In the records of the church of Durham it is written that when any monk died there he was dressed in his cowl and habit, and boots were put on his legs, and immediately he was carried to a chamber called the dead man's chamber, where he remained till night. At night he was removed thence into St. Andrew's Chapel, adjoining to the same chamber, and there the body remained till eight o'clock in the morning. The night before the funeral two monks, either in kindred or kindness nearest to him, were appointed by the prior to be especial mourners, sitting all night on their knees at the dead man's feet. Then were the children of the ambry, sitting on their knees in stalls on either side of the corpse, appointed to read David's Psalter all night through incessantly till eight in the morning, when the body was conveyed to the chapter-house, where the prior and the whole convent met it, and there did say their dirge and devotion; and then the dead corpse was carried by the monks into the centry-garth, where it was buried, and there was but one peal rung for him. The body of St. Francis is placed in a vault under the marble vault in the great church at Assisi, and it is in an upright position, and the vault has a small opening, through which one may look and see a lamp burning. In the convent of the Poor Clares at Assisi, in a vault under the high altar, lies the body of St. Clare, with a lamp burning in front of the opening over it. HOW SICK MONKS WERE TENDED. When a monk was sick and in prospect of death, a servant brother was appointed, who should have nothing else to do but to tend him day and night. The cross was placed before his face, and every night a wax taper was kept burning by his side until broad day. Other monks were allowed to be in attendance on him, in order to sing the regular hours and to read the Passion in his extremity. The experienced servants were to watch the proper moment, and to spread the ashes and gently to place the sick man upon them, and then to give a signal by striking the door of the cloister, when all the brethren were to run to the chamber, for this was one of the two occasions when it was permitted to them to depart from their usual measured pace, the other being in the event of fire. If Mass should be celebrating or any regular office, all who were without the choir were to hasten, and those within were to remain. If the monks were in the refectory, the reading was to be instantly suspended, and the monks were to haston. The Litany was then to be chanted and the prayers, according to the progress of his agony. The custom of showing penitence by spreading ashes was well observed. Thus at the death of St. Martin, who desired it, sackcloth was spread on the ground, and ashes were strewed upon it in form of a cross, and the assistants gently laid his dying body upon it. The monk of St. Denis says that Louis IX. gave up the ghost on sackcloth and ashes, and with his arms composed in the form of a cross.