The “Unfinished Vespers” of St. Thomas Becket – 1170

For St. Thomas Becket.

A reader – who picked this up from Jeffrey Morse – writes:

More bloodshed remembered on this 5th day of Christmas- St Thomas (Becket) of Canterbury- murdered in his Cathedral during the singing of Vespers on this day in 1170- here brought to life in a brilliant recording of the Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge, directed by Dr Mary Berry. [US HERE – UK HERE] Contemporary accounts say that the murder happened during the singing of the “capitulum”.

In this recording, at that moment, the reader’s voice trails off and the great bell of Canterbury takes over.