Monday 29 December is the anniversary of St Thomas Becket’s murder in Canterbury Cathedral.

At Canterbury Cathedral there will be celebrations of The Eucharist at the Altar of Swordspoint at 8am and 12.30pm.

The Roman Catholic Mass is at noon at St Thomas of Canterbury Church in nearby Burgate. The church is home to relics of Becket including a piece of finger bone, once held by Pontigny Abbey where St Thomas stayed during his years of exile, and a fragment of his vestment.

St Thomas was martyred on the fifth day of Christmas 1170 at the start of vespers so the Cathedral evensong on this day has long been a special occasion. At 5.30pm The Memorial Service for the Martyrdom of St Thomas largely takes the form of evensong with short graphic readings from TS Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral.

The play was writtten for performance in the cathedral’s chapter house.

The service will be sung by Canterbury Chamber Choir. The anthem is by John Rutter and hymns include In our day of thanksgiving. The Bishop of Richborough will preach.

At 7.30pm there will be Solemn Vespers in the Cathedral Crypt.

The day is one of pilgrimage but more by car or public transport rather than foot. There was never a huge number of pilgrims from afar on this day due to the weather and short daylight hours.

The Translation of St Thomas on 7 July was the better attended occasion and remains so today.