THE HOLY ART OF DYING: PART II
Mors Impia (Impious Death)
by REV. JACOB KEMPFERT, Contributing Writer GLORIA DEI LUTHERAN CHURCH, Saginaw, Mich.
Morticians, like the doctors preceding them, used to make house calls. Before the widespread burgeoning of hospitals in the 20th century, death frequently occurred in the home. And before the popularity of funeral homes, undertakers went to the deceased instead of the deceased being brought to them. In the home, the body was dressed, embalmed, and then casketed for a visitation in the family parlor room before the funeral service at a church. Can you imagine hosting a visitation for a loved one in your home? Yet even 100 years ago, this was a common practice in America. This is why funeral homes were first called funeral “parlors” — that’s the room where visitations took place. It’s also why in 1910 the Ladies’ Home Journal began calling the gloomy “parlor” the “living room” instead. Ahh! How invigorating! Death was removed from the family home and placed in the hands of professionals. A handbook for funeral directors from this time period captures this shift of attitude well: “Anything we can do to lift the horrors of the old customs will be appreciated by our friends.” 1
THE LUTHERAN SENTINEL
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1. The Art of Funeral Directing by C. F. Callaway, published 1928.
