Difference between revisions of "Crypt"

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Crypt <ref name="term_35716" />  
== Webster's Dictionary <ref name="term_106494" /> ==
<p> Of this important form of church architecture we give additional details from Walcott, Sac. Archaeol. s.v.: "The earliest crypts which we. possess are those of [[Hexham]] and Ripon. They have several entrances; one used exclusively by the priest serving at the altar, the others for the ascent and descent of the worshippers, and opening into a chapel containing relics and a recess for an altar. In the wall are niches, with ffinel-headed openings for lamps. At Winchester, a low, arched doorway, below the screen of the feretory, led down to the relic chamber, which was in consequence called the Holy Hole. In later times, aumbries and secret hiding-places for plate and treasures were generally provided. In the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries crypts became developed into magnificent subterranean churches, like those of Canterbury, Gloucester, Rochester,Worcester, Winchester; St. Peter's, Oxford; Bayeux, Chartres, Saintes, Auxerre, Bourges, Holy Trinity, Caen; St. Denis, Ghent; Fiesole, Padua, Florence, Pavia, Palermo, and Modena. The earlier examples are of moderate dimensions, resembling cells, as in the pre-Norman examples at Lastingham, at St. Mellon, at Rouen, of the 4th century; St. Maur, and Faye la Vineuse. After the 14th century the crypt was replaced by lateral chapels built above ground. In fact, all crypts called in some places the crowds — the shrouds, or undercroft — were built to put [[Christians]] in remembrance of the old state of the Primitive [[Church]] before Constantine. The crypts of the Duomo and San Ambrogio, Milan, Parma, and Monte Cassino, are still used as a winter choir; and the parish church of St. Faith, in the shrouds of St. Paul's, was occupied until the Great Fire. Several of the largest cathedrals, built on unfavorable sites for excavation, as [[Durham]] and Chichester, have no crypt. The crypts of Winchester, Rochester, Gloucester, Worcester, and [[Canterbury]] were all made before 1085; and after that date the construction of crypts was laid aside, except where they were a continuation of existing buildings, as at Canterbury and Rochester. There is, however, an exceptional [[Early]] English example under the Lady [[Chapel]] of Hereford, and one of Decorated date at Waltham. A curious Decorated contrivance for constructing a crypt in an earlier church, which was never designed to have one, may be seen at Wimborne Minster, where the crypt under the presbytery lies open to the aisles. At Bosham and [[Dorchester]] (Oxon) there is a small crypt in the south alley of the nave, under a raised platform, for an altar or chapel, which is only another specimen, on a much smaller scale, of the same principle which, at Lubeck, Hildesheim, Naumburg, Halberstadt, Rochester, and Canterbury, left the crypt floor on a level almost with the nave, and raised the choir-level to a great height, enclosing it with stone screens. At [[Christchurch]] and [[Gloucester]] there was a crypt under each corner of the cross, except the western one. At [[Auxerre]] and [[Bourges]] the crypt, like the subterranean church of Assisi, was useful as a constructional arrangement to maintain the level of the choir. Occasionally the crypt assumes rather the character of a lower church, as in the Sainte- Chapelle (Paris), Eton, and St. Stephen's, Westminster. There is no example of a crypt in the Peninsula or Ireland, and [[Scotland]] possesses only one, at Glasgow. At Westminster, Glasgow, and [[Wells]] there is a crypt under the chapterhouse, which contained an altar. The crypt was frequently lighted brilliantly on great festivals, and its chapels were constantly thronged with pilgrims and visitors, so that at present we can hardly portray to ourselves, in their cheerless desolation, that once they were much frequented places of prayer." Crypta seems to have been sometimes used in [[Christian]] times as synonymous with "cemetery." We may, however, mark this distinction between the two words, that" cemetery " is a word of wider signification, including open-air burial-grounds, while "crypta" is strictly limited to those excavated beneath the surface of the ground. We sometimes meet with the expression cryptac arenarum, or cryptae arenarice (i.e., "of the sand-pits"), in connection with the interment of Christian martyrs. These would seem to indicate the galleries of a deserted pozzuolana pit, as places of sepulture. But though the subterranean cemeteries very frequently had a close connection with these quarries, and were approached through their adita, the sand-pits themselves were seldom or never used for interment, for which, indeed, they were unfit, without very extensive alteration and adaptation. The passages referred to, which are chiefly found in the not very trustworthy Acts of the Martyrs, have probably originated in a confusion between the catacombs themselves and the quarries with which they were often so closely connected.-Smith, Dict. of Christ. Anti. s.v. (See [[Catacombs]]). </p>
<p> '''(1):''' (n.) A simple gland, glandular cavity, or tube; a follicle; as, the crypts of Lieberk/hn, the simple tubular glands of the small intestines. </p> <p> '''(2):''' (n.) A vault wholly or partly under ground; especially, a vault under a church, whether used for burial purposes or for a subterranean chapel or oratory. </p>
       
== Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature <ref name="term_35722" /> ==
<p> (Gr. '''''Κρύπτη''''' , a [[Concealed]] place; Lat. ''Crypta'' ; Fr. ''Crypte'' ). </p> <p> '''I.''' Among the ancient [[Greeks]] and Romans a crypt was primarily a long, narrow gallery, above the level of the ground, surrounding a court-yard, and having walls on both of its sides, with windows in the wall facing the court. These crypts had often a portico lining them or running between them and the open court. They served as a place of promenade during the hot or wet weather, and were finally so extensively used that they were even built for the officers near the Praetorian camps in Rome. Crypts similar in construction and location were built for storing wines, vegetables, and other articles, like the modern subterranean cellar. When all the windows were closed they were dark and cool, and hence the word was applied even by the ancients to any dark and long chamber or passage, as the dark stables where horses were kept under the amphi-theater, the cloaca maxima at Rome, the tunnel at Naples, and to a grotto where Quartilla offered sacrifice. </p> <p> '''II.''' The word [[Crypt]] was applied by the early [[Christians]] to those subterranean burial-places which were afterwards called [[Catacombs]] (q.v.). The term was later limited to the larger chambers in the Catacombs where one or more martyrs were buried. These crypts were larger than the other rooms in the Catacombs, and were often ornamented, and devoted to divine worship. For this purpose they were double, one part serving for the men and the other for the women, with small antechambers for the catechumens. Some of these crypts had openings into the fields above. </p> <p> '''III.''' When persecution ceased, and Christians built church edifices above ground, the custom was adopted of placing the remains of martyrs '''''—''''' later of archbishop, bishops, abbots, and other high church officials '''''—''''' in crypts under the intersection of the cross in the plan of the church. In the Basilican period of architecture these crypts were often called by the name confessio. [[In.]] the Romanesque period the name crypt was resumed. In the churches of this period, the crypt extended under the high altar and back under the entire choir or apsis, sometimes even including the space under the transept. This crypt formed almost a separate church, and caused the floor above it of the main body of the church to be raised higher than that of the nave, to which the audience had access. Churches founded in the latter part of the Romanesque period, and thereafter, had no crypts. The reason of their disappearance from church architecture is not well understood. '''''—''''' Liibke, Geschichte der Architektur; Rich, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. </p>
       
==References ==
==References ==
<references>
<references>
<ref name="term_35716"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/cyclopedia-of-biblical-theological-and-ecclesiastical-literature/crypt+(2) Crypt from Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature]</ref>
 
<ref name="term_106494"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/webster-s-dictionary/crypt Crypt from Webster's Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_35722"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/cyclopedia-of-biblical-theological-and-ecclesiastical-literature/crypt Crypt from Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature]</ref>
       
</references>
</references>

Latest revision as of 09:06, 15 October 2021

Webster's Dictionary [1]

(1): (n.) A simple gland, glandular cavity, or tube; a follicle; as, the crypts of Lieberk/hn, the simple tubular glands of the small intestines.

(2): (n.) A vault wholly or partly under ground; especially, a vault under a church, whether used for burial purposes or for a subterranean chapel or oratory.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [2]

(Gr. Κρύπτη , a Concealed place; Lat. Crypta ; Fr. Crypte ).

I. Among the ancient Greeks and Romans a crypt was primarily a long, narrow gallery, above the level of the ground, surrounding a court-yard, and having walls on both of its sides, with windows in the wall facing the court. These crypts had often a portico lining them or running between them and the open court. They served as a place of promenade during the hot or wet weather, and were finally so extensively used that they were even built for the officers near the Praetorian camps in Rome. Crypts similar in construction and location were built for storing wines, vegetables, and other articles, like the modern subterranean cellar. When all the windows were closed they were dark and cool, and hence the word was applied even by the ancients to any dark and long chamber or passage, as the dark stables where horses were kept under the amphi-theater, the cloaca maxima at Rome, the tunnel at Naples, and to a grotto where Quartilla offered sacrifice.

II. The word Crypt was applied by the early Christians to those subterranean burial-places which were afterwards called Catacombs (q.v.). The term was later limited to the larger chambers in the Catacombs where one or more martyrs were buried. These crypts were larger than the other rooms in the Catacombs, and were often ornamented, and devoted to divine worship. For this purpose they were double, one part serving for the men and the other for the women, with small antechambers for the catechumens. Some of these crypts had openings into the fields above.

III. When persecution ceased, and Christians built church edifices above ground, the custom was adopted of placing the remains of martyrs — later of archbishop, bishops, abbots, and other high church officials — in crypts under the intersection of the cross in the plan of the church. In the Basilican period of architecture these crypts were often called by the name confessio. In. the Romanesque period the name crypt was resumed. In the churches of this period, the crypt extended under the high altar and back under the entire choir or apsis, sometimes even including the space under the transept. This crypt formed almost a separate church, and caused the floor above it of the main body of the church to be raised higher than that of the nave, to which the audience had access. Churches founded in the latter part of the Romanesque period, and thereafter, had no crypts. The reason of their disappearance from church architecture is not well understood. — Liibke, Geschichte der Architektur; Rich, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.

References

  1. ↑ Crypt from Webster's Dictionary
  2. ↑ Crypt from Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
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