Why is Canterbury so important to Christians?

Answer 1

Roman Catholic AnswerCanterbury was the primatial city: the mother and head of the Church in England and Wales from 597 until the death of Cardinal Pole, the last archbishop, in 1558. It's archbishop was Primate of All England, with the right of consecrating all his suffragans, perpetual legatus natus of the Holy See, and the first peer of the realm. Of the 68 archbishops that served Canterbury, seventeen are venerated as saints. The see remained in abeyance till it was put an end to by the establishment of a new hierarchy with its head at Westminster in 1850.

from A Catholic Dictionary, edited by Donald Attwater, Second edition, revised 1957

Anglican AnswerIn addition to the above, one of the more revered saints to have been an Archbishop of Canterbury was Thomas Beckett who was martyred on the altar steps of one of the chapels in the great cathedral, on the orders of the king. Canterbury became a shrine to this saint and the cathedral is still visited by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and tourists each year.

In addition, the pastoral head of the Anglican Church worldwide known as the 'first among equals' is always the Archbishop of Canterbury. Currently the Archbishop is the Rt Rev Dr Rowan Williams, who made history by meeting with His Holiness the Pope during his state visit to the UK in 2010, where they prayed together at the shrine of St Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey. This was a moving occasion for both British Anglicans and British Roman Catholics, as two major leaders of the Christian Church felt close enough in Christian love to worship together in this way.