Saint Thomas Becket
Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr (1117-1170)
Feast – December 29
Saint Thomas was born on 21 December, 1117, the feast day of St Thomas the Apostle, in Cheapside, London, England. He was the son of Gilbert and Matilda Becket. Gilbert’s father was from Thierville in the lordship of Brionne in Normandy and was either a small landowner or a petty knight. Matilda was also of Norman descent, and her family may have originated near Caen. Gilbert began his life as a merchant, perhaps as a textile merchant, but by the 1120s he was living in London and was a property owner, living on the rental income from his properties. He also served as the sheriff of the city at some point.
Saint Thomas’s 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 was endowed by both nature and grace with gifts recommending him to his fellow men; and his father, certain he would one day be a great servant of Christ, beginning when he was 10, sent him as a student to Merton Priory in England and later to a grammar school in London, perhaps the one at St Paul’s Cathedral. Later, he spent about a year in Paris around age 20.
When Gilbert Becket suffered financial reverses, St. Thomas was forced to earn a living as a clerk. 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” (administrator of justice) of London. There he was obliged to learn the various rights of the Church and of the secular arm, but already he saw so many injustices imposed upon the clergy that he preferred to leave that employment rather than to participate in iniquity. A tall, handsome, intelligent, young legal clerk with a magnetic personality made friends easily. His remarkable memory and business ability attracted the attention of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury.
About the year 1141 he entered the Archbishop’s service, and in that household, he won his master’s favor and eventually became the most trusted of all his clerks.
The Archbishop recognized his capacity, made use of him in many delicate negotiations, and afterwards allowed him to go for a year to study civil and canon law at Bologna and Auxerre. After a few years, witnessing his perfect service in 1154 he ordained St. Thomas deacon, and bestowed upon him several preferments, the most important of which was the Archdeaconry of Canterbury.
Noticing St. Thomas’s efficiency in those posts and his excellence as a speaker capable of solving complicated problems, Theobald felt that St. Thomas would be a good match for the new, young King of England, Henry II. At the archbishop’s recommendation, in January 1155 he was made chancellor of England.
In that office St. Thomas, at the age of thirty-seven, became, with the possible exception of the justiciar, the most powerful subject in Henry’s wide dominions. He loved his life, spent money on clothes, entertainment, hunting, and good times. A strong friendship developed between him and the king. 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.
In that high office, while inflexible in the rendition of justice, he was generous and solicitous for the relief of misery.
The king’s imperial views and love of splendour were reflected by his minister when he 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?” At the same time, he was severe towards himself, spending the better part of every night in prayer. He often employed a discipline, to be less subject to the revolts of the flesh against the spirit.
To St. Thomas, his own sovereign, Henry II, confided the education of the crown prince. Of the formation of the future king and the young lords who composed his suite, the Chancellor took extreme care, knowing well that the strength of a State depends largely on the early impressions received by the elite of its youth.
In a war with France he won the respect of his enemies, including that of the young king Louis VII. He led the most daring attacks in person, unhorsed many French knights, and 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. 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.
Under Henry I the archbishops had begun to embrace the Gregorian Reforms which had spread from Italy to France through the Holy Roman Empire. These reforms included free elections to clerical posts, inviolability of church property, freedom to appeal to Rome, and clerical immunity from lay tribunals. Unfortunately, Henry II wanted complete control of his kingdom, including the Church. He wanted to take some powers away from the Church, and he needed an archbishop to support him.
With the death of Theobald in 1161, Henry hoped to appoint St. Thomas as archbishop and thus complete his program. The king insisted on the consecration of Saint Thomas in his stead. Saint Thomas at first declined, warning the king that from that hour their friendship would be threatened by his own obligations to uphold the rights of the Church.
“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.”
In the end he was obliged by obedience to yield. St. Thomas Becket was nominated as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162, his election was confirmed on 23 May 1162 by a royal council of bishops and noblemen, was ordained priest on Saturday in Whitweek and consecrated bishop the next day, Sunday, the 3rd of June, 1162 by Henry of Blois, the Bishop of Winchester and the other suffragan bishops of Canterbury.
King Henry II may have hoped that Becket would continue to put the royal government first, rather than the church. However, the famous transformation, a great change took place in the saint’s way of life after his consecration as archbishop. Even as chancellor he had practiced secret austerities, but now in view of the struggle he clearly saw before him, he resigned as chancellor, sold his mansion, and went to live in a monastery, sold his rich clothes and furnishings and gave the money to the poor. 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.
His personality was the same, but more noticeable were his generosity and determination to protect the Church. St. Thomas sought to recover and extend the rights of the archbishopric, set about to reclaim alienated estates belonging to his see. He opposed taxation of the Church, refused to allow Henry to make Church appointments that suited him and blocked his other attempts to control the Church, including the jurisdiction of secular courts over English clergymen.
As the first recorded instance of any determined opposition to the king’s arbitrary will in a matter of taxation, he opposed Henry’s proposal that a voluntary offering to the sheriffs should be paid into the royal treasury; this incident is of much constitutional importance. The saint’s protest seems to have been successful. This series of conflicts accelerated antipathy between St. Thomas and the king.
