feretory
Definitions
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- noun A shrine or bier containing the relics of saints, adapted to be borne in religions processions.
- noun The place in a church where such a shrine is set.
Examples
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The feretory no doubt had a reredos at this point, but what the type of this earlier arrangement may have been it is impossible exactly to tell.
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Rome, having succeeded in persuading Urban IV. that his merits and fame deserved an honour which should bring wealth and celebrity to the see in whose cathedral his body was laid; so in 1276 the remains of his body were removed from their tomb and placed at the back of the high altar in a shrine, or feretory, dedicated to him.
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The entire feretory was overlaid with gold and crusted with gems.
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William's royal robe, adorned with precious gems, and a feretory in the form of an altar, inclosing 300 relics of the saints, were bequeathed by him to the monastery; and Rufus transmitted them to Battle, where they were duly received on the 8th of the calends of November, 1088.
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Canterbury, and his bones there laid in a worshipful feretory or shrine, where our Lord showed daily many fair miracles for his holy martyr S. Alphage.
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It was originally encased in a wonderful feretory, made of pure gold and decorated with golden and jewelled images of kings and queens, of saints and angels.
Note
The word 'feretory' comes ultimately from a Greek root meaning 'I carry.'
