Glastonbury, England The strange, quasi-stepped hill that dominates the Salisbury plain has been a magnet for prophets and mystics since antiquity. According to local tradition, Joseph of Arimathea stumbled upon the place after his long journey from Judea, and selected it as the central location for his Christian missionary work in Briton. From the ruins of Glastonbury … [Read more...]
HISTORIC ANGLICAN CATHEDRALS OF LONDON
London, England While Canterbury Cathedral is the seat of the Anglican Church and the mother church of all denominations within the Anglican Communion, it is Westminster Abbey, and to a lesser extent St. Paul’s Cathedral, that are the public faces of the Church of England. Westminster Abbey, classified as a Royal Peculiar, has been the unofficial church of the English … [Read more...]
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL
Canterbury, England Canterbury Cathedral is the headquarters of the Anglican Church and for most of the Middle Ages it was also England’s greatest pilgrimage shrine. Interestingly, Canterbury is neither England’s first Christian city (Glastonbury), nor is its Cathedral the most impressive (Winchester Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral) or famous (Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s … [Read more...]
METHODIST HERITAGE SITES
London, England Since the days of King Henry VIII, England has been on the cutting edge of Christian theological development. From the Anglicans in the 16th century, to the Puritans in the 17th century, to the Methodists in the 18th century, to the missionary societies of the 19th century, some of the greatest modern-day Protestant organizations and institutions can be … [Read more...]
HIGH KIRK OF GILES
Edinburgh, Scotland The High Kirk of Giles is the greatest church in Edinburgh, the chief house of worship of the Church of Scotland and the spiritual headquarters of the worldwide Presbyterian community. Originally the Catholic Cathedral of St. Giles, the church was seized by the Protestants in the 1550s. It is also unofficially the church of the monarchy in Scotland. … [Read more...]
ST. MARY’S CHURCH
Lutterworth, England If Wittenberg in Germany is the place where the Protestant Reformation was born, than the small town of Lutterworth in Central England was the place where it was conceived. It was here in the mid-14th century that the theologian John Wycliffe offered the first serious challenge to the authority of the Catholic Church, which many in Europe saw as having … [Read more...]
BASILICA OF OUR LADY
Knock, Ireland The Basilica of Our Lady in Knock, Ireland is a beloved catholic shrine in a country that takes its Catholic heritage very seriously. It is also the most popular Marian shrine in the British Isles. Like Lourdes, it is famous for a miraculous appearance of the Virgin Mary in the 19th century. Unlike Lourdes, there were many witnesses to the event. After … [Read more...]
DOWN CATHEDRAL
Downpatrick, Ireland The tradition of the missionary Patrick in Ireland represents one of the greatest relationships between any nation or people and their patron saint. Patrick is as beloved in Ireland as virtually any other saint is anywhere else in the world. His feast day is among the most celebrated in the world. After his monastic training, Patrick was primarily … [Read more...]