_Watching the Sepulchre._--In reply to "T.W.'s" Query in No. 20., I have
witnessed at Florence the custom of dressing the sepulchre on the
Thursday before Good Friday with the most beautiful flowers, many of
which are reared especially for the purpose. The devout attend at the
sepulchre, and make their prayers there throughout the day, the most
profound silence being observed. The convents rival each other in the
beauty of their decorations.
Do you think that the Churchwardens' entries in Fuller can refer to a
similar custom?
The loveliness of the flowers, and their delightful perfume, which
pervades the church, present a most soothing and agreeable type of death
and the grave, under their Christian phase. I was always at a loss to
understand why this was done on Thursday, instead of on Saturday; the
latter being the day on which Our Lord rested in the sepulchre.