Christian Burial Research Articles

Deviant Burials in Medieval Vilnius: Saints or Criminals?

Christian cemeteries are distinguished by certain typical burial rites. Some of the rites are characteristic of this religion, while others are common and have been known since the Stone Age. However, in all the Christian burial sites across Europe, there are always some unusual graves, sometimes called deviant (or atypical) burials; they differ from other graves and their exceptionality can occur in various burial elements. Although the first distinctive features that come to mind when conducting archaeological investigations in Christian burials are decapitation or burial in a prone position, there are many more possible distinctive features to consider. These could be burials in unusual places (isolated areas of a cemetery), burials in unusual positions, decapitations, cut-off limbs, presence of sharp objects within the body, stones or coins inside the mouth, mass graves, stoned burials covered with stones, cremation in an inhumation site (partial cremation), crime, torture, evidence of special rituals on skeletons, and so on. The following elements are to be considered when discussing deviant burials: 1) location of a grave, 2) construction of a grave, 3) spatial orientation, and 4) body treatment. When it comes to the deviant burials in medieval or modern European cemeteries, atypical cases are usually associated with vampires and witches. In Lithuania, unusual graves are sometimes associated with Pagan relics and ethnography. Deviant burials could also be accorded to outcasts of the community: criminals, people who have committed suicide, or those who have not been baptised. In other cases, a possible deep faith of the deceased is emphasised. Recently, a new field of research - 'judicial archaeology' - has emerged, in which it is sought to explain unusual burials as a possible punishment for criminals rather than a magical act. It can be concluded that the number of deviant burials discovered in the analysed medieval cemeteries was not that high. Some cases may indicate a different perception of the assessment of a deceased person, but there are few of them (except for beheading). The other cases can often be simply explained practically. For example, the stones could be related to wooden constructions of the grave, various pathologies determined the distinctive positioning of the body, the outcasts of the community (criminals or suicides) could be buried in a more secluded place, and so on. Of course, one can identify the relics of Paganism in unusual burials, especially in cases when the deceased was interred on the side or in a prone position.

Pochówek ciał i przechowywanie prochów wiernych zmarłych. Aspekt kanoniczno-liturgiczny

The purpose of this paper is to present the problem of the burial of bodies and the storage of ashes of the faithful departed in the canonical-liturgical aspect. The Church demands respect for human bodies and ashes. The first part of the article presents the burial of corpses in the ground as an ordinary and basic form of Christian burial. The second part presents the problem of cremation as an acceptable way of burying the bodies of the faithful departed, while the second part discusses the question of the place of burial of the bodies and storing the ashes of the faithful departed.

Re Unnamed Burial Ground

The petitioner sought a faculty for the exhumation of her mother's body from a consecrated burial ground, where she had recently been buried, in order to re-inter her in another consecrated burial ground, within the same diocese. The general rule enunciated by the Court of Arches in Re Blagdon Cemetery is that because of the theological principle that Christian burial is final, a faculty for exhumation will only be granted in exceptional circumstances. In this case, however, the petition was brought because of the proximity of the mother's grave to those of close family members of the petitioner's ex-husband, who had been violent and abusive towards her and her children over a period of some eight years. Neither the petitioner nor her children could visit her mother's grave because it caused them flashbacks, and the petitioner's GP confirmed that she was having nightmares and panic attacks and was suffering from anxiety and depression.

