Canonization of Thomas Becket

February 21, 1173

Alexander III, still at Anagni, formally canonized the murdered archbishop barely two and a half years after his death, one of the fastest canonizations of the Middle Ages. Pilgrims were already flocking to Canterbury; the city's stonemasons could hardly keep up with the shrine construction. Becket's cult spread across Europe with remarkable speed, and within a decade Canterbury had become the richest pilgrimage site in England.