The Clergyman's Hand-book of Law 1909

"The Clergyman's Hand-book of Law"

Charles M. Scanlan

1909

Project Gutenburg

421. Statutes, Land.—There are sufficient statutory provisions on cemeteries to make a large book, and the frequent changes made in such laws render a full statement of the law impossible. The statutes against locating cemeteries near cities, dwellings, etc., should be carefully examined before buying land therefor.

Lisa Gherardini - Tomb

 

 

From the BBC:

 

"Scientists in the Italian city of Florence have opened a tomb to extract DNA they hope will identify the model for Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

The tomb contains the family of Lisa Gherardini, a silk merchant's wife who is believed to have sat for the artist.

It is hoped DNA will help to identify her from three skeletons found last year in a nearby convent."

Thomas Whiteman Died 25th May 1845

Billingford Saint Peter

Antonius Grech-Delicata-Testaferrata

Clergy and aristocrats in Gozo

The Theatre of death in Malta

The theatre of death at
The Cathedral of The Assumption - Gozo

I was in Malta again recently and had some time in Gozo which is the smaller island off the coast of the main island of Malta. The island of Gozo is green and pleasant and less frantic than the larger island. The houses are further apart and have a rural atmosphere compared to the other place. Gozo is interesting if you have the time to visit the place. More often as not tourists spend a day on Gozo before hurrying back on the last ferry.

Gozo has a unique atmosphere and the the capital of Victoria or Rabat (you take your pick as with many other Maltese towns) is a place of small shops, sometimes bad tea and the Cathedral that sits on the heights above the market square. The walls of the citadel are intimidating and as intended. The masonry was always there to ensure that the locals knew who was in charge and that invaders were aware of the outcome of any attack. Even now the ascent to the citadel is difficult on foot and you have to stop and catch your breath in the last sun of the year when the sun was unseasonably strong.

The citadel (built on the site of a Roman temple)  was hot and dry and bathed in sun and yet the Cathedral frowned down upon anyone who made it into the square and shelled out the 6 Euros to go inside. I resent paying the Roman catholic Church anything at all. The congregations are often complicit in assaults carried out upon children and many of the clergy (although not all) are aware of child abusers and are aware of those who have 'got away with it'. The light, air and beauty of this hilltop covered in stone is damaged by the Cathedral which has a monumentally dark energy. The larger than life statues of Popes on the steps ensures that a feeling of power and monumentality is created. This is Roman Catholicism in large scale and in a sort of funny farm baroque way. The site is harmed by the building and it gets worse as you go inside.

Death as an object of fear and veneration

The interior of the Cathedral embodies the sort of melancholy I have mentioned on this blog previously. The darkness of the interior is evident as the tourist is drawn inside towards the tombs in what is a small and rather insignificant building. The floor is the first things that grips you as the graves are laid out like Baroque crazy paving. The clergy and aristocrats find their place under marble tombs and ornate marble work that fills the imagination. The colours are bright for this oppressive environment and the brightness of the materials makes up for the Christian tendency to fill Churches with the dead. The floor is filled with the dead and the so are the walls where we find tombs. Here we also find effigies of a Pope in a cabinet and this is where the Roman Catholics are the cult of the dead incarnate. Death has become something that it inevitable to become something that is actual desirable. Death is the thing that brings the Christian closer to God and the Christian forgets the joys of life in a rush to death.

The voices of tourists are hushed as they feel their way around in the darkness and Japanese tourists clearly have no idea what they're looking at and they seemed confused by the images and the apparently random placing of the dead and the living. That is nothing new as many Churches are little more that indoor burial sites where the great and the good await a place in the next life. They point to the image of a silver cross with an emaciated and tortured Christ and this is the centre of this faith.

The Church led by the dead!

I leave the Cathedral of Victoria / Rabat with relief and I quickly go round the back to find that the masonry walls enclose a garden and I touch the clean soil of the garden. This is clean dirt rather than the filth that fills the cathedral's substructure and the walls give a good view of the landscape. The wind at this height blows the cobwebs away and the sun destroys any feelings of negativity.

I like the idea of Churches as places of spirituality and hope in a troubled life and a difficult world although I increasingly encounter the idea of Christianity as a cult of the dead where we encounter suffering and darkness. The dead are destined for the Earth and for recycling although the Church proves to be a barrier to that cycle.

