Catafalque

2025-01-23T03:32:42Z

173.185.50.41:

{{Short description|Raised bier to display a body or casket}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}

[[Image:Krzysztof Opalinski dead Sierakow.jpg|thumb|375px|Catafalque of nobleman [[Krzysztof Opaliński]], 17th century [[Poland]]]]

A '''catafalque''' is a raised [[bier]], box, or similar platform, often movable, that is used to support the casket, [[coffin]], or body of a dead person during a [[Christian burial|Christian funeral]] or memorial service.<ref name="Jobson2009">{{cite book|first=Christopher| last=Jobson|title=Looking Forward Looking Back: Customs and Traditions of the Australian Army|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5wZa2sr3ol8C&pg=PA71|year=2009|publisher=Big Sky Publishing|isbn=978-0-98032516-4|pages=71–}}</ref> Following a [[Roman Catholic]] [[Requiem Mass]], a catafalque may be used to stand in place of the body at the [[absolution of the dead]] or used during Masses of the Dead and [[All Souls' Day]].<ref name="EmpereurFernández2006">{{cite book| first1=James| last1=Empereur| author2=Eduardo Fernández| title=La Vida Sacra: Contemporary Hispanic Sacramental Theology| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GQVvAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA294|date=12 October 2006| publisher=Rowman & Littlefield| isbn=978-1-4616-3855-1| pages=294–}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
According to Peter Stanford, the term originates from the [[Italian language|Italian]] ''{{lang|it|catafalco}}'', which means [[scaffolding]].<ref name="Stanford2013">{{cite book| first=Peter| last=Stanford| title=How to Read a Graveyard: Journeys in the Company of the Dead| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AYVMAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA244| date=23 May 2013| publisher=A&C Black| isbn=978-1-4411-7977-7| page=244}}</ref> However, the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' says the word is "[o]f unknown derivation; even the original form is uncertain; French pointing to {{lang|fr|-fald-}} or {{lang|fr|-falt-}}, Italian to {{lang|it|-falc-}}, Spanish to {{lang|es|-fals}}." The most notable Italian catafalque was the one designed for [[Michelangelo]] by his fellow artists in 1564.<ref name="Cornelison2012">{{cite book| first=Sally J.| last=Cornelison| title=Art and the Relic Cult of St. Antoninus in Renaissance Florence| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8irxRgB_CWgC&pg=PA276| year=2012| publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.| isbn=978-0-7546-6714-8| page=276}}</ref> An elaborate and highly decorated roofed surround for a catafalque,<ref name="Bull1998">{{cite book| first=George| last=Bull| title=Michelangelo: A Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AZWfE3YOMkQC&pg=PA3| date=15 July 1998| publisher=St. Martin's Press| isbn=978-0-312-18746-0| page=3}}</ref> common for grand funerals of the [[Baroque]] era, may be called a ''{{lang|la|[[castrum doloris]]}}''.

== Papal catafalques ==
Large processions have followed the catafalques of [[List of popes|popes]]. The households of the cardinals carried the catafalque of [[Pope Sixtus V]] in 1590. The bier, decorated with gold cloth, was followed by "confraternities, [[religious order]]s, students of seminaries and colleges, orphans and [[mendicant]]s".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Festive Funerals in Early Modern Italy: The Art and Culture of Conspicuous Commemoration| last=Schraven| first=Minou| publisher=Ashgate Publishing| year=2014| isbn=978-0-7546-6524-3| pages=203}}</ref> In 1963, a million people filed past the catafalque of [[Pope John XXIII]], which had been carried in procession to [[St. Peter's Basilica]] in Rome.<ref>{{cite web| title=Millions of people pass by the catafalque bearing the body of Pope John XXIII in ...HD Stock Footage| website=[[YouTube]]| date=2014-06-18| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a7iFR_Gzns |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/6a7iFR_Gzns |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live| access-date=2016-07-26}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
In Catholic Liturgy, the catafalque is either an empty casket or a wooden form made to look like a casket that is covered by the black pall and surrounded by six unbleached (orange) candles (when they are available); it is a symbolic representation of the deceased or a monument erected to represent the faithful departed. When it is present, the priest sings the absolution for the deceased as if the body was present.

== Notable catafalques ==
[[File:Voltaire cercueil funérailles Panthéon.jpg|thumb|[[Voltaire]]'s catafalque]]
Other than religious leaders such as popes, famous people have lain in state or been carried in procession to their burial place on a catafalque.

=== Voltaire ===
Thirteen years after his death, the remains of [[Voltaire]] were transferred on a catafalque to the [[Panthéon]] in Paris, a building dedicated to the great men of the French nation. It bore the inscription: "Poet, philosopher, historian, he made a great step forward in the human spirit. He prepared us to become free."<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.visitvoltaire.com/voltaire%27s_later_life_funeral_procession.htm| title=Voltaire's funeral procession| website=Visitvoltaire.com| access-date=2016-07-26| archive-date=3 March 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303230903/http://www.visitvoltaire.com/voltaire%27s_later_life_funeral_procession.htm| url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Abraham Lincoln ===
[[Image:LincolnCatafalque.jpg|thumb|The [[Lincoln catafalque]] in the [[United States Capitol]]]]
The [[Lincoln catafalque]],<ref name="Coggeshall1865">{{cite book| first=William Turner| last=Coggeshall| title=Lincoln Memorial: The Journeys of Abraham Lincoln: from Springfield to Washington, 1861, as President Elect; and from Washington to Springfield, 1865, as President Martyred; Comprising an Account of Public Ceremonies on the Entire Route, and Full Details of Both Journeys| url=https://archive.org/details/lincolnmemorial00cogggoog| year=1865| publisher=[[The Columbus Citizen-Journal|Ohio State Journal]]|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lincolnmemorial00cogggoog/page/n281 277]–}}</ref> first used for United States President [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s funeral in 1865, has been used for all those who have [[lying in state|lain in state]] in the [[Capitol Rotunda]] since Lincoln's death, the most recent of which were Capitol Police Officer [[Billy Evans (police officer)|Billy Evans]] on April 13, 2021, and U.S. Senator [[Bob Dole]] on December 9, 2021. It has recently been used at the state funeral for [[Jimmy Carter]] in the Capitol rotunda in January 2025. It was later moved to the portico of the Court for public viewing. When not in use, the catafalque is kept on display in the Exhibition Hall at the [[United States Capitol Visitor Center]]. Commentators noted that the structure of the original pine timbers and boards has been reinforced, albeit being left "original".<ref>According to Robert Cromie in his book ''The Great Chicago Fire'', copyright 1958, Lincoln's catafalque was in Woods' Museum in [[Chicago]] and was burned in the [[Great Chicago Fire]] in 1871. However, Lincoln had funeral ceremonies during stops at several major cities as his remains were taken by train from Washington to [[Springfield, Illinois]] for burial. Cromie probably meant the catafalque used for ceremonies held at Chicago, rather than the one built for his state funeral in DC and retained at the U.S. Capitol.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Limbers and caissons|Caisson]]
* [[Catafalque party]]
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== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{wiktionary|catafalques}}
{{commons category}}
* [http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/w/west_norwood_cemetery/index.shtml West Norwood Cemetery Catacombs]
* [http://www.aoc.gov/cc/capitol/catafalque.cfm Architect of the Capitol]

[[Category:Death customs]]

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Catafalque