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In some churches two eggs of ostriches and other things which cause admiration, and which are rarely seen, are accustomed to be suspended: that by their means the people may be drawn to church, and have their minds the more affected.
43. Again, some say that the ostrich, as being a forgetful bird, 'leaveth her eggs in the dust':[Footnote 330]and at length, when she beholdeth a certain star, returneth unto them, and cheereth them by her presence. Therefore the eggs[Footnote 331]of ostriches are hung in churches to signify that man, being left of God on account of his sins, if at length he be illuminated by the Divine Light, remembereth his faults and returneth to Him, Who by looking on him with His Mercy cherisheth him. As it is written in Luke that after Peter had denied Christ, the 'Lord turned and looked upon Peter.'[Footnote 332]Therefore be the aforesaid eggs suspended in churches, this signifying, that man easily forgetteth God, unless being illuminated by a star, that is, by the Influence of the Holy Spirit, he is reminded to return to Him by good works.
[Footnote 330: Job xxxix, 14.][Footnote 331: Perhaps this custom was introduced by the Crusaders. 'As the ostrich is good for food, so, it seems, are its eggs: to say nothing of their being objects of attention, as being used much in the East by way of ornament; for they are hung up in their places of public worship, along with many lamps.' Harmer's 'Observations,' vol. iv, p. 336, who refers to Pococke's 'Travels,' vol. i, p. 31, and imagines that Dr. Chandler, in his travels in Asia Minor, was mistaken when he supposed that the Turkish Mosque of Magnesia was ornamented with lamps pendent from the ceiling intermixed with balls of polished ivory, p. 267. Ostrich eggs might easily be mistaken for ivory balls. The following passage from De Moleon is curious: 'At the conclusion of matins,' he says, speaking of the rites of S. Maurice at Angers on Easter Day, 'two chaplains take their place behind the altar curtains. Two corbeliers (Cubiculares) in dalmatics, amices, andmitellae, with gloves on their hands, present themselves before the altar. The chaplains chant.Quem quaeritis? The corbeliers representing the Maries, reply, JesumNazarenum Crucifixum.The others answer,Resurrexit, non est hic. The corbeliers take from the altartwoostrich eggs wrapped in silk, and go forth, chanting,Alleluia resurrexitDominus,resurrexit Leo Fortis, Christus,FiliusDei.'—Voyag. Lit.p. 98.][Footnote 332: S. Luke xxii, 61.]
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44. Now in the Primitive Church, the sacrifice was offered in vessels of wood, and common vests: for then were 'chalices of wood, and priests of gold': whereof the contrary is now. But Severinus, Pope, decreed that it should be offered in glass:[Footnote 333]but because such vessels were easily broken, therefore, Urban, Pope, and the Council[Footnote 334]of Rheims decreed that gold or silver vessels should be used: or on account of poverty, tin, which rusteth not: but not in wood nor in brass. Therefore it might not be in glass on account of the danger of effusion: nor of wood since being porous and spongy, it absorbeth the blood: nor of brass nor of bronze, the rust of which is unseemly.
[Footnote 333: See Martene, Tom. IV, ii, 9; theDucretum, fol. 395.][Footnote 334: 'A.D. 874, Vid. Concil. Coll. Reg. Tom. I. p. 288.' See also P. Tunoc. iv, Ep. ad Otton. Carel. xiiiHardouinvii, 365.]
45. And note that the name of chalice is derived from the Old Testament: whence Jeremiah, 'Babylon is a golden chalice that maketh drunk the nations.'[Footnote 335]And David: 'In the hand of the Lord is a chalice, and the wine thereof is red':[Footnote 336]and in another place, 'I will receive the chalice of salvation, and will call on the name of the Lord.'[Footnote 337]Again, in the Gospel: 'Are ye able to drink the chalice that I shall drink?'[Footnote 338]And again, 'When He had taken the chalice He gave thanks.'[Footnote 339]A golden chalice signifieth the 'treasures of wisdom that be hid in Christ.'[Footnote 340]A silver chalice denoteth purity from sin. A chalice of tin denoteth the similitude of sin and punishment. For tin is as it were halfway between silver and lead: and the Humanity of Christ, albeit it were not lead, that is, sinful, yet was it like to sinful flesh. And therefore not silver: and although impassible for His own sin, passible He was for ours: since 'He thus took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.'[Footnote 341]Concerning the Chalice and the Paten we shall speak hereafter.
[Footnote 335: Jeremiah li, 7.][Footnote 336: Psalm lxxv (Confitebimur), 8.][Footnote 337: Psalm cxvi (Dilexi), 13.][Footnote 338: S. Matthew x, 22.][Footnote 339: S. Matthew xxvi, 27. ][Footnote 340: Coloss. ii, 3.][Footnote 341: S. Matthew viii, 17.]