The Cathedral at Gozo

Chapel of St. Benedict - Westminster Abbey

1. Archbishop Langham, 1376. 2. Countess of Hertford, 1598. 3. Dr. Goodman, Dean of Westminster, died 1601.	4. Son of Dr. Sprat, 1683. 5. Cranfield, Earl and Countess of Middlesex, 1645. 6. Dr. Bill, first Dean under Q. Elizabeth, 1561.
Under the Monuments of Deans Goodman and Sprat, was interred (Dean Vincent), the late Dean, 1815.

n the Chapel of St. Benedict is an ancient tomb of stone, having formerly a canopy of wood, on which lies the effigy of Archbishop Langham, who, as the Latin epitaph round his tomb sets forth, “was Monk, Prior, and Abbot of this Abbey; afterwards elected Bishop of London; but Ely being then also vacant, he made choice of that see; that he was Primate and Chancellor of England; Priest-Cardinal, afterwards Bishop-Cardinal, of Preneste, and Nuncio from the Pope; and that he died on the Feast of St. Mary Magdalen, in the year 1376, on whose soul God have mercy, and grant him the joys of heaven for the merits of Christ.”

Historical Description of Westminster Abbey:
Its Monuments and Curiosities
Project Gutenburg

Saint Egwin -Burial in Church

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

He was of the royal blood of the Mercian kings, devoted himself to the divine service in his youth, and succeeded in the episcopal see of Worcester, in 692. by his zeal and severity in reproving vice, he stirred up some of his own flock to persecute him, which gave him an opportunity of performing a penitential pilgrimage Rome. Some legends tell us, that setting out he put on his legs iron shackles, and threw the key into the river Severn, others say the Avon; but found it in the belly of a fish, some say at Rome, others in his passage from France to England. After his return, with the assistance of Coenred or Kenred, king of Mercia, he founded the famous abbey of Evesham, under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin. After this he undertook a second journey to Rome, in the company of Coenred, king of the Mercians, and of Offa, of the East Saxons, who gave up their temporal principalities to labor with greater earnestness to secure an eternal crown. St. Egwin died on the 30th of December, in 717, and was buried in the monastery of Evesham. His body was translated to a more honorable place in 1183, probably on the 11th of January, on which day many English Martyrologies mark his festival

Saint Pega and the relics of a saint

 

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

She was sister to St. Guthlack, the famous hermit of Croyland, and though of the royal blood of the Mercian kings, forsook the world, and led an austere retired life in the country which afterwards bore her name, in Northamptonshire, at a distance from her holy brother. Some time after his death she went to Rome, and there slept in the Lord, about the year 719. Ordericus Vitalis says, her relics were honored with miracles, and kept in a church which bore her name at Rome, but this church is not now known. From one in Northamptonshire, a village still retains the name of Peagkirk, vulgarly Pequirk; she was also titular saint of a church and monastery in Pegeland, which St. Edward the Confessor united to Croyland

Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe - Burial within Church

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

He would abate nothing of his usual austerities without an absolute necessity. In his agony, calling for his clergy and monks, who were all in tears, he begged pardon if he had ever offended any one of them; he comforted them, gave them some short, moving instructions, and calmly breathed forth his pious soul in the year 533, and of his age the 65th, on the 1st of January, on which day his name occurs in many calendars soon after his death, and in the Roman; but in some few on the 16th of May,—perhaps the day on which his relics were translated to Bourges, in France, about the year 714, where they still remain deposited.His disciple relates, that Pontian, a neighboring bishop, was assured in a vision of his glorious immortality. The veneration for his virtues was such, that he was interred within the church, contrary to the law and custom of that age, as is remarked by the author of his life. St. Fulgentius proposed to himself St. Austin for a model; and, as a true disciple, imitated him in his conduct, faithfully expounding his doctrine, and imbibing his spirit.

Burial in Church

All Saints - Kettlestone [Link]
© Godric Godricson

Burial in Church - Little Snoring

Saint Andrew - Little Snoring [Link]
© Godric Godricson

James Fawcett 1831



Saint Mary The Virgin  - Great Snoring  [Link]
© Godric Godricson




The traditional married ideal

Saint Mary The Virgin  - Great Snoring  [Link]
© Godric Godricson


Trinitarianism and unity



John Wright Died 1742
"....in the hopes of the Blessed Resurrection...
Saint Andrew - Little Snoring[Link]
© Godric Godricson


The Trinity is a complex doctrine at the core of the Christian faith; requiring study and reflection to be fully understood. 21^st Century denominations often have distinctive views of ‘The Trinity’ and often those denominational views are mutually exclusive and the object of intense rivalry. We can see a continuing development of the doctrine over time from a fairly limited statement of belief by the 4^th Century Church at Nicea to a much more developed statement of  belief during the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council. How a Trinitarian perspective would impact on the afterlife and faith in the resurrection remains a quiet point. Are we, in effect, being lead into doctrinal error by contemporary Catholicism?

