Suffolk, Debenham - "amici sui peramantissimi
Standing between the symbols of faith hope and charity, John Simson 1697, monument erected to his beloved friend "amici sui peramantissimi” by Rev John Sheppard of Wetheringsett. At his death Simson left a perpetual charge on land and farms in Debenham and Framlingham to provide 42 wheaten loaves every Sunday for the poor, , also coats of light grey cloth for 8 poor men and gowns for 6 poor women on Christmas Day each year.
Child on the left “Esurivi enim,” witha sheaf of corn; “Nudus eram,”- boy on the right holds the edges of a cloak alludes to the reward for those who fed the hungry and clothed the naked
John Simson an apothecary had no claim to bear arms unlike John Sheppard who placed his Sheppard arms of 3 hounds holding arrows in their mouths underneath the effigy www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/13849295634/ . The carving on the black basalt lid of the tomb-chest includes a helmet above a shield that shows a cross, a crown of thorns and two reeds. Below them is written, “Haec Cuique Christiano Insignia” (the badges for any Christian). Simson’s arms are the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation (Ephesians 6, 16-17). An accompanying poem composed, presumably, by Sheppard himself, explains that the emblems evident on the shield lay no claim to a noble genealogy for Simson, instead, they symbolise Christ’s Passion: www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/13849294544/
"We boast not here (kind reader) a descent from Brittish, Saxon or the Norman race;
Nor have we sought an Herauld to invent Some Hierogliphick draughts this stone to grace:
The figure of Christ's Cross we choose to wear the Crown which did his sacred temples tear
Badges that his disciples all may bear. No mantlings of rich metals, furs or dye
Th' Escocheon owns, (but plaine) to please the eye;
Such let this unclaim'd bearings mantle be, As best may shew our vests of Charitie.
No force, or wreath, the Helmet to adorn We claime, we give the Chaplet made of thorn;
The Sceptre reed presented him in scorn.
Thus here those instruments of shame and paine Which our Dear Lord for man did not disdaine
Of honourable arms we in the room Display, true ensigns for a Christians tomb.
Such Heraldry as this let none dispise Free from the Censure of the good and wise"
John Sheppard seems to have also laid a slab in the chancel to another "amicus sunis"
www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/13849266835/
Suffolk, Debenham - "amici sui peramantissimi
Standing between the symbols of faith hope and charity, John Simson 1697, monument erected to his beloved friend "amici sui peramantissimi” by Rev John Sheppard of Wetheringsett. At his death Simson left a perpetual charge on land and farms in Debenham and Framlingham to provide 42 wheaten loaves every Sunday for the poor, , also coats of light grey cloth for 8 poor men and gowns for 6 poor women on Christmas Day each year.
Child on the left “Esurivi enim,” witha sheaf of corn; “Nudus eram,”- boy on the right holds the edges of a cloak alludes to the reward for those who fed the hungry and clothed the naked
John Simson an apothecary had no claim to bear arms unlike John Sheppard who placed his Sheppard arms of 3 hounds holding arrows in their mouths underneath the effigy www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/13849295634/ . The carving on the black basalt lid of the tomb-chest includes a helmet above a shield that shows a cross, a crown of thorns and two reeds. Below them is written, “Haec Cuique Christiano Insignia” (the badges for any Christian). Simson’s arms are the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation (Ephesians 6, 16-17). An accompanying poem composed, presumably, by Sheppard himself, explains that the emblems evident on the shield lay no claim to a noble genealogy for Simson, instead, they symbolise Christ’s Passion: www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/13849294544/
"We boast not here (kind reader) a descent from Brittish, Saxon or the Norman race;
Nor have we sought an Herauld to invent Some Hierogliphick draughts this stone to grace:
The figure of Christ's Cross we choose to wear the Crown which did his sacred temples tear
Badges that his disciples all may bear. No mantlings of rich metals, furs or dye
Th' Escocheon owns, (but plaine) to please the eye;
Such let this unclaim'd bearings mantle be, As best may shew our vests of Charitie.
No force, or wreath, the Helmet to adorn We claime, we give the Chaplet made of thorn;
The Sceptre reed presented him in scorn.
Thus here those instruments of shame and paine Which our Dear Lord for man did not disdaine
Of honourable arms we in the room Display, true ensigns for a Christians tomb.
Such Heraldry as this let none dispise Free from the Censure of the good and wise"
John Sheppard seems to have also laid a slab in the chancel to another "amicus sunis"
www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/13849266835/