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46. But if anyone, through cause of his little religion, should say that the Lord commanded Moses to make all the vessels of the Tabernacle for every use and ceremony whatever, of brass, as it is written in the eight and twentieth chapter of Exodus, and that precious vessels of this sort, 'could be sold for much, and given to the poor,'[Footnote 342]he is like Judas, and acteth contrarywise to the woman which brought the alabaster box of ointment. This we reply to him: not that God is better pleased with gold than brazen ornaments: but that when men offer to God that which they value, by the worship of the Almighty they vanquish their own avarice. Moreover, these offices of divine piety be moral, and significative of future glory. Whence also under the old law the priest's garments were to be made of gold, and jacinth, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and woven linen, and other precious things: that thereby might be made manifest with how great diversity of virtues the priest ought to shine: and it was also commanded that the altar, and the mercy-seat, and the candlestick, and the other vessels and ornaments of the altar should be made of gold and silver. The Tabernacle also was to be made of divers precious materials, as is said in our section concerning the Church. Also the high priest under the Law used divers precious ornaments, as we have both noted, and shall hereafter note.
[Footnote 342: S. Matthew xxvi, 9.]
47. Moreover, it was forbidden in the Council of Orleans,[Footnote 343]that the divine ornaments should be used for the adorning of nuptials, lest they should be polluted by the touch of the wicked, or by the pomp of secular luxury. By this doubtless it is shown that a chasuble, or any other ornament intended for the divine mysteries, must not be made out of a common person's vest.
[Footnote 343: A.D. 535. Decret. viii. See also the Council of Tribur. A. D. 1036.]
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48. Stephen, Pope, moreover, forbade that anyone should have the use of the vests of a church, or of those things which be touched by religious men alone, for other purposes: lest that vengeance come upon these transgressors which befel Belshazzar the King. [Footnote 344 ]
[Footnote 344: Daniel v, i.]
49. Also Clement, Pope, forbade that the dead should be buried or wrapped or covered, they or their bones, with the altar cloth, or covering for the chalice, or napkin wherewith the priest washeth his hands before consecrating.
50. But when the palls, that is the corporals, and the veils, that is the ornaments of the altar, or the curtains hanging over it shall have become unclean, the deacons with their ministers shall wash them within the sanctuary, and not without. But when the veils, used in the service of the altar, be washed, let there be a new basin. And let the palls, that is the corporals, be washed in another basin. And let the veils for doors, that is, the curtains which are hung up in churches at high feasts, and in Lent, be washed in another. This is it that was decreed of the Council of Lerida:[Footnote 345]that for washing the corporal, and the altar palls certain vessels be appropriated and kept within the church: in which nothing else ought to be washed. But according to the afore-mentioned Clement, if the altar pall or covering, or the covering of the seat where the priest sitteth, in his holy vests, or of the candlestick, or the veil, that is the cloth or curtains hanging over the altar be consumed by old age, let them be burnt; and their ashes cast in the baptistery, or on the wall, or in the drains, where there is no treading of passers by. And note that ecclesiastical ornaments be consecrated: as shall be said under the section of Consecrations and Unctions.
[Footnote 345: 'A.D. 524, Concil. Coll. Reg. Tom XI, p. 24.']
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Bells, what and where first used—Why Blessed—Analogy between Bells and Trumpets—Mystical Signification—Of the Bell-Frame—Of the Bell-Ropes—Use of Bells at the Canonical Hours—Six kinds of Bells—Bells when Silent—Of the Passing Bell—Of the Prayer Bell—Of the Storm Bell.
1. Bells are brazen vessels, and were first invented in Nola, a city of Campania: wherefore the larger bells are calledCampanae, from Campania the district, and the smallerNolae, from Nola the town.
2. The reason for consecrating and ringing bells is this: that by their sound the faithful may be mutually cheered on towards their reward; that the devotion of faith may be increased in them; that their fruits of the field, their minds and their bodies may be defended; that the hostile legions and all the snares of the Enemy may be repulsed; that the rattling hail, the whirlwinds, and the violence of tempests and lightning may be restrained; the deadly thunder and blasts of wind held off; the spirits of the storm and the powers of the air overthrown; and that such as hear them may flee for refuge to the bosom of our holy Mother the Church, bending every knee before the standard of the sacred rood. These several reasons are given in the office for the blessing of bells.[Footnote 346]
[Footnote 346: See the account of the consecration of several churches in the island of Guernsey, taken from the Black Book of the Diocese of Contances, in a paper by the Rev. W. C. Lukis, B.A., Trinity College, published in the First Part of the Transactions of the Cambridge Camden Society.]
