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James Rice was mayor of Waterford several times during the fifteenth
century. He built a chapel to house his tomb in the Norman Cathedral
in 1481. His wife Katherine Broun also shares the tomb.
The tomb is a fine example of a cadaver monument, depicting the
horror of death and the glory of saints. It has been described as
one of the most important late medieval monuments in Ireland.
Rice wished the tomb to be a reminder of the shortness of our earthly
life. Part of the Latin inscription reads 'I am what you will be,
I was what you are now'. The tomb shows a badly decayed body, with
worms crawling over it and a frog or toad feeding on the stomach
of the corpse. Figures of saints are around the sides of the tomb.
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