204 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



{2°dS. IX. Mar. 17. '00. 



this notice may bring it. to light. Its date could 

 not be earlier than 1649, and most probably it 

 was engraved several years later. 



The copper-plate frontispiece to the Discourse 

 nfArmsand Armory by Waterhous, 16-J§, is an early 

 example of English tailledouce ; wherever Sable 

 occurs in it the indicating lines are similar to 

 those in the volume of Spanish Hei-aldry of 163G 

 already referred to; and such also is the case in some 

 of the engraved plates of arms in the last edition 

 of Gwillim (1724); while on the same page (224.) 

 that tincture is represented in the way now usual. 

 The practice appears to have been adopted slowly 

 in this country, and its general use was doubtless 

 retarded by the economical use of old wood-cut 

 illustrations in the numerous reprinted works of 

 heraldic authors. Gilbert J. French. 



Bolton. 



BURIAL OF PBIESTvS. 



(2 nd S. ix. 27. 92. 130.) 



A first-rate authority in these matters is Mar- 

 tene, in his work De Antiquis Ecclesia Riti- 

 bus. Now I cannot, find in that work any vestige 

 of a distinction made by the ancient Christians in 

 the position of the bodies of clergy and laity. In 

 the fourteenth chapter of the 3rd book (ed. 1763, 

 Antverp. torn. ii. p. 374.), we read thus : — 



" Situs Moriuorum in Tumulo.'" 

 " Situs autem mortuorum in tumulo is erat, ut supini 

 deponerentur, vultu ad caelum converso, quia solo in c*elo 

 spes nostra fundata est ; capite ad occidentem posito, 

 pedibus ad orientem directis. Id quod ex Adamnani 

 libro 2. de locis Sanctis, ubi agens de sepulchris quatuor 

 patriarcharuoi, Abraham, Isaac, et Jacob, et Adam primi 

 hominis, hrec habet: 'Quorum plantar non sicut in aliis 

 orbis regionibus ad Orientem humatorum converti mods 

 est, sed ad Meridiem versa:, et capita contra Septentrio- 

 nalem plagam conversa.' Carolus-magnus tamen in sede 

 aure.i compositus, est sepultus." 



There is no mention here made of any differ- 

 ence between ecclesiastics and laymen. I will 

 next produce similar testimony from his treatise 

 De Antiquis Monachorum Ritibns. Observe, that 

 many of the monks were priests also, but in their 

 burial no difference was made. Quoting from the 

 MS. of the Customs of Cluni, he writes : — 



" Quo facto, statim sine quolibet intervallo, ponitur 

 corpus in terram ; ita ut pedes sint versus orientem, et 

 caput versus occidentem ; iterumque aqua benedicta as- 

 pergitur, et incensatur ; tunc operculo ligneo operitur." — 

 Lib. v. cap. 10. 



Again, from the Breviary of the Benedictine 

 Monastery of Casale : — 



" Asperso deuique aqua benedicta et incensato defuncti 

 corpore et scpulcro, deponatur defunctus in sepulcrum 

 snpinus, capite ad Occidentem, et operiatur liuino." — lb., 

 P- " 



2G4. 



As to the position of the corpse in the church 

 during the funeral obsequies, there does not seem 

 to have been formerly any distinction observed. 



Martene quotes from the Ambrosian Ritual the 

 li Ordo ad sepeliendos Defunctos saeculares," from 

 which I extract as follows : — 



" In Ecclesia collocato defuncti corpore, ita ut pedes 

 sint versus orientem, seu Altare majus, et clero corpus 

 circumstante, legitur sequens Lassie" 



And at the interment we read : — 



" Collocjjto corpore in sepulcro, ita ut supinum jaceaf, 

 pedibus ad orientem, seu ad altare versis, sacerdos asper- 

 git aqua benedicta," etc. 



Then follows the " Ordo ad sepeliendum Sacer- 

 dotem vel Clericum," in which we read : — 



"His peractis, ordinatur processio ut supia. . . . 

 In Ecclesia collocato cadavere ut supra," etc. 



Discipline in this matter seems to have varied 

 in more recent times. The Roman Catholic ritual, 

 now in use in this country, gives the following 

 directions : — 



" Corpora defunctoi um in Ecclesia ponenda sunt pedi- 

 bus versus altare majus ; vel si conduntur in Oratoriis, aut 

 capellis, ponantur cum pedibus versis ad illarum altaria: 

 quod etiam pro situ et loco fiat in sepulchro. Presbyteri 

 verb habeant caput versus altare.'" 



John Williams. 



Arno's Court. 



The reason assigned by the vicar of Morwenstow 

 for the injunction in the Roman Ritual — which 

 also obliges Catholics in this country — to place the 

 bodies of priests with the head nearest the altar 

 and the feet towards the west, does not appear to 

 have any foundation, but to be a mere fanciful 

 idea without any reason. For it must be observed 

 that the rubric applies to none of the clergy be- 

 low priests, yet why should not other clerics and 

 devout laics also be ready to follow Christ in the 

 air ? The true reason seems to be, that as the 

 laity are turned in church towards the altar, and 

 their feet tend towards it, they should be similarly 

 placed after death ; but as the priest turns from 

 the altar to preach and minister to them, so he 

 also is appropriately placed as if still coming from 

 the altar, and towards the congregation. " De- 

 functus adhuc loquitur." The custom ought not 

 to be stigmatised, as it is by R. G. (I" S. ii. 452.), 

 as "an unjustifiable priestly prerogative," but as 

 a pious mode of representing the relative positions 

 held by priest and people in the church during 

 life. F. C. H. 



I remember to have seen in S. Chad's Cathe- 1 

 dral, Birmingham, the brass of a priest, modern] 

 of course, placed with the head towards the 

 altar. The authority for so doing is no doubt, 

 the dii-ection given in the Ritual, " De Exe-. 

 quiis : " — 



" Corpora defunctorum in Ecclesia ponenda sunt pedi-; 

 bus versus altare majus; vel si conduntur in Oraturiis 

 aut Capellis, ponantur cutn pedibus versis ad illarum 



