The Cathedral Museum is on your left as you go through the passageway leading to the south transept. It holds such items as the letter of petition (copy on display) that was sent to the Bishop of London in 1699, the key to the 1850 Cathedral, and photographs recording the damage the Cathedral suffered in the fire of 1892. The Museum tells the story of the Parish from its foundation in 1699.
The Museum also contains stained glass: two windows and a commemorative medallion. The smaller window, installed in 1981, was given in memory of John Bolt Marshall (1981). Designed by Theo Lubbers Studios, Montreal, it depicts three generations of the Holy Family: St. Anne with her daughter Mary, and Mary with her son Jesus. On the left (1997) is the Cathedral's newest window, illustrating Christ's Great Commission, "Go ye forth into all the world..."; other figures include St. Peter and the Rev. John Jackson, first incumbent of the parish. Executed by Robert McCausland of Toronto, it was given by Louise Lambiase in memory of her brother C. Francis Rowe (1916-1995). Above the transept screen hangs the medallion (made by Powell/Whitefriars), presented to the Cathedral in 1933 by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel as a memorial of the SPG's centuries of support. Also found in the Museum are a number of sculpted heads from the first stone ediface of the Cathedral.
The Canterbury Cross is just outside the Museum, attached to the southeast pier of the transept crossing, next to the Eagle Lectern. It is modelled on a brooch unearthed during excavations in 1860 at a site in Canterbury where churches have stood since the sixth century. That original brooch, which has come to be known as the Canterbury Cross, was Saxon in design, probably from the eighth century, and fashioned with arms of equal length hammered into an almost complete circle. Around 1932, reproductions of this cross, including the original's vine-leaf detailing, were made and affixed to pieces of stone from Canterbury Cathedral, then presented to each of the Cathedral Churches of the Anglican Communion throughout the world as a visible representation of communion with Canterbury. Other examples of this cross can be found at Canterbury Cathedral, together with the names of the dioceses so honoured.
The Gargoyle above the door in the South Transept was donated by the Diocese of Bristol, England, in 1967. Bristol was the port from which John Cabot set sail in 1497 on his voyage of discovery. This gargoyle was formerly on a tower of St. Augustine's Cathedral, Bristol.
Next on the Tour: The South Nave
