Folklore about Church foundations

Ecclesiastical  Curiosities
Edited William Andrews (1899) Project Gutenburg
Kalkara - © Godric Godricson

Afzelius, in his collection of Swedish folk tales, says: “Heathen superstition did not fail to show itself in the construction of Christian churches. In laying the foundations the people retained something of their former religion, and sacrificed to their old deities, whom they could not forget, some animal, which they buried alive, either under the foundation, or within the wall. A tradition has also been preserved that under the altar of the first Christian churches a lamb was usually buried, which imparted security and duration to the edifice. This was an emblem of the true church lamb—the Saviour, who is the corner stone of His church.

When anyone enters a church at a time when there is no service, he may chance to see a little lamb spring across the choir and vanish. This is the church-lamb. When it appears to a person in the churchyard, particularly to the grave-digger, it is said to forbode the death of a child that shall be next laid in the earth.”

Silly and clumsy imposition

A Treatise on Relics - John Calvin
(1870) - Project Gutenburg

"It is not my intention now to discuss the abominable abuse of the relics of Our Lord, as well as of the saints, at this present time, in the most part of Christendom. This subject alone would require a separate volume; for it is a well-known fact that the most part of the relics which are displayed every where are false, and have been put forward by impostors who have most impudently deceived the poor world. I have merely mentioned this subject, to give people an opportunity of thinking it over, and of being upon their guard. It happens sometimes that we carelessly approve of a thing without taking the necessary time to examine what it really is, and we are thus deceived for want of  warning; but when we are warned, we begin to think, and become quite astonished at our believing so easily such an improbability. This is precisely what has taken place with the subject in question. People were told, “This is the body of such a saint; these are his shoes, those are his stockings;” and they believed it to be so, for want of timely caution. But when I shall have clearly proved the fraud which has been committed, all those who have sense and reason will open their eyes and begin to reflect upon what has never before entered their thoughts. The limits of my little volume forbid me from entering but upon a small part of what I would wish to perform, for it would be necessary to ascertain the relics possessed by every place in order to compare them with each other. It would then be seen that every apostle had more than four bodies,and each saint at least two or three, and so on. In short, if all the relics were collected into one heap, the only astonishment would be that such a silly and clumsy imposition could have blinded the whole earth."

Full of life

God in the sacraments in Malta
© Godric Godricson

The ‘God of hope’ seen in Jesus is one and the same as that same God seen in the Book of Exodus. We can see that instead of a new idea born out of nothingness He is "the absolute future" (Karl Rahner) or, figuratively, the Lord of the future, who says, "Behold, I make all things new." 

It may be deduced that the Revelation of God to mankind contained within the Hebrew Bible must be understood to be able to understand subsequent developments in terms of hope and the development of hope for mankind.

In the debate,  we can see that the idea of ‘hope’ was always contained within God’s relationship with mankind as portrayed both within the Hebrew Bible and in God’s message to the people of Israel. The idea of ‘hope’ for the future remained  ultimately undeveloped in the area of Sheol and the afterlife although it became amplified through time and was ultimately revealed. 

In the Resurrection of Jesus we have a fulfilment of the earlier messages contained within the Hebrew Bible and so strongly is that message of Resurrection hope portrayed; that Saint Athanasius, writing in the 9th Century AD,  can evoke the story of Lazarus in such terms.

God in the sacraments in Malta
© Godric Godricson

 “…but into the midst came Jesus, the Storehouse which is full of life, the Mouth which is full of sweet odour, the Tongue which frightens death, the Mighty One in His commands, the Joy of those who are sorrowful, the Rising of those who have fallen, the Resurrection of the dead, the Assembly of the strong, the Hope of the hopeless.”

Humanity has been given hope in Jesus and the suicidal God becomes the store for all that is good. It is hardly surprising that death is vanquished and burial becomes associated with religion. Churches become the focus for burials and the horrors of overcrowded burial sites become understandable

Putti

Putti
Saint Margaret  - King's Lynn [Link]
© Godric Godricson


The skull of St. Clement of Ancyra

A Treatise on Relics - John Calvin
(1870) - Project Gutenburg

"He suffered under Dioclesian, and is ranked by the Greeks among the great martyrs. His modern Greek acts say, his lingering martyrdom was continued by divers torments during twenty-eight years; but are demonstrated by Baronius and others to be of no authority. Two churches at Constantinople were dedicated to God under the invocation of St. Clement of Ancyra; one called of the Palace, the other now in Pera, a suburb of that city. Several parts of his relics were kept with great devotion at Constantinople. His skull, which was brought thence to Paris when Constantinople was taken by the Latins, in the thirteenth century, was given by queen Anne of Austria to the abbey of Val de Grace."

