Leigh Hatts

Today Monday 21 December is the birthday of St Thomas of Canterbury: Thomas Becket. His parents were Matilda and Gilbert Becket from Rouen where their son as archbishop was to visit sixty years later as his exile ended. The baby was baptised Thomas having been born on St Thomas the Apostle Day -now observed in […]

Thomas Becket: murder and the making of a saint is the major Becket 2020 exhibition which will open at the British Museum on Wednesday 22 April. The exhibition was scheduled for earlier this year but as with most St Thomas Becket anniversary events was postponed. The array of objects associated with Becket will include jewellery, […]

“Becket’s cause is not our own,” said his successor Justin Welby speaking at Southwark Cathedral on Friday. “We do know better than him in some areas. But too often his courage is not our own either; the courage that puts our all in the hands of God, and like the modern martyrs sees death as […]

Friday 11 December Today 850 years ago St Thomas Becket was at Southwark Priory. St Thomas of Canterbury had been welcomed by crowds along the Old Kent Road and in Borough High Street. The occasion will be recalled tonight in Southwark Cathedral, the old priory, during choral evensong. A relic of the saint is being […]

The three-tier system for controlling the virus means that walkers should not enter Kent. If already in the county you are free to walk although pubs are not open for accommodation. However, walking the route from London to Erith is possible as this is all within Greater London which is in the middle tier. Dartford […]

St Andrew’s Day 30 November is not an important day only in Scotland. St Andrew has been patron of Rochester Cathedral since 604 when Justus established the first church. Justus arrived from Rome to support the existing mission of St Augustine who had come from the monastery of St Andrew & St Gregory in Rome, […]

Joanna Moorhead’s lovely book of Rebel Saints for 21st-century Girls reveals many feisty female saints. Her choice of forty is inspiring and the illustrations of each one by Clare Kormoczy are delightful. The inclusion of Hildegard Von Bingen reminds us that St Thomas Becket and Henry II met an equal when they corresponded with her […]

This year “is full of anniversaries: 40 years since Oscar Romero was assassinated; 100 years since Joan of Arc’s canonisation; 850 years since the killing of Becket; 50 years since the canonisation of the 40 martyrs of England and Wales,” says Catherine Pepinster. Catherine Pepinster’s new book Martyrdom: Why Martyrs Still Matter embraces St Thomas […]

With the approach of Advent we can soon start to follow in real time the weeks before the murder of Thomas Becket 850 years ago. At the start of December the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket returned to from exile in France by landing at Sandwich in his diocese. His ride into Canterbury through cheering […]

Monday 26 October is Alfred the Great Day in the Anglican and Winchester City calendars marking the King of West Saxons death in 899. Alfred was a pupil of St Swithun and like his teacher is a key figure in Winchester’s history. We come across Alfred at the start of the PW when passing through […]