Evolution of the suicides’ right to funeral and burial in Canon Law and Polish Law

Abstract

For centuries, funeral law was not too favourable to suicides. Admittedly, at the dawn of Christianity this group of the deceased was not refused religious funeral celebrations or a burial, yet, the situation changed along with the Catholic religion gaining significance. At the beginning of the Middle Ages, suicides were deprived of the right to a religious funeral. Furthermore, in the 11th century the ecclesiastical legislator forbade burial for suicides in “holy places.” Until modern times, therefore, suicides were buried at a distance from grave- yards. This in practice often indicated a burial insulting human dignity. The monopoly on religious funeral regulations only ended in Europe at the end of the 18th century, when state authorities took an interest in funeral law. On Polish soil, the more enlightened regulations of the Partitioners were enforced in the 19th century. In addition, the Act on burying the de¬ceased passed in 1932 led to the necessary standardization of provisions of national funeral law, while the binding provisions of the Act on cemeteries of 1959 provided equality of rights for the deceased in the access to a place of burial at a cemetery. Finally, in the second half of the 20th century, the ecclesiastical legislator introduced amendments to the Canon Law al- lowing (in certain instances) a Catholic funeral for a suicide. The liberalization of the Canon Law provisions, therefore, exemplifies wider transformations in the spirit of the conciliar aggiornamento