of the body to the parish of the deceased (can. 1218 §§ 1-3). In doubt the right of the own parish always prevails (can. 1217).
By ordinary special right, for the Roman Pontiff the church conducting the funeral is the Vatican Basilica; for cardinals, if they died in Rome, the church designated by the Pontiff, if they died outside Rome, the most distinguished church of the place of death (can. 1219 § 1). For residential bishops, even if elevated to the cardinalitial dignity, as also for abbots or prelates nullius, apostolic prefects or vicars, permanently constituted apostolic administrators, coadjutor bishops, it is the cathedral, abbatial or prelatial church, if transport is possible without inconvenience; otherwise it is the most distinguished church of the place of death (can. 1219 § 2). If the bishop has two or more dioceses united aeque principaliter, the cathedral of the place of death; if united minus principaliter, the principal cathedral church (can. 1218). For residential beneficiaries, the church of their own benefice (cann. 1220, 1218); for professed religious, novices and servants stably residing in the religious house and dying there, the church of their own house or at least of their religious order (can. 1221). For those who die in a hospital, for the convictori and the guests of religious, the common and ordinary right of all the faithful is observed, unless there are different particular provisions (can. 1222). For those who die in a seminary it is the church of the seminary (cann. 1222, 1368).
The minister of the funeral is generally the one who has the care of the church conducting the funeral. In particular, it is the right and duty of the parish priest to give, for himself and for others, burial to his own deceased. If the deceased has several parish priests, the minister is the parish priest of the church conducting the funeral (can. 1230 § 1). If the death occurs in another parish, but the body can be conveniently transported there pedestri itinere, it is for the own parish priest to give ecclesiastical burial, after notifying the parish priest of the place of death (can. 1230 § 2; 1218 § 3); otherwise the funeral minister is the parish priest of the place of death.
The ministers of the funeral of the Pontiff are the cardinals (const. Sede vacante, n. 20; motu proprio of Pius XI, 1 March 1922, AAS, 14 [1922], 145). For cardinals, even if not bishops, who died in Rome, the minister is the dean of the Sacred College, unless the pontiff has designated others; the own parish priest, on the other hand, removes the body. If they died outside Rome, and in an episcopal see, the ministers are, according to the order of precedence, the dignitaries of the cathedral church; if outside the episcopal see, the minister is the rector of the most distinguished church conducting the funeral. For residential bishops, as for abbots and prelates nullius, the ministers are the dignitaries of the cathedral church; if outside the episcopal see, as for abbots and prelates nullius, the ministers are the dignitaries and canons of the cathedral, abbatial or prelatial church; if they die outside the see, the rector of the most distinguished church. Titular bishops follow the common right of the faithful, as also do residential bishops who died in Rome. For beneficiaries, the minister is the rector of the church of the benefice; the own parish priest of the deceased, on the other hand, removes the body and leads it to the doors of the church conducting the funeral (cann. 1216, 1218, 1230 § 4). For religious, novices, postulants and servants to be buried in the church of the religious, the minister is exclusively the religious superior; for lay religious, on the other hand, the minister is the chaplain of the house. For religious women and novices who died in the religious house and are exempt from parochial jurisdiction, the minister is the chaplain; if they are not exempt, the minister is the parish priest. If they died outside their own house, the prescriptions of common right are observed (can. 1230 § 5). For those who died in a hospital or in a seminary, the minister is the rector of the church conducting the funeral.
In the case of elective or family burial, if the church is exempt from the jurisdiction of the parish priest, the minister is the rector of that church; but it is the parish priest who, with the processional cross of the church conducting the funeral, takes up the body and leads it to the doors of the church (cann. 1230 § 3, 1215). If the church is not exempt, the minister is the parish priest in whose territory the church is situated, provided that the deceased was a subject of that same parish priest (can. 1230 § 4). If the body is transported to a place where the deceased neither had his own parish nor was there an elective burial, it is for the cathedral church to conduct the funeral rites; in its absence, the parish church in whose territory the cemetery for interment is located takes its place, always saving local customs and diocesan statutes (can. 1230 § 7, 1218, 1229).
