A White Horse Whose Rider is Called Faithful and True
Marcel Proust’s invented writer Bergotte in The Way by Swann’s, 1913, refers to “moving effigies that forever ennoble the venerable and charming façades of our cathedrals”.
During the Family Service in the Lady Chapel on the 20th Sunday after Pentecost, being Proper 25, Canon Nigel Ashworth, Priest Vicar of Chichester Cathedral, spoke about what is important and what happens at the end of everything. He reminded the congregation that the Bible is not just a book but a library of books. There are no excuses for skipping worship at the cathedral: five services are held each Sunday.
The most famous monument in the cathedral, the early 14th century Arundel Tomb monument of Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, and his second wife Eleanor of Lancaster, is unusual as they are holding hands. This inspired Philip Larkin’s mid 20th century poem The Arundel Tomb. The poet observes “And that faint hint of the absurd – The little dogs under their feet.” The last line of the poem is “What will survive of us is love”.
One of the many memorials in the cloisters is to Oliver Whitby who died aged 39 on 19 February 1702. He was the son of the Archdeacon Reverend Oliver Whitby and his wife Ann. He achieved plenty in his short life: “Founded and endowed a school in this city, for the maintenance of a master and 12 poor boys to be carefully educated in the principles of religion as established in the Church of England. To be diligently instructed in reading, writing, arithmetick [sic], and so far in mathematical learning as may fit them for honest and useful employments with a particular regard to navigation.”
Two weeks after this visit, the funeral service of the brilliant comedic actress Patricia Routledge, forever known as Mrs Bucket, took place in Chichester Cathedral.
