Vatican loans Church of England ancient relics ahead of vital gathering

A relic leant to the Church of England by the Vatican is to go on display at Canterbury Cathedral next week.

The ivory handle of a crozier used by St Gregory, who helped establish Christianity in England in the 6^th century, was due to arrive yesterday [Friday 8].

The ancient crozier head is venerated by the monks of San Gregorio al Celio in Rome as that of St Gregory who was an abbot at the monastery prior to becoming Pope.

It was St Gregory who sent Augustine to England in 597 AD on a mission to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity.

The loan of the crozier head was made possible by the Italian Government’s Fund for Religious Buildings, administered by the Ministry for the Interior and with support from the British Government.

Rev Marcus Walker, associate director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, who helped secure the loan, told The Tablet that the gesture demonstrated the depth of mutual affection and love that exists between the Catholic and Anglican churches. “The lending of these items is symbolic of acknowledging our shared inheritance,” he said.

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture said: “[T]he value of the loan of this relic is highly symbolic ...[It is] dear to the Church of England, which venerates Pope St Gregory the Great, the promoter of the evangelising mission to the Anglo-Saxon people and is therefore a mark of the bond that spiritually unites the Catholic and Anglican Churches.”

Its arrival coincides with a gathering of all the primates of the Anglican Communion in Canterbury this week. They were invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, to try and save the Communion from fragmenting.

The Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, the Very Revd Dr Robert Willis, described the crozier as a “symbol of ecumenical encouragement at this time of the meeting of Anglican Primates.”

The idea for the loan came about during a Vatican versus the Church of England cricket match in 2014.

“This plan to send relics was the product of growing ecumenism and cricket diplomacy,” Father Robert McCulloch, an Australian priest and organiser of the Vatican team, told The Times.

The Vatican is planning to lend a second relic, the blood-stained vestment worn by Thomas Becket, for display in Canterbury Cathedral this December.

The Vatican cricketing XI, after a win last October, will take on the Church of England for the third time this year in Yorkshire.