Saturday 25 July is St James’s Day which is special to pilgrims old, new and intending.

St James the Great, one of the core apostles and John’s brother, is now found in Santiago de Compostela cathedral where he draws thousands of pilgrims arriving on various trails across Spain from France and Portugal.

From England you start by walking the Pilgrims’ Way to Canterbury.

James’s shell logo is the badge for pilgrims to Santiago and other places including Canterbury where the shell is found on the cathedral’s gatehouse door.

“Pilgrimage is physical travel in pursuit of a spiritual goal,” says Vadis VR founder Professor Amy Giuliano when writing about St James as the patron of pilgrims.

“It is a microcosm of the soul’s lifelong journey to God – the greatest of all adventures.

“A pilgrim lives each day with radical intentionality and utter dependence upon divine providence. When he leaves the comforts and security of home behind, illusions of self-sufficiency and control quickly dissipate.

“He traverses unfamiliar terrain, encounters new people and customs, and sleeps each night in a different locale. He is vulnerable to the elements and the road’s many pitfalls. He experiences his own physical limits, his dependence on others for aid, and the necessity of pairing down his baggage to the bare essentials.

“At the same time, his spirits are buoyed by prayer, progress, and the natural beauty that surrounds him. He is encouraged by the charity of strangers and enjoys a deep camaraderie with fellow travellers striving toward the same goal.

“These lights and perils, ecstasies and elations involved in the pilgrim’s physical journey point to greater spiritual realities, thus imparting life-changing lessons.”

Information about St James and pilgrimage to Santiago is available from Camino Pilgrim.

Today is St Margaret’s Day.

Before Southwark Priory became the parish church (and later also cathedral) there was St Margaret of Antioch Church in Borough High Street.

St Margaret’s in Borough High Street, rebuilt in the 13th century, was Southwark’s parish church until 1540.

As you left the Tabard Inn you would have seen the church opposite on an island plot . The site is now The Bridge Tap pub with the war memorial outside its front door. Here Borough High Street was known as St Margaret’s Hill although the incline for London Bridge was little further north.

The church became a court and was destroyed by fire in 1676.

Public worship has returned to Winchester Cathedral in time for St Swithun’s Day on Wednesday 15 July.

Swithun (800-862) often gets a mention in the weather forecast at this time of the summer thanks to the saying:

St Swithin’s day if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain
St Swithin’s day if thou be fair
For forty days ’twill rain nae mair.

This derives from the report that a violent storm broke as Swithun’s body was being moved on 15 July 971 from his outdoor grave to a shrine inside the Old Minster which preceded today’s Norman cathedral church.

Before the change in calendar 15 July would have fallen on today’s 26 July so the forty days refers to the possibility of a wet August which is not unknown.

Pilgrims setting out from Winchester would have been able to visit Swithun’s shrine containing his body knowing that at Canterbury they would find his head.

This skull is now in Évreux Cathed­ral in Normandy although not displayed.

Pilgrims starting at London’s Southwark Cathedral can look for the figure of St Swithun in the Great Screen at the east end.

At Winchester Cathedral this year the St Swithun’s Day Eucharist is at 12 noon. Evening Prayer at 5pm will be broadcast on Zoom.

William Cash was planning a Catholic Herald readers’ Becket anniversary pilgrimage to Canterbury when the virus struck.

In this month’s Catholic Herald he writes about St Thomas Becket and recounts own recent walk from Southwark.

There are some delightful illustrations.

According to The Times William Cash is thorough for he also went solo from Winchester being the first person to ask for a pilgrim stamp at Winchester Cathedral after its reopening.

He arrived in Canterbury last week on the 800th anniversary of the consecration of St Thomas Becket’s shrine.

Maybe the magazine’s readers can walk with William in 2023 to mark the 850th anniversary of Thomas Becket’s canonisation.

The eve of the Translation of St Thomas of Canterbury is the anniversary of St Thomas More’s death in 1535.

He is a Becket figure who put God before the state and as a result lost his life.

Today pilgrims ‘meet’ him at Southwark, Dartford, Farningham and Canterbury.

In Canterbury every 6 July there is a lecture within a service at St Dunstan’s Church where St Thomas’s head is buried in the family vault. His daughter lived along the street on the PW.

The church is the last one on the PW to get your pilgrim passport stamp before reaching Canterbury’s city gate.

The St Thomas More Commemoration Service will go ahead on Monday 6 July at 7pm and can be followed live on the parish Facebook.

The order of service is available on the church website.

On this coming Saturday 4 July some pubs, bed & breakfasts and cafes will reopen.

