feretory

American  

[fer-i-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] / ˈfɛr ɪˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i /

noun

• feretories
  plural

1. a container for the relics of a saint; reliquary.

2. an enclosure or area within a church where such a reliquary is kept.

3. a portable bier or shrine.

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feretory British  

/ ˈfɛrɪtərɪ, -trɪ /

noun

1. a shrine, usually portable, for a saint's relics

2. the chapel in which a shrine is kept

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• feretories
  plural

Etymology

Origin of feretory

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English fertre, feretory, firetree, from Old French fiertre, from Latin feretrum, from Greek phė́retron “bier, litter”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

feretory feretories

The feretory is used as a receptacle for the carved work found at various dates about the cathedral, including portions of statuary once belonging to the great screen.

From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Winchester A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal See by Philip Walsingham Sergeant

Sir Robert Smirke in 1807 put up work which consisted chiefly of panelling, which was affixed to the easternmost wall of the feretory.

From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Gloucester [2nd ed.] A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Espicopal See by H. J. L. J. (Henri Jean Louis Joseph) Massé

This seriously affected Chichester, as the fate of the feretory of S. Richard was involved by the mandate.

From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Chichester (1901) A Short History & Description Of Its Fabric With An Account Of The Diocese And See by Hubert C. (Hubert Christian) Corlette

The fragments now in the feretory are often very fine, but are most of them sadly mutilated.

From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Winchester A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal See by Philip Walsingham Sergeant

"The bones of S. Swithun," says Woodward, "were doubtless lost at the Reformation, when his costly shrine was taken from the feretory, where it stood so long, and destroyed."

From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Winchester A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal See by Philip Walsingham Sergeant

Of crosses, paxes, censers, pixes, feretories, candelabra, monstrances, lamps, &c., he scattered specimens broadcast throughout Spain.

From An Architect's Note-Book in Spain principally illustrating the domestic architecture of that country. by Matthew Digby Wyatt

Then to please the females, he described to them the reliquaries, feretories, calices, crosiers, crosses, pyxes, monstrances, and other wonders ecclesiastical, and the goblets, hanaps, watches, clocks, chains, brooches, &c., so that their mouths watered.

From The Cloister and the Hearth A Tale of the Middle Ages by Charles Reade

Then, to please the females, he described to them the reliquaries, feretories, calices, crosiers, crosses, pyxes, monstrances, and other wonders ecclesiastical, and the goblets, hanaps, watches, Clocks, chains, brooches, &c., so that their mouths watered.

From The Cloister and the Hearth by Charles Reade