Église et sépulture dans l'Antiquité tardive (Occident latin, IIIe-VIe siècles)

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that the ancient church did not take part in the burial of Christians, and that funerals and burial during late Antiquity, as opposed to later periods in Christian history, remained to a large extent a private matter with which the church did not interfere. The institutional aspect of the question, for which evidence is very scarce, is not discussed here. The paper is instead focused on church teaching. There appears to be no church teaching regarding the distinction of pagan and Christian burials; the special care to be shown in the burial of the poor is a moral obligation for Christians in general, but not a function of the Church. Furthermore, a careful reading of Augustine's Decura gerenda pro mortuis reveals that his teaching is less opposed to popular sentiment regarding the importance of burial for the sake of the soul, as it is usually interpreted, than it is concerned to keep the church from interfering in burial practices. The Christian cemetery is therefore an unfamiliar notion in late ancient Christianity.
Rebillard Éric. Église et sépulture dans l'Antiquité tardive (Occident latin, IIIe-VIe siècles). In: Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales. 54ᵉ année, N. 5, 1999. pp. 1027-1046.