The text of St Augustine's De Cura Gerenda Pro Mortuis, based on Mary H. Allies' translation. With new foreward and study questions by Matthew D. Arnold
 
In 411 AD, St Augustine wrote a letter to St Paulinus of Nola, who had previously requested Augustine's opinions regarding Christian Burials at the altars and shrines of the martyrs. Would such proximity to those plaves benefit the departed in the afterlife? His reply, De Gerenda Pro Mortuis, has become part of Christianity's rich body of literature regarding the afterlife and the treatment of those who have departed this life and entered the next. It provides reasoning from the Scriptures on topics such as Christian burial practices and whether the potential desecration of the body through martyrdom affects the life of the person in the afterlife. He also examines prayers for the dead, discusses several examples of the departed apparently visiting this realm of existence and revealing infomation to the departed in dreams. Augustine's thoughts provide Christians with much food for thought in an age where we have often been distanced from the physicality of death and the treatment of the body whilst at the same time fascinated by the paranormal.
 
Matthew D. Arnold, author The Invisible Dimension: Spirity-Beings, Ghosts and the Afterlife and editor of the Christian Parapsychologist Journal, has worked with Mary H. Allies' translation of De Cura (1914), adding to her work for the benefit of modern readers. A new foreword has been added, and the text has been broken into chapters, each ending with thought-provoking questions encouraging the reader to engage more deeply with Augustine's words. Readers are also aided by the addition of endnotes that include Bible references to Augustine's many unattributed biblical quotes in his work and Latin translations of specific phrases.