Feast day: December 29
St. Thomas Becket
Henry II's best friend and chancellor, made Archbishop of Canterbury to control the Church — instead he defended it, and four knights murdered him at vespers in his own cathedral.
Thomas Becket was born in London about 1118 and rose by his brilliance to become chancellor of England and the close friend and boon companion of King Henry II — worldly, splendid, and devoted to the king's service. When Henry, wanting a pliable ally, had him made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162, he expected the head of the English Church to do his bidding.
Instead, Thomas underwent a profound change. Taking up the office, he laid aside his luxury, embraced a austere and prayerful life, and became the fierce defender of the rights and freedom of the Church against the king's attempts to control it. The former friends became bitter adversaries, and the quarrel grew so dangerous that Thomas fled into exile in France for six years.
A fragile reconciliation brought him home in 1170, but the conflict flared again at once. Henry, in a fit of rage, was heard to cry out words his courtiers took as a wish for the archbishop's death — by tradition, 'Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?' Four knights took him at his word and rode for Canterbury.
On December 29, 1170, they cut Thomas down in his own cathedral, near the altar, as he refused to flee or to let the church doors be barred. All Christendom was horrified; the king did public penance, and Canterbury became one of the greatest pilgrimage shrines in Europe — the destination of Chaucer's pilgrims. Thomas was canonized within three years, a martyr for the liberty of the Church against the power of the state.
The king expected a puppet and got a martyr. 'Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?' Henry later walked barefoot to the tomb in penance.
“I am ready to die for my Lord, that in my blood the Church may obtain liberty and peace.”
— St. Thomas Becket
Image: Unknown Miniaturist, English (active 1170s in Cirenchester) (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: newadvent.org/cathen/14676a.htm
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