The Curse of Saint Edmund

St Edmund's Day, 20th November 2005

	Bury St Edmund - November 20

On a damp and misty evening on the Feast day of St Edmund, King and Martyr, the Knights, Sergeants and some forty supporters of St Edmund gathered within the grounds of his Abbey.

In a silent and solemn formation, led by a cross, the Knights marched in torch-light procession through the Great Cemetery to the statue of St Edmund at the West Front of the Abbey. A party of Sergeants and Knights bore a bier on which a Crown was carried, symbolising the now lost King Edmund Wuffinga, last King of East Anglia and holy martyr.

Standing before the great West Door of his Abbey the Knights proceeded with the act of Commination. Following the reading of the preface and introduction to the service the Knights and other St Edmund supporters marched up Church Gate Street. At the top of Church Gate Street the procession turned into Guildhall Street and then westward past the former 18th Century Everards Hotel (now Pizza Hut), before passing over the boundary of the Town Defences into St Andrew Street. A short distance down St Andrew Street the procession turned into the Cattle-Market and came to a halt in the centre of the proposed development site.

The act of Commination then continued with the reading of the 109 Psalm and a Prayer to St Edmund asking him to place the whole development site under an absolute and holy sanction. There then followed a most solemn and formal condemnation by all those present of Debenhams PLC, the Miller Group and Centros Miller. The procession then reformed and returned, again with a steady tread, to St Andrews Street.

Turning into Abbey Gate Street the procession made its way down to the Angel Hill where it stopped outside the Borough Offices. Here two Knights approached the door of the Borough Offices and left a purse containing thirty pieces of Silver upon the step. The Knights and their supporters then said the Lord's Prayer, and the procession continued back to the statue of St Edmund where the final concluding sections of the act of Commination were carried-out.

The Knights and Sergeants then took the bier and marched off into the swirling mists of the great Church Yard from whence they had come.

St Edmund's protection of the town is invoked

The act of Commination does not represent the end of the work of the Knights of St Edmund and those who oppose the proposed Cattle-Market development, it represents the beginning. The Knights of St Edmund have no intention of leaving St Edmund to fight this battle alone. Therefore, the Knights call on all those who love St Edmund, his town and his country to redouble their efforts to oppose the Cattle-Market development. This web-site will continue to place more and more information about the development and those involved in it before the public. The Knights will continue to carry the battle to the enemy with further activities planned in the on-going campaign.

Deus lo volt!