Notable Clergy

The Office of the High Overseer holds the ashes of notable clergymen and clergywomen of the Abbey of the Everyman on display in two rooms on the first floor. Their epitaphs are engraved onto plaques attached to the walls above their urns. Below are transcripts of the plaques.

High Overseer Benjamin Holger
''HIGH OVERSEER BENJAMIN HOLGER His words will drive us ever onward.''

''Founder of the order. Wrote Reform and Tradition. Knife driven through his eye during the Siege of White Cliff.''

High Overseer John Clavering
''HIGH OVERSEER JOHN CLAVERING May his light guide our path through the murk.''

''Instrumental in the construction of the Abbey. His deft hands illuminated early copies of the Seven Strictures. Consumed by fever in his bed.''

High Overseer Falke Barrowe
''HIGH OVERSEER FALKE BARROWE His hand will ever be on our shoulders.''

''Contributed several chapters to the Sayings of the Overseers. Introduced the Rite of the Watchful Eye. Fell down a flight of stairs.''

High Overseer Abram Templeton
''HIGH OVERSEER ABRAM TEMPLETON A pillar of justice standing above the clouds of iniquity.''

''Wrote the opening of the Litany on the White Cliff. Taken by consumptive illness.''

High Overseer Francis Perry
''HIGH OVERSEER FRANCIS PERRY His sacrifice will never be forgotten.''

''First Overseer to personally encounter and combat an incarnation of the Outsider. Went missing during the Fugue Feast, his body was never found.''

Overseer John Breton
''OVERSEER JOHN BRETON He was a blade held aloft for the Everyman.''

''Aided in hiding the Book of Strictures from being burned by enemy fires. Run through with a spear during the Siege of White Cliff.''

High Overseer Steven Gainsford
''HIGH OVERSEER STEVEN GAINSFORD His mind was a sharp light piercing the gloom.''

''First to discover the discordant scale. A champion against the forces of corruption. Died testing a harness designed to protect its wearer from high falls.''

High Overseer Scott Grafton
''HIGH OVERSEER SCOTT GRAFTON He drove back the darkness so we might have peace.''

''First Overseer to forge into Pandyssia, to purge darkness wherever it might be found. Died of plague. Cremated with Holger's Opal to honor his battle with the plague.''

High Oracle Gwen Horncroft
''HIGH ORACLE GWEN HORNCROFT Her insights aligned us in our time of greatest need.''

''First woman inducted. Founded the Oracular Order. Succumbed to madness.''

High Overseer Rhye Mattson
''HIGH OVERSEER RHYE MATTSON By his innovation do our ranks now swell.''

''Initiated the Trials of Aptitude. Defenestrated during the Night of Flung Shutters.''

High Overseer Tynan Wallace
''HIGH OVERSEER TYNAN WALLACE His fires left nothing behind but the righteous and true.''

''Led the first of the Great Trials. Tortured and burned over 1000 heretics. Died in bed of old age.''

High Oracle Dalia Somonos
''HIGH ORACLE DALIA SOMONOS Her inquisitive mind left nowhere for corruption to hide.''

''First woman of Southern blood to join the order. Opened relations with Serkonos and founded an Oracular Chapel there. Assassinated by agents of the Outsider.''

Trivia

 * Although High Overseer Francis Perry's body was never found, there is still an urn in front of his plaque; however, there are no ashes inside.
 * High Overseer Francis Perry's account on the encounter with the Outsider was further explored in the book Can The Outsider Speak? An analysis of his visitations (2) found in Dishonored: Death of the Outsider. He claimed the Outsider turn into a large serpent and attack him in his own chamber, which the author of the book discredited.
 * The urn of Overseer John Breton can be found broken with the ashes spilled onto the floor.
 * He is the only regular Overseer whose ashes are displayed, the others being High Overseers and High Oracles.
 * Upon breaking High Overseer Scott Grafton's urn, Corvo can find and collect Holger's Opal, which is worth 200 coins.
 * Holger's Opal can also be obtained by merely walking up to the urn and looking down through the opening; the option to take it will then be available.
 * According to Harvey Smith and Raphael Colantonio, the death of the High Overseers is an allusion to the developers who worked on BioShock.
 * The names of the clergy are slightly altered versions of the real names of those developers:
 * Jean-Paul LeBreton
 * Scott Johnston
 * Jen Hollcroft
 * Ryan Mattson
 * Tynan Wales