AUSTRALIA: ANGLO-CATHOLICS CHOOSE ST. THOMAS BECKET AS PATRON

CATH NEWS REPORT: Australian Anglo-Catholics want St Thomas Becket - who was martyred as Archbishop of Canterbury after having vexed King Henry II - as the patron of their Ordinariate, reportsthe Record.Becket was martyred in his Cathedral after he angered King Henry II by excommunicating the Bishops of London and Salisbury for their support of the King, with whom Becket disagreed on changes to law regarding Church and Crown courts, among other things.

Australian Anglo-Catholics believe adopting Becket as their patron is apt, considering how they say they have been ostracised by the Anglican ChurchSt Thomas Becket is immortalised in Canterbury Cathedral, which hosts one of the four great mediaeval shrines of the Church. His burial place was destroyed during the Reformation in seven stages.

Archbishop John Hepworth said that by the time King Henry VIII's chief minister Thomas Cromwell, who history shows was anti-Christian, came to finish off the relic there was only the right hand left – the blessing hand.

It was smuggled across the channel to a Catholic monastery in Normandy, France where it survived the French revolution and was venerated.

Surviving pieces of the relic was placed at the altar during recent Mass celebrations, including during the Anglo-Catholics' 1-3 February national conference on the Gold Coast.

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