Soren Kierkegaard

in the ensuing days. And on behalf of the Copenhagen Clerical Conference,
Archdeacon Tryde announced inBerlingske Tidendethat “members of the
clergy, both from the city and from the rest of the country, who wish to
participate in the funeral procession at Bishop Mynster’s burial on Tuesday,
February 7, are requested to gather at the university in such rooms as will
be indicated there, at 9:30A.M. sharp.” And when the great day dawned,
the length and scope of the ceremonies were indeed impressive. According
to the account that appeared inBerlingske Tidende, the ceremonies began at
eight o’clock in the morning, when the graduates and students of the theol-
ogy faculty bore Mynster’s casket from the episcopal residence, across the
square, and into the Church of Our Lady, where it was positioned in front
of the chancel. As Tryde had prescribed, the procession assembled at the
university “at 9:30A.M. sharp,” and members of every order of society were
represented: “The Lord High Steward, representing the King, the Lord
Chamberlain of the Queen Dowager, the Crown Prince and the other royal
princes, members of the Ministry, and the ministers of several foreign gov-
ernments participated in the procession. More than two hundred members
of the clergy turned out, both from the city and from the country at large,
including the bishops of Funen, Aarhus, Aalborg, and Lolland-Falster, plus
the clergy from the city’s Reformed Church.” When the procession had
crossed the square from the university and was standing at the main entrance
to the church, “trumpets were blown from the church tower,” after which
the clergy and the other notables entered the church, which was “decorated
in black and illuminated with wall sconces and candelabra.” After the uni-
versity student chorus had sung the first portion of a cantata written by
Frederik Paludan-Mu ̈ller to music by J.P.E. Hartmann, Archdeacon Tryde
spoke, pointing out the significance that the late bishop had had for the
nation and for the church. Then Just Paulli’s brother, the musician S.H.
Paulli, served as concertmaster and conducted the singing of a poem that
Mynster himself had written. Next came appearances by Bishop C. T. Eng-
elstoft and Dr. A. G. Rudelbach, who were in turn succeeded by the second
half of Paludan-Mu ̈ller’s cantata, “sung to a choral melody in which the
entire gathering participated, singing in lively fashion.” The session at the
church had now been completed, and the theology students bore the casket
out into the street, where it was put onto a hearse near Nørreport. The
procession—“for the most part traveling by carriage”—continued on to
Assistens Cemetery, where Court Pastor Paulli, the son-in-law of the de-
ceased, spoke some “words of farewell” on behalf of the family and per-
formed the ceremony of casting earth on the casket.
It goes without saying that Kierkegaard was not present at all this; but as
a neighbor of the Church of Our Lady, he could not have avoided hearing