As to the place of burial: for the first three centuries it was without the cities, generally in vaults or cata- combs, made before the city gates. The Emperor Thcodosius, by an edict, expressly forbade to bury within a church or even within a town. Chrysostom (Horn. 37 [al. 74], in Matt.) confirms this view. In cases where the Donatists had buried their martyrs (circumcelliones) in churches, we find that the bodies were afterward removed. This is the first instance we find of burials within the church, and it was, as we see, declared to be irregular and unlawful. The first thing which seems to have given rise to burying in churches, was the practice which sprung up in the fourth century of building oratories or chapels, called Martyria, Propheteia, Apostolcea, over the remains of the apostles, prophets, or martyrs. Still, however,
BURIAL
925
BURMAH
the civil canon law forbade any to be buried within the walls of a church; and, although kings and em- perors latterly had the privilege given them of burial in the atrium, or in the chureh-yard, it was not until the beginning of the sixth century that the people seem to have been admitted to the same privilege ; and even as late as the time of Charlemagne, canons were en-' acted (as at Mentz, 813, chap. 52), which forbade the burial of any persons within the church except on spe- cial occasions, as in the ease of bishops, abbots, priests, and lay persons distinguished for sanctity. Thus, also, j in the canons which accompany the Ecclesiastical] Canons of King Edgar, and which were probably made about 960, we find, Can. 29, that no man might l>e buried in a church unless he had lived a life pleasing^ in the sight of God. (See Spelman, Cone, i, 451.) Eventually, it seems to have been left to the discre- tion of the bishops and priests ( < louncil of Meaux, 845, Can. 72). By the ecclesiastical laws of England no one can be buried within the church without the li- cense of the incumbent, whose consent alone is re- quired. See Catacombs.
(II.) Modern Usages. 1. Roman. — The ceremonies of the Roman Church at burials are the following: When the time is come, the bell tolls, and the priest, stoled, with the exorcist and cross-hearer, proceed to the house of the deceased, where the corpse is laid out with its feet toward the street, and, when it can be. surrounded by four or six wax tapers. The officiating priest then sprinkles the body thrice in silence, after which the psalm DeProfundis is chanted, and a prayer for the rest of the soul pronounced ; this is followed by an anthem, and then the Miserere is commenced, after which they proceed with the body to the burial-ground, with the tapers carried. When the body is arrived at the church door, the Requiem is sung and the an- them Exultabant Domino ossu. In the church, the body of a clerk is placed in the chancel, that of a layman in the nave, and the clergy range themselves on ei- ther side ; then the office for the dead and mass are said. After farther prayers and chanting, the body, having been thrice sprinkled with holy water, and thrice incensed, is carried to the grave, the officiating clerks chanting psalms. The priest blesses the grave, sprinkles and incenses both it and the body, sings the anthem Ego sum Resurrectio, and concludes with the Requiem. Some other minor ceremonies conclude the service. The poor are exempted from every charge, and the priest of the parish is bound to furnish the ta- pers for their burial. All ecclesiastical persons are buried in the vestments of their order (Rituale Roma- num, p. 178, de Exequiis).
2. In the Greek Church, the priest, having come to the house, puts on his epitraeheUon or stole, and in- censes the dead body and all present. After this, a brief litany having been sung for the repose of the soul of the deceased, the priest again begins the bene- diction "Blessed he our Cod;" and the TrUagion hav- ing been said, the body is taken up and carried to the church, the priest going before with a taper, and the deacon with the censer. The body is then set down in the narthex or porch (in Russia it is carried into the church), and the ninety-lirst psalm chanted, which is followed by a succession of prayers and hymns, the Beatitudes, and the epistle and gospel i 1 TheSS. iv. 1.!
is, and John v, 24 31). Then follows the aoiraopoc. or
kiss, the priests first, ami afterward the relatives and 'friends, kissing cither the body or the coffin, as their last farewell, during which are sung various hymns, divided into stanzas, relating to the vanity of human life. Then follows the absolution of the deceased by the priest; after which the body is carried to the grave, the priests singing the Trisagion, Lord's Pray- er, etc. When the body is laid in tic grave, the priest casts gravel cross-wise upon it. Baying, •■The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." etc. He then pours out some oil from a lamp, and scatters some
incense upon it; after which trpparia for the rest of the soul are sung, and the grave is Idled up.
:>. In Protestant lands the forms of burial an' gen- erally simple. The order of the Church of England is observed by the Methodist Episcopal and Protestant Episcopal churches in America, in the former some- what abridged. The forms used by the various church- es may be found in their books of order and discipline. — Bingham, Orig. Eccles. bk. xxiii, ch. ii, iii ; Duran- dus, DeRit. Eccl.Cath. i, 23 ; Landori, Eccl. Din. i. 1 1*.