Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

218 TRANSLATION OF ST. THOMAS.
tury, this shrine had grown in splendour from the
offerings of all Christendom. Langton showed a
princely magnificence in this act of homage to his
great predecessor. He gave notice of the event two
years before it took place. A gathering of which
England had never seen the like, representatives not
merely of English, hut of Catholic, nationality, attended
the feast on Tuesday, 7th July, 1220. The
Archhishop's hospitality provided free entertainment
and forage for all pilgrims between London and
Canterbury. At Canterbury itself the streets ran
wine.
i
The memory of that July day is still perpetuated
in the feast of St. Thomas's Translation. The
Pool of Bethsaida itself was a pale figure of the
martyr's tomb, which had become a channel of
every sort of healing. It was fitting that Langton,
wTho had felt the Plantagenet lash, should inaugurate
a new shrine, second to few in Christendom.
^^
1 Chronica Monasterii de Melsa, ]>. 40(5.