Today December 29

Today is the feast of St. Thomas Becket (1118 - 1170) martyr. He went to school at Merton (which reminds me of ANOTHER famous Thomas) and almost drowned at Wade's Mill in Hertfordshire after jumping in after prey during a duck-hunting expedition (a place which reminds me of still another Thomas, Thomas Clarkson, the slavery abolitionist). He always loved sport, and was a clever youth who enjoyed a rollicking good time. In 1154 he was made archdeacon of Canterbury and in 1155 chancellor of England under Henry II. He and the monarch were great good friends. Thomas dressed sumptuously, brewed his own fine ale, danced, sang and carried on, all without neglecting his civil duties. He ran the exchequer, gave generously to the poor, and even served as general in a sortie in a battle against France. He was raised to the archbishopric of Canterbury by Henry himself, whom he warned, "Should God permit me to be archbishop of Canterbury I should soon lose your Majesty's favour, and the affection with which you honour me would be changed to hatred." How right he was!

Thomas soon put aside his rich dress and donned the simple black cassock of a priest. He ate temperately, doubled his alms-giving, rose early to read (and discuss with friends) the Holy Scriptures, said Mass every day at nine and took a nap every afternoon. He read a book every afternoon at 3:00. His friendship with Henry fared well at first, but then little cracks began to show. At Woodstock, Bishop Thomas refused to pay the "voluntary" tribute to the sheriffs. Then in the matter of Philip de Brois, Thomas upheld the independence of the ecclesiastical court (once freed, Thomas said, the priest Philip could not be re-tried on the same charge [murder] in a civil court). Then came the councils at Westminster and Clarendon. Henry demanded a promise of observance of his royal customs. Actually, Thomas tried to find a way to sign them -- to the point of promising to sign them -- until he read exactly what they said: no cleric could leave the kingdom or appeal to Rome without the king's permission, no one could be excommunicated without consent of the king, and clerics sentenced in ecclesiastical court had to be handed over to civil authority -- the old sticking point again. "By the Lord Almighty," exclaimed Thomas, "no seal of mine should be put to them."

Henry persecuted him -- refused to see him -- leveled fines against him -- refused to let others pay the (totally illegal) charges. Thomas fled by night to the Pope, who was then in France, and resigned his post. Alexander III gently put the episcopal ring back on his finger the next day and upheld him, though he chided him for even considering signing such a document. Thomas (after an extended retreat of 6 years) returned to England. But the breach had been made. Everyone was aligned either with him or against him. At Bur near Bayeux, three bishops lodged complaints against him to King Henry, who famously declared, "Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?"

Four knights -- by the names Reginald Fitzurse, William de Tracy, Hugh de Morville, and Richard le Breton -- set out at once for Canterbury. "Where is Thomas the traitor? Where is the archbishop?" they yelled, as the monks closed and barricaded the cathedral doors. "Away, you cowards! A church is not a castle," Thomas said to the monks and opened the doors himself. "Here I am," he bravely declared to the knights, as he stood before the altar. They cut him down with swords, as he bravely said, "For the name of Jesus and in defence of the Church I am willing to die!" The hyped-up knights then ran out, shouting, "The king's men! The king's men!"

The universal horror and uproar at a metropolitan slain before the altar of his church in cold blood led to a public confession and whipping of the king in July 1174 and the canonization of St. Thomas by Pope Alexander in 1172 and the solemn translation of his relics from the crypt to behind the high altar. The relics, once the most visited in the kingdom, are there no more, but whether they were removed or destroyed at the time of another powerful King Henry (VIII) is unknown. St. Thomas Becket, pray for us.