Church Saint Thomas of Canterbury

Church dedicated to Saint Thomas of Canterbury

Built in the 17th century, with a unique nave, surmounted by a hermitage bell tower, it is dedicated to Thomas Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury, assassinated in 1170, for resisting the attempt at absolute power of Henry II Plantagenet. It became, in a way, the symbol of resistance to the brutal Anglo-Saxon occupation of the region during the Hundred Years' War.

Thomas Beckett was born in London in 1120 to parents from Mondeville near Caen. After an education at Canterbury Cathedral and Bologna, he was noticed by the Archbishop of the Cathedral. Raised to the position of Chancellor in 1155, he became devoted to his King Henry II Plantagenet. The latter, wishing to diminish the privileges of the Church, saw in him the instrument of his designs, thus entrusting him with the education of his son Henry the Younger.

On the death of the archbishop in power, Thomas Beckett was appointed as his successor in 1162. Invested in his office, his staunch opposition to the King's ambitions forced him to exile in France in 1164 in spite of the Pope's support.

Henry II, faced with the risk of excommunication by the pope, made peace with Thomas Beckett who thus returned to England in November 1170. A month later four Anglo-Norman knights murdered him in the cathedral. He was 50.

This assassination caused outrage in the country and throughout Europe, Henry II made penance in Avranches in 1172.

Thomas Beckett was then revered in Brittany, Normandy and more broadly in France and Europe. He was quickly canonized in 1173. Henry II was then forced to do penance on Thomas's tomb, which became the most prized place of pilgrimage in England.

In Normandy no less than 74 places of worship are dedicated to Saint Thomas of Canterbury (see the places of worship of Saint Thomas Becket in Normandy by Jean Fournée), as, near us, the church of Mont aux Malades in Mont Saint Aignan, those of Gruchet le Valasse, Pourville and a chapel of the Cathedral in Rouen.

Inside the church are a 17th-century altar, polychrome altarpieces, an obituary plaque from 1632 by Jean Dennemarche and on its southern flank the chapel Notre Dame de Liesse, built in 1634 by Jean Frontin du Tôt.

For more information :

Les lieux de culte de Thomas Becket (Jean Fournée - Annales de Normandie 1995)

Thomas Becket: the murder that shook the Middle Ages (British museum)