Canterbury

CANTERBURY. - The episcopal see of C. (Kent - England), founded in 597 by St. Augustine, apostle of England, sent there by St. Gregory the Great, was the primatial see of that kingdom until the 15th century; after the schism occurred it became the primatial see of the Anglican hierarchy, and it retains this primacy even to our own day. Among the most notable Catholic archbishops are St. Lanfranc (1070-1089) and St. Anselm (1093-1109), both Italians, the holy martyr Thomas Becket (1162-70), and Stephen Langton (1207-28). The first Protestant archbishop was Thomas Cranmer, elected in 1533, who in 1556, under the Catholic Queen Mary Tudor, was succeeded by the last Catholic archbishop, Reginald Pole (1553-58). After Pole all the archbishops have been Protestant. It should be noted that the Anglicans, in the lists of the archbishops of Canterbury, place them all in succession one after another, without any distinction, as if the Protestant ones were the legitimate successors of the Catholic ones. Among the Anglican archbishops mention should be made of Matthew Parker (1559-75), famous for the question of the episcopal ordinations performed by him with the Edwardine formula; John Whitgift (1583-1604), who attempted to introduce Calvinist doctrine into the Church of England with the "Lambeth Articles"; William Laud (1633-45), who was beheaded by his enemies; William Sancroft (1678-90), deposed for having refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new king, after the expulsion of the Stuarts; and among the more recent ones, E. W. Benson (1883-96), Randall T. Davidson (1903-28), C. Gordon Lang (1928-42), famous for the pan-Protestant congresses and for their efforts toward union with the Eastern schismatics.

The Anglican archbishop of C. has various functions according to whether he is considered as a dignitary in the Anglican-Episcopal communion, spread throughout the world, or as head of the Church of England, or as metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of C., or as simple bishop of his diocese. In the Anglican-Episcopal communion he is considered as the "primus inter pares" among all the other bishops; he therefore has absolutely no jurisdiction beyond what belongs to him within his province and his diocese; temporarily or occasionally he has jurisdiction over certain isolated dioceses, which do not yet belong to any ecclesiastical province, such as that of Gibraltar, of Jerusalem, etc. He has the presidency of the Lambeth Conferences, to which every 10 years all the Anglican and Episcopal bishops of the world are invited; however, such conferences cannot formulate any canon nor take any disciplinary or doctrinal decision that is binding. In the Church of England, that is, in the church formed by the two ecclesiastical provinces of C. and of York, the supreme head is the King or Queen of England, according to the 37th article of religion, that is, in practice, the English Parliament, to whose pleasure both the archbishop of C. and the other bishops of the Church of England are subject in the most serious cases, while in less important cases they are subject to the pleasure of special delegations of Parliament (Privy Council, Court of Arches). The archbishop of C. has the title of "Primate of all England", while the one of York is only "Primate of England". To him belongs the right to crown the King; he is considered as the first Lord of the Realm and is preceded only by the members of the royal family; he is also the legal chairman of the "National Assembly of the Church of England", that is, of that Assembly which consists of the union of the two provincial assemblies of C. and of York.

Camillo Crivelli

ART

At C. the remains of the ancient abbey where St. Augustine and his successors were buried have been identified, and the church of St. Martin is also indicated as predating the saint's arrival in England. However, the most important monument of the city is the ancient cathedral that dominates the urban center with its very massive bulk. Founded in 1070 by Bishop Lanfranc immediately after his appointment to the see of C., it soon underwent, toward the end of the 11th century, transformations and additions at the hands of Bishop Anselm. The beautiful crypt with interesting cushion capitals, part of the transept and of the choir are, however, all that remains in the cathedral of the primitive Romanesque church. This, in fact, through a series of works begun in 1175 under the direction of the French architect William of Sens, was, toward the end of the 12th century, completely transformed, assuming the characteristics proper to French Gothic buildings. After 1192 the work of the French architect was continued by an English colleague of his, also named William, who, although he made some changes to the original plan, did not substantially alter its spirit.

The works nevertheless continued during the 14th century and in the early years of the 15th, when the construction of the western transept and of the great nave was completed in the taste, by then, of late English Gothic, which also left its mark on the great central tower erected in 1495.

The northwest tower of the facade, on the other hand, dates back to the first half of the 19th century.

Among the most important works of art still preserved in the cathedral, particular mention should be made of the tombs of Henry IV and of Archbishop Warham, likewise in the English Gothic taste.

Besides some remains of ancient Franciscan and Dominican convents, at C. notable remains of the ancient city walls and fine civil architecture of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance are preserved.

Emilio Lavagnino