Coventry Cathedral

Előszó

COVENTRYCATHEDRAL H. C. N. WILLIAMS Provost of Coventry Cathedral SACRED indeed is the ground upon which Coventry Cathedral is built. Hard by the west wall of the new cathedral are visible the bases of somé of the massive buttresses which supported the great medieval cathedral. Joined to the new cathedral by the great porch is the 14th-century parish church of St. Michael, which in 1918 became the second cathedral. Hence the third cathedral stands as a massive link between the first and the second-a symbol of the indestructibility of the faith which it expresses. Medieval Coventry was small, enclosed by a wall. Within this wall were many churches. The greatest was the Church of St. Mary's Benedictine Monastery, built in 1043. This church, when enlarged in the 13th century, was similar to and in fact larger than the present Lichfield Cathedral. Lady Godiva, wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, supported its foundation with considerable wealth. Further ruins of its walls are visible in Priory Row, to the west of the new cathedral. Holy Trinity and St. Michael's churches were built in the 14th century. Their proximity to one another and to the priory itself is witness both to the prodigality of church-building at that timc, and to the extent to which status was defended by those who claimed it. Holy Trinity was apparently built for the tenants of the prior's half of the town, and St. Michael's for the tenants of the earl's half of the town. An accident of history has, appropriately, named the roadway separating these two ancient churches "Cuckoo Lane". Now, however, Holy Trinity is the great parish church in the centre of the city, and * * * facing page: The Charred Cross and the Cross of Nails in the sanctuary of the Ruins focus the purpose of the Ministry of Coventry Cathedral-Resurrection through Sacrifice. right: The exteriőr of the lovely Chapel of Unity. It is dedicated to the unity of Christian churches and was planned to create an impression of a crusader's tent. its work and the cathedral's are entirely and happily complementary. The third of the famous "Three Spires" is the ancient Christ Church near Greyfriars Green, but only the spire now remains. As is evident from the building which must have taken place in the 14th and 15th centuries, of which these churches were brilliant and beautiful examples, Coventry was prosperous. It was indeed the principal markét town of the Midlands, and it soon developed crafts for which it became world-famous-ribbonmaking, leather and glass work, watchmaking, and latterly every conceivable sort of mechanical device, from the smallest precision tool to guíded missiles and aircraft. The trading activities of the medieval town were organised into guilds. Vissza