Florence Mary Ottley Died 14th September 1940

© Godric Godricson

Sacrifical Foundations

Ecclesiastical  Curiosities
Edited William Andrews (1899) Project Gutenburg
© Godric Godricson

In early ages a sacrifice of some sort or other was offered on the foundation of nearly every building. In heathen times a sacrifice was offered to the god under whose protection the building was placed; in Christian times, while many old pagan customs lingered on, the sacrifice was continued, but was given another meaning. The foundation of a castle, a church, or a house was frequently laid in blood; indeed it was said, and commonly believed, that no edifice would stand firmly for long unless the foundation was laid in blood. It was a practice frequently to place some animal under the corner stone—a dog, a wolf, a goat, sometimes even the body of a malefactor who had been executed.

Putto

Putto
Saint Margaret  - King's Lynn [Link]
© Godric Godricson


Barraka Gardens, Valetta

© Godric Godricson

Darrington Church and foundations



Ecclesiastical  Curiosities
Edited William Andrews (1899) Project Gutenburg
© Godric Godricson



A foundation sacrifice is suggested by the following curious discovery, reported in the Yorkshire Herald of May 31st, 1895: “It was recently ascertained that the tower of Darrington Church, about four miles from Pontefract, had suffered some damage during the winter gales. The foundations were carefully examined, when it was found that under the west side of the tower, only about a foot from the surface, the body of a man had been placed in a sort of bed in the solid rock, and the west wall was actually resting upon his skull. The gentle vibration of the tower had opened the skull and caused in it a crack of about two-and-a-half inches long. The grave must have been prepared and the wall placed with deliberate intention upon the head of the person buried, and this was done with such care that all remained as placed for at least 600 years.”

The majority of the clergy in the early part of the Middle Ages doubtless would be very strongly imbued with all the superstitions of the people. The mediæval priest, half believing in many of the old pagan customs, would allow them to continue, and it is both curious and interesting to notice how heathenism has for so long a period lingered on, mixed up with Christian ideas.

Mrs Woods - Died Senglea January 1917

Away

I cannot say and I will not say
That she is dead, she is just away.
With a cheery smile and a wave of hand
She has wandered into an unknown land;
And left us dreaming how very fair
Its needs must be, since she lingers there.

And you-oh you, who the wildest yearn
From the old-time step and the glad return-
Think of her faring on, as dear
In the love of there, as the love of here
Think of her still the same way, I say;
She is not dead, she is just away.

James Whitcomb Riley, American poet (1849 - 1916)



St. Sulpicius Le Debonnaire and body parts

A Treatise on Relics - John Calvin
(1870) - Project Gutenburg

..............The famous monastery which bears his name at Bourges, is said to have been founded by him under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin; it now belongs to the congregation of St. Maur, and is enriched with part of his relics, and with a portion of the blood of St. Stephen, who is the titular saint of the stately cathedral. A bone of one of the arms  of our saint, is kept in the famous parochial church in Paris, which is dedicated to God under his invocation

Kirkpatrick

© Godric Godricson

Hope and Justice



Giving the best of human work to God in Malta
© Godric Godricson



An Israelite belief in the afterlife is evident over time and amplified in II Maccabees and I Enoch. In effect, it could be argued that in the centuries immediately preceding Jesus, the idea of a bodily resurrection was well understood and would not have needed a detailed explanation. The association of death, religion and burial was already made and understood.

The question seems to be "What was it in the conceptualisation of the Resurrection of Jesus that unified earlier Jewish beliefs in a physical resurrection?" What was contained within post exilic and apocalyptic traditions which had the power to inspire gentiles with no knowledge of such religious traditions?  It seems that a new facet gained prominence in Jewish beliefs surrounding resurrection as a concept and specifically in the Resurrection of Jesus. This new facet departed from the emphasis of the earlier Hebrew Bible  and  this new facet was the idea of ‘Hope’. The dark, vague and forbidding Sheol of the earlier  Hebrew Bible was  sometimes ameliorated by positive, or hopeful, images although the most optimistic post exilic and apocalyptic imagery surrounding resurrection did not contain such ideas of hope as made manifest in the Resurrection of Jesus.  In this Christian death we see something better than life on earth and something to be desired,

The success of The Resurrection as an idea is that it unites ‘hope’ with ‘justice’ and ideas of theodicy.  It may be that an early belief in God; without hope of reward is subsequently seasoned by ideas of ‘justice’. This development in theology evidences a change in the way that the relationship between mankind and God is perceived by humanity. We now have a positive carrot to encourage humanity and to balance the stick.

