Chronology of Catholic Dioceses:Note on the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Canterbury, 1558

In 1533, Thomas Cranmer was created Archbishop of Canterbury. As his predecessors, he received the pallium from the Holy Father, but he considered himself as the king's archbishop. He therefore approved the divorce of king Henry VIII from Queen Catherine. His lapse from the Catholic faith was confirmed in 1538, when he allowed the shrine of St Thomas to be desecrated. Under Edward, he led the reform party against the Church, and abolished Mass. From a Catholic point of view, Canterbury was thus vacant from 1533 to 1556.

After Cranmer's death in 1556, Reginald Cardinal Pole received the pallium. This was during the reign of Queen Mary, and Pole worked hard to restore the See and the Church in England in general. He died only two years later, on 17 November 1558. This was also the day of Queen Elizabeth's acession, and the archdiocese therefore became extinct with his death.

(Source: Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03299b.htm)

-CNy