So, I was just doing a Buzzfeed quiz to identify the 51 cities of England on a blank map (yes, I know, but desperate times, desperate measures. For what it's worth, I got 45 out of 50 - not sure where the 51st went* - putting me in the 87th percentile - not bad for 30 years away). Anyway, I was surprised at some of the places that were designated as cities.
Now, I know that the definition of "city" in England is very different from that used in North America, based as it is not on the size of a place, but on a status granted willy-nilly by some monarch or other, usually based on whether a settlement has a cathedral or not. So, some unlikely places qualify as cities, like tiny Ely, or Truro.
But I was still taken aback by the presence of places like Wakefield and Preston, industrial northern cities with no real tourist profile, places you drive past on motorways, unless you have specific business there. But yes, it turns out that Wakefield, for example, does indeed have a Cathedral Church of All Saints.
And Preston? Well, that's even more interesting. Preston has the Syro-Malabar Cathedral of St. Alphonsa. Say, what? Apparently, the old church of St. Ignatius in Preston was given a promotion as recently as 2016 by Pope Francis, and has become a cathedral for the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. Say what, take two?
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is a self-governing Eastern Catholic church based in Kerala, India ("Malabar" is an old name for Kerala). The "Syro-" part refers to the East Syriac Rite liturgy, which uses the Syriac language (an old form of Aramaic) for its rites.
Wow, talk about obscure! And what the connection is between all this and Preston, Lancashire, is anybody's guess. I have never been to Preston (just driven by it on the motorway...), but it has just gone up in my estimation.
* I think the missing 51st city may be Leeds - no idea why it was not included in the quiz.
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