Dean Robert Willis at Canterbury before retirement
The memorial service for former Dean of Canterbury Robert Willis is to be at Salisbury Cathedral on Candlemas, Sunday 2 February at 3pm.
Tickets are not required and all are welcome at the service which will take the form of choral evensong with an address by former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.
The service will be livestreamed and can be viewed here or via the cathedral website.
Robert Willis, much loved long serving Canterbury Dean who retired in 2022, died unexpectedly last year in the USA where his funeral took place.
It may be a surprise that the memorial service is not to be at Canterbury but the venue may prove convenient to those wishing to attend who live near Salisbury. Robert Willis began his ministry in the Salisbury Diocese.
As Dean, Robert Willis visited Segni in Italy where Alexander III presided over the fast canonisation of Thomas Becket in 1173.
Salisbury Cathedral’s saint for pilgrims is Osmund..
Processional arch at St George’s Church at Wrotham
This year 2025 is the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth.
The author was born on 16 December 1775 and many anniversary celebrations are planned during this year and on the actual birthday 16 December.
All along the Pilgrims’ Way there are places associated with Jane Austen but she does not mention the existence of this ancient path in her books.
It is true that the Pilgrims’ Way had few if any pilgrims in the late 18th century but the dormant path was being reawakened in Surrey during her lifetime by William Bray and she was deeply aware of heritage. Her very last writing shortly before her death featured St Swithun -the saint who sends pilgrims off to Becket at Canterbury.
Can anyone find evidence of Jane Austen acknowledging the Pilgrims’ Way?
Jane Austen’s grave is in the nave of Winchester Cathedral. The house where she was staying when she died in July 1817 is nearby.
Jane also knew Canterbury well from her many day trips from Godmersham.
Twenty miles out of Winchester on the PW is Chawton where there is a campaign to preserve the fields from new housing because this is countryside as known to Jane Austen. It is also the timeless Pilgrims’ Way countryside.
At Charlton the route passes Jane Austen’s House which was her home for eight years. Jane chose it in preference to another offered by her brother in Godmersham at the far end of the PW .
Opposite Jane Austen’s House in Chawton is Cassandra’s Cup tearoom named after Jane’s sister who in 1804 was the first person to make a written reference to afternoon tea.
Jane unwittingly walked the Pilgrims’ Way into Alton when she was catching the coach to London from outside the Swan Hotel.
Alton’s museum was founded by Jane’s doctor William Curtis and her brother Henry Austen owned one of the town’s banks.
A little further on are Bentley and Farnham where Jane’s bother Henry was curate.
Box Hill is featured in Emma where there is a picnic.
Jane’s uncle John was rector of Chevening where its now demolished parsonage was the model for the vicarage in Pride and Prejudice.
Just outside Kemsing the PW passes the intriguing St Clere where William Evelyn, brother of the diarist John, lived. Jane and William knew each other having met in Bath.
George Moore, rector of nearby Wrotham on the PW , was a relative of Jane who visited when writing Pride and Prejudice.
The vicar of Lenham was Edward Bridges, brother of Jane’s sister in law Elizabeth. When Jane stayed at Lenham vicarage it is believed that the vicar unsuccessfully proposed to her.
Godmersham Park has huge resonance for fans for although Jane chose not to accept the house there offered by her brother she did often stay at the big house whilst working on Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park, which feature Godmersham, and also Emma. Her brother Edward is commemorated in the church where she worshipped on Sundays.
Nearby Chilham, where pilgrims often spend their last night before reaching Canterbury, was where Jane attended dinners and a ball at the castle.
Those walking the London PW from Southwark will find a Jane Austen plaque in Dartford High Street where she often stayed at the now demolished Bull & George when travelling to and from Godmersham.
Godmersham House, featured on the £10 note, seen from the Pilgrims’ Way
St James with his staff, water bottle and shell pilgrim badge
After St Thomas Becket yesterday we have St James the Great today.
Both are our pilgrim saints.
St James’s shell has become the universal pilgrim badge familiar on both the Camino and Pilgrims’ Way.
Today 30 December is the Translation of St James recalling the arrival of St James’s body in Galicia having been brought by sea from the Holy Land.
The celebrations this morning at Santiago de Compostela mirror those on St James’s Day 25 July. The difference is that today there are more locals in the cathedral and not so many pilgrims arriving on foot.
Shere church on the Pilgrims’ Way is dedicated to St James.
The former Dean of Canterbury Robert Willis has died suddenly whilst in the USA.
During the first two decades of this century he welcomed many pilgrims who had walked to Canterbury.
He also prayed at Thomas Becket’s shrine site with others setting out south to Rome and Santiago.
Many more were touched by his daily online ministry from the Deanery garden during the pandemic. His cats and other animals became famous.
Since enforced retirement he had been helping to establish an English pilgrim hostel in Santiago.
Two days ago Robert Willis gave his last talk which was devoted to pilgrimage and includes updates on Santiago’s Anglican pilgrim church and the hostel’s expansion plans. It was filmed and can be seen here.
The proposal to largely follow the line of the Pilgrims’ Way, described as the Francigena Britannica, was proposed by the Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome.
A starting stone stands outside Canterbury Cathedral but now many more Rome-bound walkers are likely to be seen along the Pilgrims’ Way from London.
