VENERABLE PRELATE

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 83, 9 April 1928, Page 9

VENERABLE PRELATE

HEAD OF ENGLISH CHURCH FREEDOM OF CANTERBURY United Service. (Received 9th April, noon.) LONDON, £th April. Picturesque medieval pageantry accompanied the gift of the ITieedom of Canterbury in recognition of the Archbishop of Canterbury's eightieth birthday. The Archbishop, gorgeously vestmentcd, moved in procession from the Cathedral, accompanied by bedesmen, bearing white wands, amid the cheers of crowds gathered in the old-world street. As be approached the Guild Hall a welcoming blast was sounded on an ancient horn. The Freedom was contained in an oaken casket made of timbers from the Cathedral, dating back to 1400, A.D. The Sheriff recalled the Archbishop's heroism when.as a Kentish curate he carried a cholera-stricken servant downstairs to thp ambulance. The Archbishop recalled that he had known many great men from sovereigns downward, and had had ac intimate friends seven British Prime Ministers. His friends included hundreds of bishops all over the world. He paid a tribute to his wife and colleagues in lightening the burden of office. Dwelling on war memories ho said that ho sat in Canterbury listening' to the drumming of deadly gunfire in Flanders.