Agria 42. (Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis, 2006)

Kovács Béla: A kereszteletlen csecsemők eltemetésének szokása Heves-Külső-Szolnok és Borsod vármegyékben a XVIII. században

The manner in which unbaptised infants were buried, as well as the choice of burial place, very much depended on the church's attitude towards the afterlife of children's souls. It is for this reason that they were neither entitled to a formal church service celebrated by a priest, nor to interment in a consecrated cemetery. Nevertheless as human beings they had to be given a proper burial. The midwife who brought the child into the world therefore took on the rôle of priest, and a burial place equivalent to limbo found. It was for this reason that they were usually buried near, not in, a cemetery, or occasionally near statues and crosses outside the settlement. We do not know exactly when this custom began, but based on European analogies it must date back to the Middle Ages. Burying unbaptised infants on unconsecrated ground was a custom general among Roman and Greek Catholics during the 18th century, and ethnographic research suggests it continued until the first half of the 20th century. During the course of archaeological excavations at the Holy Trinity statue in Egerfarmos five infants were discovered, while the remains of 75 embryos and infants were found among the ruined walls of the chapel of St Peter in Gyöngyöspata (most frequently placed in large earthen vessels). 364