• 
• 
• 
• 

[Salisbury Cathedral. Indiabbie at Pixabay.com. Used under Pixabay's free license.]

BISHOP RICHARD POORE is famous for planning and building a great cathedral. But before he could use his gifts in the church, he needed a special dispensation because he was the illegitimate son of a clergyman. After granting the dispensation, the pope still rejected him for the sees of Winchester and Durham because of political considerations. 

Pope Innocent III was dueling with King John and even placed England under interdict. Poore taught in Paris during those troubled years. In 1214, the pope accepted Poore’s nomination to the see of Chichester. Poore took his place early in 1215. Later that year he attended the Third Lateran Council.

In 1217, Poore translated [i.e. transferred] to the Salisbury see which his brother Herbert had held. The cathedral in use was at a royal castle. The soldiers caused problems by turning parishioners away, calling them threats to security. Herbert had planned to move the house of worship. Pope Honorius III gave Poore permission to go forward with the plan. Poore’s “move from Old Sarum to New Sarum was a deliberate attempt to distance the house of prayer from the house of power,” says Nicholas Papadopulos, Dean of Salisbury. On this day, 28 April 1220, construction began. Poore laid five foundation stones: one for himself, one for the Archbishop of Canterbury, one for the pope, and two for local nobility. 

The cathedral went up faster than most. Cathedrals could take hundreds of years to finish—if completed at all. By contrast, apart from the spire, Salisbury took only forty years. Architects describe Salisbury as graceful, simple, and representative of the Early English Gothic style. It demonstrates greater unity than many cathedrals because its plan underwent few changes. One thing that did change was the spire. After it went unfinished for over a century, architects redesigned it to be twice as high as first planned. The extra weight bent the original piers, requiring more supports.

Bishop Poore’s learning enabled him to detail the clergy duties and the liturgy for the new cathedral. He also completed some statutes for Durham. These writings influenced later church legislation. He arranged education for selected children on condition they teach other children. He also laid out the town of Salisbury. Poore did not live to see his plans completed. He died in 1237 with only the choir and east transepts built. Completing the nave and main transepts took another twenty years. Building a cathedral required trust that Christians of the future would be faithful.

Beside his role as bishop, Poore served as a justice and supported Archbishop Stephen Langton who had his hands full trying to keep royalty in check. Poore was open to new influences: When the Franciscan friars first arrived in England in 1225, he welcomed them.

On this day, 28 April 2020, Salisbury’s community held a celebration to mark the eight-hundredth anniversary of their cathedral’s founding. Because of a pandemic, leaders conducted the service virtually. It combined poems, prayers, hymns, choir pieces, an address by Dean Nick Papadopulos, and a blessing by bishop Nick Holtam.

—Dan Graves

----- ----- -----

To learn how architecture has enhanced Christian worship, Watch A History of Christian Worship - Part 5 - The Expression at RedeemTV

A History of Christian Worship: Part 5, The Expression can be purchased at Vision Video.