The Ordinary Catholic Cemetery in History: A Story Awaiting the Telling

Alcúdia Cemetery: Christ statue above a crypt

Catholics are proud of their ancient heritage of cemeteries–from the catacombs of Rome to the churchyard cemeteries of Catholic Europe and early America to today’s diocesan and parish cemeteries. Claims about how the Church has always cared for her dead and kept their memory in her cemeteries are familiar. Yet, apart from famous examples touted in Christian pilgrimage brochures and highlighted on the History Channel or EWTN TV, what do we really know about the countless ordinary cemeteries and their burials across the everyday world of Christian antiquity? Precious little! Such gaps in this knowledge can be bridged and support for these claims substantiated through archaeological study of those commonplace cemeteries of old.

This July 2014, the University of Portland has launched an archaeological collaboration that will help to fill in those gaps. The University’s Initiative for Christian Antiquity and its Pollèntia research team of faculty, students, and alumni volunteers has undertaken a preliminary survey of the necropolis at the site of the late Roman/early Christian city of Pollèntia, just outside the city of Alcúdia on the island of Mallorca, one of the Balearic Islands in Spain.

Here’s the scoop. Serious study of the ancient Christian cemetery of Roman Pollèntia, once a Roman Colony under the Emperor Augustus and the capital city of Mallorca and the Insulae Baliarum (Balearic Islands), holds the key to unlocking the identity of its population in late antiquity and beyond. The study addresses new questions about burial customs and those responsible for them among Jews and Christians in late Roman Spain. For example, were Christians buried in separate cemeteries or areas of cemeteries? Or were they buried side by side with other citizens, whether Jews or Roman pagans? How did they perceive and manage their cemeteries? Who was responsible? Family, church, city? These are a few of the pertinent questions awaiting answers.

In appreciation of the significance of Pollèntia to the history of Roman and early Christian Spain, this summer’s Phase I of the UP Pollèntia Expedition undertakes a preliminary geophysical survey and initial excavation of the city’s cemetery. Our work includes a survey of the necropolis, aerial photography using cameras mounted to a helium balloon and a quadcopter drone, determination of the density of surface findings, identification of previous excavation sites, and analysis of soil samples and pottery fragments using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrophotometry. Based on the results of these studies, we hope to make a trial excavation of new features of the necropolis.

The larger goal is to determine the precise nature of the burials and the extent of the cemetery and to prepare research curriculum for undergraduate student/faculty teams to carry on the project in Phase II in the 2014-15 and later academic years . Cross-cultural and interdisciplinary, this summer the Pollèntia cemetery project brings together the expertise and leadership of Dr. Miguel Ángel Cau (Director of Equip de Recerca Arqueològica i Arqueomètrica de la Universitat de Barcelona) who serves as director of the excavation, the career-long study of the Catholic cemetery by Fr. Richard Rutherford, C.S.C., the American project coordinator, and the research collaboration of nine University of Portland faculty colleagues, friends, and alumni volunteers from across the Humanities and Physical Sciences.

To launch Phase I, the Pollèntia project has relied on support from the University in the form of faculty development and travel grants and also a seed grant from the International Studies and Global Outreach Collaborative (CISGO)*; gracious donations by interested individuals and several professional organizations, among them the Catholic Cemetery Conference, Selected Independent Funeral Homes, and GigaPan Systems of Portland; as well as substantial out-of-pocket expenditures by the participants themselves. This combined funding has allowed transportation of faculty and volunteers and laboratory to the site. However, we continue to raise support for lodging, meals, the infrastructure for research, and analysis of findings–in short the nitty-gritty of an extended group project.

We welcome your partnership in supporting this summer’s Phase I 0f the Pollèntia Expedition and the long-range opportunities for education, research, and study abroad that development of Phase II will offer the University community. Donations may be directed to the Office of Development, University of Portland, 5000 N. Willamette Blvd., MSC 176, Portland, OR 97203. Please make your check to the Christian Antiquities Research Fund and please include explicit reference in the memo line for Account #12035, 398, XXXXX, 21. Contributors will receive a letter from the University gratefully acknowledging your donation; please specify whether you want your donation to be considered as a business expense sponsoring non-profit cemetery research & development or as an individual’s tax-deductible gift.

Thank you for your support and partnership in this Pollèntia adventure!

*Blessings on Professor Kate Regan and thanks for her gifts to CISGO and the University community!

Text for this introduction: Fr. Richard Rutherford, CSC

Blog posts and editing: Ronda Bard

Photo credits this page: Ronda Bard