Seeker

At dusk on this day 29 December in 1170 Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury was murdered by 4 of the King's knights. This photo shows the place in the cathedral where Thomas Becket was murdered. A latter day pilgrim has placed a rose on the small altar in his honour. 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 great friend of the King Henry II but defended the independence of the Church against the King's wish to have more monarchical control of the church. The disagreement, fuelled perhaps by personality clashes, lasted for years. For more on the story leading up to the murder 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 one murdered in his own cathedral while engaged in prayer, probably s...

When others are still in holiday mood during these 12 days of Christmas, it is especially hard if you are struggling to cope with recent bereavement. This 4th day of Christmas is 'Holy Innocents Day'. It is the day for the part of the Christmas story that children's nativity plays usually omit. It is the part we may want to forget, in order to keep Christmas 'merry' and continue an escape from what makes us miserable or afraid. The massacre of infant boys by King Herod as told in Matthew 2: 13 - 18 doesn't often feature on Christmas cards. But a nostalgic and sanitised Christmas card scene was not the world into which Jesus was born. It is not the world in which we live.  It is a story told in the old English carol known as the  'Coventry Carol'.  That poignant carol reminds me that Jesus was born into the real world with all its mixture of harshness and compassion, hate, grief, joy and love. He was born to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows. Tha...

It's the 3rd day of Christmas, the first day being Christmas Day 25 December. There are  12 days of Christmas  and they've only just begun. Or did you think that Christmas is already over this year?  This 3rd Day of Christmas is the day when according to the song '12 Days of Christmas' someone's true love gave him or her yet another gift to add to the previously given 'partridge in a pear tree' (1st day) and '2 turtle doves (2nd day). The 3rd day gift is '3 French Hens', hence the photo of 3 Faverolles Limoges which I believe are genuinely French hens.  I think that the '12 Days of Christmas' song is probably a pure nonsense rhyme, composed and passed on just for fun, probably in France. The English language version was first published in England in 1780, without music and may have been chanted as a children's game, or sung to a variety of tunes. The standard sung version most British people know today was an arrangement by...