A Life that never was

We have had a sad couple of days.  One of Grace's sisters was pregnant and nearly due.

Unfortunately the baby was stillborn on Sunday.  So we all drove up to Moncada, where her sister lives for the burial which took place on Monday.

To me it was very strange.  The baby was buried , in the good old English phrase, without benefit of clergy.  I don't know why.  The father is catholic, mother methodist but there never semed any idea of getting the local priest or methodist minister to come.  On asking Grace she didn't seem to show any surprise at this.

I am told they said the rosary before the burial procession set out.  A group of about a dozen people carrying the small decorated coffin walked the couple of miles to the cemetary.  

Don't imagine a cemetary like an English churchyard - this is nothing like that.  The tradition here is for above ground tombs, mostly made of hollow blocks and cement.  In this cemetary the graves are adjoing each other with virtually no space between them.  So to get from the outside of the cemetary to anywhere inside you actually have to walk on the tombs themselves.  Somewhere between 2 of these tombs enough space had been found to dig  a small hole for the baby's coffin.  The coffin was placed on an adjacent tomb, the lid taken off for a final look at her and then placed in the hole and covered with earth.

Yes, I know that is essentially what a burial is, but this is the very first time I have been to one without some form of minister present to say the "official" words.  I felt desperately sad and that something important was missing.

Pray for the repose of the soul of Bless Angela Pascua.