Q. Are people supposed to be buried facing east?
A. An ever-present reality in Catholicism is the conflating between Sacred Tradition and human tradition.
Tradition (capital T) are those things that were handed on by the Apostles and their successors, and have been observed universally and consistently in the Church and therefore rise to the level of authentic doctrine of the Catholic faith.
Small “t” traditions are those things, practices or beliefs that, even though they may be old and rooted in authentic doctrine, come and go and do not rise to the level of authentic doctrine. They are better referred to as customs instead of traditions.
Being buried facing east falls into the category of custom. There is not, nor has there ever been, a universal legal requirement to bury the dead with their head pointed west and their feet pointed east.
It was, however, a common practice in many places, especially in the West, beginning in the Middle Ages. Burying the dead facing east is rooted in the pious custom that when Christ comes again He will come from Jerusalem which, in the western world, is east, and therefore the dead are buried facing east so that when they rise, they are facing Christ.
While this is a pious practice, it is for obvious reasons not Catholic doctrine. Certainly we know that Christ will come again and that there will be the general resurrection from the dead. The idea, though, that one would have to be buried facing east so that when they rise they see Christ, as if being buried facing west would cause them to somehow miss Him, expresses a level of materialism that can be unhelpful. Again, the practice is rooted in a pious belief in the Second Coming and the Resurrection, so it is not a bad practice or wrong to do it, it is just not legally required.
The only legal requirement for burial that appears in the Code of Canon Law is that a person must be buried in his or her parish cemetery, presuming the parish has a cemetery (CIC 1180 §1). While this sounds like an imperative for the deceased, it is actually aimed at the parish, reflecting that a person has the right to be buried in his or her parish cemetery.
This is evident, given that the law goes on to establish that the deceased or those competent to speak for the deceased can elect for burial to take place in a different cemetery. It concludes with “Everyone, however, is permitted to choose the cemetery of burial unless prohibited by law” (CIC 1180 §1). So, while one cannot be denied burial in his or her parish cemetery, a person can choose to be buried anywhere.
This question was answered by Father Caleb La Rue, chancellor of the Diocese of Lincoln. Write to Ask the Register using our online form, or write to 3700 Sheridan Blvd., Suite 10, Lincoln NE 68506-6100. All questions are subject to editing. Editors decide which questions to publish. Personal questions cannot be answered. People with such questions are urged to take them to their nearest Catholic priest.