Putti



18th Century Putti - King's Lynn [Link]



Westminster Abbey



The Tombs in Westminster Abbey
Henry W. Lucy
The North American Review
 (1892)
© Godric Godricson

"Westminster Abbey slowly became the place of sepulture for men who had claims to eminence other than the adventitious circumstance of royal birth. In the last year of the sixteenth century Spenser was buried in the spot now known as the Poets' Corner. Next followed Beaumont, Drayton, and Ben Jonson. It is, however, in the present century that the Abbey obtained the peculiar place in English history which connects it with the roll of supremely great Englishmen. Pitt and Fox were both buried there within the same year. Brinsley Sheridan was buried in 1816. To what strange uses the noble fane might still be put is shown on turning over the record by finding that in the next year there was buried in the Abbey a still-born daughter of their royal highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland. Grattan was buried here in 1820; Canning in 1827; Wilberforce, 1833; Lord Chatham, 1835; Thomas Campbell, 1844; Stephenson, 1859; Macaulay, 1860; Outram and Clyde, 1863; Lord Palmerston, 1865; Dickens, 1870; Lord Lytton, 1873; Dr. Livingstone in the following year, and Lord Lawrence and Sir Rowland Hill in 1879, whilst in 1881 Dean Stanley, who during the term of his deanship had watched over the building with infinite solicitude, had a place found for him in Henry VII.'s chapel".

Saint Rigobert of Rheims - Corporal relics

 

Book of The Lives of the Fathers,
Martyrs, and Principal Saints
Alban Butler (1895)
Project Gutenburg
© Godric Godricson

Rigobert was abbot of Orbais, afterwards bishop of Rheims, was favored with the gift of miracles, and suffered an unjust banishment under Charles Martel. He was recalled by Pepin, but finding Milo in possession of his see, retired to Gernicour, a village four or five leagues from Rheims, where he led a retired life in the exercises of penance and prayer. He died about the year 750, and was buried in the church of St. Peter at Gernicour, which he had built. Hincmar, the fifth bishop from him, translated his relics to the abbey of St. Theodoric, and nine years after, to the church of St. Dionysius at Rheims. Fulco,

Hincmar's successor, removed them into the metropolitan church of our lady, in which the greater part is preserved in a rich shrine; but a portion is kept in the church of St. Dionysius there, and another portion in the cathedral of Paris, where a chapel bears his name.

A parish in Norfolk

Ecclesiastical  Curiosities
Edited William Andrews (1899) Project Gutenburg
© Godric Godricson

Some seventeen years ago, shortly after taking charge of a parish in Norfolk, I was called upon to select a suitable spot for the burial of a poor man, who had been killed by an accident. After several places had been suggested by me to the sexton, who claimed for them either a family right, or some similar objection; I noticed for the first time, that there were no graves upon the north side of the church, and I, in my innocence, suggested that there would be plenty of space there; whereupon my companion’s face at once assumed the most serious expression, and I  immediately saw that fear had taken hold of his mind, as he answered with a somewhat shaky voice, “No, Sir! No, that cannot be!” My curiosity was immediately aroused, and I sought for an explanation, which I found not from my good and loyal friend, who would not trust himself to answer further than “No, Sir! No, that cannot be!” The sexton’s manner puzzled me greatly, for the man was an upright, straightforward, open-hearted, servant of the Church—but I at once saw that it would be fruitless to push the matter further with him, so after marking out a suitable resting place for the poor unfortunate man, who not being a parishoner of long standing, had no family burial place awaiting him, I made my way home to think over the whole occurrence.The cause for non-burial on the north side of the Church was indeed a mystery, yet that my parishoners had some valid reason for not being laid to rest there, was apparent; so I set about the task of unravelling the superstition, if so it may be called.

© Godric Godricson

My library shelves seemed to be the most natural place of research, but here after consultation with several volumes of Archæology, Ecclesiology,  and Folk Lore, I could find nothing bearing upon the subject, beyond that in certain instances relating to Churchyard Parishes on the sea-coast, the north side by reason of its exposure to wind and storm, and being the sunless quarter of the burying ground, was less used than other parts; but here the reason given was in consideration of the living mourners at the time of the interment, and not the body sleeping in its last resting place of earth.

