By the Rev. Canon W. H. Jones. 



277 



Whether these " Brothers of the Chapter " undertook any specific 

 work on behalf of the cathedral I know not. It was, to say the 

 least, a custom which showed the wider spirit of a cathedral such 

 as ours, when contrasted with the narrowness of monastic discipline. 

 Anyhow the idea is an interesting" one, and capable possibly, with 

 modern adjustments, of useful revival even in our own day. 



(d) One other custom of Sarum — a paramount duty laid on each 

 of its canons — I must mention. They were bound to attend the 

 general meetings of the chapter, when duly summoned by the Dean, 

 through their respective Vicars. The great meeting of chapter-^ 

 the " Senatus Ecclesiasticus " — was held at Whitsuntide, and hence 

 was called the " Pentecostal Chapter." On that occasion all matters 

 of general interest were considered, and such modifications, as from 

 time to time were necessary, were made in the statutes and ordi- 

 nances of the cathedral. Non-attendance at this chapter, which 

 lasted sometimes for several days, was visited with a fine or even 

 excommunication. Even after the Reformation, when of course the 

 discipline was somewhat modified, every canon was especially charged, 

 in pursuance of the injunctions of Queen Elizabeth, to be present 

 at this chapter. In Bishop Jewel's time it is called u congregatio 

 Celebris," and in a record of the date of July, 1560, there is a 

 memorandum of the " Canonical House, called Ledenhall/' having 

 been set apart for the seven years then next ensuing for the canons 

 non-resident, " lit in festo Pentecostes in rebus divinis juxta 

 regias injunctiones commode potuissent interesse senatui ec- 

 clesiastico." Bishop after Bishop — John Jewel in 1560, John 

 Davenant in 1630, Humphrey Henchman in 1661 — all issued pre- 

 cepts concerning it. The last Pentecostal Chapter that was held, 

 was in the year 1813. Since that time the time-honoured custom 

 has been in abeyance, though its revival was unanimously recom- 

 mended by the Dean and Canons residentiary in their report to the 

 Cathedral Commissioners in 1852. Much of the work, no doubt, 

 which would have come before such a chapter, before the transference 

 of all the separate estates to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, is no 

 longer needful, still it was after the Cathedrals' Act, which made 

 that change, was in operation, that the recommendation above alluded 



