(Vatican Radio) A relic of St Thomas Becket, the 12th century English archbishop murdered at the altar in Canterbury Cathedral, is returning home this week from Hungary, where it has been venerated as a powerful symbol of the Church’s struggle for religious freedom.The relic, a small fragment of bone, is believed to have been taken to Hungary shortly after the assassination and has been kept for the past eight centuries in Esztergom Basilica. Becket’s murder by four knights in December 1170 marked the dramatic end of a long feud with King Henry II and the start of a popular tradition of pilgrimage to his tomb.Under Henry VIII, his shrine was destroyed and his name was removed from the Anglican calendar, yet today he is being seen a sign of shared Christian heritage and a powerful symbol of those modern martyrs being persecuted for their faith.Hungary’s president will join top Catholic and Anglican leaders for liturgies at both Westminster Cathedral and Westminste...
(Vatican Radio) A relic of St Thomas Becket, the 12th century English archbishop murdered at the altar in Canterbury Cathedral, is returning home this week from Hungary, where it has been venerated as a powerful symbol of the Church’s struggle for religious freedom.
The relic, a small fragment of bone, is believed to have been taken to Hungary shortly after the assassination and has been kept for the past eight centuries in Esztergom Basilica. Becket’s murder by four knights in December 1170 marked the dramatic end of a long feud with King Henry II and the start of a popular tradition of pilgrimage to his tomb.
Under Henry VIII, his shrine was destroyed and his name was removed from the Anglican calendar, yet today he is being seen a sign of shared Christian heritage and a powerful symbol of those modern martyrs being persecuted for their faith.
Hungary’s president will join top Catholic and Anglican leaders for liturgies at both Westminster Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, before the relic continues its journey to Canterbury Cathedral.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols is presiding at Mass to welcome the relics to Westminster Cathedral – he talked to Philippa Hitchen about this unprecedented ecumenical initiative...
Insert
Cardinal Nichols says the initiative comes from Hungarian Cardinal Erdo and the Hungarian government, since these relics have been there, almost since Becket’s death, and have been an important focal point for Catholic life, especially during the period of Communist domination.
The cardinal notes that Becket stood firmly for the rights of the Church and particularly of the clergy in the tussle that was going on in juridical matters between Church and State. Later, during the Reformation when Henry XIII wanted to obliterate the feast and the memory of Becket, Catholic priests coming to England and risking their lives appealed to Becket as their patron.
In this new ecumenical era, Cardinal Nichols says the devotion to Becket has grown as people see in his life a “total dedication to the ministry of being a priest, and in his case a bishop, which inspires every priest today”.
Following the liturgies in Westminster Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, the relics will go at the end of the week to Canterbury and be received in the Cathedral, following a precession through the city centre. The Cardinal says this event was “prefigured in a way by the visit of John Paul II” who knelt together in prayer with the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, at the spot where Becket was martyred. That encounter, he says, was the “beginning of an important healing and moving forward to a time of sharing and esteem” for those who were heroic in their faith.
Cardinal Nichols also notes that veneration for Becket spread right across Europe in the years after his death as many people came to visit the site of his murder. Today, he adds, as the practice of pilgrimages is once again on the rise, Pope Francis is urging us to see our own lives as a pilgrimage, especially during this Year of Mercy.
A Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish procession honoring the patroness of Cuba on Sept. 7, 2023. / Credit: Sacred Heart of Jesus parish in Havana, CubaACI Prensa Staff, Mar 28, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).The regime of President Miguel Díaz-Canel in Cuba has prohibited several Holy Week processions in different cities of the country, including the El Vedado area of Havana as well as in Bayamo, a town that was the scene of major protests earlier this month.Last week, ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, reported on the prohibition of processions in the Diocese of the Most Holy Savior located in the Bayamo-Manzanillo area in the province of Granma, due to the regime's fear that new protests would break out. The prohibition has been extended to the capital, Havana, according to a Catholic priest.In a March 25 Facebook post, Father Lester Zayas, pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in the El Vedado business district of Havana, reported that the day before he had been notifie...
The Catholic faithful gathered in the Cenacle in Jerusalem for the Mass of the Lord's Supper that the Franciscan friars celebrated on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. The Cenacle is at the center of strong tensions and disputes regarding ownership and rights of access and celebration. An ancient tradition places King David's tomb here and over the centuries Jews and Muslims have leveraged this to first expel the Franciscans and then to prevent Christian worship, which they deemed sacrilegious. / Credit: Marinella BandiniJerusalem, Mar 28, 2024 / 17:15 pm (CNA).On Holy Thursday, the doors of the Cenacle in Jerusalem were opened to welcome the Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land. In this "Upper Room," called the Cenacle in the Holy Land, Jesus had his Last Supper, washed his apostles' feet, and instituted the Eucharist. It was here that the Franciscans celebrated the Mass of the Lord's Supper, reenacting those same gestures. (At the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher,...
The Oregon State Capitol in Salem. / Credit: Zack Frank/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 28, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is reporting a significant rise in assisted suicide prescriptions and deaths in the state, a move that comes after authorities in 2022 began allowing out-of-state residents to access the lethal services.Since the state's passage of the "Death with Dignity Act" in 1997, assisted suicide numbers have been generally rising there, with a markedly sharp uptick since 2013. OHA on March 20 released its 2023 assisted suicide data summary that reported a considerable increase in suicide prescriptions in 2023. The study found that assisted suicide prescriptions in the state rose from 433 in 2022 to 560 last year.Of those 560 prescriptions, 367 people are known to have died from ingesting the suicide "medications." This is up from the 304 who died from assisted suicide drugs in Oregon in 2022.Over half, or 56%, of the assisted ...