Easter Sepulchre

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

Description

A straightforward undecorated 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 erection, which was placed in a recess or on a tomb.

Distribution

The Easter Sepulchre is only found in England and Wales, the practice having been peculiar to the Sarum Rite.

Usage

The Easter Sepulchre contained the Blessed Sacrament of the altar, the Host. Believing in a very real way that Jesus is indeed in the Host, the Lord 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, as Jesus came out of the tomb, and placed in the tabernacle in the center of the Church.[1]

Surviving examples

There are throughout Great Britain many fine examples in stone, some of which belong to the Decorated period, such as:

Cumbria

Devon

Dorset

Glamorgan

Herefordshire

Lincolnshire

Norfolk

Nottinghamshire

Oxfordshire

Suffolk

Warwickshire

East Riding of Yorkshire

References

  1. ^ Eamon Duffy, The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England 1400-1580, Yale University Press, 1992.