THE OLD - Old Wirral.com

GROWTH OF WIRRAL OLD CHURCHES
mon then, the prevalence
of the custom
being due to the desire that masses of
Requiem should be said for the repose of
the soul of the deceased. Ordinarily, in
mediaeval days, if a poor man died a mass
was said for him by the parish priest, but
a rich man would leave money for masses
to be recited continually, or he might join
a guild which would ensure this being
done. Thus at Louth there was a guild
of St. Mary which found a chaplain to
celebrate mass every day in honour of the
Blessed Mary, " both for the brethren and
sisters of the same guild and for their souls
after their departure from this light, and
for the souls of their parents and friends
and of all the faithful dead," and sometimes
private individuals would leave so
much money as would provide a perpetual
chantry. At the suppression of the
monasteries there were some 2,000 such
chantries in England.
People, too, starting off early in
the morning for a long day's travel
liked to hear mass first, so that it was not
unusual for a testator to direct that his
chantry priest should say what was called
*' Morrow Mass " at 4.0, 5.0, or 6.0 a.m.
These chantry priests were appointed
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