Does this mean that we can now walk to Canterbury and get there by the 800th Translation anniversary on Tuesday 7 July?

‘Probably not’ is the best answer.

Not all pubs or accommodation will be open on 4 July. Some are anxious to welcome us but others are being cautious and reopening later in the month.

Don’t expect to be able to collect lots of stamps in your passport.

Pilgrimage is most rewarding when taken slowly so you don’t want to have to walk long distances at speed to reach a bed. Booking ahead will be essential for some time.

Also, public transport does not have much capacity at the moment. Southeastern Railway has a new timetable from Monday but there will still only be 80% of normal services.

If you do go on the PW follow physical distancing guidelines and limit your contact with others and anyone you meet. Your party should be restricted to five others from different households.

Looking at the PW from London to Canterbury, the good news is that Southwark Cathedral will reopen on Saturday for private prayer and reflection between 10am and 3pm daily.

Public services will resume on Monday.

Tuesday 7 July, Translation of St Thomas of Canterbury: Canterbury Cathedral will be open from 10am (Sun 12.30pm) to 4pm from Saturday 4 July with free entry during the first week. Becket 2020 celebrations and events have been postponed but on Tuesday there will be The Eucharist at 8am and Evensong (without singing) at 5.30pm.

Today Thursday 2 July is St Swithun’s Day in Norway.

Norway’s Stavanger Cathedral, built in 1125, is dedicated to St Swithun. Its first bishop, Reinald, came from Winchester and was responsible for the construction by English builders.

He arrived with one of the saint’s arms which was last seen in 1517. The other one was in Peterborough.

2 July marks the day of Swithun’s death in 863. In Norway it is known as Syftesok meaning Swithun’s wake.

St Swithun’s Day in Winchester and the English calendar is 15 July and marks the moving of his grave in 1093 which it is claimed triggered forty days of rain.

Today Sunday 7 June is Trinity Sunday.

On the Sunday after Whit Sunday 1162 Thomas Becket was consecrated bishop by Bishop of Winchester Henry de Blois assisted by fourteen other bishops.

‘The Sunday after Whit Sunday‘ was at Canterbury Cathedral afterwards called Trinity Sunday as in France and eventually this was incorporated into the universal calendar.

In 1220 St Thomas of Canterbury’s shrine at Canterbury was placed in the Trinity Chapel.

St Joan of Arc Day on Saturday 30 May brings to mind Cardinal Henry Beaufort.

The Cardinal presided at the trial of Joan who afterwards entrusted her ring to him on the eve of her death by burning in Rouen’s market square in 1431.

We meet Cardinal Beaufort as we start out on the Pilgrims’ Way.

At Winchester Cathedral his magnificent tomb is next to St Swithun’s shrine.

In Southwark Cathedral there is the Cardinal’s shield in the south transept and his image on the great screen.

He knew both churches well.

Those setting out from Winchester will pass through Farnham where there is the St Joan of Arc Church in Tilford Road just behind the station. The church, built in 1929, is dedicated to St Joan because Cardinal Beaufort, as Bishop of Winchester, was often in residence at Farnham Castle.

This year is the centenary of St Joan’s canonisation.

Rouen was also known to Thomas Becket who was there in 1170 on his way back to Canterbury and his death.

***Southwark Cathedral and Rouen Cathedral maintain an ecumenical link with exchange visits.

Today 21 May is the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII setting out for Canterbury.

Early on the morning of 21 May 1520, after the Ascension, the King and Queen Katharine (of Aragon), accompanied by Cardinal Wolsey and a huge entourage, left Greenwich Palace.

A very long procession went uphill towards Blackheath. 

The final destination was to be France where Henry was attending the great summit known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold.

The government of England and Wales had been placed in the hands of Bishop Richard Fox of Winchester who remained at Greenwich.

Henry stopped at Lullingstone Castle, home of SirJohn Peche who was accompanying him, before staying overnight at Otford Palace.  The King was familiar with the Archbishop William Warham’s recently rebuilt palace having stayed there in the previous year.

Next day the party arrived at Maidstone.

But a night was still spent at nearby Charing, another of the archbishop’s staging post palaces.

A day later Henry and Katharine arrived at Canterbury ready to keep Whit Sunday at the cathedral.

They were joined by Charles V of Spain, who was concerned about the pending summit, and together the two sovereigns paid homage at the shrine of St Thomas Becket.

It was not until 7 June that Henry VIII at last met King Francis of France near Calais.

The return at the end of July was by way of Sittingbourne rather than Charing.