OBIT

An office performed at funerals, when the corpse was in the church before it was buried; it afterwards came to be performed on the anniversary of the death of a benefactor. Thus, in many of our colleges, the obit or anniversary of the death of the founder is piously observed. (See Commemoration .) The obiit Sun days (once a quarter) at St. George’s at Windsor, were celebrated formerly with great magnificence, and are to a certain degree still. In Kennet’s Register, p. 765, (as quoted in the Hiereugia Anglicana, p. 211,) there is the following notice. “1662, Sept. 10.—This day was published the service that is performed in the King’s Free Chapel of St. George, in the castle of Windsor, upon Obiit Sunday in the morning, (that is, the Sunday before every quarter day,) and at the offering up of the achievements of the deceased Knights of the Garter. The Rubric. The service is the same that is appointed in the Book of Common Prayer, until you come to the Psalm for the day of the month, instead of which you have these proper Psalms, xxi., cxlvi., cxlvii. After the Psalm the junior canon upon the place cometh out of his stall with the verger before him, and readeth the le on at the desk, which is taken out of the forty-fourth chapter of Ecclesiastic us. After the le on Te Deum laudamus is sung. After the Te Deum is ended, they all depart out of the quire in the body of the church to sermon. After sermon is ended, the canons go to the altar, and the quire go to their stalls, and the communion service beginneth. The Epistle is taken out of the twenty-third chapter of Deuteronomy; the Gospel in the fifth of St. John, beginning at the twenty-fourth and ending at the thirtieth verse. After the sacrament (which is always on the Obiit Sunday) is ended, and the ble ing given at the altar, the canons go to their stalls, and these following prayers are read: Priest. O Lord, save the king. Quire. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee. Collect. O Lord, our heavenly Father and merciful Saviour, we praise and thank thee, O Lord, . God save our gracious sovereign, and all the companions of the most honourable and noble Order of the Garter. Here endeth the obiit service. The verse and response, O Lord, save the queen, ., are used daily after the anthem in St. George’s Chapel.— Jebb.