St. Thomas

St. Thomas was one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus, called Didymus, 'the twin,' in the Gospel of John. The Gospels give him a vivid personality: it is Thomas who urges the disciples to accompany Jesus to Judea even at the risk of death, and Thomas whose honest question at the Last Supper — 'Lord, we do not know where you are going' — draws from Jesus the answer, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life.' He is best remembered for the scene that earned him the nickname 'Doubting Thomas.' Absent when the risen Christ first appeared to the apostles, he refused to believe without seeing and touching the wounds. Eight days later, confronted by the risen Lord's invitation to do exactly that, he made the most explicit confession of Christ's divinity in the Gospels: 'My Lord and my God!' The Church has always read his doubt as a gift to later believers, for, as Jesus replied, 'Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.' According to a strong and ancient tradition, Thomas carried the Gospel east after Pentecost, preaching in Parthia and ultimately in India, where he is said to have landed on the Malabar coast around the year 52. The Christians of Kerala, the 'St. Thomas Christians,' have from antiquity traced their origins to his preaching. Tradition holds that he was martyred by the thrust of a spear around the year 72 near Mylapore, on the outskirts of modern Chennai, where the San Thome Basilica now stands over the site venerated as his tomb. While the details of his missionary journeys rest on tradition rather than contemporary records, his early and widespread veneration is well attested. Portions of his relics were translated in antiquity to Edessa and later to Ortona, Italy, where they are venerated today. His feast is celebrated on July 3, and he is honored as a patron of India and of architects — the latter from an old tradition that he built a palace for an Indian king 'in heaven' through almsgiving.