Martyr, Archbishop of Canterbury, born at London, 21 December, 1118
(?); died at Canterbury, 29 December, 1170. St. Thomas was born of
parents who, coming from Normandy, had settled in England some years
previously. No reliance can be placed upon the legend that his mother
was a Saracen. In after life his humble birth was made the subject of
spiteful comment, though his parents were not peasants, but people of
some mark, and from his earliest years their son had been well taught
and had associated with gentlefolk. He learned to read at Merton Abbey
and then studied in Paris. On leaving school he employed himself in
secretarial work, first with Sir Richer de l'Aigle and then with his
kinsman, Osbert Huitdeniers, who was "Justiciar" of London. Somewhere
about the year 1141, under circumstances that are variously related, he
entered the service of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, and in that
household he won his master's favour and eventually became the most
trusted of all his clerks. A description embodied in the Icelandic Saga
and derived probably from Robert of Cricklade gives a vivid portrait of
him at this period.
To look upon he was slim of growth and pale of hue, with dark hair, a
long nose, and a straightly featured face. Blithe of countenance was
he, winning and loveable in his conversation, frank of speech in his
discourses, but slightly stuttering in his talk, so keen of discernment
and understanding that he could always make difficult questions plain
after a wise manner.
Theobald recognized his capacity, made use of him in many delicate
negotiations, and, after allowing him to go for a year to study civil
and cannon law at Bologna and Auxerre, ordained him deacon in 1154,
after bestowing upon him several preferments, the most important of
which was the Archdeaconry of Canterbury (see Radford, "Thomas of
London", p. 53).
It was just at this period that King Stephen died and the young
monarch Henry II became unquestioned master of the kingdom. He took
"Thomas of London", as Becket was then most commonly called, for his
chancellor, and in that office Thomas at the age of thirty-six became,
with the possible exception of the justiciar, the most powerful subject
in Henry's wide dominions. The chroniclers speak with wonder of the
relations which existed between the chancellor and the sovereign, who
was twelve years his junior. People declared that "they had but one
heart and one mind". Often the king and his minister behaved like two
schoolboys at play. But although they hunted or rode at the head of an
army together it was no mere comradeship in pastime which united them.
Both were hard workers, and both, we may believe, had the prosperity of
the kingdom deeply at heart. Whether the chancellor, who was after all
the elder man, was the true originator of the administrative reforms
which Henry introduced cannot now be clearly determined. In many matters
they saw eye to eye. The king's imperial views and love of splendour
were quite to the taste of his minister. When Thomas went to France in
1158 to negotiate a marriage treaty, he travelled with such pomp that
the people said: "If this be only the chancellor what must be the glory
of the king himself?"
In 1153 Thomas acted as justice itinerant in three counties. In
1159 he seems to have been the chief organizer of Henry's expedition to
Toulouse, upon which he accompanied him, and though it seems to be
untrue that the impost of "scutage" was called into existence for that
Occasion (Round, "Feudal England", 268-73), still Thomas undoubtedly
pressed on the exaction of this money contribution in lieu of military
service and enforced it against ecclesiastics in such a way that bitter
complaints were made of the disproportionately heavy burden this imposed
upon the Church. In the military operations Thomas took a leading part,
and Garnier, a French chronicler, who lived to write of the virtues of
St. Thomas and his martyrdom, declares that in these encounters he saw
him unhorse many French knights. Deacon though he was, he lead the most
daring attacks in person, and Edward Grim also gives us to understand
that in laying waste the enemy's country with fire and sword the
chancellor's principles did not materially differ from those of the
other commanders of his time. But although, as men then reported, "he
put off the archdeacon", in this and other ways, he was very far from
assuming the licentious manners of those around him. No word was ever
breathed against his personal purity. Foul conduct or foul speech, lying
or unchastity were hateful to him, and on occasion he punished them
severely. He seems at all times to have had clear principles with regard
to the claims of the Church, and even during this period of his
chancellorship he more than once risked Henry's grievous displeasure.
For example, he opposed the dispensation which Henry for political
reasons extorted from the pope, and strove to prevent the marriage of
Mary, Abbess of Romsey, to Matthew of Boulogne. But to the very limits
of what his conscience permitted, Thomas identified himself with his
master's interests, and Tennyson is true to history when he makes the
archbishop say:
I served our Theobald well when I was with him:
I served King Henry well as Chancellor:
I am his no more, and I must serve the Church.
Archbishop Theobald died in 1161, and in the course of the next year
Henry seems to have decided that it would be good policy to prepare the
way for further schemes of reform by securing the advancement of his
chancellor to the primacy. Our authorities are agreed that from the
first Thomas drew back in alarm. "I know your plans for the Church," he
said, "you will assert claims which I, if I were archbishop, must needs
oppose." But Henry would not be gainsaid, and Thomas at the instance of
Cardinal Henry of Pisa, who urged it upon him as a service to religion,
yielded in spite of his misgivings. He was ordained priest on Saturday
in Whitweek and consecrated bishop the next day, Sunday, 3 June, 1162.
