The Heart of the Church

The Heart of the Church. . The heart of any monastic church was the choir the space where the monks sat in individual seats called choir stalls., At Bury, the choir occupied the area below the central tower and into the nave to the left. Monks gathered here eight times every day, 365 days a year, to recite the set rounds of prayers known as the Opus Dei ('God's Work'). About 80 monks sat here in their allocated seats. The abbot and prior had special seats on either side of the choir. Daily Masses were probably celebrated on the choir altar, but on major feast days they would have used the more sacred high altar., Pilgrims would pass the choir on their way to the shrine of St Edmund. They reached the shrine via aisles on either side of the church., 1. Pulpitum (stone screen) , 2. Choir Stalls , 3. Choir , 4. Choir Altar , 5. Presbytery , 6. High Altar , 7. St Edmund's Shrine, Bury and Magna Carta , In 1214, the Archbishop of Canterbury secretly brought many of the barons of England to the abbey, to discuss the unpopular King John. At the high altar, they swore an oath to stand against the king. This was the first step towards signing Magna Carta - the 'Great Charter' of liberties that is recognised as a foundation of individual freedoms and democracy to this day.