IV. The Communion of Saints

Next, we will notice the effect which the Doctrine of the Communion of Saints has exercised in the designs of churches.
In the ground plan of small churches there is little which seems to bear on this subject. The principal references to departed saints occur in the stained glass, in the rood screen, in niches, in the canopies of monu- ments, and in brasses. Monuments, in particular, often afford some beautiful ideas, among which we may notice
Examples of Symbolism Ixxxix
the angels which often are seated at the head of the effigy, supporting the helmet or pillow, and seeming to point out the care of angels for the saints. In cathedrals, however, the chapels have a very considerable effect upon the ground plan : though we cannot agree with Mr Poole that such a modification of the principal lines of the building for the reception of these shrines and oratories, is necessarily uncatholic. He principally objects to the position of the Lady Chapel at the east end, above, as he expresses it, the High Altar. Now we believe the Lady Chapel to have occupied that place merely on grounds of convenience : not from any design — which it is shocking to imagine — of exalting the Blessed Virgin to any participation in the honours of the Deity. Sometimes, as at Durham, this chapel is at the west end : in country churches, it generally occupied the east end of the north or south aisle : and some- times is placed over the chancel, as in Compton, Surrey, Compton Martin, Somerset, and Darenth, Kent ; or over the porch, as at Fordham, Cambridgeshire. At Bristol cathedral it is on the north side of the choir. That the position of the Lady Chapel at the east end adds greatly to the beauty of the building wall hardly be denied on a comparison of York, or Lincoln, or Peter- boroucfh with Lichfield, as it now is.