The First Christian English King.

Thames Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 8612, 17 March 1897, Page 2

The First Christian English King.

Speaking at a Mayoral bauquet at Canterbury, Dean Farrar alluded to the fact that during the year 1897 will be celebrated the tlniteenth centenary of the baptism of the first Christian English king at Canterbury, and that more than two hundred bishops will be assembled in the ancient cathedral on the occasion. They would come into* East Kent for the purpose first of visiting the ruins of Eichborough Castle, and they would come on in one body from Richborough to Canterbury on July 3rd. The citizens, said the Dean, would have the honor and pleasure of entertaining the bishops at their houses. He was going to turn out the whole of hia family in order to receive several archbishops and bishops, and it was expected that every gentleman present that evening would receive at least two bishops. Besides that great day—and he would like to impress upon the people, not merely the importance of the external ceremony, but also the great fact that the possession for thirteen centuries of the blessings of Christianity ought to be marked as memorable—there would be various other occasions on which they would endeavor, to the best of their power, to make the year memorable by various external functions'. Let them be determined, Dr. Farrar urged, to make every saerific in the noble cause, and he was sure that they would make the year memorable, and that it would be for the good of the old city. The total of the Thirteenth CentenaryCommeinorationFund which' is being raised by the Dean amounts to considerably over £13,000.