The Catholic Church has presented Anglican Lichfield Cathedral with a relic of St Chad, an Anglo-Saxon monk whose shrine was desecrated in the Protestant Reformation.
The relic, which was preserved secretly by Catholic recusants, was transferred from St Chad’s Catholic Cathedral in Birmingham to a new shrine constructed at the location of the original Medieval setting.
The intention of the transfer is to demonstrate Christian unity among Anglicans and Catholics in the Midland in particular.
The relic of St Chad, the first Bishop of Lichfield, is being loaned to Lichfield Cathedral but remains the property of the Catholic Church. It will be kept in a reliquary which also belongs to St Chad’s Cathedral.
Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, Bernard Longley said: “I am very grateful that our pilgrimage together as Anglicans and Roman Catholics has been strengthened by our common devotion to the memory of St Chad, as a share of his relic returns to Lichfield Cathedral.
“St Chad reminds us of the unity we already enjoy through our baptism and faith in Christ – he encourages us to pray and work for the fullness of unity together.”
The Dean of Lichfield, the Very Rev. Adrian Dorber said: “This moment will represent years of patient dialogue and conversation. More importantly it marks the growing relationships between all God’s people and especially with our Catholic brothers and sisters in the Archdiocese of Birmingham.
“We pray that this gift of friendship will be a sign and example that heals historic divides and moves forward in shared faith. After all, Chad was Bishop of an undivided church. He is perhaps a fitting patron of the unity we all seek.
“We know St Chad was a humble, godly man who, during his short tenure, helped to unite two warring peoples, bring hope and healing to the region, and unite it, and thus, inspired the construction of Lichfield Cathedral with his shrine at the East End.
“As a relic of St Chad is so generously translated back to Lichfield, a part of the cathedral’s heart is restored, and St Chad’s ministry of healing continues through the ages.”
The relic was installed in the shrine during an ecumenical service on November 8 which brought together Catholic and Anglican representatives, who first walked the way of St Chad from the well at St Chad’s Parish Church, Lichfield.
The new Shrine of St Chad is situated at the front of the Lady Chapel and is illuminated by a golden corona of light suspended from the ceiling.
The Rev. Dorber said: “Reinstating the Shrine of St Chad serves to focus our attention on the life of St Chad, a man who lived by the example of Jesus Christ and in so doing, we are pointing to the faith we hold in Jesus, the one we share with our brothers and sisters around the world.
“We pray that the shrine will serve to bring people’s prayers and thoughts to Jesus as they encounter the wonder of this sacred space and the holiness that feels so tangible here at the Cathedral.”
As a sign of reconciliation and healing two fruit trees, symbolising two divided factions of the Church, will be planted in the cathedral grounds. Representatives of 300 churches, schools and institutions who attended the service were given Verdun Oak saplings grown from the Verdun Oak in the Remembrance Garden in Lichfield.
Anglican Bishop Michael Ipgrave of Lichfield said: “This is an enormously significant event for both our cathedral and the church across the wider Midlands for whom St Chad was apostle. The installation of the new shrine and relic of St Chad will be a sign of both healing and forgiveness.
“St Chad was a saint of the undivided church and this celebration is a potent symbol and step towards the unity that we pray and strive for as brothers and sisters in Christ. It also sends a powerful message of hope and reconciliation to our divided world.”
Some Catholics, however, were sceptical about the return of a relic to a part of the Church which did not formally believe in the Communion of Saints.
Dr Joseph Shaw, chairman of the Latin Mass Society, said: “The Archdiocese of Birmingham has a stringent obligation towards the holy things entrusted to its care.
“The relics of St Chad were saved from destruction at the time of the Reformation by faithful Catholics at the peril of their lives.
“It seems extraordinary that a portion of these should be lent to an institution which officially rejects their veneration, and many of whose members reject them as tokens of Popish superstition.”
St Chad, a 7th century priest, monk and bishop, served in Lichfield for just two-and-a-half years. But his heroic virtues have left an impact on that part of the West Midlands that has lasted for centuries, with more than 30 churches dedicated to the saint’s honour and as well as several wells and the cathedral church of the Archdiocese of Birmingham.
He was one of four brothers who all became priests, and two of them – Chad and St Cedd – became bishops. They were Angles by race and were born in the kingdom of Northumbria, training at Lindisfarne under St Aidan.
St Chad went to Ireland after the death of St Aidan and spent several years working with St Egbert but was called back to England by his elder brother, Cedd, to be Abbot of Lastingham, near Whitby, Yorkshire.
Within a year he was summoned by King Oswy to become Bishop of York and was ordained in the province of the West Saxons, then immediately and strenuously devoted himself to the teaching of ecclesiastical truth and purity of doctrine. He gave great attention to the practices of self-denial, humility and study and would emulate the Apostles by travelling through the towns and villages of his diocese on foot, rather than on horseback, preaching the Gospel as he went.
When Theodore, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, arrived in England in 669 he decided that St Chad’s episcopal ordination was irregular and gave his See to Wilfrid. The response of St Chad was one of humble acceptance which so impressed St Theodore that he made St Chad the Bishop of Mercia on the death of Jaruman.
After his consecration, St Chad moved the seat of the diocese from Repton to Lichfield and King Wulfhere gave him land on which to found a monastery. By the church in Lichfield St Chad also built a house of retreat, in which he would spend his leisure time with the seven or eight monks who settled there. St Chad died in Lichfield on 2nd March 672 after an illness which lasted seven days and after receiving the final sacraments of the Church.