{"id":7527,"date":"2011-10-03T07:47:47","date_gmt":"2011-10-03T11:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/deaconsbench\/?p=7527"},"modified":"2016-09-30T17:36:59","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T21:36:59","slug":"the-hole-in-the-floor-the-burial-of-bishops-in-cathedrals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/10\/the-hole-in-the-floor-the-burial-of-bishops-in-cathedrals\/","title":{"rendered":"The hole in the floor: the burial of bishops in cathedrals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

With Archbishop Philip Hannan\u2019s funeral set for Thursday in New Orleans, the local paper looks at a venerable tradition surrounding the burial of bishops<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

After his funeral Mass, Hannan\u2019s remains will be lowered into a crypt below the crimson carpet in the sanctuary in front of the altar, where he will lie alongside eight predecessors.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Burying the honored dead within churches \u2014 or more accurately, building churches atop the remains of honored dead \u2014 is an ancient tradition, dating to the earliest days of Christianity, said Monsignor Crosby Kern, the cathedral\u2019s rector.<\/p>\n

The temporal center of Roman Catholicism, St. Peter\u2019s Basilica, is the most recent of several churches built over the site that tradition holds is the grave of Simon Peter, the fisherman Jesus picked to lead the church.<\/p>\n

Recent archeology seems to have confirmed that St. Peter\u2019s is, in fact, atop the grave of the apostle.<\/p>\n

Later, Christians celebrated the Eucharist on the very tombs of the martyred dead, partly in the belief that those dead heroes were \u201cfriends of God\u201d who would help carry forward their prayers in heaven, according to Ken Woodward, author of \u201cMaking Saints,\u201d an account of the Catholic church\u2019s sanctification process.<\/p>\n

For centuries, Catholic altars worldwide were required to keep the link between worship and tombs by containing a tiny relic of a saint \u2014 perhaps a sliver of bone \u2014 making each altar a symbolic tomb, said Monsignor Ken Hedrick of the archdiocese\u2019s Office of Worship. The practice is no longer required, but strongly encouraged, he said.<\/p>\n

For tens of millions of Christians, the Protestant Reformation eliminated the role of intercessory saints, and dismissed any inclination to draw near to their remains in prayer, in church or elsewhere.<\/p>\n

But even so, the custom of burial in church is not restricted to Catholicism.<\/p>\n

The Episcopal Church\u2019s Washington National Cathedral, technically the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and Paul, houses the remains of more than a dozen people, including writer Helen Keller and President Woodrow Wilson.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, when the public gathers around Hannan\u2019s casket, there likely will be no sign that a grave has been prepared for him a few feet away, Kern said.<\/p>\n

Earlier, a few workers will have sawn a hole in the sanctuary\u2019s wooden floor, then located an open crypt, one of eight new burial vessels ordered a few years ago by now-retired Archbishop Francis Schulte, Kern said.<\/p>\n

Flooring and carpet will be replaced for the funeral Mass, leaving nothing amiss, he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more.<\/a><\/strong> There\u2019s also an excellent gallery of photographs.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Archbishop Philip Hannan\u2019s funeral set for Thursday in New Orleans, the local paper looks at a venerable tradition surrounding the burial of bishops: After his funeral Mass, Hannan\u2019s remains will be lowered into a crypt below the crimson carpet in the sanctuary in front of the altar, where he will lie alongside eight predecessors. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,49],"tags":[620,685],"class_list":["post-7527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bishops","category-this-that","tag-new-orleans","tag-philip-hannan"],"yoast_head":"\nThe hole in the floor: the burial of bishops in cathedrals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With Archbishop Philip Hannan's funeral set for Thursday in New Orleans, the local paper looks at a venerable tradition surrounding the burial of bishops:\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2011\/10\/the-hole-in-the-floor-the-burial-of-bishops-in-cathedrals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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