URELIER
481
CREMATION
ing property of the university approximates two mil-
lions and a quarter, exclusive of its buildings, grounds
and equipment. The hospital takes care of about
2400 patients a year, of whom more than half are non-
Catholics, and one-third absolutely free. John
Creighton was honoured by Loo XIII with the order
of St. Gregory and later with the title of Count of
the Papal Siates. In 1900 ho received the Latare
Medal from the University of Notre Dame.
Reminh'icenfx.t of Crciqhton Vnivcrsity; Creighton (biographi- cal sketches of the family) — both pubhshed by the University; Morton, History of Nebraska; Savage and Bell, History of Omaha; Sorensen. History of Omaha; the annu.al Catalogues and other publications of Creighton University and the annual reports of tbe Creighton Memorial Hospital.
M. p. DoWLING.
was made a see and a suffragan of Milan. Among the
most noted of its bishops was the zealous Marcan-
tonio ZoUi. The diocese has a population of 58,000,
with .53 parishes, 65 churches and chapels, 174 secular
and 4 regular priests, 1 religious house of men and 7
of women.
Cappellktti, Le chicse d'Jtalia (Venice, 18.57), XII, 241-75; Ann. eccl. (Rome, 1907), 432-33; Barbieri, Compendia crono- logico delta storia di Crema (Crema, 1SS8).
U. Benigni.
Cremation. — I. History. — The custom of burning
the bodies of the dead dates back to very early times.
The Prc-Canaanites practised it until the introduction
of inhumation among them along with the civilization
of the Semitic people about 2500 B. c. History re-
veals no trace of incineration among the Jewish people,
Crelier, Henri-Joseph, Swiss Catholic priest. He- except in extraordinary circumstances of war and pes-
brew scholar and Bil)lical exegete; b. at Bure, 16 tilence. It was likewise unknown, in practice at least,
October, ISKJ; d. at Bre.s-
sancourt, France, 22.\pril,
1889. From 1845 to 1855
he was professor at the col-
lege of Porrentruy (Swit-
zerland); later he became
chaplain of the Religious
of the Sacred Heart at
Besan(;on, France, and de-
vott^d his leisure hours to
the study of Sacred Scrip-
ture. He was subse-
quently appointed pastor
of the church of Rebeuve-
lier, and Knally of Bres-
Bancourt, where he died.
He l<'ft many works on
Sacred Scripture, some of
which have a special value.
Among the.se we note:
"Lespsaumes traduits lit-
t^ralement sin- le texte
hebreu avec un commen-
taire" (Paris, 1858); " Le
livre de Job veng6 des in-
terpretations fausses et
impies de M. E. Renan"
(Paris, 1800) ; " Le Canti-
3ue des cantiques vengS es interpretations fausse-s et impies de .M. E. Renan" (Paris, 1861); ".\I. Renan gticrmvant contre le sur- naturc'l" (Paris, 186.S); "M. E. Renan trahissant le Chri.st par un roman, "
etc. (Paris, 1804). To the "Commentaries on the Bible", published by Lethielleux, he contributed the Acts of the Apostles (188.3), Exodus (1880), Leviticus (iss(i), (ieiiesis (1889).
I.i.visgUE in Vic, Did. de la Bil/h
OF S. Maria Maggiore, Crema
to the Egyptians, Phoeni-
cians, Carthaginians; or to
the inhabitants of Asia
Minor — the Cdrians, Ly-
dians, and Phrj'gians. The
Babylonians, according to
Herodotus, embalmed their
dead, and the Persians pun-
ished capitally such as at-
tempted cremation, special
regulations being followed
in the purification of fire so
desecrated. The Greeks
and Romans varied in their
practice according to their
views of the after life;
those who believed in a
future existence analogous
to the present burieil their
dead, even leaving food in
the tomb for the nourish-
ment and enjoyment of
the departed; such as, on
the other hand, held the
opinion that on the decay
of the body life was con-
tinued in the shade or
image, practised crema-
tion, the more expedi-
tiously to speed the dead to
the land of shadows. But
the practice of cremating
never entirely superseded
what Cicero tells us (De
Leg., II, xxii) was the older
rite among tlie Roman peo-
R. BUTIN.
pie. Indeed the Cornelian gens, one of the most cul
tured in Rome, had, with the single excejition of
Sulla, never permitted the burning of their dead.
By the fifth century of the Christian Era, owing in
great part to the rapid progress of Christianity, the
practice of cremation had entirely cea.scd.
The Christians never burned their dead, but fol- Crema, Diocese op (Cremexsis), suffragan to lowed from earliest days the practice of the Semitic Mil.an. Crema is a city of the province of Cremona, race and the personal example of their Divine Founder. Loinbardy, Northern Italy, .situated between the It is reconled that in times of persecution many risked Rivers Adda and the Oglio, in a mar.shy region. It their lives to recover the bodies of martyrs for the was built by inhabitants of various cities of the Insu- holy rites of Christian burial. The pagans, to destroy bres, who fled thither during tlie Lomb.'ird inv;usion of faith in the resurrection of the body, often cast the Italy. Crema fell eventually under Lombard rule corp.ses of martyred Christians into the flames, fondly and shared the vicis.sit tides of that monarchy. Crema believing thus to render impossible the resurrection of was one of the first cities to organize as .1 commune, the body. What Cliristian faith has ever held in this It joined t he Lombard League, and was therefore de- regard is clearly put by the third-century writer Miim- stroyed, first by Frederick Barbaros-sa and later by cius Felix, in his dialogue "Octavius", refuting the the nihabitants of Cremona and Lodi. It afterwarcis assertion that cremation made this resurrection an acknowledged the rule of the Torriani and of the Vis- impossibility: "Nor do we fear, as you suppose, conti of Milan, for a while also that of the Benzoni. .any harm from the (mode of] sepulture, but wo adhere Finally it became subject to the Republic of Venice, to the old, .and better, custom" ("Nee, ut creditis, It belonged to the Diocese of Lodi until 1580, when it ullum damnum sepultura; timemus «cd vctercm et IV — 31
