Gravedigger
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- For other uses of "gravedigger" or "Grave Digger", see gravedigger (disambiguation).
A gravedigger is a cemetery worker responsible for digging graves used in the process of burial.
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[edit] Fossores
Fossor (plural Fossores) or Fossarius (plural Fossarii), from the Latin verb fodere 'to dig', referred to grave diggers in the Roman catacombs in the first three or four centuries of the Christian Era. The determination, from the first days of the Church, of the ecclesiastical authorities to inter the mortal remains of the faithful in cemeteries reserved exclusively to Christians, brought into existence the class of workmen known as fossors. The duties of the Christian fossor corresponded in a general way with those of the pagan vespillones, but whereas the latter were held in anything but esteem in pagan society (many religions consider corpses, and sometimes anyone who touches them, 'unclean' also in a religious sense), the fossors from an early date were ranked among the inferior clergy of the Church (Wieland, Ordines Minores, 1897), an excellent example of the influence of Christianity on the lowest orders of society.
An interesting literary reference to fossors, in their character of one of the orders of the inferior clergy, is found in the "Gesta apud Zenophilum", an appendix to the work of St. Optatus of Mileve against the heretical Donatists. Speaking of the "house in which Christians assembled" at Cirta in the year 303, during the persecution of Diocletian, this writer enumerates first the higher orders of the clergy present, from the bishop to the subdeacons, and then mentions by name the fossors Januarius, Heraclus, Fructuosus, et ceteris fossoribus ("Opp. S. Optati", ed. C. Ziwsa, in "Corpus Script. Eccl. Lat.", Vienna, 1893, XXVI, 187). St. Jerome also (Ep. xlix) alludes to fossors as clerici, and a sixth-century chronicle edited by Cardinal Mai (Spicil. Rom., IX, 133) enumerates the (minor) orders of the clergy as ostiarius, fossorius, lector, etc. At first the fossors seem to have received no regular salary, but were paid by individuals for the work accomplished; with the organization of the Church, however, they appear to have been paid from the common treasury. In the fourth century the corporation of fossors were empowered to sell burial spaces, as we learn from inscriptions. For example, in the cemetery of St. Cyriacus two women bought from the fossor Quintus a bisomus, or double grave, retro sanctos (behind, and near, a martyr's tomb), and there are several other references to this practice.
The corporation of fossors probably did not consist merely of the labourers who excavated the galleries of the catacombs; it included also the artists who decorated the tombs, as appears from another allusion in the "Gesta apud Zenophilum" already cited. According to this authority two fossors were brought before the judge (inductis et adplicitis Victore Samsurici et Saturnino fossoribus); when interrogated as to their calling, one replied that he was a fossor, the other that he was an antifex. The latter term at that period included the professions of painter and sculptor. Thus it would seem that this person who is generically referred to as a fossor is also an artist.
Among the representations of fossors in the catacombs the one best known, through Wiseman's "Fabiola", is that of the fossor Diogenes, discovered by Boldetti. The picture, which was seriously damaged in an attempt to remove it from the wall, represents Diogenes with his pick over his right shoulder and a sack, probably containing his midday meal, on his left shoulder, while in his left hand he carries a staff with a light attached. The inscription reads: DIOGENES FOSSOR, IN PACE DEPOSITVS, OCTABV KALENDAS OCTOBRIS (the fossor Diogenes, interred in peace, the eighth day before the calends of October). The oldest fresco of a fossor, or rather of two fossors, dating from the latter half of the second century, is in one of the so-called Sacrament Chapel in the catacomb of St. Callistus. The figures are represented pointing toward three Eucharistic scenes, probably to indicate another of their duties, which was to exclude unauthorized persons from taking part in the liturgical celebrations held occasionally in the cemeteries in commemoration of martyrs. Representations of fossors are usually near the entrance of the subterranean cemeteries.
[edit] Notable gravediggers
- Blues musician James "Sonny Ford" Thomas worked as a gravedigger during his youth in Mississippi.
- Blues musician John Jackson worked as a gravedigger in Fairfax County, Virginia.
- Members of the Pappenheimer Family worked as gravediggers and emptiers of privies, amongst other menial jobs. They were prosecuted and tortured for allegedly committing acts of witchcraft and murder in Bavaria during a period of hysteria over witchcraft. Eventually they were executed by burning.
- British author Sid Smith was briefly employed as a gravedigger.
- Singer Rod Stewart was employed briefly as a gravedigger.
- Former Major League Baseball player Richie Hebner worked as a gravedigger run by his father in the off-season.
- Dave Vanian, then David Letts, worked as a gravedigger before becoming frontman for English punk band, the Damned
- Steve Van Zandt, a rock musician, is famous for being called the "gravediggah", a slang version of gravedigger. Every solo concert opens with his classic cry of "Gravediggah!"
[edit] Gravediggers in literature
Because of their association with the subject of death, gravediggers have made notable appearances in literature. Perhaps the most famous of these occurs during Act 5, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's Hamlet, where Hamlet and Horatio engage in dialogue with one of the grave-makers (called "First Clown") as he is digging Ophelia's grave. The First Clown unearths Yorick's skull, prompting Hamlet to deliver the memorable lines: "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy". One of Barbara Paul's novels was titled First Gravedigger as an allusion to this scene.
Gravedigging has also been used as a theme in detective and crime fiction. Gravedigger Jones is one of two black detectives featured in the "Harlem cycle" of novels by Chester Himes. His partner in the novels is Coffin Ed Johnson and the pair are often involved in violent confrontations. The timbre of these novels is frequently mordant, and a funeral director is a recurring character.
[edit] In Japan
In Japan, gravedigging was one of the "unclean" professions historically allotted to the burakumin class.
[edit] Sources and references
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. Fossors
↑ Encyclopædia Britannica Book of the Year article on James "Sonny Ford" Thomas, Online 15 October 2005
↑ "John Jackson." Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 36. Edited by Ashyia Henderson. Gale Group, 2002.
↑ "The Pappenheimer Family." World Eras, Vol. 1: European Renaissance and Reformation (1350-1600). Gale Group, 2001.
↑ "Sid Smith" Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2005. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center.
↑ Cliffs Notes summary of Act 5, Scene 1 in Hamlet
↑ "Chester Bomar Himes." Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement, Vol. 22. Gale Group, 2002. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2005
↑ Baseball Library entry for Richie Hebner