It seems to have been St. Thomas who obtained for England the privilege
of keeping the feast of the Blessed Trinity on that Sunday, the
anniversary of his consecration, and more than a century afterwards this
custom was adopted by the papal Court, itself and eventually imposed on
the whole world.
A great change took place in the saint's way of life after his
consecration as archbishop. Even as chancellor he had practised secret
austerities, but now in view of the struggle he clearly saw before him
he gave himself to fastings and disciplines, hair shirts, protracted
vigils, and constant prayers. Before the end of the year 1162 he
stripped himself of all signs of the lavish display which he had
previously affected. On 10 Aug. he went barefoot to receive the envoy
who brought him the pallium from Rome. Contrary to the king's wish he
resigned the chancellorship. Whereupon Henry seems to have required him
to surrender certain ecclesiastical preferments which he still retained,
notably the archdeaconry, and when this was not done at once showed
bitter displeasure. Other misunderstandings soon followed. The
archbishop, having, as he believed, the king's express permission, set
about to reclaim alienated estates belonging to his see, a procedure
which again gave offence. Still more serious was the open resistance
which he made to the king's proposal that a voluntary offering to the
sheriffs should be paid into the royal treasury. As the first recorded
instance of any determined opposition to the king's arbitrary will in a
matter of taxation, the incident is of much constitutional importance.
The saint's protest seems to have been successful, but the relations
with the king only grew more strained.
Soon after this the great matter of dispute was reached in the
resistance made by Thomas to the king's officials when they attempted to
assert jurisdiction over criminous clerks. The question has been dealt
with in some detail in the article ENGLAND. That the saint himself had
no wish to be lenient with criminous clerks has been well shown by
Norgate (Angevin Kings, ii, 22). It was with him simply a question of
principle. St. Thomas seems all along to have suspected Henry of a
design to strike at the independence of what the king regarded as a too
powerful Church. With this view Henry summoned the bishops at
Westminster (1 October, 1163) to sanction certain as yet unspecified
articles which he called his grandfather's customs (
avitæ consuetudines),
one of the known objects of which was to bring clerics guilty of crimes
under the jurisdiction of the secular courts. The other bishops, as the
demand was still in the vague, showed a willingness to submit, though
with the condition "saving our order", upon which St. Thomas inflexibly
insisted. The king's resentment was thereupon manifested by requiring
the archbishop to surrender certain castles he had hitherto retained,
and by other acts of unfriendliness. In deference to what he believed to
be the pope's wish, the archbishop in December consented to make some
concessions by giving a personal and private undertaking to the king to
obey his customs "loyally and in good faith". But when Henry shortly
afterwards at Clarendon (13 January, 1164) sought to draw the saint on
to a formal and public acceptance of the "Constitutions of Clarendon",
under which name the sixteen articles, the
avitæ consuetudines as
finally drafted, have been commonly known, St. Thomas, though at first
yielding somewhat to the solicitations of the other bishops, in the end
took up an attitude of uncompromising resistance.
Then followed a period of unworthy and vindictive persecution.
When opposing a claim made against him by John the Marshal, Thomas upon a
frivolous pretext was found guilty of contempt of court. For this he
was sentenced to pay £500; other demands for large sums of money
followed, and finally, though a complete release of all claims against
him as chancellor had been given on his becoming archbishop, he was
required to render an account of nearly all the moneys which had passed
through his hands in his discharge of the office. Eventually a sum of
nearly £30,000 was demanded of him. His fellow bishops summoned by Henry
to a council at Northampton, implored him to throw himself unreservedly
upon the king's mercy, but St. Thomas, instead of yielding, solemnly
warned them and threatened them. Then, after celebrating Mass, he took
his archiepiscopal cross into his own hand and presented himself thus in
the royal council chamber. The king demanded that sentence should be
passed upon him, but in the confusion and discussion which ensued the
saint with uplifted cross made his way through the mob of angry
courtiers. He fled away secretly that night (13 October, 1164), sailed
in disguise from Sandwich (2 November), and after being cordially
welcomed by Louis VII of France, he threw himself at the feet of Pope
Alexander III, then at Sens, on 23 Nov. The pope, who had given a cold
reception to certain episcopal envoys sent by Henry, welcomed the saint
very kindly, and refused to accept his resignation of his see. On 30
November, Thomas went to take up his residence at the Cistercian Abbey
of Pontigny in Burgundy, though he was compelled to leave this refuge a
year later, as Henry, after confiscating the archbishop's property and
banishing all the Becket kinsfolk, threatened to wreak his vengeance on
the whole Cistercian Order if they continued to harbour him.
