Easter Sepulchre
An Easter Sepulchre is a feature of British church architecture (interior design).
Description
The Easter Sepulchre is an arched recess generally in the north wall of the chancel, in which from Good Friday to Easter day were deposited the crucifix and sacred elements in commemoration of Christ's entombment and resurrection. It was generally only a wooden structure, which was placed in a recess or on a tomb.[1]
Distribution
The Easter Sepulchre is only found in England and Wales, the practice having been peculiar to the Sarum Rite.
Use
The Easter Sepulchre contained the Blessed Sacrament of the altar, the Host. Following the doctrine of the Real Presence, i.e. that Jesus is physically present within in the Host, the Host was taken from the tabernacle of the Church on Good Friday evening and placed in a coffin-like box. Candles were lit around the sepulchre, burial clothes adorned it, and parishioners stood guard until early Easter morning at the first Mass. The Host was brought out, in imitation of Jesus having arisen out of the tomb, and was placed again in the tabernacle in the center of the Church.[2]
Surviving examples
There are throughout Great Britain many fine examples in stone, some of which are Decorated Gothic, such as:
Cumbria
- Warwick Bridge
Devon
- Holcombe Burnell[1]
- Bishops Nympton
- Heanton Punchardon
- Monkleigh
- Berry Pomeroy
- Throwleigh
Dorset
- Gillingham
- Tarrant Hinton
Glamorgan
Herefordshire
Lincolnshire
- Navenby[1]
- Heckington (1370)[1]
Norfolk
Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Suffolk
Warwickshire
West Sussex
East Riding of Yorkshire
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Easter sepulchres. |
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Chisholm 1911, p. 655.
- ↑ Duffy, Eamon (1992). The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400–1580. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-06076-9.
References
- Attribution
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sepulchre, Easter". Encyclopædia Britannica 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 655.