Many people initially hear their first account of ‘The Trinity’ from Church services in the Nicene Creed which exposes people to the doctrine and emphasises the central importance of the doctrine. The Trinity is developed as an idea in the Athanasian Creed.

“I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who together with the Father and the Son is to be adored and glorified, who spoke by the Prophets”.

Wilhelm, Joseph. "The Nicene Creed." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 15 Nov. 2009

The Nicene Creed sets out the very basic and unelaborated tenets of the doctrine without explaining that doctrine in detail and this ‘vagueness’ allows debate, confusion and conflict. The creed also fails to define what it would be like to integrate a Trinitarian perspective into life and also into death.



The traditional power of Catholic theology
Saint Mary - Great Snoring [Link]
© Godric Godricson


 The Roman Catholic Church tried to explain and codify the doctrine as part of the “Catechism of the Catholic Church”. Emphasising that the doctrine is a core  ‘mystery’; the Catechism teaches the doctrine in a ‘pithy’ style that draws upon the historical teaching and cultural traditions of this particular denomination. The Trinity  is a mystery that relies upon God to reveal the mystery to others and cannot, in isolation, be understood by humanity with reference to human reason alone. Equally, the Trinity cannot be understood without reference to the Incarnation. The catechism is a succinct  (although sometimes legalistic) statement of doctrine that tries to free the denomination from perceived doctrinal error. The Catechism also introduces  specific Church terminology such as "consubstantial Trinity"  which are explained; although,  the explanation is sometimes so highly refined that it is inaccessible as a means of  informing Christian life. There is a gap in logic in the that we may expect the Trinity to encourage a greater relatedness on Earth between humans and between the living and dead to mirror an eternal, heavenly,  integration

Building on earlier explorations of the doctrine (and acknowledging that some Protestant denominations totally refute the doctrine); Karl Rahner (SJ) has written extensively in this area such as “The Trinity” (1967). Rahner  developed earlier Creedal statements and catechism towards a  further refined perception and enhanced an understanding of this doctrine by exploring themes such as the “Economic Trinity”  and the “Immanent  Trinity”. Such developments are intellectually complicated and sometimes esoteric although, ultimately, Rahner encourages thinking about the doctrine without reaching an ultimately satisfying conclusion.



"Tradition" filling in the gaps
within Catholic theology
Saint Mary - Great Snoring [Link]
© Godric Godricson


The doctrine of The Trinity is at the heart of the Christian faith and yet the doctrine is one of the hardest to conceptualise and teach for both for clergy and  the laity. The doctrine tries to say something about the nature of God and to reconcile a simple monotheism  with a more complex  ‘Triune deity’.  The doctrine also fails to be a ‘theory of everything’ and sometimes remains an attempt to explain God. The doctrine refutes any assertion that we have three distinct Gods within the Trinity, instead, we have the proposition that within the Trinity we have three distinct personalities; all of which are co-equal and indivisible within a mystical union. Causing much controversy; the doctrine did not become accepted until the 4^th Century at the Councils of Nicea. Some non-creedal Protestant denominations have abandoned the doctrine altogether. A stumbling block for some Protestants; the Trinity is a conundrum whereby any discussion about the ‘one’ inevitably becomes a discussion about the ‘three’ and a discussion about the ‘three’ becomes a discussion about the ‘one’.  In explaining the Trinity It has often been argued (in simplistic terms) that God the father is ‘love’; Jesus as the son is that  Incarnate ‘love’ sent to the world and the Holy Spirit is how that divine ‘love’ is communicated to humanity. There is no attempt to explain how humanity and the history of humanity would be different if we truly understood the Trinity and incorporated Trinitarian beliefs into faith. 

The language surrounding the Trinity is specialist and exclusive; almost  legalistic. In discussing the Trinity, the theological term ‘person’ can be seen as being outside of common English usage. ‘Person’ may be conceptualised in terms of a separate and  unique. Person in this sense is not like a ‘human person’ or an individual. However, we cannot define ‘person’ simply by reference to what the ‘person is not. Instead, we may use our imprecise language to say that we believe each person of The Trinity to be perfect and whole and co-equal to the other persons of The Trinity.

