_Whipping Graves._--Excommunicated persons were formerly restored to the
Church, according to the old _Rituale Romanum_, by the ceremony of
whipping their graves. When it was resolved the dead party should be
restored to the communion of saints, it was ordered that the body should
not be disentombed, but that the "graves shall be whipped, and while the
priest whips the grave, he shall say--'By the authority which I have
received I free thee from the bond of excommunication, and restore thee
to the communion of the faithful.'" I do not find this in the copy of
the Ritual I possess. Have any readers of the "N. & Q." a copy with the
directions for this singular service?