With it's elaborate gothic spires, elegant vaulted cieling, and extensive history, Canterbury Cathedral is one of England's most beloved places of worship. It is a sight of immense spiritual, historical, and even literary value since it is the destination of Chaucer's pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales. Here are ten interesting facts about the Canterbury Cathedral.
1. St. Augustine, the founder of the Cathedral, was sent by Pope Gregory the Great as a missionary to England. Allegedly, the Pope sent Augustine to convert the English natives because he was so moved with compassion at the sight of the beautiful English slaves, many of them children, being sold in the Roman city market.
2. Canturbury Cathedral is built on the foundations of an old Saxon church.
3. Danes that invaded England captured Archbishop Alphege, took him to Greenwich and held him for ransom. When he refused to be ransomed, the Danes beat Alphege to death with ox bones after a feast.
4. The Church burned in 1067. William the conqueror brought over his trusted advisor Lanfranc, an abbot of Normandy, who would later oversee the rebuilding of the church. Because there was no church to be had at the time, Lanfranc was consecrated in a makeshift shelter.
5. The section called the "Corona" once housed a relic of St. Thomas a' Becket's severed skull.
6. Trinity Chapel housed the remains of Becket from 1220 to 1538 when the shrine was destroyed during the Reformation period. They would use a block and tackle to open the lid of the golden shrine so pilgrims could see the jewel incrusted casket.
7. The vaulted cieling of the cloister is studded with 800 coats of arms representing the benefactors who helped in the rebuilding of the cloister during the reign of Henry the Fourth.
8. After Becket was cannonized, monks had to enlarge the Cathedral to accommodate huge throngs of pilgrims who came to visit his shrine. After his shrine was destroyed, however, no one knows the whereabouts of his relics.
9. The oldest window in the Cathedral dates back to about 1176AD and depicts and image of Adam delving. It is now located in the West Window, at the center of the bottom tier.
10. The 15th century "Chapter House," with its beautiful barrel vaulting of Irish bog oak, was the original setting of T.S. Elliot's Murder in the Cathedral, which was first performed in 1935.
Pilgrims (or more likely tourists) are still visiting the Canterbury Cathedral today, enjoying its inspiring beauty and significants in English and church history. Until I get to personally see the Cathedral, I will have to content myself with looking at the many photos avalible on the internet, some of which I have included in this post.
No comments:
Post a Comment