Pilgrim Ways

the cathedral on the south side. Since the Reformation and the destruction of the shrine the monastic buildings have been used for various purposes - the refectory, for instance, is now the library, the Undercroft is home to a restaurant and permanent exhibition (The Treasures of St.Cuthbert). The dormitory houses the museum. This beautiful location was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987.

Leland spent most of his time in the library, which, at the time, contained over 500 printed books and 1,000 manuscripts.

Seminal in the development of European civilisation were the great monastic houses and their cultivation of learning and culture. They were providers of work, guardians of literacy, and custodians of creation. The sheer number of religious houses which covered these islands still confounds the non-believer anxious to dismiss the centrality of Catholicism to the historic development of our nation.

Alongside the monastic orders and the charterhouses of the Carthusians and priories of the Augustinian canons, there were mendicant orders - such as the Franciscans and Dominicans, founded in the thirteenth century - and who owned no property. Their special charism was urban evangelisation and missionary work.

Yet the bulk of the Church‟s work was undertaken - as it is today - by the secular diocesan priests living in their parishes, ministering to the daily needs of the faithful, administering the sacraments, and celebrating the holy Mass. These priests looked towards their bishop who exercised authority over them. The seat of his authority became his cathedral church, „cathedra‟, meaning the bishop‟s throne.

The Early Cathedrals The earliest cathedrals were basilicas, oblong buildings culminating in a semi-circle where the bishop would sit, surrounded by his advisers. These were later superseded by the cruciform shape, representing the Cross. Almost uniquely, many English cathedrals - such as Ely, Canterbury and Durham - were administered by Benedictine monks, who provided the liturgy, especially the beautiful Gregorian chants. While the prior exercised authority over the monks, the bishop had ultimate jurisdiction and lived separately from the monastic community.

In other cathedrals - such as St.Paul‟s, Lincoln and York - the clergy have always been secular, with a group of canons presided over by a dean. For the modern pilgrim seeking preReformation Catholic cathedrals - or some of those built since the Victorian emancipation of Catholics - I have geographically grouped together some of the key buildings.

The South East I have written separately about Westminster Cathedral and Westminster Abbey ( Chapter Seventeen). Today‟s Catholic pilgrim will inevitably want to follow Chaucer‟s Canterbury pilgrims and visit the cathedral of Augustine and Becket. In the bibliography I list two ideal literary companions, Hilaire Belloc‟s The Old Road, and Shirley Du Boulay‟s The Road To Canterbury: A Modern Pilgrimage. These can hardly be bettered. In travelling the northern route to Canterbury from London the pilgrim might make a stop at Rochester Cathedral.