THE OLD - Old Wirral.com

THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
Alms boxes are often adorned with
quaint carving, tliough Wirral cannot
boast anything of particular value in this
respect.
Kirby.
interest.
The best perhaps
They are however of historical
The earliest mention of the
use of boxes in places of worship for the
reception of the offerings of the worshippers
occurs in the second book of the
Kings of Israel, in which we are told that
"
Jehoiada the priest, took a chest, and
is at West
bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it
beside the altar," from which it may be
inferred that it was intended for the
collection of offerings for the maintenance
of the temple. The provision of similar
boxes probably became usual in churches
at an early period in the history of the
Christian Church, the giving of alms for
the poor being so ancient a practice that
it soon became convenient to have
a receptacle for them. The period is as
yet undetermined when offerings for
sacred and charitable purposes began to be
collected from the people whilst assembled
within the walls of the church, nor is the
mode by which such collections were first
effected at all clear and well defined.
Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) ordered a
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