Sir – I think it is right and proper that the skeletons discovered at Eynsham Abbey be given Roman Catholic funerals.

Since the probability is that they were Roman Catholic, and since they are likely not to have had a dignified send-off, we can assume that this would be their wish.

It is all too easy to look at human remains in museums and forget that these were real people, whose remains deserve respect.

Compared with the persecutions of the past, we Christians live in a golden age of tolerance and mutual respect in our country.

Like branches on a tree, the many Christian denominations nurture one another as they grow in faith, love and knowledge. I think the people being buried at Eynsham this summer would be glad that Roman Catholics, as well as protestants, jews and muslims, etc, no longer have to go through the heinous persecutions of the past in our country.

Daniel Emlyn Jones, Oxford