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Subject: Re: [CATHOLIC] Child Burials c1830 and Registers
Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2006 20:40:56 EDT
I know that in our area ( Michigan, USA), there are no official keeping of
death records, nor has there ever been in any Roman Catholic Church anywhere
that I know of. There would have been Sexton records for any burial grounds,
out of necessity, not Church law (Canon Law). Certainly wouldn't want to be
digging somewhere and turn some one up! It was simply common sense. And,
as others have pointed out, there is no sacrament attached to burying of the
dead. Sometimes there would be a notation added to the names in the Parish
Register, but that was on a personal preference by the pastor.
Most Catholic parishes that had a churchyard attached or who owned land
(like our parish) that was a dedicated cemetery, set aside a portion of graves
for the indigent, and for small children. Two of our daughters are buried in
just such "sites" in two different parts of the country...San Diego and here in
Michigan. The sites are usually too small to use for adults, but yet are
perfect for small people. In San Diego our daughter is buried in what I would
call a "parking strip"... a narrow piece of land that borders an outside
mausoleum and a small street within the cemetery. Our daughter here is buried
under a tree and near the garden shed that is used by our sexton. There are
several children in the area.
In times past..before 1960 or so, canon law proscribed that a baptized,
practicing Catholic should be buried in "hallowed" ground, or sometimes called "
blessed" ground. Non-Catholics were not permitted to be buried in such an
area. This was especially hard on families who had members who were non
Catholic. There were exceptions, as there always are exceptions to Canon
Law...<G>... for a Catholic and non Catholic married couple to be buried next to each
other. But usually that would occur in a Protestant or Civil cemetery and
the ground would be individually "blest" by a priest. This was rare...
As to children, the Church has always treated children and their spiritual
welfare with great care, or have tried. There would have been areas
designated to bury stillborn babies..who after all, until just recently were thought
to not be in heaven but in Limbo... somehow we have managed to merge the
"places" of LImbo and Purgatory into Heaven.... who knows what we will do in the
future! <G> I say all this with tongue in cheek as my husband is an ordained
Catholic Deacon, and although I love my church dearly and it is my church of
choice rather than birth, I can see where the foibles of Man have caused
such unrest .... if you don't laugh at these things occasionally it could make
you sob....I choose to laugh.
In our parish the oldest local funeral home has the original sexton book for
our original cemetery which was started in about 1830 and now is abandoned.
The book remains with the funeral directors not in the parish as it is not
an actual Church document, but a record of body placement, and therefore in
some ways a health issue.
Some of the tombstones read for example.....Mary O'Connor, born County Kerry
Ireland, be sure to write me ma and tell them where we are. ... I find
that so sad and so brave...to have come so far, knowing you would never return,
and want loved ones to know where you died. I hope someone did write to all
those who left such statements.
Good luck in your searches....
BTW another reason the church kept such track of marriages was that if a
man were to present for the sacrament of Holy Orders he had to file affadavits
from his former parishes as to his sacramental history (Baptism, First
Communion, Confirmation) AND the marriage of his mother and father. If his parents
were not married at the time of his birth he was not allowed to receive the
Sacrament of Holy Orders. I am not sure when this law was changed, sometime
in the mid 1900s. We came upon this by accident when researching my
husband's great uncle and godfather who was the Bishop of Duluth Minnesota, and
ordained in 1905. So, it had a lot of significance to a family to be sure to
have their marriages recorded quickly and accurately for the future of their
children.
Joy
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