Substance tries to unify confused human thinking and the imprecise vocabulary used in describing ‘God’ so that ‘Substance’  describes the state whereby the three persons within ‘God’ are unified into one and humanity comes to know God as a unified reality rather than a confused mélange.  The three persons of the Trinity are comprised of the same material or ‘substance’ with no differences between them.

Rather than dealing with the human idea of financial economics,  the Economic Trinity is a theological term that describes the aspects of The Trinity that are revealed to humanity and which are part of and involved with the ‘Economy’ of salvation. It has often been believed in the Latin rite Churches that Jesus is particularly involved with Salvation and Redemption through His Incarnation, Passion death and Resurrection.

The Immanent Trinity is that way of perceiving the  Triune Deity, as having an ‘essential existence’ that is outside of the comprehension and understanding of humanity and which is ‘unseen’ by humanity and which is essentially unravelled to humanity.  In accepting the ‘Immanent Trinity’, humanity has another way of conceptualising ‘God’ who was revealed to humanity through the Economic Trinity. 

Perichoresis; is a term from the Greek language used in English to try and describe a particular situation where the three ‘persons’ of The Trinity are unified together and are sometimes seen to be ‘in community’ or be an intimately close and shared/ inter-related state of existence. Whilst the English language may be blunt and imprecise when dealing with theological concepts first addressed in Greek; perichoresis as a concept attempts to render into a coherent form the idea of a Deity that is  “three personned” and indivisible rather than being three separate ‘persons’ who act in isolation from each other.

The practical implications of the doctrine of the Trinity for Christian life in the 21st century is immense. The Trinity is clearly expressed in the work of Roman Catholic theologians and the Roman Catholic Church and has reference to the West and I wonder what Orthodox Christians would make of The Trinity and especially with the unity of the living and the dead.  I suggest that  the doctrine of The Trinity was ‘simplified’ in the 4th century CE to make the teaching of essential Christian doctrine easier for Christians to understand and this’ simplification’ was redressed from the 1960’s onwards.  I will suggest that that a developed understanding of the ‘Holy and undivided Trinity’  places a greater emphasis on Christians to understand ‘diversity’, the liturgy and particularly the Eucharist as part of Christian life and community. I would also suggest that The Trinity also encourages humanity to consider the unity of all forms of life and the link between the living and the dead.

I suggest that we need to recognise an inconsistency in Latin Rite Christianity before exploring the practical implications of The Trinity for Christian life.  This inconsistency can most clearly be perceived in the documents of the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council (1962-1965) which give the impression that the Trinity is at the heart of Christian life and doctrine. However, the documents are formed within a religious and cultural tradition which is largely “monotheistic”  in outlook and which finds it difficult to incorporate the Trinity. As a result it is often difficult to define what Catholic Christians actually understand about ‘God’ and what Christian communities would be like if a community of believers  embraced more overtly Trinitarian perceptions of God and implemented such perceptions into society.  History and liturgy points towards a monotheistic faith rather than a Trinitarian faith

One problem seems to be that Christian communities have; from the witness and ministry of Augustine of Hippo in the 4^th Century, been taught to view God as a rather monotheistic Deity or as ‘a unity’ and that minimises the ‘triune’ qualities of God.  In effect, the complexities of a ‘triune’ deity have been ‘ironed out’ and ‘simplified’.  A renewed emphasis on the Trinity  would set the church free from any Augustinian perception that stressed the ‘unity of God’ and effectively strip away the Trinitarian qualities from an essentially ‘triune’ deity.  It is unclear what a Church would look like if ‘set free’ from confines that have been in place for so long. In effect, we recognise that The Trinity is confusing, complicated and challenging to understand although it does open up to the Human experience to the concept of ‘diversity’, ‘mystery’ and co-operative endeavour as opposed to individualism.

‘Lumen gentium’, promulgated by Pope Paul (1964) as part of Vatican II, clearly moves on a little from Augustine’s simplified statements and acknowledges  that the doctrine of the Trinity is at the heart of the Christian community.  ‘Lumen gentium’ is a document set within the historic epoch of the Roman Catholic Church in the 1960’s and acknowledges that the Church has been made one with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  In effect, the modern ministry of the Church is officially and formally identified with the ‘ministry’ of the Economic Trinity without which Christian life and community is devalued. As part of the process of change within the Church; the ideas of the French ‘Nouvelle Théologie’ often focused and amplified the 16 documents of Vatican II  and concerned itself with renewing Christian life and Catholic expressions of worship.

