In a historic moment for the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom, on Monday, 7 July, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was celebrated at Canterbury Cathedral by the Papal Nuncio to Great Britain, Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía.
The Mass marked the Feast of the Translation of St Thomas Becket, which commemorates the ceremonial transfer of Becket’s remains in 1220 from his original tomb in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral to a grand shrine behind the high altar. This event occurred fifty years after his martyrdom and was attended by the teenage King Henry III, a host of European church leaders, and thousands of pilgrims.
While Catholic Masses have taken place in Canterbury Cathedral since the Reformation—and every year on 7 July, the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury allow the Catholic parish of St Thomas of Canterbury to celebrate Mass in honour of St Thomas Becket—this was the first occasion in modern history that a papal nuncio presided over a Mass in the historic Anglican cathedral.
Hundreds attended the Mass, including pilgrims from across the United Kingdom, priests, and even the Vatican’s cricket team. The liturgy began at 7:30pm and included the veneration and blessing of St Thomas Becket’s relics, brought from the local Catholic parish. Music for the Mass was provided by Tenebrae, a London-based professional vocal ensemble founded in 2001 and directed by Nigel Short.
The <em>Herald</em>’s own Gavin Ashenden was in attendance. Reflecting on the day, he said: “Whilst Holy Mass has been celebrated in Canterbury Cathedral by local priests and even cardinals, the papal nuncio brings a special political recognition of the Catholic Church in Great Britain. He read out greetings from His Holiness Pope Leo XIV and at the very end, he took the relics of St Thomas—his vestments and finger bone—to bless the congregation.”
As Mr Ashenden was, as a boy, a choral scholar of the cathedral, he was asked to give a tour to the Vatican cricket team. Recalling one amusing and enriching moment, he said: “At 11am, as is custom in Anglican cathedrals to do so on the hour, the cathedral paused for prayer. Rather unusually, it included a prayer for the dead. The Thirty-Nine Articles, a foundational document of the Church of England, reject the Catholic doctrine of purgatory, and I explained this oddity to the seminarians and priests who formed the cricket team. I asked if they would like to enhance the prayers of the cathedral by singing the Our Father in Latin. So we filled the great cathedral with the <em>Pater Noster</em>, perhaps to the surprise of the cathedral staff and clergy.”
(Photo by LEON NEAL/AFP via Getty Images)
