Cremation in Italy.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 259, 1 November 1890, Page 4 (Supplement)

Cremation in Italy.

Mr Sutherland Edwards calls attention in the 'Westminster Review' to tha curious fact thab tbe Italian clergy, unlike those of France, and for the most parb, of England also, have never made any objecbion to cremation. In Milan nearly 20,000 bodies have been cremated during bhe last 13 years, and, ab tbe present rate of increase, ib is expecbed that the number will soon reach an average of one a day. Tha same funeral service takes place as with tha ordinary interments. The coat is £1 sterling only in the oase of a member of tha society. In the case of strangers ifc is j UB fo double thab sum, but the authorities ex* hibifc their benevolence by cremating persons without means gratuitously. It appears thab bhere are people who derive a dismal satisfaction from being admitted to watch the process ab a charge of 4a a head and thab ib is bhe revenue from this source bhab defrays fche cost of cremating the poor folks referred to. Mr Edwards cites some curious inscriptions, showing that bodies are brought to. Milan for this purpose from distant places'; also that relatives who have opposed the expressed wishes of the deceased in this regard have been compelled by the Italian tribunals to carry them into effect. Such is fche horror felb of the * putrefaction of tbe grave' by soma Milanese enthusiasts that, not content with ordering tbe burning of their own bodies, they insist on disinterring and cremating their deceased