Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/639

 CHAPEL

CHAPEL

chapels, which sometimes contained altars and were used for liturgical purposes. They usually take the form of an enlarged western entrance or narthex. Those of St-Front (Perigueux), Romain-Moutier, and Jumieges are early examples, while those at Vezelay and Cluny are conspicuous for their size. The finest example in England is that at Durham (really the Lady chapel), and there is a smaller one at Ely. At Lincoln there is a Galilee on the western side of the south transept. Two parochial Galilees exist in Norwich, at St. Peter Mancroft and St. John Madder- market, both being the ground story of the western tower. In most of the medieval college chapels of Oxford and Cambridge, what is usually called the ante-chapel is really only the space outside the en- trance to the choir, occupied nowadays at service time by those who are not members of the college. Baptisteries were often built in the form of chapels, and either contained altars or had chapels with altars opening out of them, as in the Lateran basilica (fourth century).

.4 mbassaHors' Chapels. — The use of a private chapel for the ambassadors of a Catholic country at a Prot- estant Court, and vice versa, has frequently been allowed as a matter of courtesy, though not of strict right according to international law. In England, even at a time when the exercise of the Catholic reli- gion was proscribed by the penal laws. Catholic am- bassadors were permitted to have such chapels at- tached to their embassies. The Sardinian. Xeapoli- r ; 1 1. Venetian, Bavarian, Portuguese, and Spanish ambassadors were thus favoured, all having their pri- chapels in London. The Sardinian (erected L648), Bavarian (1747), and Spanish 1 1 742) chapels even opened to the public and became eventu- ally ordinary parochial churches. The two former --st ill exist, while the latter was replaced (1890) by a handsome church.

Bishops' Chapels. — The bishop's chapel was, at first, nothing less than the basilica or cathedral where he was accustomed to preside with his presbytery, but the feudalization of the bishop and the installation in cathedrals of choirs of monks or canons, under an ordinary superior of their own, made it necessary' that the bishop should possess a separate private chapel. Of these episcopal chapels there remain many beauti- ful examples, of which that at Reims is one of the finest. Anotl it deserving of mention is that which was formerly attached to the London residence of the bishops of Ely, dedicated to St. Etheldreda. It was built in 1290; though dismantled at the Reformation, it was for a short period during the Stuart times re- fitted and lent for the use of the Spanish ambassador. Afterwards it passed into the hands of a Welsh Prot- congregation, from whom it was bought by of Charity in 187(i, and reopened by them tor ( latholic worship. In the Middle Ages the chapel, whether of the bishop or of the noble, often signified his whole nuiison eccUsiastique (see section, Papal \ i. e. his chaplains, clerks, choristers and the ecclesiastical furniture, which accompanied him from to place. All bishops have the right to a private chapel in their houses, and they retain this right even when travelling.

( Impels. — These are of very- early origin, whether special, as at the burial-place of a martyr, or general, as in the common resting-places of the faithful. The Roman catacombs furnish many examples of both kinds. After the days of persecution, < hi is) ians were able to worship at the resting-places of the dead withoul secrecy or fear of profanation, and thus the cemetery anil mortuary chapels of the Mid- dle A.ges arose. Two of the most curious are: that at Sarlat, in the Dordogne, which is a conical structure some forty feet high, containing a circular mortuary I on the ground-floor and towards the top a pharos or lantern, and that at Avioth (Meuse), con- III.— 37

taming an open sanctuary supported by columns and a glazed lantern above. The former is of the twelfth and the latter of the fifteenth century. Magnificent chapels were often built to serve as the burial-places of kings and other great men. Becket's Crown, at Canterbury, and Henry the Seventh- chapel at West- minster, are examples, as also is tin circular chapel containing the tomb of King Emmanuel of Portugal, in the Abbey of Batalha. The most famous of all, perhaps, is the Cathedral of Aachen, which enshrines the tomb of Charlemagne.

Chantry Chapels. — These differ from other interior chapels only in being erected and endowed for the cel- ebration of Masses of requiem, in perpetuity, for some individual soul, generally that of the founder himself. Special priests were usually appointed to serve them, and were called "chantry priests". It was not until the thirteenth century that such chapels became com- mon, and by that tune, most of the available space in the churches had been already occupied, hence we find chantry chapels stowed away in corners and odd places. Being intended for private, not public, Masses, they were frequently smaller than other chapels. Vacant spaces in aisles and transepts, or, as in many larger churches, between the pillars of the nave, lent themselves to their accommodation, though some- times they were distinct buildings annexed to the church. Whenever possible they were placed near the tomb of their founder, and very often such tombs were either enclosed within the chapel itself or actually ad- joined it. Like other chapels they were invariably screened oft from the rest of the church: wooden screen-work was perhaps the more common, but some notable examples still exist in England of chantry chapels, like miniature sanctuaries, screened and vaulted in stone and of surpassing beauty. Such are Prince Arthur's chantry at Worcester, the Founder's chapel at Tewkesbury, the chantries of William of Wykeham and Cardinal Beaufort at Winchester, and those of Bishop Bubwith and Dean Sugar at Wells. Sometimes the chapel was placed above the tomb and reached by a winding staircase, as a( Christ Church, Oxford, in what is commonly but wrongly called "St. FYideswide's Shrine". Chantries were also some- times built and maintained by a local guild, such as the Guild of the Holy Ghost at Beccles, and the Palm- ers' Guild at Ludlow. Strictly speaking, the chantry is the endowment, and in some cases it was attached to an existing chapel in which other Masses were commonly celebrated. I See I it wtry.)

Charnel Chapels and Charnel-houses. — These were in the same class as cemetery chapels and consisted gen- erally of a vault or chamber in which were deposited the bones displaced in the digging of graves, with a chapel adjoining or, more usually, above. Brittany abounds in such chapels, of which Viollet-le-Duc gives two curious examples, at Fleurance and Faouet. In England there were specimens at \\ orcester, Norwich, Old St. Paul's (London), Bury SI. Edmunds. Grant- ham, Stratford-on-Avon, and many other places That at Norwich, a detached building fo the west of the cathedral, now used a- a grammar-school, is per- haps the most perfect example still standing.

Chapeh of Ease. — These were separate buildings, churches in everything but name, built in remote por- tions of large parishes and so called because they were intended to ease the parish church and the parish- ioners living at a distance from it. Clergy appointed for the purpose served them as vicars of the parish priest. These chapels weri lj allowed to

contain a font or have a cemetery adjoining them, but in liter times both these privileges were often con- ceded, and many such chapels have since become independent of the mother-church.

Oate-house Chapels. The enclosure wall of mo-! medieval monasteries was entered through a gate- house, many of which contained chapels. In England