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3. You must know that bells, by the sound of which the people assembleth together to the church to hear, and the clergy to preach, 'in the morning the mercy of God and His power by night,[Footnote 347]do signify the silver trumpets, by which under the Old Law the people were called together unto sacrifice. (Of these trumpets we shall speak in our sixth book.) For just as the watchmen in a camp rouse one another by trumpets, so do the ministers of the Church excite each other by the sound of bells to watch the livelong night against the plots of the devil. Wherefore our brazen bells are more sonorous than the trumpets of the Old Law, because then God was known in Judea only, but now in the whole earth. They be also more durable: for they signify that the preaching of the New Testament will be more lasting than the trumpets and sacrifices of the Old Law, namely, even unto the end of the world.
[Footnote 347: Psalm xcii (Bonum est confiteri), 2]
4. Again bells do signify preachers, who ought after the likeness of a bell to exhort the faithful unto faith: the which was typified in that the Lord commanded Moses to make a vestment for the high priest, having seventy-two bells to sound when the high priest entered into the Holy of Holies.[Footnote 348]Also the cavity of the bell denoteth the mouth of the preacher, according to the saying of the Apostle, 'I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.'[Footnote 349]
[Footnote 348: Exodus xxviii, 35.][Footnote 349: I Cor. xiii, 1.]
5. The hardness of the metal signifieth fortitude in the mind of the preacher: whence saith the Lord, 'Behold I have made thy face strong against their faces.'[Footnote 350]The clapper or iron, which by striking on either side maketh the sound, doth denote the tongue of the teacher, the which with the adornment of learning doth cause both Testaments to resound.
[Footnote 350: Ezekiel iii, 8.]
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6. Wherefore a prelate which hath not the skill of preaching will be like unto a bell without a clapper: according to that saying of Gregory, 'A priest, if he knoweth not how to preach nor what voice of exhortation he can deliver, is a dumb preacher, and also as a dumb dog which cannot bark.' The striking the bell denoteth that a preacher ought first of all to strike at the vices in himself for correction, and then advance to blame those of others: lest indeed, contrary to the teaching of the Apostle, 'when he hath preached to others, he himself should be a castaway.'[Footnote 351]Which also the Psalm doth testify, 'But unto the ungodly, saith God: why dost thou preach my laws, and takest my covenant in thy mouth?'[Footnote 352]Because truly by the example of his own suffering he often gaineth access to those whom by the learning of his discourse he cannot move. The link by which the clapper is joined or bound unto the bell is moderation: by which, namely, by the authority of Scripture, the tongue of the preacher who wisheth to draw men's hearts is ruled.[Footnote 353]
[Footnote 351: I Corinthians ix, 27.][Footnote 352: Psalm I (Deus deorum), 16. ][Footnote 353: The passage is very unintelligible in the original, and is probably corrupted or transposed.]
7. The wood of the frame upon which the bell hangeth, doth signify the wood of our Lord's Cross: which is on this account suspended on high, because the Cross is preached by the ancient Fathers. The pegs by which the wooden frame is joined together or fastened, are the Oracles of the Prophets. The iron cramps by which the bell is joined with the frame, denote charity, by which the preacher being joined indissolubly unto the Cross, doth boast and say, 'God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.'[Footnote 354]The hammer affixed to the frame by which the bell is struck, signifieth the right mind of the preacher, by which he himself, holding fast to the Divine commands, doth by frequent striking inculcate the same on the ears of the faithful.
[Footnote 354: Gal. vi, 14.Cavillais thus explained by Belethus. Expl. Divin. Off. xxiv. Cavilla, sic enim ferrum illud pensile vocat, quod Graeci rectius[Greek text]nominant, cujus pulsu campana sonum reddit.]
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8. The rope hanging from this, by which the bell is struck, is humility, or the life of the preacher: the same rope also showeth the measure of our own life. Besides these, since the rope hath its beginning from the wood upon which the bell hangeth, by which is understood our Lord's Cross, it doth thus rightly typify Holy Scripture which doth flow down from the wood of the Holy Cross. As also the rope is composed of three strands, so doth the Scripture consist of a Trinity: namely, of history, allegory, and morality. Whence, the rope coming down from the wooden frame into the hand of the priest is Scripture descending from the mystery of the Cross into the mouth of the preacher. Again, the rope reacheth unto the hands by which it is grasped, because Scripture ought to proceed unto good works. Also the raising and the lowering of the rope in ringing doth denote that Holy Scripture speaketh sometimes of high matters, sometimes of low: or that the preacher speaketh sometimes lofty things for the sake of some, and sometimes condescendeth for the sake of others: according to that saying of the Apostle: 'Whether we exalt ourselves it is for God, or whether we humble ourselves it is for you.'[Footnote 355]Again, the priest draweth the rope downwards, when he descendeth from contemplation unto active life: but is himself drawn upward when under the teaching of Scripture he is raised in contemplation. Also he draweth it downwards when he understandeth the Scripture according to the 'letter which killeth'; he is drawn upwards{75}when he expoundeth the same according to the Spirit. Again, according to Gregory, he is drawn downwards and upwards when he measureth himself in Scripture, namely, how much he still lieth in the depths and how much he advanceth in doing good.