After some considerable correspondence with friends likely to be interested in such a matter, I was rewarded with information that, in some instances, the northern portion of the churchyard was left unconsecrated, and only thus occasionally used for the burial of suicides, vagrants, highwaymen (after the four cross road graves had been discontinued), or for nondescripts and unbaptised persons, for whom no religious service was considered necessary. Even this I did not accept as a solution of my problem. That there was something more than local feeling underlying this superstition, I was certain, but how to get to the root of the subject perplexed me.

Death is nothing at all

Death is nothing at all,
I have only slipped into the next room
I am I and you are you
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by my old familiar name,
Speak to me in the easy way which you always used
Put no difference in your tone,
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was,
Let it be spoken without effect, without the trace of shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It it the same as it ever was, there is unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near,
Just around the corner.
All is well.

By Henry Scott Holland (1847-1918)
Canon of St Paul's Cathedral 

War Dead - Chale

Saint Andrew - Chale, Isle of Wight [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Mourning clothes

Maltese Death, Mourning, and Funeral Customs
A. Cremona
"Folklore"  Vol. 34, No. 4 (Dec. 31, 1923)

© Godric Godricson

"The wearing of special mourning clothes was general in the fourteenth century, but became less marked by the year 1700. Women used to wear woollen trailing skirts and dark shawls over their heads. Some better-class people wore one black transparent veil over the head and another veil of black silk taffeta over the gown, reaching to the waist. A sort of Majorca woollen cloth is prescribed for mourning wear to the heirs under a will of A.D. 1543.

The Grand Master's suite wore a special garment called Scoto, of thin light serge. Although it is nowadays customary with some families to put on as little mourning as possible and to shorten its period, a full mourning dress is worn by others for two full years after the death of parents. The simplest style of mourning, a black necktie and a crape arm band, is in general use after the death of a distant relative".

Frances Jane Hamilton - Chale

Saint Andrew - Chale, Isle of Wight [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Hilda Somerville 1878-1908

Hilda Somerville - Chale, Isle of Wight [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Table tomb - Chale

17th Century Table tombs
Saint Andrew - Chale, Isle of Wight [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Obelisk - Chale

Obelisk at Saint Andrew - Chale, Isle of Wight [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Christianity as a cult of death

Edwin Bedingfield
Senglea - Malta

© Godric Godricson

The study of burials and the origins of burials has sparked interest in Christianity as a cult of the dead. Christianity is heavily involved with death and this affinity arises from a clear association between the Church as a place of worship and the cemetery as a place of burial.

Early researchers  often made broad generalisations about the cult of the dead, ancestor worship and the saints as a manifestation of earlier, pagan, deities.  From the early studies we can perceive a lack of empirical knowledge, broad generalizations and a lack of methodology.  A cult of the dead is, however, evidenced in this blog and the more I submit pictures and words the more I become aware of the affinity of Christianity, death and the nature of Christianity as a cult of the dead. Just look at the proximity of the living and the dead in many villages and centres of population.

© Godric Godricson

I’m not suggesting that Christianity is merely another “mystery religion” and I’m not suggesting that Christianity is ‘wrong’ or ‘evil’, instead I am saying that Christianity has an agenda that is not always clear and explained. It is as if  the cult of the dead went on to fuel a world religion rather than a religion forming a cult of the dead. This may be pure semantics although we apparently have a cause and effect here. In some parts of the world, such as South America, the earlier cults of the dead from indigenous cultures are even clearer and have a synergy with Christianity

Paganism has many more links with Christianity than people would often like to acknowledge and this affinity is stronger with Catholicism than more puritan religion, although the cult of the dead is more evident  in puritan sects than Evangelicals would like to acknowledge.

© Godric Godricson

It is time to see the cemeteries beside the Church as centres of ancestor worship, history and art rather than just cemeteries. Why else would Christians pay so much time and attention to burying the dead so close to the living. The work of Edwin Chadwick shows how bad the situation was in he 19^th Century. In this period the living sank wells for  water beside cemeteries and actually absorbed the dead through drinking water, they sat in pews above the dead and they walked past stinking burial grounds to gain access to the Church.  The pollution of the environment by this obsession with death is apparent and evident and shines through Chadwick’s work.

Over the next few months I want to return to the idea of Christianity as a cult of the dead and see what happens.

