Bell's Cathedrals: Southwark Cathedral: Formerly the Collegiate Church of St. Saviour, Otherwise St. Mary Overie. A Short History and Description of the Fabric, with Some Account of the College and the SeeWorley, George
History
Bell's Cathedrals: Southwark Cathedral: Formerly the Collegiate Church of St. Saviour, Otherwise St. Mary Overie. A Short History and Description of the Fabric, with Some Account of the College and the See
Worley, George
Southwark Cathedral (London, England)
"_The Austin Monument_," he says, "is emblematical of Christ
and of the Resurrection, according to the pious fancy of the
devout Mr. Austin, who set it up at first. First, there is the
representation of a rock, upon which is writ 'Petra erat
X.T.S.', _i.e._, the Rock was Christ. Down this rock runs a
stream of water, and through this same rock is creeping a
serpent; whereby he strips off his old skin, which hangs on
that part which is not yet got through. At the foot of this
rock, and out of it, grows up standing corn, on which is a
label with these words, 'Si non moriatur, non reviviscit,'
_i.e._, if it dieth not, it liveth not again. Underneath this
corn, upon the basis, is this significant motto, 'Nos sevit,
fovit, lavit, coget, renovabit,' _i.e._, He hath sown,
cherished, washed us, and He shall gather us together, and
renew us. Upon the top of this rock standeth an angel; in his
left hand a sickle, his right hand pointing up towards the sun
shining in his glory, with a label upon the lower rays of it,
'Sol Justitiae,' _i.e._, the Sun of Righteousness. On the
right and left sides of this monument are instruments of
husbandry hanging by a riband out of a death's head, as
ploughs, whips, yokes, rakes, spades, flails, harrows,
shepherds' crooks, scythes, etc., over which is writ, 'Vos
estis Dei Agricultura,' _i.e._, ye are God's husbandry. On the
outside of these, on the right and left, are two harvest men
with wings, the one with a fork, the other with a rake behind
him. They are in light garments, sitting, and leaning their
heads upon their hands, their elbows resting upon their knees,
as weary and tired, and resting after their harvest work; and
having straw hats on, very comely; underneath them these
words, 'Messores congregabunt,' _i.e._, the reapers shall
gather. Under all this is a winnowing fan, within which is the
representation of a sheet of parchment, as it were, stretched
upon it; on which is writ the inscription."
The inscription (Latin) agrees in its figurative language with the
character of the monument. It practically states that William Austin
had the tomb constructed, while he was yet alive, as a burial-place
for his wife, his mother (Lady Clarke), and himself, and that the
three were laid there in succession in 1623, 1626, and 1633. William
Austin was a barrister, who wrote a number of devotional pieces in
verse and prose. He died on 16th January, 1633, and his second wife
published them in 1635, "as a surviving monument of some part of the
great worth of her ever-honoured husband." The son William, like his
father a poet and a lawyer, was also buried at St. Saviour's.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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