Syncretism and Cultural Resilience: The Coexistence and Evolution of Traditional Itolimin and Christian Burial Practices in Esanland, Nigeria

Purpose of the Study: This research aims to uncover how traditional second burial rites coexist with and have adapted to Christian funeral norms, reflecting the socio-religious negotiation in a postcolonial context. Methodology: Employing a qualitative ethnographic approach, the study gathered data through semi-structured interviews with local chiefs, elders, and adults, alongside observations and an extensive review of related literature. Participants were selected based on their deep knowledge of Esan customs and involvement in the Itolimin practice. Main Findings: The study revealed that Itolimin, while embracing certain Christian elements, remains a vital cultural practice that reinforces the community's moral and social order. The rite's evolution showcases the Esan people's ability to blend traditional and Christian values, thereby preserving their cultural identity amidst religious changes. This syncretism illustrates the community's broader cultural resilience and adaptation approach in a rapidly changing religious landscape. Applications of this Study: Insights from this study apply to the broader discourse on funeral practices in postcolonial societies, providing a framework for cultural preservation amidst religious transformation. It is relevant for policymakers and public health officials regarding community health and burial practices. The findings also offer a basis for developing contextual theological education that respects indigenous beliefs within Christian teachings. Novelty/Originality: This study provides a unique contribution to the understanding of funeral rituals within African postcolonial societies by documenting the living tradition of Itolimin. It highlights how syncretism acts as a dynamic cultural force, shaping the way communities like the Esan negotiate identity and religious practice in a contemporary Christian-dominated context.

Aspects of Christian Burial Practice

Aspects of Christian Burial Practice

A spolia ostotheke from Metropolis and Early Christian burial traditions

AbstractThis article examines the different uses made of a marble ostotheke (ossuary) that was discovered in 2021 during archaeological excavations in and around the church in the Araplıtepe district, near the ancient city of Metropolis. Information about the chest’s original use as a funerary object and its production date and ownership is followed by a discussion of its recycled (spolia) use as a sedimentation tank on a water channel, and by an explanation of its third and final function. A bronze lamp discovered inside the ostotheke provides important clues about the object’s final use and its relationship with its surroundings. Christian burials in and around the church dating to as early as the fifth to sixth centuries AD also provide insights into these processes. This ostotheke, which served a variety of functions from the second to the seventh centuries AD, shows that objects made in Roman times might continue to be used in different ways for a long time thereafter. This article therefore examines the ostotheke as a reflection and extension of the changing needs of people and communities over time, rather than simply as a carved marble object.

Миряне вологодской и великоустюжской епархии перед лицом «внезапной смерти»

The article is dedicated to lay people who died an "unexpected death", in other words, those who did not have possibility to make confession before their death. In this heterogeneous group, the composition of which underwent certain changes in the early modern period, were those who drowned or were killed by lightning as well as victims of robbers, and, of course, suicides. Christian burial was possible for them only after a positive decision by the diocesan bishop, which the latter took either after a detailed study of the case by the parish priest or based on the results of a petition submitted by relatives of the deceased (for suicides, such a positive decision could be made if it turned out that the suicide was committed in madness). Of course, the main task of the researcher was to obtain direct and indirect evidence of suicides. The data on Vologda analyzed in the article relates to the 17th century, that for Veliky Ustyug concerns the 18th century. Despite the fact that suicide was criminalized in secular law in the 1715 Military article, the 17th-century Vologda cases turn out to be similar to the 18th-century Veliky Ustyug ones. In both cases, the parish clergy preferred to "negotiate" with the families of the victims, which minimized the number of refusals to Christian burial.

Figurative Images in the Early Christian Funeral Paintings of Chersonese

The paintings of the 11 early Christian burial vaults of Chersonese uncovering the image of the Garden of Eden fully correspond to the traditions of the Late Antique art. There figurative images are very rare, and not all of them have been interpreted properly. Single man’s figures preserved in the painting of three vaults (of the years 1853/1905, 1909 and in the vault on N. I. Tur’s land) are of particular interest for the determination of the time and ways of penetration of this artistic tradition into early Christian Chersonese. A comparative analysis of funeral paintings from different regions of the Eastern Roman Empire makes it possible to determine the function of the mentioned images of men in the painting of these tombs and to explain their origin in early Christian burials. According to the fragments that survived, all three figures of young men are very similar in dress and posture. Probably, they all held a burning candle in the hands, the image of which survived only in the vault of the year 1909. These images are comparable to the figures of servants from a number of tombs discovered in the Balkans, Asia Minor, North Africa, and Levant. The young men from Chersonese are most close to the images of male servants from the tombs in Bulgaria and Serbia. From the analogies given in this paper there are reasons to interpret the figures of young men in the three vaults of Chersonese as images of servants. Figures of servants were widespread in ancient art and also in Christian burials to the end of the fourth century. Most likely, these figures appeared in the paintings of Chersonese under the influence of the Eastern Balkan artistic tradition.

