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A catafalque is a raised bier, box, or similar platform, often movable, that is used to support the casket, coffin, or body of a dead person during a Christian funeral or memorial service. [1] Following a Roman Catholic Requiem Mass , a catafalque may be used to stand in place of the body at the absolution of the dead or used during Masses of ...
Although the base and platform have occasionally been altered to accommodate the larger size of modern coffins and for the ease of the attending military personnel, it is basically the same today as it was in Lincoln's time. Presently the catafalque measures 7 feet 1 inch (216 cm) long, 2 feet 6 inches (76 cm) wide, and 2 feet (61 cm) high.
They dug heather and branches into the soil to make disinterment more difficult. Large stones, often coffin-shaped, sometimes the gift of a wealthy man to the parish, were placed over new graves. Friends and relatives took turns or hired men to watch graves through the hours of darkness. Watch-houses were sometimes erected to shelter the watchers.
Ice was placed beneath it to keep the body chilled, slowing the decomposition process. Holes in the cooling board, which could be made of cane latticework rather than a solid wooden plank, allowed blood and other fluids to drain from the body. It could also be used to display the body for a viewing if the casket was not delivered in time. [1]
Her heartbroken husband, Zach, who lives in San Jacinto, Calif., decided he wanted the world to see the unsettling images of the 29-year-old mother and their little girl lying in a coffin together ...
Forty-five years ago, in March of 1978, the illustrious filmmaker’s coffin disappeared from the cemetery at Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland A stolen coffin and $600k ransom: Why two men robbed ...
Taberger's Safety Coffin employed a bell as a signaling device, for anybody buried alive. A safety coffin or security coffin is a coffin fitted with a mechanism to prevent premature burial or allow the occupant to signal that they have been buried alive. A large number of designs for safety coffins were patented during the 18th and 19th ...
In his eulogy, Joe Biden repeatedly praised Carter's "character" and lauded his establishment of a "model post-presidency, by making a powerful difference as a private citizen in America".