§5Nec ideo tamen contemnenda et abicienda sunt corpora defunctorum maximeque iustorum atque fidelium, quibus tamquam organis et uasis ad omnia bona opera sancte usus est spiritus.
Nevertheless, the bodies of the deceased, especially of the righteous and faithful, are not to be despised and cast aside, which the spirit has used holily as organs and vessels for all good works.
si enim paterna uestis et anulus ac si quid huius modi tanto carius est posteris, quanto erga parentes maior affectus, nullo modo ipsa spernenda sunt corpora, quae utique multo familiarius atque coniunctius quam quaelibet indumenta gestamus.
For if a father’s garment and ring, and anything of this kind, is the dearer to his posterity the greater their affection toward their parents, in no way are the bodies themselves to be spurned, which we certainly wear much more familiarly and closely than any garments.
haec enim non ad ornamentum uel adiutorium, quod adhibetur extrinsecus, sed ad ipsam naturam hominis pertinent.
For these pertain not to ornament or assistance applied from without, but to the very nature of man.
unde et antiquorum iustorum funera officiosa pietate curata sunt et exequiae celebratae et sepultura prouisa, ipsique, cum uiuerent, de sepeliendis uel etiam transferendis suis corporibus filiis mandauerunt.
Whence also the funerals of the ancient righteous were cared for with dutiful piety, and their obsequies celebrated, and their burial provided for; and they themselves, while they lived, gave charges to their sons concerning the burial or even the transfer of their bodies.
et Tobis sepeliendo mortuos deum promeruisse teste angelo commendatur.
And Tobit is commended, by the testimony of an angel, for having merited well of God by burying the dead.
ipse quoque dominus die tertio resurrecturus religiosae mulieris bonum opus praedicat praedicandumque commendat.
The Lord Himself also, who was to rise on the third day, praises and commends to be praised the good work of the religious woman, that she poured precious ointment upon His limbs and did this for His burial.
quod unguentum pretiosum super membra eius effuderit atque hoc ad eum sepeliendum fecerit. et laudabiliter commemorantur in euangelio qui corpus eius de cruce acceptum diligenter atque honorifice tegendum sepeliendumque curarunt.
And those who cared for His body, taken down from the cross, that it should be diligently and honorifically covered and buried, are honorably mentioned in the Gospel.
uerum istae auctoritates non hoc admonent, quod insit ullus cadaueribus sensus, sed ad dei prouidentiam, cui placent etiam talia pietatis officia, corpora quoque mortuorum pertinere significant propter fidem resurrectionis astruendam.
But these authorities do not warn us of this, that there is any sensation in corpses, but they signify that the bodies of the dead also pertain to the providence of God, to whom such duties of piety are pleasing, for the sake of establishing faith in the resurrection.
ubi et illud salubriter discitur, quanta possit esse remuneratio pro elemosynis, quas uiuentibus et sentientibus exhibemus, si neque hoc apud deum perit, quod exanimis hominum membris officii diligentiaeque persoluitur.
Where also this is wholesomely learned, how great can be the reward for alms which we show to the living and feeling, if not even that perishes before God which is paid in duty and diligence to the lifeless members of men.
sunt quidem et alia, quae sancti patriarchae de corporibus suis uel condendis uel transferendis prophetico spiritu dicta intellegi uoluerunt; non autem hic locus est, ut ea pertractemus, cum sufficiant ista quae diximus.
There are indeed also other things which the holy patriarchs wished to be understood as spoken in a prophetic spirit concerning the burial or transfer of their bodies; but this is not the place for us to treat them, since these things which we have said are sufficient.
sed si ea quae sustentandis uiuentibus sunt necessaria, sicut uictus et amictus, quamuis cum graui afflictione desint, non frangunt in bonis perferendi tolerandique uirtutem nec eradicant ex animo pietatem, sed exercitatam faciunt fecundiorem: quanto magis, cum desunt ea, quae curandis funeribus condendisque corporibus defunctorum adhiberi solent, non efficiunt miseros in occultis piorum sedibus iam quietos! ac per hoc, quando ista cadaueribus Christianorum in illa magnae urbis uel etiam aliorum oppidorum uastatione defuerunt, nec uiuorum culpa est, qui non potuerunt ista praebere, nec poena mortuorum, qui non possunt ista sentire\\ haec est mea de sepulturae causa atque ratione sententia. quam propterea ex alio libro meo in istum transtuli, quia facilius hoc a me recenseri potuit, quam\' id ipsum alio modo eloquendum fuit.