An intellectual, academic and hierarchical  ‘re-discovery’ of the Trinity  became possible in the 1960’s. Catholic ‘intellectuals’ in the widest sense  began  the process of re-discovering The Trinity and also re-conceptualising humanity's relationship with a Triune God. Rather than simply seeing God the Father as a remote and distant figure; Latin Rite Christians are now more easily able to perceive God ‘in community’ or in ‘perichoresis’ with the other personalities of the Economic Trinity. A strengthened emphasis on the Trinity paradoxically informs humanity’s own relationships with each other, the living and dead. The worldwide Church is potentially offered the option of moving away from hierarchical and domineering structures based on ‘power’ and move towards patterns of behaviour that are inherently more collegiate. If we see the Latin Rite tradition as re-discovering the Trinity from the 1960’s;  we may also suggest that the Church  has the possibility of contemplating the more perfect interaction of the Church (as the mystical body of Christ on Earth)  with the Triune Deity.  It is probably in the hands of the laity how long they will allow the ‘formal Church’ to take in this reflection on purpose and direction before deciding to press the matter by either their action or increased indifference.

Whilst the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church and a well educated Catholic elite has been able to re-discover a Trinitarian God hidden behind monotheistic ‘overlays’; it is not always clear that official teaching has effectively been communicated ‘downward’  to Catholic Christian communities. It is not apparent that parishes understand what a more Trinitarian God would mean for a Christian life in the 21^st Century or their own relationship with God or participation in The Eucharist.  There always remains a question about the resources that are given over to the training and education of the laity in parishes. In an age when people perceive a shortage of priests it seems convenient to train the laity.

For contemporary parishes and communities; It is in the Eucharist that they collectively come into the Presence of God in the most meaningful way. This is a very real although undeclared problem for Catholic Christians. That problem seems to relate to the question, “Is  it just Jesus that I receive at the Eucharist?”. For many Catholic Christians; the answer to this is “Yes!”. The common sense  perception being that the words of institution were delivered by Jesus and that Jesus alone is present in the Eucharist.  However, this cannot be correct.   Rather than the common sense perception of Jesus alone being present at the Eucharist; a restatement of the Trinitarian dimension is required whereby the Eucharist sees us  unified with all the consubstantial persons of the Trinity joined in ‘circumincession’.  The Trinity also re-states an idea of reintegration that is hard to accept from a monotheistic standpoint.

Despite reforms in the 1960’s. the present celebration of the liturgy may be characterised as being monotheistic in nature; even if the actual words reflect the Trinitarian formula. We perceive the current Eucharist as  a “fragmentation” of God into constituent  parts and this is unhelpful.  Christians should arguably  “Live the life of The Trinity” within the Eucharist and this is perhaps the direction of travel as a logical consequence of Vatican II; post conciliar theologians and even the development of alternative and diverse theologies such as “Liberation theology” and even “Queer Theology”. Humanity may begin to see ‘Diversity’ and ‘Freedom’ as a major outcome of a re-exploration of ‘Trinitarianism’. Rather than the rather false and self conscious ‘sign of peace’ given in English parishes at the Eucharist are we being directed towards a real and more perfect unity as Christians that reflects the unity of the Trinity?

The modern Church forgetting
old knowledge

© Godric Godricson

One  area of Christian life to be addressed as a result of  Vatican II is the collegiality of the Church and in I do not simply mean the Collegiality of the Episcopacy. Instead, the Church itself seems to require a degree of change that leads to a ‘real’ diversity being developed. Just as Jesus is not present in The Eucharist in isolation; then no one group in society can be seen as being dominant or the sole representative of humanity within the Church. Can humanity  collectively aim to form  individual societies on Trinitarian principles of perichoresis? In effect such unity would require the diminution of  social distinction and a situation whereby social class is less important than it was and whereby other divisions of status and rank are erased in our collective service to a Triune God. This will be extremely painful for organised religion which often works within the frameworks of society. I hesitate to use the term ‘the Priesthood of all believers’, although the idea of a unified Trinity does perhaps communicate something to us of the unity that God sees as being both natural and part of that Immanent Trinity that remains mysterious. I also believe that a Trinitarian view of faith allows humanity to integrate the living and the dead.

