St Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham City

The shrine of one of Britain’s greatest saints lies at the heart of this perfect pilgrim site, which is visited on the one-day pilgrimage walk to Birmingham’s Anglican cathedral

‍Highlights

• St Chad’s relics in recreated shrine

St Chad’s relics lie at the heart of an important church, just as they did in the 7th century. Once venerated at the cathedral in Lichfield, the saint’s bones survived the Reformation and are now kept in Birmingham’s magnificent Roman Catholic cathedral. This grand Pugin building gives pride of place to the saint’s reconstructed shrine, which sits above the high altar. It looks like a miniature, gold-plated house.

Curiously enough, we have the Venerable Bede to thank for the shrine’s unusual design. He describes St Chad’s tomb in some detail: “a little wooden house, covered, with a hole in the side through which those who visit out of devotion to him can insert their hand and take out some of the dust” (History iv.3). The dust was mixed with water and drunk, by both humans and animals alike. Bede’s account shows that within 50 years of his death, his shrine had become famous for healing miracles. Needless to say, there is no queue of ailing livestock allowed anywhere near the modern-day shrine, or pilgrims for that matter. Churches often preserve their relics out of the reach of worshippers, but at least the shrine has been made into a central feature, prominent above the high altar. It is made of gold, a dazzling sight under bright lights. A new pilgrim route, St Chad’s Way, should encourage more devotional visitors (see britishpilgrimage.org).

St Chad served as the first bishop of Lichfield from 669 to 672. Lichfield is only 15 miles north of the cathedral as the crow flies. Not far in geographical terms, but the relics went on a long journey to get here.

A series of stained glass windows at the back of the church, in St Edward’s Chapel, illustrates the remarkable story of how St Chad’s relics came to Birmingham. At the time of the Reformation, they were saved by a priest called Arthur Dudley, who took great personal risk by defying orders to destroy them. The saint’s bones passed into private ownership, traveled to France, returned to England in secret, and were hidden in a private chapel at Aston Hall, near Stone in Staffordshire. They were rediscovered in 1840, just in time to be moved into Birmingham’s newly built cathedral. The four long bones in the casket were carbon-dated by Oxford University in 1985 and are indeed from St Chad’s time. His relics were mixed with his brother St Cedd at some point during the Middle Ages, but we don’t know for sure if both are here.

The cathedral was the first to be consecrated by the Catholic church in England since the Reformation, opening in 1841. It was designed by Augustus Pugin, the famous architect. He also designed the gilded shrine bearing St Chad’s relics. This is the only English cathedral with its patron saint’s relics above the altar. Indeed, the only other British example I have encountered is St Magnus Cathedral in Orkney, which is technically not a cathedral anymore.

An ancient statue of St Chad complements the presence of his saintly remains in their lofty casket. This was carved in the mid-16th century and shows the saint holding a model of Lichfield Cathedral. St Chad died in 672 on 2 March, his saint’s day. There are several places to light candles around the cathedral, as well as a display of some of the possessions of St John Henry Newman, whose main shrine in Birmingham is a short walk away (see opposite). The saint preached regularly in the cathedral, a personal connection that is reflected in the small collection of his own effects. An icon of the saint and the design of the reliquary in traditional medieval style offer a timeless connection between the cathedral’s 19th-century holy man and the 7th-century St Chad.

Directions‍

St Chad’s Cathedral

St Chad’s Queensway, Birmingham B4 6EU

www.stchadscathedral.org.uk

W3W: curl.atomic.vital

GPS: 52.4855N 1.8986W

Nearby Stations

Snow Hill railway station 300m

Birmingham New Street railway station 1km

The RC cathedral is in the centre of Birmingham, off a busy road (the A41, St Chad’s Queensway), next to the large roundabout called Saint Chads Circus Queensway. It is about 500m north of the Anglican cathedral. Opening hours are Mon–Fri 9am–5pm, Sat 7am until Vigil Mass, Sun 8am until after High Mass.