Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, December 22nd, 2024
the Fourth Week of Advent
Attention!
For 10¢ a day you can enjoy StudyLight.org ads
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!

Bible Encyclopedias
Mortuary

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

Search for…
or
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Prev Entry
Morto Da Feltre
Next Entry
Morvan
Resource Toolbox
Additional Links

(Med. Lat. mortuarium, from mortuus, dead), of or belonging to the dead, or, in particular, to the burial 2 In his book Morton indulges his fondness for punning and display of Latinity by calling the place Mare-Mount (Hill by the sea).

of the dead. The chief modern use of the word is for a building in which dead bodies awaiting burial may be temporarily kept, for the purpose of inquiry, identification, post-mortem examination, &c. But it has also been applied to many subjects connected with death and burial. In monastic institutions it was the duty of the almoner to send round to other monastic houses notice of the death of a member, asking for prayers for the soul of the dead. This notice was often beautifully illuminated. On being returned with the endorsement of the monastery to which it had been sent, it would be copied into the roll. Both the notice and the roll were known as a mortuarium, or mortuary (see Abbot * F. H. Gasquet's English Monastic Life, 1904). In the English Church a "mortuary" was in certain places a customary oblation or offering paid out of the estate of a deceased person to the church to which he belonged. An act of 1529 (21 Hen. VIII. c. 6) limited the amount to be paid in mortuaries, the highest being of the value of Jos. in estates above X40. Mortuaries, where customary, can only be enforced in the ecclesiastical courts. The custom has entirely died out, though claims have been made from time to time.

Bibliography Information
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Mortuary'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​bri/​m/mortuary.html. 1910.
 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile