Silver-gilt. Inscription, “St. Petrox in Oxon.” Exeter hall-mark, 1640.
(Marks illustrated [p. 391].)
(In possession of Parish of St. Petrock, Exeter.)
It is not surprising to find the commissioners appointed by Edward VI making as exhaustive an inquiry throughout the land as the valuers of a modern Chancellor of the Exchequer. They seized all the plate in the churches with the exception of chalices and patens, and these they weeded out if they considered the parish too small to have more than one or two. Hence it is rare to find pre-Reformation ecclesiastical plate, even chalices and patens, because the Church authorities preferred to melt it down and use the money for other purposes than to have it confiscated.
In 1547 by 1 Edward VI it was enacted that communion in both kinds should be administered to the laity. The old form of chalice and paten remained for a time, as even the Reformation with all its fury could not and did not wholly uproot all the most sacred and deeply seated ritual in connexion with religious observances. The subject of the change in the form of the chalice with its inverted cup and the introduction of the severer form of the open communion cup and the flagon, is a study in ecclesiastical and political history which cannot be further pursued here.
In general it may be said that the old forms of chalice are not frequently met with, and have been carefully guarded by religious bodies, possibly having to be hidden. The examples now extant are usually found in cathedral cities and in the custody of corporate bodies or Church authorities. We are fortunate in being able to reproduce illustrations of some fine Exeter examples exhibiting exquisite symmetry and characteristic ornamentation.
The paten, it should be observed, was made to serve as a cover for the communion cup, a style which appears to have been general in Elizabeth’s day, and the old pre-Reformation paten was discarded by ecclesiastical law.
In the illustration given ([p. 67]) of a chalice and cover this form is seen. The specimen is silver-gilt of the style known as the Exeter pattern. The bowl is conical in shape with engraved foliated ornament. The knop is fluted and the foot is in similar style. The inscription is “St. Petrox, Exon,” and the piece is still in the possession of the parish of St. Petrock, Exeter. The maker is I. Ions, and the piece bears the Exeter hall-mark for the year 1572, the year of the massacre of St. Bartholomew.