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Growing up in Kent, England, I was familiar with parts of the Pilgrim's Way to Canterbury . This leads to the site of the medieval shrine of Thomas Becket, a former Archbishop of Canterbury. Thomas Becket was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral 850 year ago today, 29 December 1170 by 4 of King Henry II's knights.  The knights believed they were doing what the king wanted by getting rid of the man King Henry II had described as "this turbulent priest". Thomas Becket was a friend of King Henry II but defended the independence of the Church against the King's wish to have more monarchical control of the church in England. The disagreement over authority, fuelled perhaps by personality clashes, lasted for years. For more on the story leading up to the murder (or assassination) take a look at Richard Barber's article, 'The unholy feud that killed Thomas Becket'. Thomas was neither the first nor last Archbishop of Canterbury to be murdered, but he was the only ...

Maximilian Kolbe died in Auschwitz Concentration Camp on 14 August 1941. He died horribly after volunteering to take the place of another prisoner selected for death by dehydration and starvation. You can read a brief version of that story in  'Man in Striped Pajamas'. During World War II as a Polish Franciscan Friar, Maximilian Kolbe sheltered refugees from Greater Poland, including 2000 Jewish people in his friary at  Niepokalanów. Using amateur radio he also actively spoke against Nazi activities. Such actions led to his arrest, imprisonment and death. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1983 as a 'martyr of charity'. At the ceremony in Rome, perhaps the most significant person present was Franciszek Gajowniczek. He was the prisoner whose place Maximilian took in offering his own life in exchange. That man survived Auschwitz and lived until 1995, aged 93. You can read an interesting biography of Maximilian Kolbe in the Jewish Virtual Library .  From...

Yesterday there was yet another murderous atrocity, aimed perhaps at stirring up fear in Europe and likely to create division and yet more hatred and violence. This one was in the church of St.-Étienne-du-Rouvray in a suburb of Rouen in France. The elderly auxiliary priest Father Jacques Hamel was celebrating Mass when he was murdered. It was at the table where bread and wine is taken and blessed, the bread is broken and thanks and praise are given to God. This is done in every Christian church as a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, in remembrance of Jesus, who gave his life as the all-sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. How should a Christian respond to such a horrific murder of a faithful priest when was in the very act of public witness to his faith in Christ crucified and risen? An obvious answer is 'with horror, with tears, with prayer for all involved or affected'. Prayer at such times is natural but hard. Then it can be that Christian traditi...