Doctrinal and Physical Marginality in Christian Death: The Burial of Unbaptized Infants in Medieval Italy

The burial of unbaptized fetuses and infants, as seen through texts and archaeology, exposes friction between the institutional Church and medieval Italy’s laity. The Church’s theology of Original Sin, baptism, and salvation left the youngest children especially vulnerable to dying unbaptized and subsequently being denied a Christian burial in consecrated grounds. We here present textual and archaeological evidence from medieval Italy regarding the tensions between canon law and parental concern for the eternal salvation of their infants’ souls. We begin with an analysis of medieval texts from Italy. These reveal that, in addition to utilizing orthodox measures of appealing for divine help through the saints, laypeople of the Middle Ages turned to folk religion and midwifery practices such as “life testing” of unresponsive infants using water or other liquids. Although emergency baptism was promoted by the Church, the laity may have occasionally violated canon law by performing emergency baptism on stillborn infants. Textual documents also record medieval people struggling with where to bury their deceased infants, as per their ambiguous baptismal status within the Church community. We then present archaeological evidence from medieval sites in central and northern Italy, confirming that familial concern for the inclusion of infants in Christian cemeteries sometimes clashed with ecclesiastical burial regulations. As a result, the remains of unbaptized fetuses and infants have been discovered in consecrated ground. The textual and archaeological records of fetal and infant burial in medieval Italy serve as a material legacy of how laypeople interpreted and sometimes contravened the Church’s marginalizing theology and efforts to regulate the baptism and burial of the very young.

Death and Ritual in Don Quixote

En Don Quixote, las preparaciones para la muerte del protagonista son varias, y Cervantes muestra familiaridad con los ars moriendi, los testamentos y los inventarios. Cervantes refleja la tensión entre la resignación recomendada por los humanistas y la ansiedad revelada por las prácticas testamentales. Al final, Alonso Quijano el Bueno confiesa y dicta un testamento conforme a los ars moriendi. Sin embargo, el inventario de bienes en la primera parte es menos virtuoso. El cura y el barbero catalogan y destruyen la biblioteca antes de que el protagonista pueda hacer su testamento, robándole la oportunidad de resignar a sus bienes.

