CHAPTER VII.

THE PRACTICE OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH.

HAT was received and taught as regards the

W"

subject under consideration by the ancient Fathers soon spread amongst nations won to the faith, and became as a matter of course generally received by the faithful everywhere. When St. Augustine, the Apostle of England, brought the Gospel hither, it appears certain that both the faith and practice of the Church Universal, as pertaining to the dead in Christ, were at once a part of the sacred deposit of Divine Truth taught by authority and generally accepted by Christians.*

That this was certainly the case with our AngloSaxon forefathers is capable of proof. As has already been shown, what was termed by the Fathers the

Beda Hist. Eccl., lib. iv. c. 171; Fabyan's "New Chronicles of vii., xi., xix., xxii., and xxiii.; Ibid., England" (Ed. Ellis, London, 1811), lib. v. c. xii.; Thorpe's "Homilies of p. 263. the Anglo-Saxon Church," vol. ii. p. 357; Wilkins's "Concilia," tom. 1, p.

G

Homilia Bedæ apud Thesaur. Anecd. (Ed. Martene), tom. v. p. 326.

"salutary"

แ

or "life-giving sacrifice," was duly offered on the departure of any one of the Church's members.* The body, with a cross of wood, jet, or metal on its breast, was taken into the church, with cross and tapers and chanted psalms, and then placed before the altar, at which the parish priest or monk solemnly remembered the dead person before Almighty God, and in the presence of sorrowing friends. An offering of money under the term of mortuary" or "soul-shot" was made for the benefit

1.

There are three modes, as has been commonly taught, in which, and by which, the quick may aid the departed. First and chiefly, by the sacrifice of the Eucharist; secondly, by the giving of alms; and, thirdly, by prayer. The first two are efficacious for this object by reason of that charity which binds together the living and the dead: the third by reason of its direction of the intention. The Holy Eucharist in a most special manner belongs to charity, because it is the sacrament of ecclesiastical unity, containing Him in whom the whole church is united together and firmly consolidated, namely-our Blessed Lord. 2. A chief and leading result of the existence of charity is the giving of alms. 3. Prayer, from its very idea and nature, specially directs the intention towards its subject.

These three works, therefore, are the chief modes of aid to

the dead but every good work, done from love, profits them.

"De S. Birino Ep. Dorcest," apud Surium., tom. vi. p. 688; "Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries," 2nd series, vol. i. p. 399. Also, on the use of the cross in funerals and sepulture in general, see a treatise by the learned canon, John de Vita, "De Antiquitatibus Beneventanis" (Romæ, 1721), Dissert. xi. p. 291; also the " Origines Christianæ" of Mamachi, lib. 1, cap. iii. n. 6. Both these writers testify to its universality and antiquity.

This may be gathered from a remarkable MS. known as "Leofric's Missal," in the Bodleian Library, press mark, No. 579. Also from a MS. of the eighth century, lettered "Passio Christi," in the British Museum, being No. 2966 of the Harleian MSS., and the "Anglo-Saxon Psalter," Vespasian, A 1, also in the British Museum.

of the church, in return for which the clergy attached thereto charitably continued their intercessions on behalf of the departed for certain stated periods. The relatives at the time of sepulture distributed gifts of food, clothing, and alms to the poor, whose prayers were solicited in return; and these donations were sometimes repeated at each anniversary either of death or burial. Before the doles were given away they were formally blessed-an impressive ceremony in which the name of the departed was mentioned, with a special petition on his behalf for peace and light. Men of rank and position sometimes on their deathbed enjoined upon their representatives to give freedom to a certain number of serfs, in order that these latter might specially remember the soul of their master, period by period, in the future. Those who in their lifetime had conferred benefits, whether temporal or spiritual, on any particular town, church, or locality, were personally remembered in prayer year by year by those who had been favoured through the bestowal of such.†

Under the head of the corpse

* Bedæ Hist. Eccl., lib. ii. c. iii. p. 105.

+ Leland's "Itinerary," vol. ii p. 40; Ibid., vol. v. p. 58. The following occurs at p. 157 of the "Rituale Ecclesiæ Dunelmensis" (Ed. Steven

son): "Ascendant ad Te Domine, preces nostras [sic] intercedentibus omnibus sanctis agminibus angelorum ut animæ famulorum tuorum famularum tuarum quorum et quarum nomina hic sunt conscripta, gaudia

at burial was placed a stone, on which the pillow rested; upon which stone was engraved, both in Runic and Latin characters, a prayer for the person to whose head it was a support. Such stones have been found in recent times, with the pious inscriptions almost perfect. Over the grave of the departed was placed a cross, with a simple inscription praying for God's mercy upon the dead man's soul.† Kings, nobles, and others gave lands for the endowment of religious houses and churches, on condition of being remembered constantly after their death in the prayers and oblations daily or weekly offered therein.‡ Frequently they enrolled themselves as brethren of a religious order or society, so as to obtain the privilege of reposing after death within the precincts of the church attached, and to be near those whose love and

eterna suscipiant, ut quos fecisti adoptionis participes, jubeas hereditatis tuæ esse consortes. Per Jesum." See also "Acts of the Synod of Chalkhythe," Wilkins's "Concilia," tom. i. p. 171.

* "Archæologia," vol. xxvi. p. 480, plate lii.

"Archæological Journal," vol. iii. p. 73, and pp. 259-261. The Runic inscription remaining upon a curious memorial cross at Lancaster contains the following petition: "Pray for Cynibalde, son of Cuth

bert." ("Archæological Journal," vol. iii. p. 72.)

The following is the conclusion of the "Oratio" in the "Agenda Mortuorum" of Leofric's Missal: "Non eum tormentum mortis adtingat, non dolor horrendæ visionis officiat, non poenalis timor excruciat, non reorum proxima catena constringat, sed concessa sibi delictorum omnium venia optata quietis consequatur gaudia repromissa."-Folio

251.

labour it was daily to remember the dead. As the anniversary came round, the Christian sacrifice was offered again, with dignified solemnity. Once more the poor crowded round the grave to join in the plaintive Miserere and De Profundis, or respond to the petitions which asked at God's hands mercy, light, and refreshment for the faithful departed. At the formal social gatherings of distinguished families, as well as on the duly-observed solemn anniversaries of religious houses, and likewise with the poor, when the body had been sustained and refreshed by food, the soul was not forgotten in the "Act of Thanksgiving after Meat." Nor were the souls of the faithful dead. They, too, were remembered. Again, at social gatherings, when the loving-cup went round, symbol of good-will and Christian charity, a similar prayer, uttered or breathed in all truthfulness and without affectation, was sent up to God; of the duty of doing which men were reminded by the pious inscription asking their prayers commonly found engraved on the cup's rim.

In truth, amongst our Anglo-Saxon forefathers the Christian doctrine of the Communion of Saints was a reality. They realized, as their deeds indicated, the momentous nature of death, and the practical duties