[Footnote 355: This appeals to be a reference to 2 Cor. v, 13.]
Furthermore, when the bell doth sound from the pulling of its rope, the people are gathered in one for the exposition of Holy Scripture, the preacher is heard, and the people are united in the bond of faith and charity. Therefore when a priest acknowledgeth unto himself that he is a debtor unto preaching, he must not withdraw himself from calling men together by his bells, just as also the sons of Aaron did sound their silver trumpets. He therefore moveth the ropes who doth of his office call his brethren or the people together.
The ring (or pully) in the length of the rope, through which in many places the rope is drawn, is the crown of reward, or perseverance unto the end, or else is Holy Scripture itself. Moreover, Savinianus, Pope, hath commanded that the hours of the day should be struck in churches.
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9. And note that bells are commonly rung for the Divine Offices[Footnote 356]twelve times during the twelve hours of the day: namely, once at prime, and in like manner once at the last hour, because all things come from one God, and God is One, All in All. At tierce they are rung three times, for the second, third, and fourth hours which are then chanted. In like manner three times at sexts, for the fifth, sixth, and seventh hours. Also three times at nones for the three hours. But at vespers, which is the twelfth hour, not one only but many times are they rung, because in the time of grace the preaching of the Apostles was multiplied. Also in the night for matins they are rung often, because we ought often to call out, 'Wake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead.'[Footnote 357]
[Footnote 356: The reader will scarcely need reminding that the day is canonically divided into two parts of twelve hours each, beginning' at six o'clock respectively. Prime therefore is at our six a.m., tierce at nine, sexts at twelve, nones at three p.m., vespers at six p.m., and compline at bedtime.
Haec sunt septenis propter quae psallimus horis.Matutinaligat Christum, qui crimina purgat:Primareplet sputis; causam datTertiaMortis:SextaCruci nectit: latus EjusNonabipertit:Vesperadeponit: tumuloCompletareponit.
Which may thus be translated;
Atmatinsbound: atprimerevil'd: condemn'd to death attierce:Nail'd to the cross atsexts: atnonesHis blessed side they pierce:They take him down atvesper-tide; in grave atcomplinelayWho thenceforth bids His Church to keep her sevenfold hours alway.
The twelve hours of the night are divided into three nocturns, which may be supposed to be said at twelve, two, and four, and are immediately followed by lauds at five. Nocturns and lauds (together called matins), with the six hours above-mentioned, make the seven canonical hours. On this subject we can but refer our readers to the extremely beautiful fifth book of Durandus, and particularly his first chapter, in which all the pregnant symbolism of the canonical hours is set forth. Hugo de Sancto Victore has briefly touched upon the same in the third chapter of theIn Speculum Ecclesiae, but nearly the whole of his account is contained in Durandus. See also S. Isidore 'De Eccles. Offic.' lib, I, cap. xix—xxiii; and Belethus whose account is valuable for its conciseness. 'Explic. Divin. Offic.' Caps, xxi—xxix.The twelve ringings mentioned in the text as being in 'the twelve hours of theday' are thus to be made out. At prime, one; at tierce, three; at sexts, three; at nones, three; at vespers, one (the ringing 'many times' being only thus accounted); and at the last hour, one; in whole twelve, Hugo de S. Victor has a passage almost identical with this. 'The bells be also rung twelve times. At prime, once, and again at the last hour once; because all things be from One God, and the Same will be All in All. But at tierce, three times for the second, third, and fourth hours; and so at sexts, for three hours, namely, the seventh, eighth, and ninth; but at vespers many times, because in the time of grace the preaching of the Apostles was multiplied. Also at matins oftentimes, because we should often exclaim, 'Arise, thou that sleepest.' It will be observed that this passage is corrupt, nones being omitted, and its three hours given to sexts. Matins also, as in the text, are belonging to the twelve hours of thenight.][End Footnote 356][Footnote 357: Eph, v, 14.]
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10. Commonly also they be rung three times at nocturns. First with asquilla[Footnote 358]or hand-bell, which by its sharp sound signifieth Paul preaching acutely. The second ringing signifieth Barnabus joined to his company. The third intimateth that, when the 'Jews put from them the word of God, the Apostles turned themselves to the Gentiles,' whom also they instructed in the faith of the Trinity by the doctrine of the four Evangelists. Whence also some do use,fourpeals.