But if those things which are necessary for sustaining the living, such as food and clothing, although they are lacking with heavy affliction, do not break the virtue of enduring and tolerating in good men, nor eradicate piety from the soul, but make it when exercised more fruitful: how much more, when those things are lacking which are wont to be applied for caring for funerals and burying the bodies of the deceased, do they not make miserable the righteous who are already quiet in their hidden abodes! And thereby, when these things were lacking to the corpses of Christians in that devastation of the great city or even of other towns, it is neither the fault of the living, who could not provide them, nor the punishment of the dead, who cannot feel them. This is my opinion concerning the cause and reason of burial; which I have therefore transferred from another book of mine into this one, because it was easier for this to be reviewed by me than that the very same thing should have to be expressed in another way.
§6Quod si uerum est, profecto etiam prouisus sepeliendis corporibus apud memorias sanctorum locus bonae affectionis humanae est erga funera suorum, quoniam, si nonnulla religio est, ut sepeliantur, non potest nulla esse, quando ubi sepeliantur adtenditur.
But if this is true, surely also a place provided for burying bodies at the memorials of saints is a mark of good human affection toward the funerals of their own, since, if there is some religion in burying them, there cannot be none when where they are buried is considered.
sed cum talia uiuorum solacia requiruntur, quibus eorum pius in suos animus adpareat, non uideo quae sunt adiumenta mortuorum nisi ad hoc, ut, dum recolunt, ubi sint posita eorum quos diligunt corpora, eisdem sanctis illos tamquam patronis susceptos apud dominum adiuuandos orando commendent.
But when such solaces of the living are required, by which their pious mind toward their own may appear, I do not see what are the helps of the dead, except for this, that, while they recall where the bodies of those whom they love are placed, they may by praying commend them to those same saints as having been received as patrons to be helped before the Lord.
quod quidem facere possent, etiamsi talibus locis eos humare non possent.
Which indeed they could do, even if they could not bury them in such places.
sed non ob aliud uel \'memoriae\' uel (monumenta> dicuntur ea quae insignite fiunt sepulcra mortuorum, nisi quia eos, qui uiuentium oculis morte subtracti sunt, ne obliuione etiam cordibus subtrahantur, in memoriam reuocant et admonendo faciunt cogitari.
But for no other reason are those things called either 'memorials' or 'monuments' which are made as distinguished tombs of the dead, except because they recall into memory those who have been subtracted from the eyes of the living by death, lest by oblivion they be also subtracted from their hearts, and by warning make them to be thought of.
nam et (memoriae) nomen id apertissime ostendit et (monumentum) eo quod moneat mentem, id est admoneat, nuncupatur.
For both the name of 'memorial' shows this most clearly, and 'monument' is so called from its warning the mind, that is, admonishing.
propter quod et Graeci μvημεῑοuocant, quod nos memoriam seu monumentum appellamus, quoniam lingua eorum memoria ipsa, qua meminimus, μvήμη dicitur.
For which reason also the Greeks call it mnēmeion, which we call memorial or monument, since in their language memory itself, by which we remember, is called mnēmē.
cum itaque recolit animus, ubi sepultum sit carissimi corpus, et occurrit locus nomine martyris uenerabilis, eidem martyri animam dilectam commendat recordantis et precantis affectus.
Therefore, when the mind recalls where the body of a dearest one is buried, and there occurs the place venerable by the name of a martyr, the affection of the one remembering and praying commends the beloved soul to that same martyr.
qui cum defunctis a fidelibus carissimis exhibetur, eum prodesse non dubium est his, qui cum in corpore uiuerent, talia sibi post hanc uitam prodesse meruerunt.
And when this is shown to the deceased by their dearest faithful ones, there is no doubt that it benefits those who, when they lived in the body, merited that such things should benefit them after this life.
uerum et si aliqua necessitas uel humari corpora uel in talibus locis humari nulla data facultate permittat, non sunt praetermittendae supplicationes pro spiritibus mortuorum, quas faciendas pro omnibus in christiana et catholica societate defunctis etiam tacitis nominibus eorum sub generali commemoratione suscepit ecclesia, ut quibus ad ista desunt parentes aut filii aut quicumque cognati uel amici, ab una eis exhibeantur pia matre communi.
But even if some necessity permits neither the bodies to be buried nor to be buried in such places, no opportunity being given, supplications for the spirits of the dead are not to be omitted, which the Church has undertaken to make for all the deceased in the Christian and Catholic society under a general commemoration, even with their names unuttered, so that those for whom parents or sons or any relatives or friends are lacking for these things, they may be exhibited to them by their one common pious mother.
si autem deessent istae supplicationes, quae fiunt recta fide ac pietate pro mortuis, puto, quod nihil prodesset spiritibus eorum, quamlibet locis sanctis exanima corpora ponerentur.
But if those supplications were lacking which are made with right faith and piety for the dead, I think that it would benefit their spirits nothing, however much their lifeless bodies were placed in holy places.