Shrines of the Saints

By Michael Tavinor

This book explores the history and significance of shrines to the saints. It includes information on ' working shrines' and a reflection on the power of shrines, from historic cathedrals to the 'roadside shrines' of today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Canterbury Press
• Release date: May 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781848258440

Book preview

Shrines of the Saints in England and Wales

Shrines of the Saints in England and Wales

Michael Tavinor

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© Michael Tavinor 2016

First published in 2016 by the Canterbury Press Norwich

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

978 1 84825 842 6

Typeset by Regent Typesetting

Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon

Contents

List of illustrations

Acknowledgements

Foreword by Sir Roy Strong

Preface

1. Shrines of the saints – a vital part of medieval religion

The importance of shrines in the medieval cathedral

Shrines − relics, healing and pilgrimage

Shrines − symbols of prestige

Shrines − a great leveller of society

Shrines − their architecture

2. The major shrines of England and Wales – a selection

St Alban – England’s first martyr − Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban

St David – patron of Wales − St Davids Cathedral

St Chad – great saint of Mercia − Lichfield Cathedral

St Etheldreda – indomitable saint of the Fens − Ely Cathedral

St Cuthbert – shepherd boy to bishop − Durham Cathedral

St Werburgh – Chester’s holy nun − Chester Cathedral

St Swithun – Winchester’s episcopal saint − Winchester Cathedral

St Edmund the Martyr – royal saint of East Anglia − Bury St Edmunds

St Oswald and St Wulfstan of Worcester – ‘supporters’ of King John − Worcester Cathedral

St Edward the Confessor – patron of England − Westminster Abbey

St Osmund of Salisbury – champion of liturgy − Salisbury Cathedral

St William of York – saintly archbishop − York Minster

Thomas Becket – focus of pilgrimage for Britain and Europe − Canterbury Cathedral

St Hugh of Lincoln – saintly bishop − Lincoln Cathedral

St Richard of Chichester – bishop for the people − Chichester Cathedral

St Thomas of Hereford – aristocratic bishop of the Marches − Hereford Cathedral

Other shrines

St Birinus – saint of Wessex − Dorchester Abbey

St Erkenwald – London’s own saint − St Paul’s Cathedral, London

The Venerable Bede – Durham’s second saint − Durham Cathedral

St John of Beverley – a saint for East Yorkshire − Beverley Minster

St Aldhelm of Malmesbury – great saint of Wessex − Malmesbury Abbey

St Guthlac of Crowland – hermit saint of the Fens − Crowland Abbey

St Melangell at Pennant Melangell

Our Lady of Walsingham

The Canterbury saints

The Rochester saints

Near misses …

Questionable cults …

3. Shrines destroyed

The Reformation – destruction not wholesale

Cathedrals – business as usual?

Chantries and shrines – the big exception to ‘business as usual’?

Intrepid survivors

Westminster Abbey – St Edward, the chief ‘survivor’

Chester Cathedral – a shrine survives when put to another use

Hereford − a shrine survives thanks to antiquarianism

The saints survive in writing and poetry

4. The nineteenth century − shrines have a renaissance

The Roman Catholic perspective − relics all-important

St Thomas of Canterbury Roman Catholic church, Canterbury – shrine in the shadow of Becket’s cathedral

St Chad’s Roman Catholic cathedral, Birmingham – an audacious alternative

St Etheldreda, Ely – a saint’s hand gives authenticity

Saints emerge from the shadows in the nineteenth century – Anglican developments

Cathedrals emerge from the shadows

Lichfield and St Chad – a shrine based on remembrance

Ely Cathedral and St Etheldreda – muted remembrance

St Albans – the first reinvention of a saint’s shrine

5. The twentieth century – the renaissance gathers pace

Opening up of cathedrals – places of welcome and pilgrimage

Restoration – can a medieval shrine be reinvented? Two failed attempts and one success