[Footnote 358:Squillais properly asea onion. We conceive that the sort of a bell here meant is a kind of hand-bell, formed out of a hollow ball of metal, furnished with a slit for the sound, and with a loose pellet inside. This answers to the squilla in shape and utters a very shrill sound. We find below that it was used chiefly in the refectory. So in a note to Martener vol iv, p. 32, we read 'ad gratiarum actionem Sacrista sciliam (the other form of squillam) pulsabat. Cons. S. Benigni, cap. 9. Fratribus exeuntibus de prandio sive de coena sciliam pulsare non negligat Hebdomadarius Sacrista.']
11. And note that there be six kinds of bells which be used in the church; namely, thesquilla, thecymbalum, thenola, thenolula(or doublecampana), thesignum[and thecampana]. The squilla is rung in thetriclinium, that is, in the refectory; the cymbalum in the cloister; the nola in the choir; the nolula or double campana in the clock, the campana in the campanile, the signum in the tower. Either of these, however, may be called generally a bell. And these be known by diverse names, because the preachers signified thereby be necessary for diverse ends.
12. During the whole Septuagesima, in the which Quadragesima [or Lent] is contained, on common days the bells be not chanted, nor chimed, but tolled, that is rung singly, at the hours of the day, or at matins.[Footnote 359]In well-ordered churches, they be struck twice at prime; first to call unto prayer, secondly to begin: three times at tierce, according to the number of hours then struck,{78}as was said above; once to call to prayer, twice to assemble them together, thrice to begin. In like manner it is done at sexts and nones. But for matins the same bells are rung and in the same order. For a mass or for vespers only two bells be rung. But in smaller churches they simply ring the bells as aforesaid, and this on the common days. But on Sundays and holy days, they chime them, as at other times. For because preachers who be figured by bells, do the more abound in a season of grace, and 'are instant in season,' therefore on festivals which pertain to grace, the bells do sound more pressingly and are rung for a longer time, to arouse those 'that sleep and be drunken,' lest they sleep beyond measure. But what is signified by the ringing of bells when the Te Deum is chanted we shall speak hereafter.[Footnote 360]
[Footnote 359: It is to be remarked that throughout this chapter there is no allusion to ringing the bells by raising them and causing them to revolve on axes as practised in England. This and the beautiful science of bell-ringing consequent on it are peculiar to ourselves. The method of sounding the bells here understood is by a hammer acting on the rim, or by pulling the clapper, as is used with us for chimes, and where the bell frame is weak. This accounts for the much larger bells which are found abroad, and which were never meant to be poised and swung. Owing to the above difference between the Continental and English methods of bell-ringing, it is not easy to express the difference betweensimpulsare, compulsare, anddepulsare.Depulsareis to ring by tying a rope to theclapperof a bell, and pulling the rope to and fro: we have accordingly translated it, to chant abell.Simpulsareis to ring by tying a rope to the hammer, and pulling it back; this we have translatedto toll. Tolling is of course performed by swinging the bell round: but as there is no English word which expressessimpulsare, we thought it better to use an old term in a new sense, than to coin a new one.Compulsareis to do to several bells whatdepulsareis to do to one: and we have translated it tochime.Pulsarewe have translatedto ring.It may be worthy of remark, how completely the ringing of the bells is here considered a part of the priest's office.] [End footnote 359][Footnote 360: In Book V, chapter iii, 'of Nocturns,' Durandus says, 'When the nocturns be finished, the bells be rung and theTe Deum laudamusis chanted with uplift voice, to denote that the Church doth openly and wonderfully laud God in the time of grace, and to show that if by good works we answer rightly to holy doctrine, we shall attain to singing heavenly praises in concert with the angels. The chant also is then made with a loud voice, to signify the joy of the woman at finding the lost 'piece of silver.' And the versicleDay by day we magnify Thee, and the following, be chanted still more loudly to set forth the gratulations of the neighbours over the finding of the piece of silver: and the ringing of the bells representeth the calling together of the neighbours. In some churches also the candles be lighted, because the woman also 'lighted a candle and sought diligently till she found it.' This also signifieth that the Church Catholic is drawn by Christ out of hell. And the hymn itself representeth the future joy and gladness, which the Church resting from her labours shall attain in the day of judgment.' Hugo de S. Victore, and Belethus agree as to this ringing of the bells at matins: a practice of which perhaps we may find the shadow in our own use in many places of ringing the bells at eight o'clock on Sunday mornings, to which day our services are now chiefly confined.]
