Canterbury
The House
The house system in St Andrew's was inaugurated in 1953 with just three houses - Canterbury, Salisbury and York. As one of the School's original Houses, Canterbury is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Canterbury has won the Dean Pitt Shield on numerous occasions.
The Cathedral
The first Archbishop of Canterbury was St Augustine who arrived on the coast of Kent as a missionary to England in 597 AD. Accompanied by a group of monks from Rome, St Augustine had been sent from Rome by Pope Gregory the Great. On his arrival Augustine was given a church at Canterbury by the local King Ethelbert whose Queen, Bertha, was already a Christian. This building had been a place of worship during the Roman occupation of Britain. Soon consecrated Bishop, Augustine established his seat as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. The present archbishop, Archbishop George Carey, is 103rd in the line of succession.
Until the 10th century the Cathedral community was a family of clergy, living a regulated life as the household of the Archbishop. Not until 998 is there evidence that they were living by the Rule of St Benedict as a formal monastic community. The Benedictine community of monks continued until the monastery was dissolved in 1540. The next year a new Foundation called the Dean and Chapter, was constituted by Royal Charter.
Canterbury Cathedral is linked to the lives of many great ecclesiastical and national figures who are entombed there. Among the former are the Saints of Canterbury - Augustine, Theodore, Odo, Dunstan, Alphege, Anselm, Thomas and Edmund - the most famous of all was Thomas Becket, who was murdered in his cathedral on 29 December 1170. Appointed by his King and friend, Henry II, to bring the Church to the heel of the monarchy, he did the reverse. He espoused its rights in the face of the King's desire to control them.
With the Civil War, the Cathedral was sacked by the Puritans (1642), the Cathedral Chapter was dissolved, and it was not until the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 that the Church of England was re-established and life returned to the Cathedral. The fabric was repaired, the daily services resumed and the Chapter was re-established. Few changes occurred until the middle of the nineteenth century when a series of energetic Archbishops and equally vigorous Deans began a transformation of the life of the Cathedral. The twentieth century has seen a major restoration of the Cathedral fabric, the revival of pilgrimage (now on ecumenical lines), a re-ordering of liturgical services and a great renaissance of the Cathedral's music.
