Light, Canterbury and the Cult of St Thomas

Abstract

Light imagery is prominent in the lives, miracles, liturgy and cult of St Thomas of Canterbury. The Customary of the Shrine of St Thomas, composed in 1428, also shows that light was carefully regulated in Canterbury Cathedral, with the most spectacular display of artificial light (i.e., candlelight) reserved for Thomas’s December Passion feast. This article considers the symbolic significance of light in Thomas’s cult, and how artificial and natural light were managed and enhanced by the settings of his tomb and shrine in Canterbury Cathedral’s east end.