Stele - Chale

Saint Andrew - Chale, Isle of Wight [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Monument group

Rosary Cemetery - Norwich [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Celtic Monument

Rosary Cemetery - Norwich [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Royal Burial Sites

Saint Andrew - Chale, Isle of Wight [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Have a look at this fantastic page for European burials sites around Europe. This site is well researched and well written and a joy to view. The photographs are new and show vaults etc that are not normally seen.

http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-burial-sites

Helen Bishop - Chale

Helen Bishop
Saint Andrew - Chale, Isle of Wight [Link]

© Godric Godricson

William Bailey Died 1875

Robert Skinner [Skynner] Died 29th September 1669

Saint Andrew - Blofield  [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Jeremy Mantle Died 27th November 1667

Saint Andrew - Blofield  [Link]

© Godric Godricson

"Birdbath"

Rosary Cemetery - Norwich [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Monument at the Rosary

Rosary Cemetery - Norwich [Link]

© Godric Godricson

The Art of Embalming



From: The Art of Embalming
Thomas Greenhill
1709



The

Soul flies back to Heaven from whence it came. Our mouldering Bodies Mother Earth does claim.Lent us but for a fleeting space to wear and then they to their first abodes repair

Burial in the nave - Blofield

Saint Andrew - Blofield  [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Granite

Rosary Cemetery - Norwich [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Tomb of Jean-François Allard (1785 -1839)

Tomb of Jean-François Allard (1785 -1839) 

Deuteronomy 34:6

Saint Nicholas - North Walsham

© Godric Godricson

"He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is".

Iron work

Rosary Cemetery - Norwich [Link]

© Godric Godricson

William Freeman Died 2nd December 1845

Rosary Cemetery - Norwich [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Old Maltese practices



Maltese Death, Mourning, and Funeral Customs
A. Cremona
"Folklore"  Vol. 34, No. 4 (Dec. 31, 1923)

© Godric Godricson



"The following are the most characteristic features of existing Maltese practices, many of which are comparable to those of Sicily, while a few show some Eastern influence :-

(a) The washing of the dead body before shrouding. This is not a religious rite, and has no connection with that of Islam.

(b) The shutting of the eyelids, if open, and the raising of the chin by means of a band, usually a white kerchief, tied on the head.

(c) The removal of door knockers and knobs; house doors are kept closed for several days; neighbours half-shut their own".

The South Side

All Saints - Billockby [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Ironwork

Rosary Cemetery - Norwich [Link]

© Godric Godricson

Ossuary

Beauty in the vernacular

The tombs of the rich are often to be admired and marvelled at and then walked past as we consign their memory to oblivion and that is arguably as it should be. The joy of English parish Churches is that there is much that is ordinary and in the vernacular. England doesn’t have much in the cemetery that is showy and brash. That would never do! Instead, England has the sandstone stele monument or the Celtic/Cornish granite headstone that marks the seasons in moss and decay whilst very slowly mouldering into the soil. On the Continent it is very different and monuments seem to have surpassed the life of the individual they commemorate. The monument is grater than the man.

Just as the Sexton in “Dealings with the Dead” written in 1856 is clear that there is an aristocracy of the dead, it also clear that the English have maintained a fine and traditional indifference towards monuments and remained, instead, happy to have either a low monument or no monument at all. The grass and the wildlife seem enough for us as we are layered into the ground to await our fate. There are clearly some grand monuments and the one at Saint Remigius at Hethersett is a great favourite of mine as it stands by the edge of the field as if about to escape into the landscape. There are great monuments in Churches and we all recognise the marble plaques about to crush us in their monumentality if they were ever to fall from their walls. They say much and also nothing about the person they commemorate and in reality the large plaques aren’t very English.

Englishness is about recognising wealth, power and privilege and then doing absolutely nothing about it. Englishness is about understanding social prestige and admiring that prestige before going to supermarket and buying beer for the hot summer we all hope for. It is that we are really quite casual about titles and honours and we are also quite aware that the exteriors doesn’t always match the interior. The grand lady wrapped in furs may be starving from a lack of breakfast and the great lord may have threadbare socks. Not everything is as it seems. The great monument may be built of shoddy materials and the lettering on the stone may be mispelt through ignorance or haste. The English understand these possibilities and naturally sneer at aristocracy whether that aristocracy is in blood, monuments or the grave. It’s all so much flim flam at the end of the day.

The tombs of the rich are admired and marvelled at that much is true although the English do not worship long at any one altar and we do not marvel over much at any one tomb. We do not over monumentalise the folly of human lives and we do not deify the living. It is hard to worship at a tomb when the occupant of the tomb was as mortal as us and had the same foibles and follies. So, let people have their aristocracy in the grave and have their 30 seconds of adulation as we walk past before we walk away and forget them until the next visit and the next sunrise.