St Thomas à Becket was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral on December 29th, 1170, less than a month after he had returned from six years of exile in France, where he had been driven by a long persecution at the hands of King Henry II of England. The murder was followed by a wave of revulsion throughout Europe, which did much to promote the reforms within the Church that he had died to defend. Pope Alexander III, who had received him in audience during his exile, canonized Thomas just over two years after his death, in no small measure because of the innumerable miracles that took place at his tomb.
The following piece, composed during his exile, is the earliest known musical composition that refers to St Thomas. As Rachel, the mother of Joseph, mourns for the exile of her children in Jeremiah 31, England mourns for that of Thomas, who is therefore called “the Joseph of Canterbury”, while France becomes Egypt, the place of exile of both the Patriarch Joseph and of Our Lord’s foster father. For the sake of the latter, King Henry is described as “a son of Herod”, because he drove Thomas into exile, as Herod did the Holy Family. But perhaps the unknown author intuited what would eventually come of Henry’s importunity against the Church, since, just as the words of Jeremiah were later revealed to be a prophecy of the Massacre of the Innocents, so also “the son of Herod” would wind up having Thomas killed on the day after their feast.
The following piece, composed during his exile, is the earliest known musical composition that refers to St Thomas. As Rachel, the mother of Joseph, mourns for the exile of her children in Jeremiah 31, England mourns for that of Thomas, who is therefore called “the Joseph of Canterbury”, while France becomes Egypt, the place of exile of both the Patriarch Joseph and of Our Lord’s foster father. For the sake of the latter, King Henry is described as “a son of Herod”, because he drove Thomas into exile, as Herod did the Holy Family. But perhaps the unknown author intuited what would eventually come of Henry’s importunity against the Church, since, just as the words of Jeremiah were later revealed to be a prophecy of the Massacre of the Innocents, so also “the son of Herod” would wind up having Thomas killed on the day after their feast.
(Lamentation sounds forth in Rama, as the “Rachel” of England weepeth; for the son of Herod gives her unto ignominy. Behold her first-born, the “Joseph” of Canterbury, as if he were sold, dwells in the “Egypt” of France. ~ On the YouTube channel that posted this, the first word of the 7th line is correctly transcribed “exulat,” but the singers clearly say “exsultat.” This book gives a better reading for the same line “exsul, ac si sit venditus - an exile, as if he had been sold.” Thanks to Dr Jeffrey Morse and Jesson Allerite for this information.)
Here is a very early reliquary of St Thomas, made at Limoges, France in the 1180s, showing the scene of his assassination in the lower part, his burial and the ascent of his soul into heaven in the upper. Devotion to him was incredibly powerful in the Middle Ages and afterwards, especially in England until the Reformation. (It is to his shrine that the pilgrims of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are making their way.) More than 40 such reliquaries are still extant.