The Tooth saga at Canterbury Cathedral, 1929−31

St Davids – Anglicans and Roman Catholics diverge in devotion to St David

Walsingham − supreme example of a shrine restored

Roman Catholics raise the profile of the shrine

Westminster Cathedral − St John Southworth and Catholic triumphalism

6. The story continues – the shrines of the saints return

Cathedrals discover new roles

Theology and cathedrals

The church rediscovers healing

The Church rediscovers the saints

Cathedrals rediscover ceremonial

Cathedrals and ecumenism

7. Restored shrines

St Albans – a major development of pilgrimage in an English cathedral

St David

Lichfield – St Chad

Ely – St Etheldreda

Durham – St Cuthbert

Durham − the Venerable Bede

Chester – St Werburgh

Winchester – St Swithun

Westminster Abbey – St Edward the Confessor

Salisbury – St Osmund

York – St William

Lincoln − St Hugh

Chichester – St Richard

Oxford – St Frideswide

Dorchester – St Birinus

Our Lady of Walsingham

St Melangell at Pennant Melangell

Hereford – the changing fortunes of a saint’s shrine, 1850−2008

A shrine reconstructed – St Ethelbert at Hereford

8. Postscript – experience at the shrine yesterday and today

Shrines as places of prayer

Bibliography

To the congregation of Hereford Cathedral with gratitude for their enthusiasm and support for Celebrating the Saints.

List of illustrations

The shrine of St Thomas of Hereford, icon on canopy gable (2008).

Candles lit at the shrine of St Thomas of Hereford.

The shrine of St Alban: created by Abbot Simon in the late twelfth century, an illustration by Matthew Paris in his Life of St Alban (J. C. Wall).

Chapel of St Chad’s Head, Lichfield Cathedral (C. Lockwood).

St Etheldreda at Ely Cathedral: the exhumation of her incorrupt body (J. Crook).

Shrine of St Cuthbert, Durham Cathedral (J. C. Wall).

Reliquary of St Swithun, detail from an early thirteenth-century wall painting in the cathedral library, Winchester Cathedral (J. Crook).

Shrine of St Edmund, from Lydgate’s Life of St Edmund (J. C. Wall).

Tomb of King John, with St Oswald and St Wulfstan on either side of the king’s head, Worcester Cathedral (G. Taylor).

Shrine of Edward the Confessor, Westminster Abbey, MS University Library, Cambridge (J. C. Wall).

Foramina tomb-shrine of St Osmund, now relocated in its original position on the south side of the Trinity Chapel, Salisbury Cathedral (Dean and Chapter, Salisbury Cathedral).

The fifteenth-century ‘St William Window’, showing a man presenting an ex-voto in the form of a wax model of his leg, York Minster (Dean and Chapter, York Minster).

Foramina tomb of St Thomas, detail from a window in the Trinity Chapel, Canterbury Cathedral (J. Crook).

Shrine of St Thomas of Canterbury, drawing purporting to show the shrine, from BL Cotton MS, Tiberius E.viii, fo. 278v, p. 234.

Feretory of St Hugh of Lincoln in procession, from a window in Lincoln Cathedral (J. C. Wall).

Shrine of St Thomas of Hereford in the fifteenth-century (artist’s impression), Hereford Cathedral (G. Taylor).

Shrine of St Erkenwald, from the plate by Wenceslaus Hollar, Old St Paul’s (J. C. Wall).

Conjectural reconstruction of the shrine of the Venerable Bede, Durham Cathedral (J. C. Wall).

Shrine of St Melangell, Pennant Melangell, from Archaeologica Cambrensis, 1893 (J. C. Wall).

Seal of the shrine of Our Lady, Walsingham (Walsingham archives).

Shrines at St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury, from Thomas of Elmham, History, reproduced by William Dugdale in his Monasticon (J. Crook).

Shrine of St Edward the Confessor, from J. Dart, 1723, Westmonasterium, or The History and Antiquities of the Abbey Church of St Peter, Westminster.

Shrine of St Werburgh, converted into a bishop’s throne, Chester Cathedral, from C. J. Hullmandel (1789−1850), after J. S. Prout (1806−76).

Shrine of St Thomas Cantilupe, Hereford Cathedral, from T. Dingley, 1684, A History from Marble.

Shrine of St Thomas, Roman Catholic church of St Thomas of Canterbury, Bargate, Canterbury (Author).

Shrine of St Chad, Roman Catholic Cathedral of St Chad, Birmingham (Author).

