What is "chapel of ease"

Ease \Ease\ ([=e]z), n. [OE. ese, eise, F. aise; akin to Pr. ais, aise, OIt. asio, It. agio; of uncertain origin; cf. L. ansa handle, occasion, opportunity. Cf. Agio, Disease.]

1. Satisfaction; pleasure; hence, accommodation; entertainment. [Obs.]

   They him besought Of harbor and or ease as for hire penny.
   --Chaucer.

2. Freedom from anything that pains or troubles; as:

   1. Relief from labor or effort; rest; quiet; relaxation; as, ease of body.

      Usefulness comes by labor, wit by ease.
      --Herbert.

      Give yourself ease from the fatigue of watching.
      --Swift.

   2. Freedom from care, solicitude, or anything that annoys or disquiets; tranquillity; peace; comfort; security; as, ease of mind.

      Among these nations shalt thou find no ease.
      --Deut. xxviii. 65.

      Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
      --Luke xii. 19.

   3. Freedom from constraint, formality, difficulty, embarrassment, etc.; facility; liberty; naturalness; -- said of manner, style, etc.; as, ease of style, of behavior, of address.

      True ease in writing comes from art, not chance.
      --Pope.

      Whate'er he did was done with so much ease, In him alone 't was natural to please.
      --Dryden.

      At ease, free from pain, trouble, or anxiety. ``His soul shall dwell at ease.''
      --Ps. xxv. 12.

      Chapel of ease. See under Chapel.

      Ill at ease, not at ease, disquieted; suffering; anxious.

      To stand at ease (Mil.), to stand in a comfortable attitude in one's place in the ranks.

      With ease, easily; without much effort.

      Syn: Rest; quiet; repose; comfortableness; tranquillity; facility; easiness; readiness.

Chapel \Chap"el\, n. [OF. chapele, F. chapelle, fr. LL. capella, orig., a short cloak, hood, or cowl; later, a reliquary, sacred vessel, chapel; dim. of cappa, capa, cloak, cape, cope; also, a covering for the head. The chapel where St. Martin's cloak was preserved as a precious relic, itself came to be called capella, whence the name was applied to similar paces of worship, and the guardian of this cloak was called capellanus, or chaplain. See Cap, and cf. Chaplain., Chaplet.]

1. A subordinate place of worship; as,

   1. a small church, often a private foundation, as for a memorial;

   2. a small building attached to a church;

   3. a room or recess in a church, containing an altar.

      Note: In Catholic churches, and also in cathedrals and abbey churches, chapels are usually annexed in the recesses on the sides of the aisles.
      --Gwilt.

2. A place of worship not connected with a church; as, the chapel of a palace, hospital, or prison.

3. In England, a place of worship used by dissenters from the Established Church; a meetinghouse.

4. A choir of singers, or an orchestra, attached to the court of a prince or nobleman.

5. (Print.)

   1. A printing office, said to be so called because printing was first carried on in England in a chapel near Westminster Abbey.

   2. An association of workmen in a printing office. Chapel of ease.

      1. A chapel or dependent church built for the ease or a accommodation of an increasing parish, or for parishioners who live at a distance from the principal church.

      2. A privy. (Law)

         Chapel master, a director of music in a chapel; the director of a court or orchestra.

         To build a chapel (Naut.), to chapel a ship. See Chapel, v. t., 2.

         To hold a chapel, to have a meeting of the men employed in a printing office, for the purpose of considering questions affecting their interests.

n. 1 A chapel built in a remote part of a parish to meet the needs of those who live far from the parish church. 2 A privy; a toilet.

A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently.

Often such a chapel of ease is deliberately built as such, being more accessible to some parishioners than the main church. Such a chapel may exist, for example, when a parish covers several dispersed villages, or a central village together with its satellite hamlet or hamlets. In such a case the parish church will be in the main settlement, with one or more chapels of ease in the subordinate village(s) and/or hamlet(s). An example is the chapel belonging to All Hallows' Parish in Maryland, USA; the chapel was built in Davidsonville from 1860 to 1865 because the parish's "Brick Church" in South River was too far away at distant. A more extreme example is the Chapel-of-Ease built in 1818 on St. David's Island in Bermuda to spare St. David's Islanders crossing St. George's Harbour to reach the parish church, St. Peter's, on St. George's Island.

Some chapels of ease are buildings which used to be the main parish church until a larger building was constructed for that purpose. For example, the small village of Norton, Hertfordshire, contains the mediaeval church of St Nicholas, which served it adequately for centuries; but when the large new town of Letchworth was built, partly within the parish, St Nicholas's became too small to serve the increased population. This led to the building of a new main church building for the parish, and St Nicholas's became a chapel of ease.

Chapels of ease are sometimes associated with large manor houses, where they provide a convenient place of worship for the family of the manor, and for the domestic and rural staff of the house and the estate. There are many such chapels in England, for example that at Pedlinge in Kent. An example in the New World is Saint John's Chapel of Ease in Chamcook, New Brunswick, Canada, which was built in the 1840s to support a gentleman's house and the small settlement of shipbuilders, farmers, and grist-mill nearby.

Sometimes an ancient parish church is reduced in status to a chapel of ease due to a shift of population. An example is the churches of St Mary Wiston and All Saints at Buncton in West Sussex. For centuries St Mary's was the parish church (located near to Wiston House and therefore the centre of population), whilst All Saints served the nearby hamlet of Buncton, as a chapel of ease. Today, however, the resident population of Wiston is tiny, whilst Buncton has grown, so that in 2007 the status of the buildings was reversed, with All Saints becoming the parish church, and St Mary's reduced to a chapel of ease.

When two or more existing parishes are combined into a single parish, one or more of the old church buildings may be kept as a chapel of ease. An example can be seen in Palo Alto, California, where, in 1987, the six parishes of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose in California in the city were combined into a single parish, St. Thomas Aquinas Parish. St. Thomas Aquinas Church serves as the parish church, with Our Lady of the Rosary Church and St. Albert the Great Church as chapels of ease.

When a parish is split because of expanding population a chapel of ease may be promoted to a full parish church. An example of this is St. Margaret's Church, Rochester which started as a chapel of ease for the parish of St Nicholas in 1108, became a parish church in 1488 then reverted to a chapel of ease when the parish was recombined with St Peter's in 1953.