The negotiations between Henry, the pope, and the archbishop
dragged on for the next four years without the position being sensibly
changed. Although the saint remained firm in his resistance to the
principle of the Constitutions of Clarendon, he was willing to make any
concessions that could be reasonably asked of him, and on 6 January,
1169, when the kings of England and France were in conference at
Montmirail, he threw himself at Henry's feet, but as he still refused to
accept the obnoxious customs Henry repulsed him. At last in 1170 some
sort of reconciliation was patched up. The question of the customs was
not mentioned and Henry professed himself willing to be guided by the
archbishop's council as to amends due to the See of Canterbury for the
recent violation of its rights in the crowning of Henry's son by the
Archbishop of York. On 1 December, 1170, St. Thomas had brought with
him, as well as over the restoration by the de Broc family of the
archbishop's castle at Saltwood. How far Henry was directly responsible
for the tragedy which soon after occurred on 20 December is not quite
clear. Four knights who came from France demanded the absolution of the
bishops. St. Thomas would not comply. They left for a space, but came
back at Vesper time with a band of armed men. To their angry question,
"Where is the traitor?" the saint boldly replied, "Here I am, no
traitor, but archbishop and priest of God." They tried to drag him from
the church, but were unable, and in the end they slew him where he
stood, scattering his brains on the pavement. His faithful companion,
Edward Grim, who bore his cross, was wounded in the struggle.
A tremendous reaction of feeling followed this deed of blood. In
an extraordinary brief space of time devotion to the martyred archbishop
had spread all through Europe. The pope promulgated the bull of
canonization, little more than two years after the martyrdom, 21
February, 1173. On 12 July, 1174, Henry II did public penance, and was
scourged at the archbishop's tomb. An immense number of miracles were
worked, and for the rest of the Middle Ages the shrine of St. Thomas of
Canterbury was one of the wealthiest and most famous in Europe. The
martyr's holy remains are believed to have been destroyed in September,
1538, when nearly all the other shrines in England were dismantled; but
the matter is by no means clear, and, although the weight of learned
opinion is adverse, there are still those who believe that a skeleton
found in the crypt in January, 1888, is the body of St. Thomas. The
story that Henry VIII in 1538 summoned the archbishop to stand his trial
for high treason, and that when, in June, 1538, the trial had been held
and the accused pronounced contumacious, the body was ordered to be
disinterred and burnt, is probably apocryphal.
By far the best English life is MORRIS, The Life of St.
Thomas Becket (2nd ed., London, 1885); there is a somewhat fuller work
of L'HUILLIER, Saint Thomas de Cantorbery (2 vols., Paris, 1891); the
volume by DEMIMUID, St. Thomas Becket (Paris, 1909), in the series Les
Saints is not abreast of modern research. There are several excellent
lives by Anglicans, of which HUTTON, Thomas Becket (London, 1900), and
the account by NORGATE in Dict. Nat. Biog., s. v. Thomas, known as
Thomas a Becket, are probably the best. The biography by ROBERTSON,
Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (London, 1859), is not sympathetic.
Nearly all the sources of the Life, as well as the books of miracles
worked at the shrine, have been edited in the Rolls Series by ROBERTSON
under the title Materials for the History of Thomas Becket (7 vols.,
London, 1875-1883). The valuable Norse saga is edited in the same series
by MAGNUSSON, Thomas Saga Erkibyskups (2 vols., London, 1884). The
chronicle of GARNIER DE PONT S. MAXENCE, Vie de St. Thomas Martyr, has
been edited by HIPPEAU (Paris, 1859). The miracles have been specially
studied from an agnostic standpoint by ABBOT, Thomas of Canterbury, his
death and miracles (2 vols., London, 1898). Some valuable material has
been collected by RADFORD, Thomas of London before his Consecration
(Cambridge, 1894). On the relics see MORRIS, Relics of St. Thomas
(London, 1888); THORNTON, Becket's Bones (Canterbury, 1900); WARD, The
Canterbury Pilgrimages (London, 1904); WARNER in Eng. Hist. Rev., VI
(1891), 754-56.
HERBERT THURSTON (Catholic Encyclopedia)
When
Marguerite was thirty-four, she was invited by the visiting governor of
the French settlement in Canada to start a school at Ville-Marie, today
Montreal. She generously accepted and traveled to the French colony
then numbering two hundred people. Ville-Marie also had a hospital and a
Jesuit mission chapel.
Eventually,
he retired as a hermit to a cave on a mountain near Bethlehem, but his
sanctity and miracles attracted many who wished to serve God under his
direction. A spacious monastery was built on a place called Cathismus,
which became a haven of saints in the desert.
St.
Peter Orseolo’s is an unusual life. He was born in 928 of a prominent
Venetian family. At twenty he was appointed to the command of the city’s
fleet and defeated the Dalmatian pirates who infested the Adriatic Sea.
