Thomas à Becket returns home to Canterbury

Well, a piece of him. A piece of bone believed to be from the saint's elbow has been visiting England this past week, on loan from Hungary where it usually resides. After being displayed in several London churches (including both Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral) the relic was taken from London to Canterbury, the site of Becket's murder and medieval shrine. The shrine sprang up almost immediately after his death amid numerous reports of miracles and a medieval populace condemning Henry II and calling for Thomas' canonisation. This in fact happened very speedily, in 1173, only three years after his death. The shrine flourished wildly throughout the Middle Ages but was destroyed at the Reformation.

Henry II (left) and Thomas à Becket (right). From a medieval manuscript, via

The London-Canterbury pilgrimage route, and the incredibly popular medieval cult of St Thomas, was imortalised by Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales. Over six hundred years later, history seems to be repeating itself, and St Thomas' cult to be undergoing a temporary revival, if the number of news articles covering the story is anything to go by:

BBC 

Telegraph (also here)

The Guardian 

ITV News 

Church Times 

The Daily Mail 

New York Times

The Tablet 

Kent Online

Lancashire Telegraph 

I wonder what the original medieval pilgrims would have made of it all!

And specially, from every shires ende

Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende,

The holy blisful martir for to seke,

That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seke.

- Canterbury Tales, General Prologue