Monaco Lewis H. Mates DRAFT VERSION: The final version of this was published in Douglas Davies with Lewis H. Mates, The Encyclopedia of Cremation (Ashgate, 2005), pp.318-319 The construction of Monaco crematorium began in 1912. A law authorising cremation in cosmopolitan Monaco came into being in 1914, by which time a very modern crematorium, costing 100,000 gold francs, had been completed. It was, however, not opened. This anomalous situation came to the attention of the influential English colony in the principality, which was becoming increasingly interested in cremation. It was this colony’s needs, rather than an indigenous requirement for cremation facilities, that put the issue on the cremationists’ agenda. By 1935, the pressure was building: a hundred ‘distinguished members’ of the ‘numerous and influential’ English colony, who represented several different religions sent a letter to the Minister of State of the Principality requesting cremation facilities to be made available, not only to the Principality but to the whole Riviera. The prince’s reply, through his Minister of State, came in June 1935 and was not encouraging. Undeterred, French cremationists, meeting in Marseille, visited Monaco crematorium and Professor Barrier of the French Cremation Federation appealed to the prince to open the crematorium. The authorities claimed that the gas supply was insufficient for the cremators, but this, cremationists argued, was simple to remedy. The French also asked the 1936 Prague International Cremation Congress to support them by passing a motion that a petition be sent to the prince. The French hoped that the prince would not be deaf to the appeal, as the crematorium in Monaco would be a service to a country that contained many ‘distinguished citizens of all civilised countries’. In 1937, French cremationists made another visit to the Principality whilst holding a national federation conference in Nice. As before, they discovered the crematorium in perfect working order. Accompanied by eminent residents of the English colony who had been campaigning to open the crematorium for some time, Barrier made renewed overtures to the prince, which, he thought, were given added weight by support gained at the Prague Congress. Unfortunately, for reasons that were ‘difficult to follow’, the prince still refused to let the crematorium open. However, it then became clear that the French cremationists had not received the international support that they had expected. The Czech delegate, Mencl, had to explain to the 1937 International Cremation Congress why he had not written to the Prince of Monaco as agreed at the 1936 congress. The new executive resolved to deal with the situation. The French did not give up as, in 1938, they again contacted the prince of Monaco about the situation. The prince responded with the oft-used ‘inadequate gas supply’ excuse. Dissatisfied, the French got the ICF executive to write to the prince, in May 1938. This time the prince’s reply was different, and more honest, as he announced that, as a Catholic, he would never let the crematorium open. However, it also now appeared that the situation was more complicated than the French had presented it. At an ICF executive committee meeting in September 1938 the assistant secretary reported that he had been to Monaco and had taken photos of the crematorium. From the evidence, the executive were ‘not entirely satisfied that previous reports were entirely accurate’ and agreed that before any future communication was sent to the prince ‘every effort’ be made to ‘verify the facts’. In the meantime it decided that ‘no good purpose’ would be served by further letters to the prince. Some hope was rekindled when the secretary-general reported receiving, at an ICF executive meeting in May 1939, a letter from the consul of Monaco in London. The consul reported that the operation of Monaco crematorium was regulated by a decree of dated 8 July 1914. The 1 secretary-general was requested to send a copy of the letter to Henri Ferré of France, who had been heavily involved in the situation, for his observations. Yet, this information by itself was not going to alter anything. The ICF executive then decided to try and inform prominent Monaco citizens to prevail upon the prince to ‘see sense’. The Second World War prevented further immediate action on the topic. After the war, it was clear that nothing had changed. At the 1948 ICF Congress, a paper compiled by Mr. Jiriaroch of Czechoslovakia on the laws relating to cremation in various countries mentioned that, along with many other countries, the decisive influence against cremation in Monaco was Catholic. However, it also noted that the only crematorium in Monaco was ‘prepared for excellent services but … it is still now waiting for somebody to provide the gas mains equal to the requirement of the plant’. At the same congress the French revealed that they had not forgotten the question, a decade after the last international congress. Rene Hofmann raised the issue, arguing that the crematorium had ‘never functioned owing to the operation of commercial interests’. The congress passed a resolution mentioning the ‘unfortunate’ Monaco situation and a similar situation in Hungary, and stated its opinion that the crematoria in both countries ‘should be permitted to function and … that steps should be taken to bring this into effect as soon as possible’. Indeed, in the same year the Monaco crematorium did try to obtain a license to operate, but the Monaco authorities preferred an ‘expensive extension’ of the cemetery instead. Outside of the ICF, the French Cremation Federation attempted to maintain its own pressure on the prince. Three years later it reported to the ICF Congress that it had had no success in this task: a delegate complained that ‘we seem to be hitting our head against a brick wall’. However, the ‘persistency’ of French cremationists was confidently expected to prevail and win the ‘battle’ to get Monaco crematorium opened. Almost a decade later, still nothing had changed. In fact, there was a degree of ignorance over the stagnant situation in Monaco. At the ICF Congress at Stockholm, in 1960, a Mr Boone commented that it was incorrect to say that cremation was prohibited in Monaco. This was due to the edict signed by the grandfather of the then prince that authorised cremation. The extant crematorium was not operated, according to Boone, due to administrative and financial problems. In addition, the privately-owned crematorium would now cost a great deal to get working again, and there remained ‘strong forces’ opposed to it. These forces were embodied in the prince himself who was papal legate in his principality and who would not place pressure on the firm of Funeral Directors that owned the crematorium to begin operating it whilst the Catholic Church remained opposed to cremation. Though the Catholic Church altered its attitude to cremation only three years later, it still took another twenty-seven years for Monaco to get its crematorium, which was finally opened by a private company in 1990. The ‘unusual’ case of the unused Monaco crematorium reveals two things: the power and influence of the Catholic Church, which could even prevent a crematorium operating after large expense had already been committed to bricks and mortar; and the converse relative lack of influence of the institutions of cremation advocacy, despite their concerted efforts. It also reveals that the Vatican’s change of attitude often took some considerable time before it had an effect on Catholic opinion in some regions. References ICF Report (1938) (Annual), CRE/D2. Pharos, 1934- present day, CRE/A/UK/19. Report (1936), of the International Cremation Congress in Prague, CRE/D4/1936/3. Report (1937), of the International Cremation Congress in London, CRE/D4/1937/1. Report (1948), of the ICF Congress at The Hague, CRE/D4/1948/1. Report (1951), of the ICF Congress at Copenhagen, CRE/D4/1951/2. 2 Report (1960), of the ICF Congress at Stockholm, CRE/D4/1960/1. SOMOTHA website, http://www.crematorium.mc/en/debut.htm. (Accessed: December 2003). 3