[MR] BBC: Relics of Saints in England

[Garth Groff via Atlantia]

Noble Friends,

This week a holy relic of St. Thomas Becket has returned on loan from 
Hungary. The elbow has been displayed in Canterbury Cathedral where the 
saint was martyred 800 years ago: 
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-36397808 .

Becket's elbow joins a collection of other relics of Catholic saints 
that somehow survived, or post-dated, Henry VIII's purge of shrines and 
churches in the late 1530s. Today the BBC is presenting a selection of 
these venerated objects with text and photos at 
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-36398287 .

There are actually many more relics in Britain that were somehow 
overlooked by Henry's agents, or were dismembered parts of saints that 
had been sent abroad and have been permanently returned to British 
churches. For example, among those not mentioned are two slivers of 
finger bone from St. Winifred (of Brother Cadfael fame), now held at St. 
Winifred's Holy Well shrine in Flintshire, Wales, and at a Roman 
Catholic church near Shrewsbury. The finger was returned to England in 
1852 and divided between the two churches.

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Not Catholic, But With a Fascination for Medieval Saints