Then will come the period of the Western discoveries in which the benefits of Thy Redemption will reach new lands.
All
of these isolated people, scattered across the globe, ignorant of each
other, now gather around Thee with the Three Kings to offer Thee a
gift and a prayer.
André
Bessette was born in 1845 in the province of Quebec, Canada, the eighth
of ten children. An orphan at twelve, he was taken in by an aunt and
uncle. Set to various trades, he was unable to hold a job for very long
because of his frail health. For thirteen years he worked at various
occupations: shoemaker, baker, blacksmith, and once at a factory in the
United States during the Civil War.
John
Nepomucene Neumann was born on March 28, 1811 in Prachatitz, in the
Kingdom of Bohemia, then part of the Austrian Empire, now in the Czech
Republic. He received the sacrament of Baptism the same day.
In
1852 Fr. John Neumann was consecrated the fourth Bishop of
Philadelphia. His ease with languages, of which he would come to know as
many as eight, endeared him to the many immigrants arriving in the
city. He not only tended to immigrants in his native German, but
speaking fluent Italian as well, he personally ministered to Italian
newcomers in his private chapel, and went on to establish the first
ethnic church for Italians in the country. For the Irish, he studied
enough Gaelic to be able to hear the confessions of those who spoke no
English, an act of charity which the Irish government officially
recognized by a posthumous award.
Pius
IX read the declaration defining the dogma of the Immaculate
Conception, John Neumann held the book from which the pope read. Thus,
his 5' 2" frame became the podium upon which rested the illustrious
document describing the future patroness of the United States: the
Immaculate Conception.
He received the sacrament of Baptism the same day.
Elizabeth
Ann Bayley Seton is America’s first beatified and canonized saint. The
second child of a socially prominent New York City family, she was born
on August 28, 1774, two years before the Declaration of Independence. By
birth and marriage she was linked to the most illustrious families of
New York.
While
staying with her husband’s business partner’s family in Italy,
Elizabeth was introduced to the Catholic Faith and closely observed the
Filicchi family’s religious practices within the intimacy of their
family home. She was especially attracted to the Holy Eucharist, the
Blessed Virgin Mary, and the fact that the apostolic succession could be
traced back to the apostles and to Christ. Imperceptibly drawn to all
that she witnessed first hand, she here began a process of conversion
that ultimately led to her being received into the Catholic Church by
the pastor of St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in New York City on
March 14, 1805.
Several
saints honored the Holy Name of Jesus, but the devotion became
widespread in the fifteenth century through St. Bernardine of Siena who,
when preaching, held in his hand a plaque with the logo “IHS”
surrounded by rays. The monogram is taken from the first three letters
of the Greek spelling of the name of Jesus: IHSOYS. It is also customary
though not historical to interpret “IHS” as Iesu Hominum Salvator, Jesus Savior of Mankind.
Persons
who had prominent roles in the history of salvation received their
names from God. These names have a direct connection with whom they are
and what their mission is. Thus, Adam means “man of the earth”; Eve
means “mother of the living”; Peter means “rock”.
St.
Basil was born in Caesarea in Cappadocia - today, southeastern Turkey -
in 329 A.D. of a family of saints. His grandfather died a martyr in the
Roman persecution, and his grandmother, mother, sister and two brothers
are all canonized saints.
Basil
was becoming famous as a teacher when he decided to leave the world. He
lived for a while as a hermit then founded what was probably the first
monastery in Asia Minor. His monastic principles have influenced Eastern
monasticism to this day. He was a gifted orator, and his writings place
him among the great teachers of the Church.
has expounded the truth to the whole earth.” He died on January 1, 379.
The
Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God is an ancient feast first celebrated
in the East before it was in the West. By the 7th century this feast was
already celebrated in Rome. In the 13th and 14th centuries the feast of
the Circumcision of Christ replaced the Marian feast and was expanded
to the whole Roman Catholic Church when, in 1570, Pope St. Pius V
promulgated the Roman Missal.
In
the fullness of time, God chose to send His Only- begotten Son to earth
by means of a family – a family of Judea. The head of that family was a
man whom Scriptures calls “Just” (Matt.1:19). It also gives the
genealogy of this “Just Man”, Joseph by name, he was “of the house of
David” (Luke 1:27), though he was impoverished and exercised the
profession of a carpenter. His bride was the youthful Mary, offered by
her parents to the Temple as a small child; she had been raised among
the things of God and educated in the Holy Writ. She also descended from
King David.
Mary’s
question was not the result of doubt but of a simple need to
understand. And thus, when she was told that the child she was to bear
would be Jesus, the Son of the Most High, and that this marvel would
occur through the work of the Holy Spirit, she gave her Fiat, “…and the
Word was made flesh” (John 1:14).