Editing Ælfheah of Canterbury (section)

==Veneration==
[[File:Salisbury Cathedral St Alphege.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|An 1868 [[Statuary of the West Front of Salisbury Cathedral|statue on the West Front of Salisbury Cathedral]] by [[James Redfern]], showing Ælfheah holding the stones used in his martyrdom.]]
Pope [[Pope Gregory VII|Gregory VII]] canonised Ælfheah in 1078, with a [[Calendar of saints|feast day]] of 19 April.<ref name=DictSaint>Delaney ''Dictionary of Saints'' pp. 29–30</ref> [[Lanfranc]], the first [[Norman conquest of England|post-Conquest]] archbishop, was dubious about some of the saints venerated at Canterbury. He was persuaded of Ælfheah's sanctity,<ref name=Conquest137>Williams ''English and the Norman Conquest'' p. 137</ref> but Ælfheah and [[Augustine of Canterbury]] were the only pre-conquest Anglo-Saxon archbishops kept on Canterbury's calendar of saints.<ref name=ASE672>Stenton ''Anglo-Saxon England'' p. 672</ref> Ælfheah's shrine, which had become neglected, was rebuilt and expanded in the early 12th century under [[Anselm of Canterbury]], who was instrumental in retaining Ælfheah's name in the church calendar.<ref name=PopularReligion40>Brooke ''Popular Religion in the Middle Ages'' p. 40</ref><ref>Southern "St Anselm and his English Pupils" ''Mediaeval and Renaissance Studies''</ref> After the 1174 fire in Canterbury Cathedral, Ælfheah's remains, together with those of Dunstan were placed around the high altar, at which Thomas Becket is said to have commended his life into Ælfheah's care shortly before his martyrdom during the [[Becket controversy]].<ref name=DNB/> The new shrine was sealed in lead,<ref name=Shrines33>Nilson ''Cathedral Shrines'' p. 33</ref> and was north of the high altar, sharing the honour with Dunstan's shrine, which was located south of the high altar.<ref name=Shrines66>Nilson ''Cathedral Shrines'' pp. 66–67</ref> A ''Life of Saint Ælfheah'' in prose and verse was written by a Canterbury monk named [[Osbern of Canterbury|Osbern]], at Lanfranc's request. The prose version has survived, but the ''Life'' is very much a [[hagiography]]; many of the stories it contains have obvious Biblical parallels, making them suspect as a historical record.<ref name=DNB/>

In the late medieval period, Ælfheah's feast day was celebrated in Scandinavia, perhaps because of the saint's connection with Cnut.<ref name=Blair504>Blair "Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Saints" ''Local Saints and Local Churches'' p. 504</ref> Few church dedications to him are known, with most of them occurring in Kent and one each in London and Winchester;<ref name=Rumble173/> as well as [[St Alfege's Church]] in Greenwich, a [[St Alfege's Hospital|nearby hospital]] (1931–1968) was named after him.<ref name=Lost>{{cite web|title=Greenwich District Hospital|url=http://www.ezitis.myzen.co.uk/greenwichdistrict.html|website=Lost Hospitals of London|access-date=25 October 2015}}</ref> In Kent, there are two 12th-century parish churches dedicated to St Alphege at [[Seasalter]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=St Alphege Church, Seasalter in Whitstable – St Alphege Church, Seasalter – Part of the Anglican Whitstable Team Ministry|url=https://stalphegeseasalter.org/|access-date=26 December 2020|website=stalphegeseasalter.org}}</ref> and Canterbury. Reputedly his body lay in these churches overnight on his way back to [[Canterbury Cathedral]] for burial.<ref>Histories in the parish collection at Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library.</ref> In the town of Solihull in the West Midlands, [[St Alphege Church, Solihull|St Alphege Church]] is dedicated to Ælfheah dating back to approximately 1277.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.solihullparish.org.uk/churches/st-alphege|title=St Alphege – SolihullParish|website=www.solihullparish.org.uk|access-date=24 April 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425120214/http://www.solihullparish.org.uk/churches/st-alphege|archive-date=25 April 2017}}</ref> In 1929, a new Roman Catholic church in Bath, the [[Church of Our Lady & St Alphege, Bath|Church of Our Lady & St Alphege]], was designed by [[Giles Gilbert Scott]] in homage to the ancient Roman church of [[Santa Maria in Cosmedin]], and dedicated to Ælfheah under the name of Alphege.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saintalphege.org.uk/2building.html |title=St Alphege's Church: The Building |publisher=St Alphege's Church, Bath |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226145613/http://www.saintalphege.org.uk/2building.html |archive-date=26 February 2012 }} Accessed 30 August 2009</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Bath Our Lady & St Alphege|url=https://www.explorechurches.org/church/our-lady-st-alphege|access-date=26 December 2020|website=Explore Churches|language=en}}</ref> [[St George the Martyr, Southwark|St George the Martyr with St Alphege & St Jude]] stands in the Borough in London.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Borough St George the Martyr with St Alphege & St Jude|url=https://www.explorechurches.org/church/st-george-martyr-st-alphege-st-jude-borough|access-date=26 December 2020|website=Explore Churches|language=en}}</ref>

Artistic representations of Ælfheah often depict him holding a pile of stones in his [[chasuble]], a reference to his martyrdom.<ref>Audsley ''Handbook of Christian Symbolism'' p. 125</ref>