『예수교회상례』(1907)에 나타난 교훈 분석

장례 예식은 고인의 육체를 매장하거나 화장하는 일, 그리고 그 모든 장례절차들과 관련된다. 장례예식을 거행할 때 사별한 유족들과 많은 그리스도인이 예배에 참석하며 깊은 위로와 영원한 하나님 나라의 입성(入城)을 향한 소망, 그리고 미래적 부활의 메시지를 공유한다. 본 연구의 목적은 1907년에 발행된 『예수교회상례』에 기술된 ‘서문’, ‘비성경적 장례관습들과 무속행사’, ‘찬송’, ‘개회사’, ‘성경본문’, ‘기도’ 등을 분석함으로써 고전적 장례예식을 고찰하려는 데 있다. 이 문헌에서는 하나님의 인간창조사역으로부터 시작하여 인류시조의 범죄와 이로 인하여 초래된 사망의 징벌, 육체적 죽음과 질병들, 예수 그리스도의 구원사역과 칭의(稱義), 육체의 부활, 그리고 하나님께서 인간을 구원하시기 위하여 선포하신 복음적 관점 등을 강조하였다. 또한 이 문헌은 복음을 통해 현재적 삶의 가치와 비전, 목적의식뿐 아니라 나아가 미래적 생명과 궁극적 부활, 그리고 영원복락을 누리게 될 천국을 제시해주고 있다. 본 논문 제2장과 3장에서는 『예수교회상례』의 ‘서문’과 ‘비성경적 관습들과 무속행사’, ‘찬송’, ‘개회사’, ‘성경본문’, ‘기도’ 등을 중심으로 각각의 엄숙한 절차에 담긴 함축적인 의미들을 분석했으며 이 분석 작업을 위해 복음적 메시지에 초점을 맞추어 이 문헌이 보여주는 다양한 교훈점들, 그리고 장례예식과 관련하여 경계해야 할 점들에 대해 고찰했다.BR 이 연구가 향후 ‘예전 전통과 교훈’, ‘복음적 장례문화’, ‘장례예식의 변천과정’, ‘고전적 장례예식과 설교’, ‘복음적 장례 순서’ 등과 같은 예전적 실천 분야 탐구로 확장되기를 기대한다.

The Early Christian Burial Sites and The Türbe of Idris Baba

Abstract The city of Pécs was already an important commercial and religious centre in ancient times. Because of the city’s location, it has become one of the most important cultural hubs in Central Europe. In Pécs, in various historical times, many different cultures have flourished and one of the most typical imprints of these cultures are cemeteries and burial buildings. The subject of our research is to compare Idris baba’s türbe with another iconic heritage of Pécs, the Early Christian Cemetery, furthermore as an example of this cemetery’s visitor centre, designing a plan that reattaches the neglected Turkish cemetery to the city’s life.

Lost in Translation: The English Language and the Catholic Mass by Gerald O’Collins (review)

O’Rourke paints a picture of himself in the introduction as a child in rural Ireland who had access to a pre-electric age, and therefore who lived in a natural world similar to the one which Aristotle might have inhabited. We in Ireland are not so estranged from our roots that we can forget the soil in which we were nurtured. Poets such as Seamus Heaney, quoted in this introduction, are able to refresh our memories in this regard. It was through this world of unspoilt nature that both these philosophers, Aristotle from Stagira in Greece, and Fran O’Rourke from Ratheniska, in the Irish midlands, made the discoveries which formed their minds and hearts. ‘A country childhood affords endless experiences of nature in its fresh sensuality’(2), the author declares with pride. These lifetime reflections of Fran O’Rourke on one of the greatest philosophers the world has known, both in their original inspiration as talks delivered throughout his professorial career, and now in their comprehensive and yet accessible form, should be required reading for all, especially those of us who think the world began when we arrived. Mark Patrick Hederman has been a Benedictine monk of Glenstal Abbey, Limerick, Ireland, for the last fifty years and is former abbot of the monastery and headmaster of the school. His doctorate was in the philosophy of education. He is a founding editor of The Crane Bag Journal of Irish Studies, and his most recent book is The Opal and the Pearl (Dublin: Columba Press, 2016). Lost in Translation: The English Language and the Catholic Mass, Gerald O’Collins SJ (Collegeville, Maryland: Liturgical Press Academic; 2017), 125 pages. If we were to think of this author’s books (all sixty-nine of them now) as ships, they would amount to a sizeable navy for a middle power such as Australia. Many of them are weighty tomes of serious original scholarship. Within our naval image, these would be battleships, aircraft carriers or other large ships of the line. This work before us is more in the nature of smaller but nonetheless necessary craft. We might think of a patrol boat or frigate or, perhaps, a guided missal destroyer. This work is not out to destroy, however. Though Gerry O’Collins, it is clear, would happily see the 2010 translation given decent Christian burial. Summer 2018: Book Reviews Studies • volume 107 • number 426 238 If Lost in Translation contains a serious critique, it does so entirely ‘within the family’, so to speak. It is not taking pot-shots at anyone from outside. The facts are soberly presented, especially in the historical survey by British journalist John Wilkins, which forms the opening, introductory chapter. Then the author himself takes over, summoning up his vast armoury of talent – historical, linguistic, theological and literary – in a penetrating analysis of all the documents relevant to the case. Of course, as in all stories there are heroes and villains. Wearers, as in Westerns, of hats white and black. Though, in this case, the hats for the most part tend to be purple or red. John Wilkins and Gerry O’Collins simply recite the facts, allowing readers to judge for themselves the motives of the major players involved. One suspects that, were the cause for canonisation of Cardinal Medina Estevez, sometime prefect of the Congregation of Divine Worship, to arise, the Devil’s advocate might find in this slim volume much grist for his mill. However, its author is not here playing the man, rather he is reaching behind the polemics to state a case for rejection of the translation introduced – or rather imposed – in 2011, and doing so on two grounds in particular: first, the theological and pastoral intent of the Second Vatican Council; second, a theory of translation, with a pedigree he shows to reach back behind George Steiner, T S Eliot, Ronald Knox and Cardinal Newman, to ThomasAquinas in the MiddleAges, and even further back to the Patristic era. Here is Aquinas, no less, writing in letter to Pope Urban IV: ‘It is … the taskofthegood translator,whentranslatingmaterial dealing with the Catholic faith, to preserve the meaning but to adapt the mode of expression, so that...

