As a segue to Use of cremation ashes for jewellery (again), the following post compares this guidance on the treatment of cremation ashes in the Church of England with that in the Roman Catholic Church, following a recent clarification from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF).

Background

In 1886, the Roman Catholic Church placed a ban upon cremation, forbidding Catholics to join societies promoting cremation, or to leave funeral instructions involving cremation, depriving them of burial with Christian rites and forbidding them the last sacraments. The ban was incorporated in Canon 1203 (1917 CIC) but on 8 May 1963, the Instruction Piam et Constantem was issued which made an allowance in cases of necessity, as long as it was not chosen as a sign of denial of Christian teaching. The 1963 concession is provided for in the Ordo Exsquarum (1969), the revised Catholic funeral ritual, and later incorporated in Canon 1176 (1983 CIC). Further guidance is given in the Instruction “Ad resurgendum cum Christo (2016) [1], which states inter alia:

“[5]. When, for legitimate motives, cremation of the body has been chosen, the ashes of the faithful must be laid to rest in a sacred place, that is, in a cemetery or, in certain cases, in a church or an area, which has been set aside for this purpose, and so dedicated by the competent ecclesial authority.

In addition, the 2016 Instruction noted:

“[3]. …. burial in a cemetery or another sacred place adequately corresponds to the piety and respect owed to the bodies of the faithful departed who through Baptism have become temples of the Holy Spirit and in which ‘as instruments and vessels the Spirit has carried out so many good works’;

 [4] … cremation, in and of itself, objectively negates neither the Christian doctrine of the soul’s immortality nor that of the resurrection of the body.

[5]. When, for legitimate motives, cremation of the body has been chosen, the ashes of the faithful must be laid to rest in a sacred place, that is, in a cemetery or, in certain cases, in a church or an area, which has been set aside for this purpose, and so dedicated by the competent ecclesial authority…

The reservation of the ashes of the departed in a sacred place ensures that they are not excluded from the prayers and remembrance of their family or the Christian community.

[6]. ….  the conservation of the ashes of the departed in a domestic residence is not permitted… the ashes may not be divided among various family members and due respect must be maintained regarding the circumstances of such a conservation.

[7]. …it is not permitted to scatter the ashes of the faithful departed in the air, on land, at sea or in some other way, nor may they be preserved in mementos, pieces of jewellery or other objects. These courses of action cannot be legitimised by an appeal to the sanitary, social, or economic motives that may have occasioned the choice of cremation.”

Treatment of cremation ashes

Following the dubia (doubts) on the Catholic Church’s cremation practices raised by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna [2], the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) responded on 9 December 2023. This was summarized by the Catholic Herald which posted Scattering ashes still contentious: Vatican maintains ban but approves preservation in ‘sacred places’ (13 December 2023).

The article explains that a Commission had been established by Card. Zuppi to give “a Christian response to problems related to the growing number of people who wish to cremate their bodies”. The Commission sought to ensure that economic motivations (due to the lower cost of scattering ashes) do not prevail, and gave indications regarding what to do with the ashes once the term for their preservation has expired.

The Archbishop asked two questions:

“1. Taking into account the canonical prohibition against scattering the ashes of the deceased, is it possible to prepare a defined and permanent sacred place for the commingled accumulation and preservation of the ashes of the baptized, indicating the basic details of each person so as not to lose the memory of their names, similar to what occurs in ossuaries, where the mineralized remains of the deceased are cumulatively deposited and preserved?

2. Can a family be allowed to keep a portion of their family member’s ashes in a place that is significant for the history of the deceased?”

In its reply, the DDF made reference to paragraph 5 of the Instruction “Ad resurgendum cum Christo (2016) and concluded:

“A) For the reasons listed above, a defined and permanent sacred place can be set aside for the commingled accumulation and preservation of the ashes of deceased baptized persons, indicating the identity of each person so as not to lose the memory of their names.

B) In addition, the ecclesiastical authority, in compliance with current civil norms, may consider and evaluate a request by a family to preserve in an appropriate way a minimal part of the ashes of their relative in a place of significance for the history of the deceased person, provided that every type of pantheistic, naturalistic, or nihilistic misunderstanding is ruled out and also provided that the ashes of the deceased are kept in a sacred place.”

Lost in translation

Whilst the above English version of the DDF document on the Vatican web site refers to the “commingled accumulation and preservation of the ashes” it is clear from the context and from a more nuanced translation of the Italian text that this relates to the purpose of ossuaries &c “where the mineralized remains of the deceased are deposited and cumulatively preserved” rather than the treatment of the ashes themselves.

“Mingling” in the consistory courts

However, there is no such ambiguity in the consistory court judgment in the UK Diocese of Hereford, Re Hereford Cemetery [2023] ECC Her 1, despite the court’s use of both “mixing” and “comingling”. Here the petitioner sought to have her father’s ashes exhumed so that those of her more recently deceased mother’s ashes could be mixed/mingled with her father’s (initially interred in 1970) and the casket then reinterred. The only expressed reason for the Petitioner’s request was her mother’s wish to have her remains mixed with those of her deceased husband [5], who had expressed no such complementary wish [7].

Ockleton Ch. was not able to discover any decided cases on this or similar proposals, and commented [emphasis added]:

“[t]hat may be because it is obvious that the mingling of remains is not a good reason to allow an exception to the presumption [of permanence]. There is nothing in Christian doctrine suggesting that any spiritual benefit could follow from such treatment of the remains of the dead; on the contrary, the principle of the permanence of the committal of remains to the earth, the requirement to treat such remains with dignity, and the near-universal Christian practice to maintain the separation and identification of remains where possible, all tend against allowing this Petition”.

The Chancellor refused to grant a faculty, stating:

“[8]. [the] ashes may be buried, with suitable ceremony, next to those of [the petitioner’s husband], without disturbing the latter and if that takes place a suitable inscription may be added to the present memorial. Under the earth there may be natural mingling of the ashes of husband and wife in the course of time. But whether or not that happens, their two souls are together in the hands of God”.

[1]  “Regarding the Burial of the Deceased and the Conservation of the Ashes in the Case of Cremation”, published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on 15 August 2016.

[2] Cardinal Matteo is president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference and Pope Francis’s special peace envoy for the war in Ukraine.