Quietly nestled in the centre of the reredos at the north end of the cathedral is a Coventry Cross of Nails. On the night of 14 November 1940, eighty-five years ago, the city of Coventry and its cathedral church were bombed. The following morning a cross, the first of many, was fashioned from medieval nails found among the ruins of the still-smouldering cathedral. The Coventry Cross of Nails has come to symbolize the international ministry of peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation embodied by the Coventry Cathedral complex of old ruins and adjacent modern structure. Such a cross has been presented to like-minded organizations, resulting in 1974 in the Community of the Cross of Nails, of which Christ Church Cathedral is a member.
Unlike more recent presentation crosses which are pristine, welded, and metal-plated, the cathedral cross is charred and ancient. It is something of a mystery as to how and when the cross reached Vancouver. Conventional wisdom assumed this took place in 1953; in the fall of that year the Provost of Coventry Cathedral, the Very Rev. Richard T. Howard, the architect of the new structure, Basil Spence, and the chaplain to the Bishop of Coventry, the Rev. Clifford Ross, undertook a fundraising tour across Canada. This tour included stops in Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Regina, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, and Victoria. A number of crosses were distributed during this tour, but “On his arrival here, the provost recalled sending Dean Cecil Swanson a 'Coventry cross' shortly after the bombing destruction…. He said he was thrilled to find it in Christ Church Cathedral directly behind the altar cross.” [Vancouver Sun, 16 November 1953]
A search of the cathedral archives has not revealed when exactly Dean Swanson received the cross, assuming it was mailed. There is another possibility: in September 1941 at the invitation of the British Council twelve Canadian newspapermen went to England. They were to inspect, describe and report on the scale of Britain’s war effort. These twelve included Bishop Robert J. Renison of St. Paul’s Church, Toronto (who had previously served 1927-1931 as the Fifth Rector and First Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver) representing the Globe and Mail, and Wilfrid Lawrence “Biff” MacTavish, editor of the Vancouver Daily Province. One of the sites the party toured was Coventry, including the ruined cathedral, where each member of the delegation was presented with a cross of nails, along with at least another four intended for distribution in Canada. Perhaps this was the means through which Christ Church’s cross reached Vancouver and Dean Swanson.
In 1958 Canon Joseph Poole, first precentor of the new Coventry Cathedral, wrote the text of the Litany of Reconciliation based on the seven cardinal sins. The words of the refrain, “Father, forgive,” rather than Jesus’ familiar “Father, forgive them,” were carved behind the altar after the old cathedral was destroyed. They acknowledge the universality of human guilt in a world where, sadly, the ministry of forgiveness and reconciliation is ever more necessary. The Litany continues to be prayed in the Coventry Cathedral every weekday at noon and throughout the world via the Community of the Cross of Nails partners. The Arvo Pärt-inspired setting of the Litany the choir is presenting this morning (16 November) was composed by this author in 1994.
Stephen Wright