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13. Moreover, the bells ought to be rung when anyone is dying, that the people hearing this may pray for him.[Footnote 361]For a woman indeed they ring twice, because she first caused the bitterness of death: for she first alienated mankind from God; wherefore the second day had no benediction.[Footnote 362]But for a man they ring three times, because the Trinity was first shown in man. For Adam was first formed from the earth, then the woman from Adam, afterwards was man created from both, and so there is therein a trinity. But if the dying man be an ecclesiastic, they toll so many times as he hath received orders. And at the last time they ought to chime, that so the{80}people may know for whom they have to pray. The bells ought also to be chimed when the corpse is brought to the church, and when carried out from the church to the grave.
[Footnote 361: For an account of the 'passing-bell,' and the authority for its right use among ourselves, the reader is referred to Bp. Montague's 'Articles of Inquiry.' Camb. 1841, pp. 76, 116. It is to be observed that the bells are here said to be rung, nottolled, as is generally the case now. Many will remember a beautiful passage upon this custom in one of the Rev. F. E. Paget's 'Tales of the Village.' The practice of their distinguishing the sex of the dying person is still in most places retained.][Footnote 362: 'Wherefore the second day had no benediction.' It will be observed that of this day only it is not said expressly that 'God saw that it was good.' We give a chapter of Hugo S. Victore upon this question.'But it is admirable wherefore God did not see the works of the second day that they were good: since in each other day He is said to have seen them, and that they were good. For either it was not His work, and so not good; or if it were His work, it was good. But if it was good, it was also His work: and then He saw it was good, Who could not be ignorant what it was, whether good or bad. Wherefore then is it not said here as elsewhere "God saw that it was good?" For if this be said elsewhere only because the work was made, why ought it not also to be said here since it was made? Perhaps becausedualis the sign of division; since it first recedeth fromunity: and so here we perceive some sacrament. Thus the works of the second day be not praised, not because they were not good, but because they were signs of evil. For God made His first works "and behold they were all very good:" in the which neither was corruption present, nor perfection absent. But afterwards cometh the devil and man, and they also made their works: and these second works came after the first; the evil after the good: and God was unwilling to behold these works because they were evil; but beholding them by His wisdom, He disapproved them by his judgment.' 'De Sacramentis,' Lib. i, Pars I, cap. xx. S. Isodore (Sentent. I, xx de Mundo) does not allude to this, nor S. Augustin upon Genesis.]
14. Also bells be rung at processions, that the evil spirits may hear them and flee, as shall be said hereafter.[Footnote 363]For they do fear when the trumpets of the Church Militant, that is the bells, be heard, like as a tyrant doth fear when he heareth on his own land the trumpets of any potent king his foe.
[Footnote 363: 'The bells be rung in processions. For as an earthly monarch hath in his army royal insignia, namely trumpets and banners; so Christ the Eternal King hath in His Church Militant bells for trumpets, and crosses for banners. Thus the ringing of the bells doth signify the prophets, who foretold the advent of Christ.' Durandus, book iv, chapter 6, 'Of the priest's approach to the altars,' sec. 19. The same idea is applied by Belethus to the matin bells in his 24th chapter.]
15. And this is the reason also why the Church, when she seeth a tempest to arise, doth ring the bells; namely, that the devils hearing the trumpets of the Eternal King, which be the bells, may flee away through fear and cease from raising the storm; and that the faithful also may be admonished at the ringing of the bells and be provoked to be urgent in prayer for the instant danger.[Footnote 364]
[Footnote 364: See note I to this chapter.]
But for three days before Easter the bells be silent, as shall be said hereafter.[Footnote 365]Also the bells be silent in time of an interdict, because often for the fault of those put under them the tongue of the preachers is hindered; according to that of the Prophet, 'I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, for they are a rebellious house';[Footnote 366]that is, for the people are disobedient.
[Footnote 365: See Appendix.][Footnote 366: Ezekiel iii, 26.]
The Church also hath organs, of which we shall speak hereafter.[Footnote 367]
[Footnote 367: Durandus, in his fourth book, chapter xxxiv, 'Of the Sanctus,' says, 'Moreover in this conceit of angels and men, the organs do from time to time add their harmony: the which was introduced by David and Solomon, who did cause hymns to be sung at the sacrifice of the Lord, with the concert of organs and other instruments of music, and the people also to join in chorus.']
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Holiness of Places; its Origin—Difference between Sacred, Holy, and Religious—Different Names for Cemetery—First use of Cemeteries—Who are not to be Buried in the Church—Ancient Method of Burial—Who are to be Buried in a Cemetery.
1. Now we will Speak of cemeteries and other sacred and religious places. Of consecrated places, some be appropriated to human necessity, others to prayers. Those of the first sort be axenodochiumorxenostorium, which is the same: avasochonium, agerontocomium, anorphanotrophium, abrephotrophiuin. For holy fathers and religious princes have founded places of this kind, where the poor, the pilgrims, old men, orphans, infants, men past work, the halt, the weak, and the wounded should be received and attended. And note thatgerontain Greek is the same assenexin Latin.
