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Show THE CHURCH AND CREMATION. On May 19, ISSfi. in reply to inquiries made by-several by-several bishops, a Roman decree forbade Catholics "to join those societies whose object wa3 to spread the practice of cremation, or to leave orders for the cremation of one's body or that of another." It must be borne in mind that this decree is not one of faith, but simply of discipline, that is. the Church, for wise reasons, judges it illadvisrd and contrary to Christian tradition, to thrust the body of the departed into a crematory. In time of pestilence, however, should the public pub-lic health demand cremation, there is no doubt that the Church would accommodate her legislation so as to sanction any reverent manner of caring for the bodies of the deceased. y To say that cremation would interfere with the resurrection of the body is a puerile statement. Is it any more of a miracle for the Divine Power to resurrect the body from the ashes which are the result re-sult of cremation than to resurrect the body from the dust which is the result of burial? Both are equally possible to Divine Omnipotence. ' The Church's objection is based upon the fact that burial is the practice which she received from the Jewish Church, to which she is the successor. Burial, too, was the method chosen for the disposition dispo-sition of the Savior's dead a method naturally followed by all fervent Christians. Burial, like-, wise, is the more suited to human nature. The body is the temple in which the principle of life dwells; it itself is destined, according to Christian teaching, for an endless life, at the close of the world's soul-stirring tragedy. - Even when deprived of the spirit which thrilled it and made it pulse with life, the body does not become an object of terror or of horror, but rather a precious relic to be reverentlv and lovingly dealt with. The old painting, even when the colors have lost their glow and the face has lost its expression, and only a vague outline remains .to tell us of the one it portrays, is not thrown ruthlessly into the fire, but still remains in an honored position1 among the household treasurer. The photograph of bypone years, with its slowly vanishing figure finds a welcome place among our possessions an$ is shown with joy to our admiring friends. An$ so the Church would fain keep the shrine of an undying spirit as long. as: possible in its natural form, until the forces of nature have accomplished in slow dignity their work of separation. The violent vio-lent hand shall be held from the form which" is to come back to life. Hence the Church prefers the quiet method of placing her dead in the hallowed ground, where they may peacefully rest. Hence, too. she;prefcrs to speak, not of the graveyard, but of the cemetery (sleeping place), because the latter accords better with the idea that death is not the close of all, but only a passing slumber between tnis lite ot test ana trial and the life- of eternal joy. Nor should it be forgotten that in Europe ere-mation ere-mation is too often regarded as' an open profession of anti-Christian sentiment. Medical men and jurists have opposed crcma1 tion on the ground that it destroys all evidence of j the cause of death, so often needed in criminal cases of poisoning. |