Once the funeral rites have been held in church, the body, outside the case of elective or family burial, must be interred in the cemetery of the church conducting the funeral (cann. 1231 § 1, 1228, 1229). The minister is the one who conducted the funeral rites, unless the body must be interred in a cemetery to which it cannot conveniently be transported. Outside of this case, the minister, with stole and processional cross, may cross the territory of other parishes or dioceses, even without the license of the relevant parish priest or Ordinary (can. 1232).
From the funeral procession there cannot be excluded, barring a grave cause to be assessed by the Ordinary, other clerics, secular or religious, and associations of the faithful whom the family or heirs of the deceased have invited: however, the clerics attached to the church have precedence over everyone else (can. 1233 § 1). Societies or emblems manifestly hostile to the Catholic religion are excluded from the funeral procession (can. 1223 § 2). Flags or banners of Catholic societies may also be admitted into the church, as may blessed flags. Those of political parties are excluded insofar as they cannot be blessed (Holy Office, 20 March 1947: AAS, 39 [1947], p. 130). The route and the ordering of the procession are fixed by the parish priest, always saving legitimate rights of precedence (can. 1233 § 3). Clerics are forbidden to carry the coffin of a layperson, of whatever dignity he may be (can. 1233 § 4).
Excluded from ecclesiastical burial are the unbaptized (can. 1239 § 1); catechumens, on the other hand, who without their own fault did not receive Baptism before dying, are for burial placed on the same footing as the faithful (§ 2). To all the baptized, finally, as a general rule, ecclesiastical burial is granted, unless the contrary is expressly provided (§ 3).
Can. 1240 enumerates six categories of persons to whom ecclesiastical burial is denied, if before death they gave no signs of repentance (for example, by calling the priest, kissing the Crucifix, reciting the act of contrition): 1) those notoriously apostate from the Christian faith or notoriously enrolled in a heretical or schismatic, Masonic or similar sect; 2) those excommunicated or personally interdicted after a condemnatory or declaratory sentence; 3) suicides deliberato consilio; 4) those who died in dueling or from wounds received therein; 5) those who have arranged to be cremated; 6) all other public and manifest sinners.
The deprivation of ecclesiastical burial also entails the refusal of any funeral Mass, including the anniversary Mass, and of other public funeral offices (can. 1241), and, if possible, the exhumation of the excommunicatus vitandus who has already been unlawfully interred in a sacred place (cann. 1242, 1214 §, 1212). In doubt, the decision must if possible be deferred to the Ordinary; if the doubt remains, ecclesiastical burial cannot be denied: however, the removal of any scandal that may arise is always required (can. 1240 § 2).
Once the interment has taken place, the minister must record in the appropriate book the name and age of the deceased together with the names of the parents and of the spouse, the time of death, the reception of the Sacraments and the relevant minister, and the place and time of the interment (can. 1238). For the fees v. PORZIONE PARROCCHIALE; STOLA, DIRITTI di.
Bibliography5 works
Angelo Criscito
S. «MORE MAIORUM». - It was introduced for great personages who died far from their homeland, in order to bring back there at least their bones for burial. It was practiced by the Germanic peoples, beginning with the troops of Frederick Barbarossa decimated near Rome in 1167 by a grave epidemic. On that occasion, the corpses were boiled in order to transport back to the homeland only the bones, by this means easily separated from the soft parts. A similar method was brought back into vogue during the Crusades of the Teutonic Knights; such a treatment was reserved for Barbarossa himself, who drowned in the river Seleph in Syria. Thus too was done with Philip the Bold and with St. Louis IX, who died in 1270 beneath the walls of Tunis.
Very soon, the practice aroused such horror as to induce, in 1300, the pontiff Boniface VIII to issue a bull of excommunication against those who boiled and stripped the flesh from human bodies for burial far from the places of death, and forbade the burial in consecrated ground of human remains that had undergone such treatment. This bull, in the past, was erroneously interpreted as a prohibition on the part of ecclesiastical authority against anatomical studies. On the contrary, the Church, in that period, had undertaken to protect scholars from the wrath of the people, who abhorred human dissections, granting, whenever necessary, special dispensations to perform "notomies" and overseeing anatomical studies.
Bibliography2 works
Gustavo Maria Apolloni