Hello, lovely Ecclesiasticals: letโs continue with the taster of the talk I recently gave on holy jewels, gems and relics of the Churchโฆ
Moving further down the body, next in importance was arguably a bishopโs pectoral cross.
St Cuthbert was the most revered saint in northern Europe before Thomas Becket was slaughtered by Henry IIโs four knights in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170.ย When Cuthbert's shrine was opened at Durham Cathedral again in 1827, this jewelled pectoral cross was found โdeeply buried among the remains of the robes which were nearest to the breast of the saintโ, wrote an eyewitness. The shrine seemingly escaped the savage ransacking during the Dissolution of the monasteries during Henry VIIIโs reign (as Durham was a priory run by Benedictine monks at this time), and it can be inferred from the circumstances in which the saintโs stole (neck scarf) and maniple (material hung over the left arm during mass) were found that King Henryโs Commissioners had ceased their plundering before the body had been fully stripped of its wrappings. It was simply luck that the pectoral cross still survived.
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