The Feast of St Thomas

In my earlier days as a seminarian in Rome, we still kept the feast of St Thomas in the College Church that bears his dedication. This used to be the only English Feast kept universally, an indeed there are late medieval records of the College of Cardinals visiting the English Hospice (as it then was) to keep this Feast.

It is a joy, therefore, to be able to keep this most English of feasts at the Cathedral in the chapel dedicated to him, and decorated with mosaics completed in 2005.

The west wall depicts the martyrdom of St Thomas in Canterbury Cathedral on 29 December 1170. The mosaic designer, Christopher Hobbs, has included a bear on the shield of one of them - a reference to his name 'Fitz-Urse'.

The vault of the chapel depicts St Thomas' flight to France by sea - the surrounding decorations recall medieval manuscripts.

We also had his relics on display; we have a good selection.