| Tobit 4:18
| Lay out thy bread, and thy wine, upon the burial of a just man, and do not eat and drink thereof with the wicked.
| Burial, or sepulchre. See Baruch 6:26.; Ecclesiasticus 7:37., and 30:18. The Jews followed this custom, which was common to the pagans, but from very different motives. The latter supposed that the souls fed on such meats. The Jews, and afterwards Christians, did it to feed the indigent, that they might pray for the deceased. These feasts were sometimes abused, and on that account forbidden by St. Ambrose, to whose authority St. Monica submitted. (St. Augustine, Conf. 6:3.) See Constitutions Apostolic 8:24. (Calmet) --- Just man, who may be supposed to have died in God's peace. (Haydock) --- It is of no service to pray and give alms for the damned. --- Wicked, so as to encourage their evil conduct. (Menochius) --- Works of mercy extend to the dead. (Worthington)
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