Journal Entry for the Week of March 21 to March 25

By all intents and purposes he was just another man who met a grissly end in a period when this was not unheard of. In 12th century England, Saint Thomas Becket was a religious bishop, a close friend of Henry II, and the spiritual leader of the Canterbury Cathedral, then the powerhouse of the English Church with alliegance to the pope. But events unforeseen would soon take this ordinary man and turn him into one nof the most revered martyrs of Christian antiquity, a symbol of unity amongst dispersed citizens and a source of artistic inspiration for centuries to come. He would also become an early manifestation of the notion that the martyrdom of one man could be a source of comfort for an entire nation, that grief could become peace, that from the gruesome remains of a corpse a society could unearth redemption and miracles.In many ways, Becket was to middle age art what Jesus Christ has always been to Christianity; a constant source of hope and redemption, a figure who symbolically rallied an entire nation during a period of turmoil and grief. In many ways, this cathedral was also a reminder of the absolute power that a figurehead can have over a population. Indeed, the enormity of building the cathedral and the reverence and worship Becket enjoyed as a martyr was evidence that power was not linked to life, but to need. After his gruesome murder the entire populace was in turmoil; by commemorating Becket his community allowed themselves a medium to heal and rendered Becket a most powerful figure. And similar to Christ, he did not have to be alive to excercise control and power over his followers.

In many ways the cathedral and the way it was constructed also helped us understand the psychological tendencies of this middle age society. The entire cathedral was adorned in hues of pink and white, symbolizing Becket's blood and brains and creating an eerie sense of reliving the horror of his murder everytime one visited the cathedral. On the other hand, the cathedral was constructed with windows upon windows on the walls, letting pure light in from all angles and bathing the shrine in literal and symbolic purity, with the light allowing worshippers to bask in the radiance of god himself. This almost seamless blend of bloodshed and beauty reflected a society that was willing to embrace both the horrors and the beauty of the past. Indeed, they were simultaneously cleansing themselves spiritually and giving penance for the crimes that had been committed against their revered martyr. It is both strange and humbling to look at how intimately this society was linked to their past, to the point that they would not dare disrespect their own histories by attempting to cover up or "prettify" the macabre reality of what Becket suffered. Instead, they used the grissly details as a constant reminder lest they forget, and immortalized Becket in such a manner that--as the documentary states--he achieved in death what he could not in life.