At 13:26 28/04/99 -0500, you wrote:
>> Dear List I know that bishops were buried - once dead that is -
>>with croziers etc. Can anyone tell me about abbots, and, what I
>>particularly want to know, about priors? Were they customarily attired in
>>a particular way, might they have had goods buried with them, might they
>>be buried in a particular place, eg. the chancel of the priory church
>>etc.? I would be grateful for all suggestions and sources.
Abelard's instructions to Heloise may be of interest:
"The body of the dead woman must then be washed at once by the sisters, clad
in some cheap but clean garment and stockings, and laid on a bier, the head
covered by the veil. These coverings must be firmly stitched or bound to
the body and not afterwards removed. The body shall be carried into the
church by the sisters for the monks to give it proper burial, and the
sisters meanwhile shall devote themselves to psalm-singing and prayer in the
oratory.
"The burial of an abbess [and of course, Heloise was the abbess] shall have
only one feature to distinguish it from that of others: her entire body
shall be wrapped only in a hair-shirt and sewn up in this as in a sack."
[Penguin Classics translation, pp. 216-7]
Oriens.
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