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From: <>
Subject: [APG] Catholic burials (was: Burial position)
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:41:50 -0500
References: <mailman.5958.1247936676.22111.apg@rootsweb.com><4A637847.1030600@NYfamilyhistory.com><b8790ee70907200600s3c89feb3u9b28bb634d9a0bf7@mail.gmail.com> <85FA2918F55A4390A29CAFF4E050D3B9@acer511eba12df><8CBD762407B7C6A-12B4-3D9@webmail-me04.sysops.aol.com>
In-Reply-To: <8CBD762407B7C6A-12B4-3D9@webmail-me04.sysops.aol.com>
Lois wrote:
> And just to add another scenario to the burial puzzles, some headstones
in my family are only symbolic. My great grandmother was a very sincere and
devout Catholic. When she died of cancer after a prolonged period of
suffering she was denied burial in the Catholic
cemetery because of poor attendance at church. (She had 8 children, lived
on a farm with animals to care for, and the church was about 10 miles away.)
Her family was outraged and most left the church. She is buried in a
non-denominational cemetery next to her husband. Each of her children has
had a gravestone placed by hers in a show of support for her, even though
their physical bodies are buried in their states of residence with their own
spouses and descendants. So now we have yet another instance of stones with
no bodies.
This has been a fascinating thread. Lois, and others who have addressed
"things told to them" about customs in various churches underscore the need
we have, as genealogists, to understand the burial regulations of ancestral
faiths.
I can't recommend a site for the Methodist issue raised by Cathi; but for
Catholic families such as Lois's, we can get a much better understanding of
ancestral lives---and glean other genealogical implications to pursue--from
the discussion of Catholic burial practices in the online Catholic
encyclopedia at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03071a.htm.
As several have indicated, traditions of various churches also differ
according to time and place. Historically in the U.S., where many people
lived in rural areas, under the "customary practice" in all the non-urban
Catholic parishes in which I have worked, the minimum requirement for a
"practicing Catholic" was to receive holy communion once a year. This
expectation did present a problem for women who married outside their faith
(which may or may not be the case with Lois's family), when a strong-willed
non-Catholic husband would not allow his wife to attend. But, if that were
the case and the husband still survived, then we would expect the Catholic
wife to be buried wherever he chose.
Elizabeth
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Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG
APG member, Tennessee
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