The cult of St Thomas in art

Today is the feast day of St Thomas of Canterbury, the anniversary of his murder in his cathedral in 1170. Last year I posted about some images of St Thomas in art - notably a statue at Chartres.

This year I am illustrating some of the images listed by John Dillon in his post for today on the Medieval Religion discussion group. This is only a personal selection from the great number of extremely interesting examples which he gave.

In part they illustrate, as did my post last year, the spread of his cult from Spain and Sicily to Sweden and Iceland - which produced an important source for his life in a Saga.  Devotion to him spread rapidly in the generation after his death and it remained widespread throughout the middle ages.

Kay Brainerd Slocum's Liturgies in Honour of Thomas Becket (University of Toronto Press, 2004) has a useful chapter (pp. 98-126) on the spread of Thomas' cult.

The chiesa di San Giorgio in Como has a reliquary case housing what is said to be part of Thomas' chin and some bones said to be those of St. Eutichius of Como. The reliquary and the relics can he seen here, here and here. The certificate from 1777 of a recognition of these relics can be seen here.

In Italy St Thomas appears in wall paintings such as this  thirteenth-century fresco of his martyrdom in Pavia's chiesa di San Lanfranco - given the connection with Canterbury this is perhaps not surprising:

Image; sanlanfranco.it

A fresco of circa 1260 formerly in the episcopal place at Treviso in the Veneto and now in that see's diocesan museum shows the martuyrdom as well as King Henry II. In the first view, note the domes in the representation of Canterbury cathedral:it is thought that the artist was familiar with St Mark's in Venice.

Image: farm4.static.flickr.com

 Image; farm3.static.flickr.com

The influence of Emglish clergy working in Scandinavia doubtless helps explain the presence of devotion to and commemoration of St Thomas there. Here are two photographs  of reliefs on the late twelfth-century baptismal font (ca. 1190-1200) in the church at Lyngsjö (Skåne län) showing King Henry II, the murderers, and St Thomas of Canterbury's martyrdom:

Images: nordenskirker.dk

More views of this font are available here (scroll down to Døbefont):


The cult remained popular in Scandinavia into the later middle ages as is indicated by this  altarpiece statue in Härads kyrka, Härad (Strängnäs kommun), Södermanland:

Image:Someday man on Flickr

The great series of miracle windows at Canterbury - how did they manage to survive the destructive urges of iconocl;asts in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries I wonder - as in the example here of Becket window 4 (circa 1215-1220)

They are closely related in date and style to the early thirteenth-century Becket window in the cathedral at Chartres which can be seen here and to the heavily restored, seemingly early thirteenth-century, Becket window in the north choir of Sens cathedral, which can be seen here.

Sens has close links with St Thomas as his home whilst in exile, and the cathedral preserves vestments which are said to have been his.

There is a link to an article in Vidimus with a discussion of, and some expandable views of, earlier thirteenth-century Becket windows at Sens and elsewhere which can be read here.

St Thomas remained popular with commissions fromn glaziers, and despite King Henry VIII's proceptuion of his image, many examples still survive. Here is a fine early fifteenth century one from York Minster:

St Thomas of Canterbury as depicted in the north choir aisle of York Minster (panel 5b of window nIX )
Given by Thomas Parker, circa 1415-1420

Image: vidimus.org

Here are two scenes from Meister Francke's  early fifteenth-century Altarpiece of St. Thomas Becket , probably commissioned by the English community in Hamburg and dated to 1424-36, and now in the Kunsthalle in Hamburg:

Archbishop Thomas enters into Canterbury - an interesting depiction of how in the fifteenth century a bishop might appear when travelling:

The martyrdom of the Archbishop

Images: Wikipedia

There is an article about Meister Francke here.

Relics of St Thomas of Canterbury

Today is the feast of the Translation of St Thomas of Canterbury, an event which occured in 1220, and led to the tradition of the Jubilee of St Thomas every fifty years at Canterbury - in 1420 the claims associated with it caused a few riased Papal eyebrows on the part of Martin V in respect of Archbishop Chichele.
The bones of the martyr Archbishop may have been destroyed in 1538, but, as is documented in the recent book The Quest for Becket's Bones, they may have survived at Canterbury. In the arguable absenc eof primary relics there are some remarkable secondary relics of St Thomas Becket.

At Sens cathedral, where St Thomas spent part of his time in exile in the 1160s there are preserved vestments which are believed to be those of St Thomas.

In May the New Liturgical Movement editor Shawn Tribe posted this piece about them:

" I came across the very interesting website of Dr. Genevra Kornbluth which, amongst other treasures, contains her photographs of vestments which are said to have been used by the 12th century saint, Thomas à Becket, and which are housed in the Treasury of the Cathedral of Sens.

Some of you will have no doubt seen some images of a reproduction of this particular chasuble, but these are the first high quality images I have seen of the original itself -- not to mention photographs of other period medieval vestural elements as well.

I am pleased to reprint them here with the kind permission of Dr. Kornbluth. (Please click each image to enlarge them for more detail.)

The chasuble with its famous orphrey pattern

A more detailed view of the orphrey

Alb. Take note of the ornamental apparel as well as the ornamental cuffs.

 

The apparel which would have attached to the amice.

Maniple and stole. The cuffs and apparels on the alb are also more visible here.

Pontifical Sandals

You can see more details here.

Photos reprinted with permission. www.KornbluthPhoto.com "

The New Liturgical Movement followed this up more recently with this post by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P.:

"This mitre, belonging to the treasury of Westminster Cathedral, is currently on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It dates to c.1160-1220, and so, is contemporaneous with the life of St Thomas Becket.

Since the 19th century it has been associated with the relics and mitre of St Thomas Becket at Sens Cathedral, although this association is now disputed. The lappets do not match because the one embroidered with an apostle was formerly attached to another mitre, c.1180-1210 also at Sens Cathedral; the floriate lappet is original.

In form and decoration, this mitre does resemble the famed Becket Mitre. The scrolls and floriate embroidery are silver-gilt thread worked on padded white silk. The circular compartments in the embroidery and the red band of silk would have been ornamented with jewels and enamels but these have been removed.

The mitre is 27cm x 23.5cm with a 3cm-wide lappet (extending to 6.5cm at the base) that is 44cm long."

The vestments of St Thomas Becket

That indefatigable photographer of the fine arts of the middle ages Genevra Kornbluth has posted, amongst other of her photographs on the Medieval Religion discussion group this link http://www.kornbluthphoto.com/VestmentsBecket.html to her set of photographs of the vestments preserved at Sens cathedral and believed to have been used by St Thomas Becket whilst he lived there in 1164-5 and 1166-70.

Please respect Genevra's rules in respect of her copyright if you wish to use the photographs in any way - the details are posted  on the side bar.

Otherwise enjoy the sight of relics of a martyr prelate and see what twelfth century bishops wore to celebrate the liturgy.