St Paul’s says it is without any buried Saints, meanwhile, Canterbury’s got a whole stack
St Paul’s Cathedral’s Twitter account is a thing of rare brilliance – your correspondent is a fan, and this morning I spotted an unusual Twitter conversation going on about saintly body parts.
On this wet Monday morning, and indeed, the feast of St. Bartholomew, the operatives behind the St Paul’s Twitter account were apparently lamenting the fact that London’s most famous cathedral doesn’t have any saints buried in it.
“Is it true you have St Bartholomew’s arm (but that no one really knows where it is)?” St Paul’s asked Canterbury Cathedral (@No1Cathedral).
@No1Cathedral Is it true you have St Bartholomew’s arm (but that no one really knows where it is)?
— St Paul’s Cathedral (@StPaulsLondon) August 24, 2015
Canterbury Cathedral soon responded with this gem: “@StPaulsLondon Not sure, so shall ask. We did have St Swithun’s head (as one does) but it was lost in a Viking raid in 1011.”
And this elicited the following response from St. Paul’s: “@No1CathedralThose Vikings burned us down! We’re currently without a saint. You have quite a few.”
Canterbury concurs: “@StPaulsLondon True; we ‘acquired’ St Alphege from you in 1023. But you do have Wellington, Nelson, Wren etc: not bad!”
Meanwhile, workers at the UK’s other premier cathedrals realised they were witnessing a new chapter in social media and ecclesiastical history, and did not want to miss the relic-laden boat.
Cue Portsmouth Cathedral (@PortsmouthCath) with this excellent interjection: “@StPaulsLondon We have a bit of Becket but you can’t have him back @No1Cathedral”.
A bit of Becket!
Well done to all concerned.
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