But of places appropriated to prayer, there be that aresacred, there be that areholy, and there be that arereligious.
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2.Sacredbe they which by the hands of the bishop have duly been sanctified and set apart to the Lord, and which be called by various names, as hath been said in the section on Churches.Holybe they which have immunity or privilege: and be set apart for the servitors or ministers of the Church, concerning which, under threat of condign punishment, either by the canon law or by special privilege, it is ordained that no man shall presume to violate them. Such be the courts of churches, and in some places the cloisters, within which be the houses of the canons. To which when criminals of whatever kind betake themselves they have safety. And so according to the statutes of the civil law be the gates and theatres of cities.
3.Religiousplaces be they where the entire body of a man, or at least the head is buried: because no man can have two sepulchres. But the body or any member without the head doth not make the place wherein it is buried religious. But according to the civil law the corpse of a Jew, or paynim, or unbaptised infant maketh the place of its sepulchre religious: yet by the Christian religion and the canonical doctrine the body of a Christian alone maketh it so. And note that whatever issacredisreligious; but the contrary holdeth not. But the afore-named religious place hath divers appellations: such becemetery, polyandrum, orandropolis(which is the same thing),sepulchrum, mausoleum(which is also the same),dormitorium, tumulus, monumentum, ergastulum, pyramid, sarcophagus, bustum, urna, spelunca.
4.Cemeteryhath its name fromcimenwhich issweet, andsterion, which is astation: for there the bones of the departed rest sweetly, and expect the advent of their Saviour. Or because there be thereincimices, that is reptiles of intolerable odour.
5.Poliantrum, frompollutum antrum, on account of the carcases of men therein buried. Orpoliantrumsignifieth a multitude of men, frompolus, which is aplurality, andandros, which is a man; and therefore a cemetery is so called on account of the number of men therein buried.'[Footnote 368]
[Footnote 368: It has been thought right to give a few of the bishop's derivations, lest his translators should be accused of concealing a circumstance which may weaken, with some, his testimony on other points (though, as we have before shown, most unjustly): it has not, however, been thought necessary to follow him through all his names of a cemetery: since to do so would be a mere waste of the reader's time.]
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[Sections 6 to 10 elided.]
11. Cemeteries are said to have their beginning from Abraham, who bought a field from Hebron: in which was a double cave,[Footnote 369]where he and Sarah were buried: there also Isaac and Jacob were buried: there also Adam and Eve.[Footnote 370]Therefore there was a double cave there: since they who buried therein were placed side by side, every man and his wife; or the men in the one, and their wives in the other: or because everyone there interred had a double cave, after the fashion of a chair. Whence saith Hierome, Three patriarchs are buried in the city Hebron, with their three wives. But they were buried as it were in a sitting posture: the upper part of the cave held the trunk from the loins: the lower the thighs and legs.
[Footnote 369: Genesis xxiii, 9: 'We take this word Machpelah for a proper name, as many others do: but the Talmudists generally think it to have been a double cave, as the lxx also, with the vulgar Latin, understand it. Yet they cannot agree in what sense it was so: whether they went through one cave into another, or there was one above the other.'—Bishop Patrick, s.l.][Footnote 370: One might almost have thought that this is a false reading forLeah and Rebecca. For the common tradition was that Adam and Eve were buried in Mount Calvary: so that where the first Adam fell before death, the second Adam triumphed over death. And the bishop speaks below ofthreepatriarchs, and theirthreewives buried in Machpelah: which is at variance with the text as it stands: but would agree with the proposed emendation.Yet S. Isidore says, 'De morte Abrahae,' fol. 295: 'Sepultusque est in spelunca duplici; in cujus interiore parte Adam esse positum traditio Hebraeorum testatur.' S. Victor upon Spelunca duplex: 'Domus quaedam fuit subterranea, in qua erat solarium, et multi fuerant sepulti, in ea et diversis foveis et subter et supra;' and in another place, 'Spelunca in qua est sepulta spiritualem designat vitam, quae est occulta: quae recte duplex vocatur; propter bonam actionem et contemplationem.']
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12. But all men ought not to be buried promiscuously in the church: for it seemeth that that place of sepulchre profiteth not. Lucifer was thrown down from Heaven, and Adam cast out of Paradise; and what places be better than these? Also Joab was slain in the Tabernacle, and Job triumphed in the dunghill. Nay rather, it is to his hurt if a man unworthy or a sinner be buried in a church. We read in the 'Dialogues' of Blessed Gregory, book the fourth, chapter the fifty-sixth, that when a certain man of notorious wickedness[Footnote 371]had been buried in the church of S. Faustinus at Brescia, in the same night Blessed Faustinus appeared to the warden of the church, saying, Speak unto the bishop that he cast out the body; otherwise he shall die in thirty days. Now the warden feared to tell the thing to the bishop: and the bishop on the thirtieth day suddenly departed out of this life. It is also written in the same book, chapter the fifty-seventh, that another wicked man was buried in a church, and that afterwards his body was found outside the church, the cerecloths remaining in their own place. And Austin says, they who are guilty of notorious sins, if they be buried in the church by their own desire, shall be judged for their presumption; for the sacredness of the place doth not free those whom the accusation of temerity condemns.
