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Concept
Canterbury Cathedral
Summary
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Its formal title is the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ at Canterbury.
Founded in 597, the cathedral was completely rebuilt between 1070 and 1077. The east end was greatly enlarged at the beginning of the 12th century, and largely rebuilt in the Gothic style following a fire in 1174, with significant eastward extensions to accommodate the flow of pilgrims visiting the shrine of Thomas Becket, the archbishop who was murdered in the cathedral in 1170. The Norman nave and transepts survived until the late 14th century, when they were demolished to make way for the present structures.
Before the English Reformation the cathedral was part of a Benedictine monastic community known as Christ Church, Canterbury, as well as being the seat of the archbishop.
Christianity in Britain is referred to by Tertullian as early as 208 AD and Origen mentions it in 238 AD. In 314 three Bishops from Britain attended the Council of Arles.
There is a medieval London tradition that St Peter upon Cornhill church in London was the seat of English Christianity until the founding of Canterbury in 597 AD. Whether this is true has not yet been established. However, St Peter's is positioned directly above the potential location of a pagan Aedes (or shrine room) in the great Roman Basilica of London, and there is a tradition that a native British King, Lucius, converted to Christianity in 179 AD and founded St Peter's as the seat of the archbishop of the English Church.
Either way, Canterbury was therefore a relative latecomer to English Christianity. The first bishop to have his seat at the cathedral was Augustine of Canterbury, who had previously been abbot of St Andrew's Benedictine Abbey in Rome, sent at the head of a group of missionaries to the English by Pope Gregory I in 596.
Official source
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