Thomas Becket relics from Esztergom to be shown in Britain

London, January 22 (MTI) – Relics of Saint Thomas of Canterbury held in Esztergom in northern Hungary will be displayed in the United Kingdom between May 23 and 29, Hungarian Ambassador Peter Szabadhegy said on Friday.

President Janos Ader, Cardinal Peter Erdo, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, and Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen will attend the opening events of the series.

On May 23 Erdo will celebrate a mass at Westminster Cathedral in the presence of Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, representatives of the Catholic and Anglican churches, British government officials, British intellectuals and artists.

The Thomas Becket relics from Esztergom will be presented together with relics held in England during a ceremony at Westminster Cathedral on May 24. This event will also be attended by Ader and his delegation.

A symposium will be held at the Anglican archbishop’s palace about Saint Thomas of Canterbury on May 27. Lectures will be delivered by Nichols, as well as Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The ties between Esztergom and Canterbury go back to the 12th century, when Thomas Becket and Lukacs Banfy, who would become the archbishop of Esztergom, formed a friendship during their studies in Paris.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters