Dec 29 - “St. Thomas Becket” © artwork by Julie Lonneman. Happy Feast Day St. Thomas!
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Thomas Becket was a brilliant, charismatic and ambitious man who rose to the position of Lord Chancellor of England. King Henry II, intent upon becoming the absolute ruler of both Church and State, appointed his loyal friend and chancellor as Archbishop of Canterbury. Thomas was ordained priest on June 2, 1162, and consecrated archbishop the next day. Thomas’ way of life changed considerably as the once worldly and extravagant courtier gave himself to austere disciplines including fasting, hair shirts, and lengthy prayer vigils. He resigned the chancellorship, and a rift grew between Henry and Thomas as Thomas sought to protect the rights of the church in the face of the king’s inroads. In 1164 Thomas fled to safety in France and remained exiled there for seven years. He returned to England despite his conviction that it would mean certain death. Four knights accosted him in the cathedral, and, unable to drag him from the church, they slew him where he stood. In a very short time devotion to the martyred archbishop spread throughout all of Europe. Today Thomas is venerated as a saint by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.
His feast day is December 29.
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