Shrine of St Etheldreda, St Etheldreda’s Roman Catholic church, Ely.

Victorian roundel of St Chad in Choir, Lichfield Cathedral (C. Lockwood).

Over 2,000 pieces of the shrines of St Alban and St Amphibalus were discovered when the wall between the Lady Chapel and the shrine area was demolished in 1872. Here they are laid out in the south transept prior to reassembly (Dean and Chapter, St Albans).

Shrine of St Alban as reassembled in 1872 (J. C. Wall).

Shrine of St Amphibalus as reassembled in 1872 (J. C. Wall).

‘The Christian Martyr’ Fr Arthur Tooth as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, February 1877.

Sir Ninian Comper’s design for the shrine of St Thomas of Canterbury (1930) – 1 (Dean and Chapter, Canterbury Cathedral).

Sir Ninian Comper’s design for the shrine of St Thomas of Canterbury (1930) – 2 (Dean and Chapter, Canterbury Cathedral).

Mock-up of Comper’s design.

Shrine area at Canterbury Cathedral today (www.iStockphoto.com).

Shrine with ‘relics’ of St David, Trinity Chapel, St Davids Cathedral.

Translation of the image of Our Lady of Walsingham to the new shrine (15 October 1932) (Walsingham archives).

Shrine of St John Southworth, Westminster Cathedral (Pitkin Books).

Shrine of St Alban, restored 1993 (www.iStock.com).

Shrine of St David, St Davids Cathedral (Dean and Chapter, St Davids).

Shrine of St Chad, Lichfield Cathedral (C. Lockwood).

Site of the shrine of St Etheldreda, Ely Cathedral (Dean and Chapter, Ely Cathedral).

Shrine of St Cuthbert, Durham Cathedral (M. Sadgrove).

Shrine of the Venerable Bede, Durham Cathedral (M. Sadgrove).

Shrine of St Werburgh, Chester Cathedral (J. Crook).

Shrine of St Swithun, Winchester Cathedral (J. Crook).

Shrine of St Swithun – computer reconstruction (J. Crook).

Shrine of St Edward the Confessor, Westminster Abbey (Dean and Chapter, Westminster Abbey).

Tomb/shrine of St Osmund, Salisbury Cathedral (Dean and Chapter, Salisbury Cathedral).

Tomb/shrine of St William, York Minster (Dean and Chapter, York Minster).

Shrine of St Hugh, Lincoln Cathedral (Author).

Shrine of St Richard, Chichester Cathedral (Dean and Chapter, Chichester Cathedral).

Shrine of St Frideswide, Christ Church, Oxford (www.iStock.com).

Shrine of St Birinus, Dorchester.

Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, Holy House (Walsingham archives).

Shrine of St Melangell, Pennant Melangell (www.iStock.com).

Shrine of St Thomas of Hereford with ‘Nimbus’ (1981) (G. Taylor).

Archaeological restoration of shrine (1997) (G. Taylor).

Shrine of St Thomas of Hereford (2008) (G. Taylor).

Shrine of St Ethelbert, Hereford Cathedral (2007) (G. Taylor).

Shrine of St Thomas of Hereford, candles lit at the shrine (G. Taylor).

Acknowledgements

This book grew from an interest in the shrines of the saints through a series of projects developed at Hereford Cathedral during 2005−08, and my thanks are due to my colleagues and to the cathedral congregation for their support. Further interest was generated through academic study at the University of Wales, Lampeter, and my thanks go to Dr Jonathan Wooding, Professor Janet Burton and Dr Robert Pope.

Individual cathedrals have been generous with their support. My especial thanks go to St Albans (Dean Jeffrey John and archivist David Kelsall), St Davids (Fr Harri Williams), Lichfield (Dean Adrian Dorber and photographer Chris Lockwood), Durham (Dean Michael Sadgrove, Lilian Groves, Canon Rosalind Brown and Canon David Hunt), Westminster Abbey (Dean John Hall and librarian Tony Trowles), Canterbury Cathedral (Dean Robert Willis and archivist Cressida Williams), Salisbury Cathedral (Dean June Osborne), Ely Cathedral (Dean Mark Bonney). Dr John Crook has been most generous in sharing with me the fruit of his own researches into medieval shrines. Thanks also to communities of other churches who have supported this project – not least the parish priest at St Thomas RC church, Canterbury, who gave me generous access to the parish archives. Thanks are due to the Hereford team, especially to librarian Rosemary Firman, archivist Rosalind Caird and photographer Gordon Taylor and to Ian Bass, who was a great help in checking various versions. I am grateful, too, to those who helped with questionnaire work at the Hereford shrine, especially Canon Maureen Palmer, Sylvia Green and Joy and Thomas Roderick. The project has been supported by a symposium on shrines of the saints and my thanks are due to Bea Tabor, for her generous help in making this possible.

