Centuries ago in England, suicide was a crime, and the bodies of those who committed suicide would be buried at the crossroads, where their souls entered Limbo.
Surely no one in the world was born without wanting to live. The question is why some people want to end their own lives. There are many answers, including feelings of isolation, pain, sadness, abuse, and hopelessness. Suicide is a very complicated matter.
In the law of this day, suicide is not a crime, and of course it is hard to imagine someone being punished for trying to take their own life. It is a sad issue that really exists among our society, but has no legal consequences.
However, in some religions, suicide is a crime no different from murder. Suicide was actually once considered one of the Seven Deadly Sins – the sin of laziness. The source of this sin is not laziness in each person, but disappointment, discouragement, disappointment (tristitia or acedia – meaning “not caring” ), a particular disorder of the mind. affect mentally and physically.
People who commit suicide are deemed guilty, subject to punishment, including confiscation of property and improper burial.
Since it is a sin, the person who commits suicide needs to be punished. In the 13th and 14th centuries in England, suicide was called “one’s own crime”. The person who commits suicide is considered guilty, even after death, and must endure punishment, including confiscation of property and an improper burial.
This law on suicide influenced the views of the Italian philosopher Thomas Aquinas. According to Aquinas, suicide is a sin for three reasons:
Burying a person who committed suicide “indecent” is to express insult, disapproval of the person’s actions while living. Funerals for suicides are usually held at night, and sometimes a stake is pierced through the heart. They will not be buried in the cemetery but in the middle of a crossroads.
The places chosen for burial are very remote.
The sites chosen for burial were very remote, with an intersection marking the territory of that town or parish. Those who commit suicide will be expelled by the community, so they are not buried in the cemetery.
According to legend, the crossroads is the gateway to the limbo, a place between two worlds – heaven and hell, where it is also possible to communicate with the spirits of the dead. In medieval European culture, the main crossroads was a sacred place and close to the spiritual world, even many demon summoning rituals required this special location.
Buried here in unnamed graves, their souls are said to go to Limbo and stay there forever. Crossroads burials were officially abolished by an act of Parliament in 1823. The last burial took place at the London intersection, now a bus stop at Victoria Station.