“In Italy the bones of a saint or martyr were almost invariably deposited either beneath or immediately in front of the altar. But in the Gothic nations this original notion of the burial-place of the Saints became obscured, in the increasing desire to give them a more honourable place. According to the precise system of orientation adopted by the German and Celtic nations, the eastern portion of the church was in those countries regarded as pre-eminently sacred. Thither the high altar was generally moved, and to it the eyes of the congregation were specially directed. And in the eagerness to give a higher and holier even than the highest and holiest place to any great saint, on whom popular devotion was fastened, there sprang up in most of the larger churches during the Thirteenth Century a fashion of throwing out a still further eastern end, in which the shrine or altar of the saint might be erected,--and to which, therefore, not merely the gaze of the whole congregation, but of the officiating priest himself, even as he stood before the high altar, might be constantly turned. Thus, according to Fuller’s quaint remark, the superstitious reverence for the dead reached its highest pitch, ‘the porch saying to the churchyard, the church to the porch, the chancel to the church, the east end to all--“Stand further off, I am holier than thou.”’ This notion happened to coincide in point of time with the burst of devotion towards the Virgin Mary, which took place under the Pontificate of Innocent III., during the first years of the Thirteenth Century; and, therefore, in all cases where there was no special local saint, this eastern end was dedicated to Our Lady and the chapel thus formed was called The Lady-Chapel. Such was the case in the Cathedrals of Salisbury, Norwich, Hereford, Wells, Gloucester and Chester. But when the popular feeling of any city or neighbourhood had been directed to some indigenous object of devotion, this at once took the highest place, and the Lady-Chapel, if any there were, was thrust down to a less honourable position. Of this arrangement, the most notable instances in England are, or were (for in many cases the very sites have perished), the shrines of St. Alban in Hertfordshire, St. Edmund at Bury, St. Edward in Westminster Abbey, St. Cuthbert at Durham, and St. Etheldreda at Ely.”--(A. P. S.) _Sedilia_, seats used by the priest, deacon and sub-deacon during the pauses in the mass, are generally cut into the south walls of churches, separated by shafts or species of mullions and surmounted by canopies, pinnacles or other elaborate adornments. The _piscina_ and _aumbry_ are sometimes attached to them.