The decision makes official a recent trend inspired by those walking to Rome from the capital centuries ago.
More walkers could contribute to the growing pilgrim economy which benefits Southwark, Dartford and many historic villages.
Over 130 participants from the UK, France, Italy and Switzerland – the countries crossed by the Via Francigena – took part in the General Assembly which convened at Monte Sant’ Angelo in Italy.
Souvenir bags were distributed at Southwark’s two cathedrals.
Pilgrims travelling from Canterbury to London are sometimes told that they are going the wrong way. Once of course most Canterbury pilgrims had to walk or ride both ways.
But the Franciscan 800 pilgrims have been travelling from abroad to London and Oxford via Canterbury Cathedral.
They are marking the 800th anniversary of the first Franciscans arriving in England and at once visiting Canterbury and London.
Whilst those pioneer Franciscans were in Canterbury and its advance party in the capital, St Francis received the Stigmata -the wounds of Christ. That anniversary fell on Tuesday, the day of the Southwark welcome, and was kept with a special Mass at St George’s Roman Catholic Cathedral.
The day began at Southwark Cathedral with Anglican morning prayer and the Succentor Dr Thomas Sharp, a Third Order brother, giving the homily. The Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, gave the blessing and presided at the Eucharist.
Lunch started with the main food being served in the Amigo Hall at St George’s Cathedral but for the second course pilgrims had to go to nearby Archbishop’s Park where puddings included the pilgrim cake Tata de Santiago.
The day concluded with a visit to Lambeth Palace garden where the 468 year old fig tree, which has a cutting growing in the Vatican Gardens, was watered.
Some of the pilgrims (top right) and friends with the Bishop of Southwark in Southwark Cathedral.Souvenir badge and book.Eco Church Vicar Dr Sharon Moughtin (centre) welcomes pilgrims to All Hallows Eco Church.The Bishop of Southwark with Franciscans at the open air All Hallows Eco Church.The cathedral to cathedral walking route included a visit to a Franciscan house in Southwark.Franciscans concelebrate Mass at St George’s Cathedral.The Bishop of Southwark with pilgrim supporters and friends.Enjoying Lambeth Palace garden.A final prayer at the fig trees with two members of the Lambeth Palace’s ecumenical St Anselm Community.Figs ripening in Lambeth Palace garden.
If you are setting out for Canterbury from Southwark on Tuesday 17 September you will find the Franciscan 800 celebrations at both cathedrals.
At 9am Morning Prayer is at Southwark Cathedral (Anglican) followed by the Eucharist. Included will be prayers for peace in the Holy Land as part of the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel.
Afterwards there is a pilgrimage walk to All Hallows Eco- Church in Copperfield Street for refreshments and a sing-along of St Francis’ Canticle of the Creatures.
At 12 noon St George’s Cathedral (Roman Catholic) is the venue for the Mass celebrating the 800th Anniversary of the Stigmata of St Francis of Assisi.
** 2024 is the 800th anniversary of both Franciscans arriving in England and St Francis receiving the Stigmata (painful marks on the hands corresponding to the wounds of Christ crucified) in La Verna on Mount Penna in Italy.
St Edith of Kemsing Day is on Monday with the local celebration taking place on Sunday 15 September.
Kemsing, where St Edith was born, is an important stage on the Pilgrims’ Way just after the Southwark and Winchester routes converge at Otford.
On Sunday devotions at the flower decorated well are at 10.15am and 3.30pm.
At 4.30pm there will be the First Vespers of St Edith at the church. Tea is available at The Bell from 5pm.
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Some pilgrims are starting from Otford at 1.30pm : meeting at Roman Catholic Holy Trinity Church.
There is an ancient direct path and road from Otford to Kemsing, starting on the south side of Otford’s parish church (St Bartholomew’s), running parallel to the Pilgrims Way which here is rather busy with traffic.
Franciscan Gardens chapel behind Canterbury High Street
A party of Franciscans will be welcomed to Canterbury Cathedral this afternoon at 3pm in the eastern crypt where St Thomas Becket’s body was first laid in 1170.
The occasion will recall nine penniless friars arriving at Dover in September 1224. After it had been established that they were not ‘robbers or vagabonds’ they were given a night’s accommodation and allowed to continue to Canterbury.
The original group arrived just four years after St Thomas Becket’s body had been placed upstairs in the new shrine.
They were invited to stay at the Poor Priests’ Hospital in Stour Street. Later their settlement for 300 years was an island on one of the River Stour braids. Today this is known as the Franciscan Gardens . A building straddling the water is the chapel.
The first Franciscans included William of Florence, Laurance of Beauvais and the the leader Agnellus of Pisa.
Leading today’s group is Friar Carlos Trovarelli, Minister General and the 120th successor to St. Francis of Assisi.
Expect to see the 21st-century Franciscans again at 11am on Wednesday 11 September in Canterbury Cathedral‘s crypt for Franciscan morning prayer.
Afterwards at 12.30pm the Anglican Mass will be celebrated on the lawn in front of the chapel in the Franciscan Gardens – entrance via Franciscan Gift Shop at 60 St. Peter’s Street, next to Eastbridge Hospital.
Back in 1224 four of the original party stayed only a few days before continuing to London on the Pilgrims’ Way. So today’s party will also follow the route to be in Southwark Cathedral for 9am morning prayer on Tuesday 17 September.