Tribute To Fr. Halbert Weidner, 1946–2018

Tribute To Fr. Halbert Weidner, 1946–2018 Mary Katherine Tillman Oratorian fr. halbert weidner died February 3, 2018 in Rock Hill, South Carolina. A Mass of Christian burial was held at the Rock Hill Oratory Church on February 15th, with burial in the Oratory Memorial Garden. Born in Edina, Missouri, and ordained in 1974, Fr. Weidner earned a D.Phil. in Theology at Oxford University in England. Through the years, he served as pastor, chaplain, and retreat master, director of religious education, head of campus ministry, leader of ecumenical and interfaith dialogue groups, in prison ministry, and as an instructor in theology—in parish, college and university settings. In the early 1990s, after serving as the Provost of the Rock Hill Oratory and on its Board of Directors, he took up residence in Hawaii as pastor of Holy Trinity Parish in Honolulu with the hope of establishing an Oratory there. He later served as Catholic chaplain at Wesleyan University in Connecticut and moved in 2015 to Saint-Benoit-sur-Loire in France. Fr. Weidner was a past member of the Newman Association of America (in its founding incarnation as the Friends of Cardinal Newman) and delivered lectures at its Association conferences (1986, 1989, 1999). He published articles, reviews, and booklets related to Newman and the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, as well as two books: Newman's Via Media of the Anglican Church, with a major scholarly Introduction to the 3rd edition (Oxford University Press, 1990) and, more recently, Praying with John Cardinal Newman: Companions for the Journey (St. Mary's Press, 1997), a series of meditation guides on Christian spirituality with reflections on the life and writings of Cardinal Newman. In honor of the bicentennial of Newman's birth (February 17, 2001), Fr. Weidner published "Newman's Application of the Offices of the Church in the Search for a Reformed Catholicism" in the International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church vol. 1(1): 43–54. More about Fr. Weidner's life and work can be found at http://themiscellany.org/1999/04/01/oratorian-father-halbert-d-weidner-celebrates-his-jubilee/. [End Page 98] Mary Katherine Tillman University of Notre Dame Copyright © 2018 National Institute for Newman Studies. Printed in Hanover, PA by The Sheridan Press

Actors, Christian Burial, and Space in Early Modern Paris

Actors, Christian Burial, and Space in Early Modern Paris

Comments on Muslim, Jewish and Christian Burial Practices in Medieval Toledo (Spain)

