April showers break the long March drought, and bring pilgrims to Canterbury; to the shrine, or what remains of it, of St Thomas Becket.
There are several historic routes to Canterbury: the Pilgrim’s Way, which runs along the Downs escarpment from Winchester through Sussex and Kent. And there are more modern paths, such as the Via Francigena, which begins in Rome. Canterbury Cathedral’s website says that the pilgrimage from Rome has grown popular in the last ten years, which attests to the revival of interest in English medieval saints and the present strength of Catholic faith.
Pilgrims have been coming to Canterbury since before the canonisation of ‘the turbulent priest’ in 1173, two and a half years after his murder in 1170. Becket’s cult extended throughout the Christian world. For example, a church in Marsala, Sicily, is dedicated to him.
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