[Footnote 371: A similar story has been parodied in the 'Ingoldsby Legends': a work which for irreverence and profanity has hardly an equal. Disgraceful as it would be to any author, it is trebly so, if (as it is said) that author is a clergyman.]
No body, therefore, ought to be buried in a church, or near an altar, where the Body and Blood of our Lord are made, except the bodies of holy fathers, who be called patrons, that is defenders, who defend the whole country with their merits, and bishops, and abbots, and worthy presbyters, and laymen of eminent sanctity. But all ought to be buried about the church, or in the court of the cloisters, or in the porch: or in the exedroe and apses which are joined to the church, or in the cemetery.{85}Some also say that a space of thirty feet round the church ought to be set apart for that purpose. But others say that the space enclosed by the circuit which the bishop makes around the church must suffice for this. S. Augustine saith in his book 'On the Care of the Dead,' towards the end, that to be buried near the tombs of martyrs advantageth the dead in this, that by commending him to the guardianship of the martyrs, the earnestness of our supplication for him may be increased.
13. Of old time men were buried in their own houses: but on account of the stench thereby engendered, it was decreed that they should be buried without the city, and certain places should be set apart by sanctification for that purpose. But noblemen were buried in mountains, both in the middle of them and at the foot: and also under mounds raised of their own expense.[Footnote 372]But if anyone be slain in besieging a town, where there is no cemetery, let him be buried where he can. But if a merchantman or pilgrim die by sea, and any inhabited land be near, let him be buried in it: but if no port be near, let him be buried in some island. If, however, land cannot be seen, let a little house of timbers (if they can be had) be made for him, and let him be cast into the sea.
[Footnote 372:Sub propriis podiis. For some account of the curious wordpodium, whencepeworpueis derived, see the Cambridge Camden Society's 'History of Pews' (or the 'Supplement,' pp. 6, 7).]
14. In a Christian cemetery none may be buried but a baptised Christian: nor yet every such an one neither: one, namely, slain in the act of sin, if it be mortal sin, as if he were slain in adultery, or theft, or some forbidden amusement. And also where a man is found dead, there let him be buried, on account of the doubtful cause of his death.{86}But if anyone dieth suddenly in games accustomably used, as the game of ball, he may be buried in the cemetery, because it was not his desire to injure anyone: but because he was occupied in worldly matters, some say that he ought to be buried without psalms and the other obsequies of the dead. But if anyone attacking another in a strife or tumult dieth impenitent, and hath not sought the priest, he ought not, as some say, to be buried in the cemetery: nor yet he who hath committed suicide. But if anyone dieth, not from any manifest cause, but from the visitation of God alone, he can be buried in a cemetery. For the just man, in what hour soever he dieth, is saved. The rather if he were following some lawful occupation. To defenders of justice and those who are engaged in a pious fight, the cemetery and the office of burial are freely conceded: yet they who come to a violent death are not borne into the church, lest the pavement be polluted with blood. But if anyone returning from any place of fornication be slain in the way, or be slain anywhere, where by unforeseen case, he hath tarried, he is not to be buried in the common cemetery; and this if it can be proved, by evidence sufficient for a court of law, that he had not confessed after the act of fornication nor was contrite: otherwise he ought to be buried.
15. Again, a woman who dieth in child-birth ought not to be carried into the church, as some say, but her obsequies must be said without the church, to which I agree not: otherwise it would be as if she died in fault. Whence she may allowably be borne into the church.
16. But stillborn and unbaptised children are to be buried without the cemetery. Some say, however, that they should be buried with the mother as being a part of her body.
17. A man and wife are to be buried in the same sepulchre, after the example of Abraham and Sarah (unless a wish be specially expressed to the contrary).{87}Whence also Tobias commanded his son, that when his mother had accomplished her days, he should bury her in the same grave with himself.[Footnote 373]Also everyone is to be buried in the sepulchre of his fathers, unless from a principle of devotion he hath chosen another sepulchre. But it was decreed in the Moguntine Council, that they who have paid the extreme penalty for their crimes, if they have confessed, or have desired to confess and have communicated, may be buried in the cemetery, and the Mass and oblations may be offered for them. How the human body is to be buried, shall be said under the section of the Office for the Dead.
[Footnote 373: Tobit xiv, 10]