A clergyman has called on Bermuda to properly honour its dead — after the unemployed daughters of a homeless man were told by Government that it would not help to pay for his funeral.

Chaplain Kevin Santucci told The Royal Gazette that the case of the 62-year-old, who died recently at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, highlighted the need for funds to be set aside by the state to ensure those with no resources could be buried.

“Some persons in our community have no place to stay,” he said. “We have to give them a burial. We have to, as a community. We can’t dishonour them.

“Literally, there is nothing in place to assist in such an emergency. We have quite a number of persons in the last, say, four years, who have become misplaced through job loss or whatever reason. They are homeless.

“What are we going to do: just leave corpses lying around? I don’t think so. There ought to be an emergency fund that’s in place. There ought to be someone championing this. If there is no one, then I’m willing to champion it.”

The man lived on the streets by choice for 20 years, this newspaper understands. He did not claim help from the Department of Financial Assistance and is thought to have left no estate.

His daughters saw him rarely but were reunited with him at the end of February, after convincing him to move in with them.

Once he was off the streets, it quickly became clear that he was very ill and he passed away two days before his 63rd birthday.

His daughters, who are both full-time mothers after being made redundant from their jobs last year, are now facing a funeral bill of thousands of dollars.

The Department of Financial Assistance told the family on Monday that because the man never applied for financial aid, they were not eligible for help with his funeral.

A Department spokeswoman would not comment specifically on the case but said: “The Department of Financial Assistance can assist with funeral expenses where a person is an approved client of the Department.

“The Financial Assistance Regulations 2004 provides that allowable expenses for such a person can include financial assistance with funeral expenses to a maximum of $3,000.”

She suggested that families who weren’t eligible for those expenses should check with the Department of Social Insurance to see if the deceased was entitled to a state pension — though that wouldn’t apply in this case as the man hadn’t reached 65.

The spokeswoman said families should also check with banks and insurance companies to see whether the deceased had accounts or a life insurance policy — and should “make a ‘reasonable’ payment arrangement with their chosen funeral director”.

There has been no response yet to a further question about whether Government could offer any other assistance in this case.

It is understood that the man’s daughters have been told they can’t access a private pension he may have had from a former job, because they don’t have a death certificate — a document they have been advised can’t be obtained until after the funeral.

Elaine Williams, director of the Centre on Philanthropy, told this newspaper she was not aware of any charity that provided direct support for funerals in such cases. She suggested the sisters contact their local parish council and MP.

Mr Santucci, who is Chaplain of the City of Hamilton and chairman of Warwick Parish Council, said before 1970, parish councils did help if someone died and relatives were unable to pay for a funeral.

“They did take care of those needs,” he said. “We also had parish graves. At least we gave them some kind of dignity, even in their passing.”

He said the law changed and land tax began to be paid directly to Government, meaning the councils no longer had the funds to help.

“It’s [now] through the Department of Financial Assistance, who actually minister to such persons in our community like this. The only caveat is that they say if you are seeking financial assistance, then you must be a client of them. This is a misfortune though.

“These people deserve an honourable burial. They are citizens of Bermuda and they have not caused any harm to us as a society. It’s still the society’s responsibility to see that they are buried.

“The misfortune is that if someone [homeless] should pass away, they are left almost to the vultures to bury them. We should not, as a nation, do that. We are a sophisticated nation.”