New-York tribune., 1910-07-17
4 CURIOUS CEREMONIAL
Tzpo AIphabets Traced IN Ashes on
CathedraPs Floor.

The conservation and dedication of the new
Westminster Cathedral in London, on June 2S
was an occurrence of marked interest for rea-
sons other than that it was the formal setting
apart of the first Roman Catholic cathedral IN
England since the Reformation For the lover
OF ritualistic displays and deeply impressive
symbolism the liturgy was feast. One of the
ceremonies was not only particularly striking
but interesting, because it has long been puz-
zle to ecclesiastical archanoogists This was the
tracing by the Archbishop of the letters of the
Greek and Latin aphabets in ashes on the floor
of the building. This ceremonial followed the
formal admission OF Archbishop Bourne of
Westminster to the edifice.
Crossing the great floor diagonally were two
rows of small squares, spaced at regular inter
walls between parallel lines. The rows inter-
sected in the form of the Greek * In the
squares We're small heaps of ashes, A placard
opposite each square bore a character OF the
Greek or Latin alphabet, according to the row.
The placards insured against any break in the
ceremony through temporary forgetfulness of
the order Of the alphabet. The Archbishop
crozier in hand, passed along the rows, tracing
in order with the tip of his pastoral staff in the
ashes the letters of the alphabets The concrete
result was the signing of the building with the
insignia of the cross.
The significance of this ceremony is not clear.
AppaTentIy a
Westminster Abbey in the time of Edward the
Confessor, for the ritual of that occasion was
employed in connection with the conservation of
the new Westminster Cathedral. Different
authorities have studied its history with the
idea Of discovering what it means and how it
originated.
The most generally held theory is that it arose
from the custom of Roman surveyors tracing
two transverse intersecting lines across a piece
Of land they intended to measure. In some
fashion this set aside the plot. In the way
delineating cross of this kind upon the floor
of a church may be looked upon as setting it
apart for the church By including in one of
the lines the Greek alphabet it is set apart from
Alpha to omega, from the beginning to the end
forever
Others think the custom may have originated
in the Celtic Church, which attached mystical
significance to the alphabet, and possibly was
derived from the practice of the earliest Irish
bishops, who inscribed the alphabet on the lines
of ashes crossing the floor. 1t is said of St
Patrick that "he wrote $50 alphabets or more,
and he also founded churches in the same num-
Der. 800 He ordained 800 bishops also or more,
in whom was the Spirit of God" Possibly the
analysis Of this enigma is that the number
Of alphabets comedies with the number of
churches and bishops which he founded and or
oained the first term may be taken to mean
that he conducted that number of consecrating
ceremOnials using the alphabet in each case. A
legend relates how ST. Peter himself conse-
Grated Westminster Abbey, amounting the twelve
consecratiOn crosses and writing the alphabet in
the ashes.
The use of the two aIphabets, written across
each other. is also thought to symbolic the fact
that the Greek and Latin rites are two branches
of the church universal
Whatever he significance the rift q o,r;
and striking one.