On Care for the Dead · §5 · Augustine of Hippo

Bodies of the dead are not to be despised, because they belong to human nature and to God's providence

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Augustine is answering Paulinus's question about burial, and here he argues that although burial does not help the dead directly, the bodies of the dead, especially the faithful, are not to be despised.

Yet we must not for that reason despise and cast aside the bodies of the dead, especially of the just and faithful, which the spirit used as instruments and vessels for every good work in a holy way. If a father's cloak and ring, or anything of that kind, is all the dearer to his descendants as their affection for their parents is greater, then in no way should the bodies themselves be despised, since we wear them far more closely and intimately than any clothing. For these do not belong to ornament or assistance applied from outside, but to the very nature of a human being. That is why the funerals of the righteous of old were attended with dutiful piety, their funeral rites were celebrated, and burial was provided for them; and while they were still alive they instructed their sons about burying or even transferring their bodies. Tobit is commended, on the testimony of an angel, as having merited God's favor by burying the dead (Tobit 12:12). The Lord himself, who was to rise on the third day, praises the good work of a religious woman and commends it for proclamation, because she poured precious ointment over his limbs and did it for his burial (Matthew 26:12-13). And the Gospel speaks with praise of those who took his body down from the cross and carefully and honorably saw to its wrapping and burial (John 19:38-40). But these authorities do not teach that there is any sensation in corpses. Rather, they show that the bodies of the dead also belong to God's providence, which is pleased even by such offices of piety, for the sake of building up faith in the resurrection. There we also learn a salutary lesson: how great the reward can be for the alms we offer to the living and feeling, if what is paid to the lifeless limbs of men in care and diligence does not perish before God. There are other things too which the holy patriarchs said about the burying or transferring of their bodies that they wished to be understood in a prophetic spirit, but this is not the place to discuss them, since what we have said is enough. But if the things necessary for sustaining the living, such as food and clothing, even when they are lacking with heavy affliction, do not break the virtue of enduring and bearing in good people, nor root piety out of the soul, but make it more fruitful through exercise: how much more, when the things customarily used for tending funerals and burying the bodies of the dead are lacking, they do not make wretched those already at rest in the hidden abodes of the pious! And so, when these things were lacking for the corpses of Christians in the devastation of that great city or of other towns, it was neither the fault of the living, who could not provide them, nor the punishment of the dead, who cannot feel them. This is my judgment about the cause and reason of burial. I have transferred it here from another book of mine because it was easier for me to review it than to express the same thing in another way.

Latin

Nec 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. 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. haec enim non ad ornamentum uel adiutorium, quod adhibetur extrinsecus, sed ad ipsam naturam hominis pertinent. 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. et Tobis sepeliendo mortuos deum promeruisse teste angelo commendatur. ipse quoque dominus die tertio resurrecturus religiosae mulieris bonum opus praedicat praedicandumque commendat. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.

About this text

Paulinus wrote to ask whether it benefits a person after death to be buried near the memorial shrine of a saint.

Augustine of Hippo (354–430) wrote this letter to Paulinus, bishop of Nola. Paulinus had asked whether it benefits a person after death to be buried near the memorial shrine of a saint. The question was prompted by the request of Flora, a religious widow, for her deceased son to be buried in the basilica of the confessor Felix, while the body of Cynegius, a faithful young man and a different person, had already been placed there.

Augustine argues that burial location does not directly help or harm the dead, because the dead cannot sense what happens to their bodies. What helps the dead is the prayerful remembrance of the living, which can be increased when burial is at a holy memorial, so Christians should care for the dead from affection and faith in the resurrection and place hope in prayer and the church commemoration rather than in place. The reader will meet Paulinus, Flora, Cynegius, Felix, Curma who had a vision near death, Eulogius who dreamed of Augustine, John the monk consulted about a civil war, Ambrose at the shrines of Protasius and Gervasius, and Candidianus who carried the letter. Augustine quotes Paulinus to answer him, quotes Scripture from Paul, the Psalms, the prophets and the Gospel, gives the speech of the rich man to Abraham and the reported words of John, and gives Virgil in prose paraphrase rather than verse quotation.

Here memorial shrine means a shrine at the burial place of a martyr or saint meant to keep the dead in remembrance, and burial means the act of burying. Prayer, prayerful commending, sacrifice offered at the altar, alms and the intercession of martyrs are the means by which the living help the dead, while spirit means the soul apart from the body, vision means a dream seeing of the dead, and likeness means only the image seen and not the person himself. Old names keep Augustine Old Latin and Septuagint use, with the books of the Kingdoms meaning 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings, Ecclesiasticus meaning Sirach, Jesus son of Sirach meaning Ben Sira, the Acts of the Apostles meaning Acts, the books of the Machabees meaning Maccabees, and the Psalms numbered as in the Septuagint.

New English from the Latin base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from CSEL 41 (1900) (Latin)

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.