206 The clergyman was in many ways a part of authority and prison chaplains worked intimately with other prison employees. The difference between the charge of souls in a prison on the part of the Free Churches was not much. It was dependant on permission to work in prisons and these pastors could not diverge fromor criticise current practise. Services and liturgy were part of the condemned’s last days in prison before execution. The most important will be treated with below, dating from the time when the ritual seems to have been richest; the last ten years of the 18th century until 1830. The condemned sermon was a service which was held on a Sunday or Feastday before the condemned left prison for his last journey to the site of execution. Large crowds gathered and the service was more for them than for the accused himself. The last Holy Communionwas originallv given on the day of execution itself and many persons were present. This was altered gradually. Holy Communion was held with fewer persons attending and finally came to be held privately. It also came to take place earlier, often the day before the execution. In 1900, one condemned prisoner communicated four days before he was executed. Sometimes hymn-singing is spoken of on the way to the scaffold, but there were no other ceremonies on the way. For many years it was usual for two priests to accompany the doomed person, but when the responsibility was laid upon the prison chaplain, he finally came to see to the matter himself. The condemned often made a speech at the place of execution. Sometimes they prayed the Our Father together or a blessing was given before the execution. It was usual that the execution took place while the chaplain prayed the Our Father or gave a blessing or during the singing of a hymn. After the execution the priest was able to holdthe sermon forbidden in 1830. His functionwas towarn and admonish. The earliest recorded such in Sweden is dated 1786. In sermons so far, it was maintained that capital punishment was demanded by God. Howthis demand was and howtangibly God interferedin the dispensation of justice, was a matter which had many answers. Even in this material several opinions on capital punishment as propitiation was brought up. It is maintained here though, of significantly more than those who dismiss the thought. A delicate matter was judgement. Was the executed doomed to eternal damnation or not? One may say that the warning here is considered more hopeful while the sermon at the scaffold paints the executed’s eternal fate in much darker colours. The body caused problems. Up until 1834 it was usual that it was broken on a wheel and the bodies of the hanged was left to rot where they were. It is recorded though, that they were sometimes taken down without permission, and in 1832 as well as 1834 permission was granted to remove such bodies. When this matter of burial was discussed in the 1840’s and the 1860’s it was proposed
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