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MORTUARY (Med. Lat. mortuarium, from ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 883 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MORTUARY (Med. See also:Lat. mortuarium, from mortuus, dead)  , of or belonging to the dead, or, in particular, to the See also:burial 2 In his See also:book See also:Morton indulges his fondness for punning and display of Latinity by calling the See also:place See also:Mare-See also:Mount (See also:Hill by the See also:sea) . of the dead . The See also:chief See also:modern use of the word is for a See also:building in which dead bodies awaiting burial may be temporarily kept, for the purpose of inquiry, See also:identification, See also:post-mortem examination, &c . But it has also been applied to many subjects connected with See also:death and burial . In monastic institutions it was the See also:duty of the See also:almoner to send See also:round to other monastic houses See also:notice of the death of a member, asking for prayers for the soul of the dead . This notice was often beautifully illuminated . On being returned with the endorsement of the monastery to which it had been sent, it would be copied into the See also:roll . Both the notice and the roll were known as a mortuarium, or See also:mortuary (see See also:Abbot F . H . Gasquet's See also:English Monastic See also:Life, 1904) . In the English See also:Church a "mortuary " was in certain places a customary See also:oblation or offering paid out of the See also:estate of a deceased See also:person to the church to which he belonged . An See also:act of 1529 (21 See also:Hen .

VIII. c . 6) limited the amount to be paid in mortuaries, the highest being of the value of sos. in estates above £40 . Mortuaries, where customary, can only be enforced in the ecclesiastical courts . The See also:

custom has entirely died out, though claims have been made from See also:time to time .

End of Article: MORTUARY (Med. Lat. mortuarium, from mortuus, dead)
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