In considering the practical implications of the doctrine of the Trinity for Christian life, it is evident that humanity is heir to a diverse Christian heritage  which requires hermeneutics to fully determine. Society is very far from the unique perfection inherent in the Trinity. However,  from the 1960’s and the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council we may question whether or not we are experiencing a process whereby the Holy Spirit is directing Christian life as a whole and Catholic theological study in particular towards a more reflective position. It is the case that if the Latin Rite Churches are to survive that they must change radically and it may be that ‘et Unum Sint’ (that they may all be one) is the direction in which the Trinity offers to humanity as a model for Christian life?

Saint Mary The Virgin - Great Snoring

Saint Mary The Virgin  - Great Snoring  [Link]
© Godric Godricson


This is a wonderful Church that has been ruined by those lovable rascals that run the Anglican Diocese of Norwich. They collectively seem to believe that if a Church is scraped within an inch of its spiritual life and attacked with neglect that the place becomes more Anglican. The 'Catholicity' of this Church has been removed and exported elsewhere and the spirit of God that we seek within such walls is absent. Yes, I'm sure that the fabric of this aircraft hanger is easy to maintain and the absence of candles and devotional material is easy to defend when the Bishop's man arrives although it is weak as a defence. The building is magnificent and it should be allowed to be the house of God for this community if they collectively want a house of God.

The graveyard has been scraped to remove many of the earlier monuments and the impression has been given of a municpal park. A park is not required in this part of Norfolk because its green and lush without the need for recreation space and I can imagine that parish Authorities would blench at the idea of ball games in this particular park. The mowing space must be great here as the stele headstones have all gone and I don't just mean put to the edge as at Sporle. Instead, the memorials have just gone and a sort of green desert is in situ.

BTW there is hardly a right angle in the place and this is one of the many charms of the building

Saint Mary The Virgin  - Great Snoring  [Link]
© Godric Godricson


Westminster Abbey and burial in Church

Robert Leeke Died 1762
Buried in Church
Saint Mary The Virgin  - Great Snoring  [Link]
© Godric Godricson


The Tombs in Westminster Abbey

Henry W. Lucy

The North American Review

 (1892)

"What is less known is the presence within the precincts of the Abbey of a long list of nonentities. As recently as the year 1817 there was buried in the cloisters George Wellington Francis Balthasar St. Anthonio, aged two years. The Royal Commission in vain inquired as to the identity of Master Anthonio, and the wherefore of the honour done to him, for which Nelson cheerfully perilled his life at St. Vincent. Nothing is known of him, only his name, under the weight of whose syllables the infant seems to have sunk ere yet he learned to walk. It is easy to understand why in 1801 Susanna Frances was buried in Westminster Abbey, for it is mentioned in the register that she was the widow of a sacrist. Similar honor was done in following years to George Schliemacher, "formerly servant to the Dean"; Elizabeth Newbegin, wife of the college butler; Mary Barrow, widow of a chorister  Ann Forster, niece of the Abbey carpenter, and Amelia Cook, daughter of the Abbey organist, were people connected, however obscurely, with the service of the Abbey, and were buried within its precincts. But persons having property in the neighborhood claimed the right, and generally had it admitted. Macpherson, the reputed author of " Ossian," died in Inverness. When his will was opened, there was found in it directions for his burial in Westminster Abbey on the ground that he had property near there.

Buried in Church
Saint Mary The Virgin  - Great Snoring  [Link]
© Godric Godricson


No objection was offered on the part of the authorities. Macpherson's body was brought by hearse all the way from the far north and buried in the Abbey close by Dr. Johnson, who when alive had not been reticent in his criticism on " Ossian." In the register one finds an entry of the interment of a lady with the explanation that it was "so ordered in her will,"? scarcely sufficient authority in these days for burial in Westminster Abbey. forward. It belongs to the Duke of Northumberland's family, who claim a prescriptive right of burial in this Abbey dating back to the time when the Duke of Somerset  married the heiress of the Percys. The Percy tomb is in the chapel of St. Nicholas, and when in 1883 Lady Louisa Percy died she was buried there. Naturally an end must come to this luxury. There are already twenty-five coffins in the vault, and scarcely room enough for another full grown Percy. There is one other private vault in the nave, that of Atterbury. This good bishop, having been sent to the Tower on suspicion of high treason, and subsequently banished from the realm, left directions in his will that he should be buried in Westminster Abbey, adding the proviso that it should be "as far away as possible from Kings "? a foresight lacking in the case of Macpherson, who never thought of Dr. Johnson when he desired to be buried in the Abbey".

Aristocracy and death

© Godric Godricson

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".

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