Venue: Reading Museum & Town Hall
Blood and Bones: the Veneration of Relics at Reading Abbey
Henry I’s church at Reading was designed for pilgrims, and yet Reading was not, of itself, a pilgrimage site: no saints lived or died here and its relics - more than 230 pieces of bone, dust, wood and bloodstained fabric - were all imported from elsewhere. Pilgrims flocked to Reading Abbey to see their prized collection of relics, famously including the hand of St James.
Hear Dr Ron Baxter, author of ‘The Royal Abbey of Reading’, examine how relics were used to transform a middle-sized borough into a magnet for pilgrims.
This talk is part of the Reading Abbey Lecture Series and has been organised in association with the Friends of Reading Museum.
Refreshments will be provided.
Who
Adults
Booking
SOLD OUT
Image taken by Dr Ron Baxter.
