The shrine of Saint Paulinus, 11th-14th century
St. Paulinus, a drawing in the margin of a medieval manuscript from Rochester.
Laurentius d. 619 A.D.
Mellitus d. 624. A.D.
Justus d. 630 A.D.
Cathedral with a standing shrine - drawing from a medieval manuscript from Rochester
'Siste gradum clama, qui perlegis hoc Epigramma,
Paulinum plora, quem substraxit brevis hora,
Nobis per funus; de praesulibus fuit unus;
Prudens, veridicus, constans, et firmus amicus,
Annui sunt rati Domini super astra regentis.
Qua draginta dati quatuor cum sexquoque centis.'
Translation:
Stay they steps, utter a cry, thou (who) readest this
inscription. Bewail Paulinus, whom a short space of
time has removed From us by death; he was one of
the prelates, Prudent, truthful, a constant and firm
friend. The vears of the Lord who rules above the skies,
Are supposed to have been (at his death) six
Hundred and forty-four.
Sedilia, showing the location of a non-ferrous metal object.
'Herbert, a priest, who in his last moments bequeathed to this shrine (of Paulinus) twelve seems of barley and his palfrey of the value of 2 marks.'
The amount spent upon the two shrines shews that they were standing structures, and not mere ornamented coffers or boxes of bones.
In discussing the several shrines and relics in the church, mention ought to have been made of a singular discovery made during the search for the foundations of Gundulf's east end in 1881. In cutting a trench in the crypt across the site of the little eastern chapel the workman found a box containing human bones, buried with its lid just level with the eastern floor. The bones were not arranged, but deposited anyhow in the box, the skull being with the leg bones. Unfortunately the box was not noticed until it had nearly all been broken up, and nothing could be made from it. Not improbably the bones had been taken out of one or other of the shrines when they were destroyed in 1538 and deposited for safety where they were found. They were reburied in the trench before it was filled up.
3. Part of plan of Crypt from Archeologia Vo. XLIX showing position of box of bones found in 1881.
Anneliese Arnold
Featured in The Friends of Rochester Cathedral Annual Report for 1988 (no 2)
The Friends of Rochester Cathedral were founded to help finance the maintenance of the fabric and grounds. The Friends’ annual reports have become a trove of articles on the fabric and history of the cathedral.