Final thanks go to Gill Stanley and Julie Anscomb, for their help with the practical aspects of the project.

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The shrine of St Thomas of Hereford, icon on canopy gable (2008)

Foreword by Sir Roy Strong

Although at times statistics would lead us to believe that the Church of England is in terminal decline, every so often something occurs that lights a candle in what all too often seems an engulfing darkness. The renaissance that has occurred in our English cathedrals in the second half of the twentieth century and into the present one is one such light. Within these places the Catholic tradition, inherited from the Oxford Movement and the Caroline divines, has been recast. And it has produced a form of public worship and private piety in tune with aspects of the present age, one that values things like a dignified liturgy that makes full use of the visual and aural arts in the service of God. Within that there is a strong awareness of history, but one that is not averse to new creativity. And all of that is gathered into what is one shared public space open to anyone, one with areas whose association is articulated by the presence of the altar, the pulpit and the font.

These of course epitomize corporate liturgical action involving both priest and people, calling at least for words and generally music and movement. And that leaves a need for a space that calls for none of these things, except an outpouring of the human heart in prayer in a place set apart, one that is silent and mysterious and whose sanctity is made manifest by its association with the remains of a holy person or saint. And, I think, the fact that the saint or holy person is local, ‘one of us’ as it were, adds an immediacy and a reality. That seems to me one of the driving forces behind the renewal of shrines in our cathedrals, the thought that this or that person was just one of us walking the streets outside just as we do. I have never forgotten being asked to speak from the pulpit on the annual celebration of the Saints of the North in Durham Cathedral − an event that involves the whole community in procession round that majestic building, visiting the shrines of mighty saints like Cuthbert but also calling to our minds those who succoured the poor in the Victorian age.

Michael Tavinor here explains well the tortuous path within the Anglican Church that has led us to where we are now. No one as far as I know has expressed it better than T. S. Eliot in these memorable lines from Murder in the Cathedral:

For the blood of thy martyrs and saints

Shall enrich the earth, shall create the holy places.

For Eliot, the martyr’s blood represents that of Christ, and the ground it falls on is forever sanctified. Whether trampled over by armies or visitors, from this ground come the springs that ‘renew the earth’.

Sir Roy Strong

The Laskett

November 2015

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Candles lit at the shrine of St Thomas of Hereford

Preface

The shrines of the saints in churches and cathedrals were at the heart of medieval religion. In a world of darkness and uncertainty, the saints promised encouragement and healing; no wonder their shrines became places of pilgrimage and popularity. Shrines ensured prestige for cathedrals and the certainty of regular income; the proper housing of shrines led to ambitious building campaigns and, perhaps most important of all, enabled people from all sections of society to share in the intercession of the saints.

All of this was swept away at the Reformation and the shrines fared worst of all, representing all that the Reformers detested – wealth, indulgences and a God hedged round by ‘lesser beings’. It has always been inferred that little or nothing of the former glory of shrines remained − a very different story to the mercy shown in Luther’s Reformation. This book challenges this view and, after a survey of the medieval shrines of England and Wales and their background, presents evidence proposing that, in small and subtle ways, the tradition was never quite lost.

Impetus for a ‘renaissance’ of the shrines came in the nineteenth century, with the re-emerging Roman Catholic Church and the Oxford Movement. Each tradition had its own focus and differences, but both raised the profile of the saints in their church communities.

At the same time, cathedrals were rediscovering their own mission and, in many and varied ways, seeds were being sown which would lead to a fuller discovery of what the Reformation had lost.

Research, never before published, charts the course of