within the Cathedral close, but that he is a simple, austere, Benedictine monk.  He has been living for some time past in the famous Abbey of Westminster.  He was first a simple monk, then he was chosen Prior, and finally Lord Abbot.  Some years later, i.e., in 1362, he was appointed to the vacant See of Ely.  By whom?  Well, in those days the Church was not a mere department of the State, so it was not by the Crown.  No:  nor by the Prime Minister, as in the Anglican Church of to-day.  But, as history records, by a special Papal Bull.  Thus, at the time we are now considering, viz., 1366, he had been Bishop just four years.  Now, the Primatial throne of St. Augustine, as already stated, has become vacant, and Simon Langham, the Bishop of Ely, is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Primate of England.

As with all the other Archbishops before the “Reformation,” he cannot exercise his metropolitan powers till he has received from Rome the insignia of his office, viz., the sacred pallium.  On this occasion the Archbishop does not go himself to Italy, to receive it from the hands of the Sovereign Pontiff, but it is brought by special messengers from Rome to England.

We may well imagine the interest these visitors from the Eternal City would excite among the population of London.  Their dark complexion and bright, black eyes, and foreign appearance would, no doubt, attract considerable attention.  Of course they would be made welcome and be shown the chief sights of the city.  They would greatly admire, for instance, the beauty of Westminster Abbey, and would probably ask its history.  Then they would be told how it originated with St. Edward the Confessor.  How he had made a vow to go on a pilgrimage to the tomb of the Apostles at Rome, like a loyal Catholic, in order to pay homage to the successor of St. Peter, whom Christ appointed as head of the Church; how the pious King, finding his kingdom in danger of invasion, and his authority threatened, and not daring to absent himself, begged the Pope to release him from his vow; how the Pope at once commuted it, and bade him build a church instead, in honour of St. Peter; and so forth.  Then they would very likely visit the inmates of the Abbey.  The Benedictine monks who served the Abbey would entertain them, and ask after their brethren in Italy.  Some of these English monks would in all likelihood have been educated at Subiaco, where St. Benedict first lived, or at Monte Cassino, where he died, and where his body still lies.  In any case, these English monks were undoubtedly true children of St. Benedict, and followed his rule, and were animated by his spirit, and rejoiced to acknowledge him as their founder and spiritual father.  There was nothing of the modern Anglican, and nothing insular about them!

In the meantime the great day arrives.  It is the 4th of November in the year 1366.  The bells of the Abbey are ringing a merry peal.  The Faithful are flocking in to witness the Archbishop receive the Pallium, the symbol of jurisdiction, and the sign that all spiritual authority emanates from St. Peter, who alone has received the keys, and from his rightful successors in the Petrine See of Rome.