ST. PANCRAS OLD CHURCH.

(_To the Editor._)


In No. 546, of _The Mirror_, you gave a History of Old Saint Pancras
Church. Will you allow me to say that it is not at a Church in the South
of France, where prayers are said for the souls of those that are buried
here, but at the Church of St. Peter, at Rome. A writer in the _Morning
Herald_ of August, 1825, states thus: "The History of the Old Church of
Saint Pancras is not a little singular; it is one of the oldest in the
county of Middlesex, and the parish it belongs to one of the largest,
being eighteen miles in circumference. The name was sent from Rome by
the Pope, expressly for this church, which has the only general Catholic
burial ground in England; and mass is daily said in St. Peter's, at
Rome, for the repose of the souls of the faithful, whose bodies are
deposited therein; and it was also the last church in England whose bell
tolled for mass, or in which any Catholic rites were celebrated. A few
months ago an Italian showed me an Italian prayer-book, in which was a
coloured drawing of St. Pancras Church; he told me it was held in great
veneration at Rome, and prayers are said daily in St. Peter's, for its
prosperity, and it is considered to be the oldest church now standing in
Europe." A writer in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, 1749, states thus:
"Christ's sacred altar here first Britain saw. Saint Pancras is included
in that land granted by Ethelbert, the fifth King of Kent, to the
Cathedral Church of St. Paul, London, about the year 603. The first
mention that has been found to be made of this church, occurs in the
year 1183; but it does not appear whether it was, or was not, of recent