♱ Introduction to Cremation
For centuries, the Holy Catholic Church forbade cremation, and denied Christian burial rites to anyone who chose to be cremated. The only exception that was allowed was for an extraordinary set of circumstances, such as in times of plague or other natural disasters that killed thousands of people at once.
Fr. William J. Devlin, S.J. writes in The Catholic Encyclopedia that pagans of the Roman Empire would burn the bodies of Christian martyrs intentionally to preclude their one day rising from the grave.
In centuries past, Catholics never burned their beloved dead, but instead followed early Jewish burial practices, as well as the examples in sacred scripture. It is recorded that in times of persecution many Catholics risked their lives to recover the bodies of martyrs to give them the holy rite of a Christian burial.
♱ Catholic Church History
The early prohibition against cremation was specified in the PIO BENEDICTINE CODE OF CANON LAW 1917 in Canon 1203, paragraphs 1 & 2 stating: “The bodies of the faithful departed shall be buried, their cremation being reprobated. If anyone by any manner orders that his body be cremated, it is illicit to execute that desire; and if this was added to any contract or testament or any other act it is considered as not being added.”
In Canon 1240 of the same Pio-Benedictine Code of Canon Law 1917 paragraph 1 states: “Unless they gave before death a sign of repentance, the following are deprived of an ecclesiastical burial: Notorious apostates, excommunicates, those who killed themselves, those who died in a duel, those who ordered that their body be handed over for cremation and other public and manifest sinners.” Paragraph 5 it states that “Those who give orders that their body be cremated are amongst those who must be refused ecclesiastical burial.”
Later, the Conciliar Catholic Church revised CODE OF CANON LAW 1983 used ambiguous language to describe Cremation in Canon 1176: “The Church earnestly recommends that the pious custom of burying the bodies of the deceased be observed; nevertheless, the Church does not prohibit cremation unless it was chosen for reasons contrary to Christian doctrine.”
♱ Sacred Scripture
There are many examples in Sacred Scripture that exemplify the Judeo-Christian practice of burial:
“And so Abraham buried Sara his wife, in a double cave of the field, that looked towards Mambre, this is Hebron in the land of Chanaan.” (Gen 23:19)
“And Moses the servant of the Lord died there, in the land of Moab, by the commandment of the Lord. And he buried him in the valley of the land of Moab over against Phogor: and no man hath known of his sepulchre until this present day.” (Deut 34:5-6)
“And Joseph taking the body [of Jesus], wrapped it up in a clean linen cloth. And laid it in his own new monument, which he had hewed out in a rock. And he rolled a great stone to the door of the monument, and went his way.” (Matt 27:59-60)
♱ Conclusion
Catholics should adhere to the constant tradition of the Church, which numbers the burial of the dead as one of the “Corporal Works of Mercy” so great must be our respect for the body, “the temple of the Holy Ghost” (I Cor. 6:19). We must neither request cremation for ourselves, nor permit it for our relatives (as much as is possible) and NOT attend any religious services associated with it. If needbe a traditional Catholic priest can be consulted about cases where cremation was chosen out of ignorance of Church teaching.