Burial of the dead is a very material reflection on one’s own existence. Religious considerations aside, the funerary world has more to do with social, kin, and religious contexts than with the deceased himself/herself. Because of this, burial practices are quite diverse across space and time. Historical texts are essential sources of knowledge about the medieval funerary context; however, only archaeology provides details regarding burial practice and belief. This article analyses Muslim, Christian and Jewish burial rituals and introduces a new field study based on the main results of different excavations, some of them published during the last decade, with the ultimate goal of understanding the funerary world of medieval Toledo. The expulsion of Jews and Muslims at the end of the 15th century by the Catholic Monarchs and their policy of eradicating the memory of their presence in Spain makes difficult our efforts to recover these cultures and their material remains. Until the 12th century, Christians, Jews and Muslims were buried outside the city walls; however, after the taking of Toledo by Alphonse 6th, Christians started using the parish churches and other religious buildings inside the city as burial grounds.

Comparative Study of Christian and Pagan Burial Constructions

This paper draws a chronological timeline comparing burial customs and construction traditions in the cradle of Christian religion, and pagan traditions on the Eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, precisely Lithuania, since the early ages of Christianity (1c. A.D.) until nowadays. This paper searches for reasons that could have effected cultural transformations, a shifting relation between inhumation and incineration in European culture. In the Ancient Roman culture, people used to cremate their dead before Christianity set in. Baltic pagans at the time were burying their dead in stone circles, and started incineration only during the Middle Ages. Then Christianity was a powerful institution indoctrinating European daily culture. Meanwhile, in the territory of Lithuania pagan culture was erased only in the 15th century, i.e. about 600 years ago, leaving evident vestiges on traditions and customs of nowadays. These revelations of pagan culture are usually mistaken as Christian or Catholic. The paper focuses on architectural and urban aspects of burial architecture, taking into account social and historical conditions.

The Spanish conquest and the Maya collapse: how ‘religious’ is change?

The phenomenon of the Spanish Conquest of the Maya region suggests strongly that, in the process of socio-cultural transformation, ‘religion’ has no meaning as a concept with its own particular dynamic. There is no such thing as ‘religious’ change that is not also tied to other sorts of changes and indeed to continuity. One dramatic change was the adoption by whole communities, or large segments of communities, of Christian burial practice in which the body was placed in the supine position, head to the west, facing east. Christian burial is seen to represent ‘religious conversion’ but it was one of a broad sweep of changes in how power was gained and wealth appropriated, and the way in which killing was socially sanctioned through warfare. Evidence is accumulating from sites in Belize that a significant change in burial practice also took place at time of the Maya collapse in the ninth and tenth centuries. The question that remains to be answered is whether or not the new interment practices were part of a pattern which, like the burials of the Conquest period, reflected broader socio-cultural transformations.

Christian Burial Practice in the Early Middle Ages: Rethinking the Anglo‐Saxon Funerary Sphere

AbstractAnglo‐Saxon burial practices are particularly interesting because there is considerable variation in the archaeological record. In the earlier period local communities used a single cemetery site and grave goods were a mode of expression that signalled difference. In the Christian period grave goods were not employed in the same way but this change may not have had religion as its central agent. Moreover, the context of display changed and diversity was found in the location of burial – Minster, churchyard, field cemetery or execution site, and amongst the social‐signals that these contexts indicated were included rank and religious association as well as family and deviant status. Dissimilar numbers of children – up to 51% in churchyards compared to 25% in field cemeteries – show that cemeteries must have held a different meaning amongst different social groups, indeed England’s earliest Christian communities’ seem to have considered churchyards to be significant places for the burial of children, but not the rural family, a contrast which may also have extended to other social groups.

Committed to the Earth: Ecotheological Dimensions of Christian Burial Practices

Over the past fifty years in the United States, the liturgical renewal movement has achieved remarkable ecumenical consensus and actual reform around some central embodied elements of Christian wor...