Attempts by Henry II to influence the other bishops against him began in Westminster in October 1163, where the King sought approval of the traditional rights of the royal government in regard to the church. Many of these pretended customs violated the liberties of the Church, and some were even invented for the occasion. This led to the Constitutions of Clarendon were King Henry II presided over the assemblies of most of the higher English clergy on the 30th of January, 1164. In sixteen constitutions, he sought less clerical independence and a weaker connection with Rome. St. Thomas obliged in conscience to resist, and was soon the object of persecution, not only from the irritated king but by all who had sworn loyalty to his nefarious doings.
When opposing a claim made against him by John the Marshal, St. 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, a sum of nearly £30,000 was demanded of him.
Henry summoned St. Thomas to appear before a great council at Northampton Castle on 8 October 1164, to answer allegations of contempt of royal authority and malfeasance in the Chancellor’s office. After celebrating Mass, he took his archiepiscopal cross into his own hand and presented himself thus in the royal council chamber.
Convicted on the charges, Becket stormed out of the trial and fled away secretly that night (13 October, 1164) and on November 2 sailed in disguise to the Continent and took refuge in France under the protection of the generous Louis VII. Pope Alexander III was at that time was in France, and welcomed the saint very kindly, but refused to accept his resignation of his see. Henry pursued the fugitive archbishop with a series of edicts, targeting him as well as all his friends and supporters.
He spent nearly two years in the Cistercian abbey of Pontigny, in Burgundy, though he was compelled to leave this refuge as Henry, after confiscating the archbishop’s property and banishing all his kinsfolk, threatened to wreak his vengeance on the whole Cistercian Order if they continued to harbour him.
The Archbishop fought back by threatening excommunication and interdict against the king, bishops and the entire kingdom. In 1167 Papal legates were sent with authority to act as arbitrators. In 1170, Pope Alexander III, sent delegates to impose a solution to the dispute. At that point, Henry offered a compromise that would allow St. Thomas to return to England from exile. He knew well that it was to martyrdom that he was destined; it is related that the Mother of God appeared to him in France to foretell it to him, and that She presented him for that intention with a red chasuble. By this time the persecuted Archbishop’s case was known to all of Christian Europe, which sympathized with him and elicited from king Henry an appearance of conciliation. In June 1170, Roger de Pont L’Évêque, the archbishop of York, along with Gilbert Foliot, the Bishop of London, and Josceline de Bohon, the Bishop of Salisbury, crowned the heir apparent, Henry the Young King, at York. This was a breach of Canterbury’s privilege of coronation, and in November 1170 when the Pope cut these bishops off from the Church, St. Thomas upheld that decision and excommunicated all three.
On 1 December, 1170, St. Thomas landed in England, and was received with every demonstration of popular enthusiasm. After six years, his office was restored and he returned to England, to preach again and enforce order in his see. But trouble occurred in connection with the sentence of excommunication of the bishops, which St. Thomas had brought with him.
The news reached Henry II, Henry the Young King’s father. One night, in a rage, the humiliated king exclaimed before his knights, “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?” which were interpreted by his men as wishing St. Thomas killed. Four knights, Reginald FitzUrse, Hugh de Morville, William de Tracy and Richard le Breton, on 29 December 1170 rode to the monastery where he lived. They demanded the absolution of the bishops. They did not succeed in making St. Thomas change what he believed was his obedience to the Pope. St. Thomas would not comply. They left for a space, but came back at Vesper time with a band of armed men. They violated a monastic cloister and chapel. the Saint himself prevented the monks from resisting the assassins at the door. 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 before the altar where he stood, scattering his brains on the pavement. His last words were: “I die willingly, for the name of Jesus and for the defense of the Church”. Following Becket’s death, the monks prepared his body for burial. According to some accounts, it was discovered that Becket had worn a hairshirt under his archbishop’s garments—a sign of penance.
In an extraordinary brief space of time, devotion to the martyred archbishop had spread all through Europe and on 21 February 1173—little more than two years after his death—he was canonized by Pope Alexander III. Miracles were reported to occur at St. Thomas’s tomb and many pilgrimages were made there. People called him a saint. In 1174, Henry II did public penance, and was scourged at the archbishop’s tomb. His assassins fled north to de Morville’s Knaresborough Castle, where they remained for about a year. De Morville also held property in Cumbria and this may also have provided a convenient bolt-hole, as the men prepared for a longer stay in the separate kingdom of Scotland, Pope Alexander excommunicated all four. Seeking forgiveness, the assassins travelled to Rome and were ordered by the Pope to serve as knights in the Holy Lands for a period of fourteen years.
St. Thomas was the most famous martyr of the Middle Ages.
References and Excerpts
[1] “Saint Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr.” [Online]. Available: http://sanctoral.com/en/saints/saint_thomas_becket.html. [Accessed: 02-Dec-2019].
[2] “Saint Thomas Becket | Biography, Death, & Significance,” Encyclopedia Britannica. [Online]. Available: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Thomas-Becket. [Accessed: 02-Dec-2019].
[3] “CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Thomas Becket.” [Online]. Available: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14676a.htm. [Accessed: 02-Dec-2019].
[4] “Saint Thomas Becket.” [Online]. Available: https://www.loyolapress.com/our-catholic-faith/saints/saints-stories-for-all-ages/saint-thomas-becket. [Accessed: 02-Dec-2019].
[5] “Thomas Becket,” Wikipedia. 01-Dec-2019.
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