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do it, and then lowered the body into the grave. But instead of that, he read out of the Office of Visitation the prayers for the dying and the commendatory prayer for a soul at the moment of death, or after death has taken place, which is in the Office of Visitation, and is a beautiful prayer. Simply beautiful--you know, a prayer which has everything in it which you want to have said on such an occasion. And he read a couple of psalms. I think he read the Twenty-third Psalm, I'm not quite positive.
Then he moved over into the Office of the Invitatory, which is an old office and not much used today, but it is one where he says, “Let His holy angels take charge of thee. Though all the prophets shall meet thee, the Virgins and martyrs will meet thee, the holy men will meet thee, the angels will greet thee and escort thee to thy heavenly home.”
It's an old invitatory--very ancient, and it was a part of the Sarum book. Don't you know about the Sarum rite? The Sarum rite was the ancient English rite--ancient. Sarum is a place, Salisbury. It comes out of the Sarum book. I know it's used, not infrequently, and it's in some of the service books. It's just perfect, because it gives you the sense that you're giving over the soul of your friend to the care of the angels, the prophets, the martyrs, the saints, you know, and that they will bear his soul into the unknown, and that there he will be received with rejoicing,
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