Easter Sepulchre

An Easter Sepulchre is a feature of British church architecture (interior design).

Description

A simple unadorned example from St Marys Church, Grendon, Northants

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

Easter Sepulchre, Holcombe Burnell Church, Devon. Detail of central sculpted relief showing Christ stepping out of the tomb with sleeping guards

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, on Good Friday the Host was taken from the tabernaclewhere it had been placed following the Maundy Thursday celebration of the Last Supper and, wrapped in linen cloths, 'buried' in the Easter sepulchre which was found on the north wall of the sanctuary. Cut into the wall, it was sometimes ornately carved but within it was a wooden frame on which was hung a cloth pall often embroidered with scenes from the Passion. 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 centre of the Church.^[2] Like Roods and their lofts, Easter Sepulchres were the object of iconoclastic fury by the Reformers and few are left.

Surviving examples

There are throughout Great Britain many fine examples in stone, some of which are Decorated Gothic, such as:

Cumbria

Warwick Bridge

Devon

Dorset

Norfolk

Nottinghamshire

Oxfordshire

Suffolk

Cockfield
East Harling
Long Melford
St Margaret South Elmham

Warwickshire

Long Itchington^[1]

Withybrook, Coventry

West Sussex

St Catherine of Siena Church, Cocking

East Riding of Yorkshire

Patrington^[1]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Chisholm 1911, p. 655.
^ Duffy, Eamon (February 2015). The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400–1580. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. p. 29. ISBN 0-300-06076-9. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= / |date= mismatch (help)

References

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sepulchre, Easter". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 655.

[FOOTNOTEChisholm1911655-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Chisholm 1911, p. 655.

[2] Duffy, Eamon (February 2015). The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400–1580. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. p. 29. ISBN 0-300-06076-9. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= / |date= mismatch (help)

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