Is obituary preservation necromancy?

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I think keeping an obituary or even a few bookmarked is a way to remember someone you knew and maybe miss. Some of which, you aren’t sure which cemetery they are buried in, and may never get to visit with flowers or anything else.

On the “superstitious” side of the house, there’s maybe spiritual effects or are there? Maybe I’m just strange… Is it necromancy at all though?
 
You’re asking if keeping a bookmark or a copy of an obituary is necromancy?

The answer is unequivocally no. 👍

Unless of course you’re using the obituary as part of some ritual to try and communicate with them or raise them from the dead… Which I would hope you’re not. :eek:
 
I certainly don’t know of any such rituals. I do think of them and at times maybe even in some sort of spiritual manner. So, I suppose this is safe behavior…?
 
Certainly not. We also keep the prayer cards that are handed out at the funerals of our loved ones. It’s a memory, like a photo in an album. You can say the prayer on the card for the person’s soul, or for the souls of others who have died. Has nothing to do with necromancy, which as I understand it is some sort of spiritualism where you call up the dead to predict the future or some baloney.
 
CatholicSpirit said:
I certainly don’t know of any such rituals. I do think of them and at times maybe even in some sort of spiritual manner. So, I suppose this is safe behavior…?
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I don’t see why not. We all hope our loved ones and friends who’ve passed on still exist in a spiritual manner in the next life. Thinking of them in those terms is not bad at all. It’s part and parcel of having faith in Christ.
 
CatholicSpirit said:
I certainly don’t know of any such rituals. I do think of them and at times maybe even in some sort of spiritual manner. So, I suppose this is safe behavior…?
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Yes, it’s perfectly safe. I think of my deceased parents all the time. I’m not trying to get them to come back from the dead. Sometimes I’m seeking some guidance and occasionally I get an answer of some sort back but it’s not like I’m performing some ritual in front of a candle. It’s more like how we ask saints to help us, I might ask my dad or my mom who I believe/ hope are in Heaven now to help me. No big deal.
 
Reading the NYT obituaries (itself the subject of a new movie) just became a little scrupulous.
 
CatholicSpirit said:
I think keeping an obituary or even a few bookmarked is a way to remember someone you knew and maybe miss. Some of which, you aren’t sure which cemetery they are buried in, and may never get to visit with flowers or anything else.

On the “superstitious” side of the house, there’s maybe spiritual effects or are there? Maybe I’m just strange… Is it necromancy at all though?
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Why do you think it is? That’s just a bizarre question.
 
randomuser said:
Reading the NYT obituaries (itself the subject of a new movie) just became a little scrupulous.
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Really? How odd! I read the local obits pretty regularly because it’s a small town & we know a lot of old people. Heck - we are old! We missed a few funerals because I didn’t read them & sometimes the word doesn’t get around.

And, of course, there’s always the celebrity obits. Some of them surprise me, since I had thought some of the really old ones had died years ago.

I remember reading about a woman - the mother of a novelist - who collected the prayer cards we often get at funerals. Those were a regular part of her evening prayers - she would pray for every single person every night. The novelist said that as the years went by, the prayers took a lot longer to say. 🙂

Catholic Spirit - have you looked up the word necromancy to see what it means? If you haven’t yet, you should.
 
Bonnie said:
Really? How odd! I read the local obits pretty regularly because it’s a small town & we know a lot of old people. Heck - we are old! We missed a few funerals because I didn’t read them & sometimes the word doesn’t get around.

And, of course, there’s always the celebrity obits. Some of them surprise me, since I had thought some of the really old ones had died years ago.

I remember reading about a woman - the mother of a novelist - who collected the prayer cards we often get at funerals. Those were a regular part of her evening prayers - she would pray for every single person every night. The novelist said that as the years went by, the prayers took a lot longer to say. 🙂
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I don;t think that’s what he meant, Bonnie. :o
 
Bonnie said:
Really? How odd! I read the local obits pretty regularly because it’s a small town & we know a lot of old people. Heck - we are old! We missed a few funerals because I didn’t read them & sometimes the word doesn’t get around.

And, of course, there’s always the celebrity obits. Some of them surprise me, since I had thought some of the really old ones had died years ago.

I remember reading about a woman - the mother of a novelist - who collected the prayer cards we often get at funerals. Those were a regular part of her evening prayers - she would pray for every single person every night. The novelist said that as the years went by, the prayers took a lot longer to say. 🙂

Catholic Spirit - have you looked up the word necromancy to see what it means? If you haven’t yet, you should.
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I read the obits every morning just to be sure I’m not in there.
 
No as necromancy is the supposed practice of communicating with the dead, especially in order to predict the future. Keeping an obituary notice is NOT communicating with the dead and certainly doesn’t predict the future.
 
My mother in law, rest her soul, called it geneology…and was quite good at it!
 
Crusaderbear said:
My mother in law, rest her soul, called it geneology…and was quite good at it!
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I’ve been a Catholic genealogist since 1966. Keeping obituaries reminds me of my obligation to pray for the living and the dead. It’s both a spiritual and corporal work of mercy. There is no harm in this, in fact great good can come of it. Consider a scrapbook (last year’s daytimer that you never entered anything in, for example??) in which the dates of birth and death, and the obituaries themselves on date of burial, can be entered…then refer to it before your daily rosary. Cheers!
 
I read the obits every morning just to be sure I’m not in there.
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This sort of happened to a coworker of mine. I hadn’t seen him for a few days (we were working opposite shifts) and I was reading the paper at lunch and behold, there was his name in the obituaries. My stomach hit my throat I felt horrible. I didn’t even know he was ill! As I continued reading I realized it was not my coworker at all. It happened to be, by coincidence, someone with the exact same first name, last name and middle initial :eek: . So I see him the next day and I happened to tell him about it. He begins to laugh hysterically. Apparently he found out when he walked into choir rehearsal and one of his choir mates saw him and nearly passed out from surprise thinking he was deceased. 🙂
 
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