Biography of Saint Thomas the Apostle

Saint Thomas the Apostle

Also known as

• Apostle of India
• Didymus
• Doubting Thomas
• Judas Thomas
• the Twin
• Tomaso

Profile

Apostle. He was ready to die with Jesus when Christ went to Jerusalem but is best remembered for doubting the Resurrection until allowed to touch Christ's wounds. Preached in Parthia, Persia and India, though he was so reluctant to start the mission that he had to be taken into slavery by a merchant headed that way. He eventually gave in to God's will, was freed, and planted the new Church over a wide area. He formed many parishes and built many churches along the way. An old tradition says that Thomas baptised the wise men from the Nativity into Christianity.

His symbol is the builder's square; there are several stories that explain it

• he built a palace for King Guduphara in India
• he built the first church in India with his own hands
• it is representative building a strong spiritual foundation as he had complete faith in Christ (though initially less in the Resurrection)
• he offered to build a palace for an Indian king that would last forever; the king gave him money, which Thomas promptly gave away to the poor; he explained that the palace he was building was in heaven, not on earth

Died

• stabbed with a spear c.72 in while in prayer on a hill in Mylapur, India
• buried near the site of his death
• relics later moved to Edessa, Mesopotamia
• relics moved to Tortona, Italy in the 13th century

Patronage

• people in doubt; against doubt
• architects
• blind people and against blindness
• builders
• construction workers
• geometricians
• stonemasons and stone cutters
• surveyors
• theologians
• Ceylon
• East Indies
• India
• Indonesia
• Malaysia
• Pakistan
• Singapore
• Sri Lanka
• diocese of Bathery, India
• Castelfranco di Sopra, Italy
• Certaldo, Italy
• Ortona, Italy

Representation

• arrow
• builder's rule
• spear
• t-square

Readings

"Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came." He was the only disciple absent; on his return, he heard what had happened but refused to believe it. The Lord came a second time; he offered his side for the disbelieving disciple to touch, held out his hands, and showing the scars of his wounds, healed the wound of disbelief. Dearly beloved, what do you see in these events? Do you really believe that it was by chance that this chosen disciple was absent, then came and heard, heard and doubted, doubted and touched, touched and believed? It was not by chance but in God's providence. In a marvellous way, God's mercy arranged that the disbelieving disciple, in touching the wounds of his master's body, should heal our wounds of disbelief. 

The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our faith than the faith of the other disciples. As he touches Christ and is won over to belief, every doubt is cast aside and our faith is strengthened. So the disciple who doubted, then felt Christ's wounds, becomes a witness to the reality of the resurrection. Touching Christ, he cried out: "'My Lord and my God.' Jesus said to him: 'Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed.'" Paul said: "Faith is the guarantee of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen." It is clear, then, that faith is the proof of what cannot be seen. 

What is seen gives knowledge, not faith. When Thomas saw and touched, why was he told: "You have believed because you have seen me?" Because what he saw and what he believed were different things. God cannot be seen by mortal man. Thomas saw a human being, whom he acknowledged to be God, and said: "My Lord and my God." Seeing, he believed; looking at one who was a true man, he cried out that this was God, the God he could not see. What follows is the reason for great joy: "Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." There is here a particular reference to ourselves. We are included in these words, but only if we follow up our faith with good works. 

The true believer practices what he believes. But of those who pay only lip service to faith, Paul has this to say: "They profess to know God, but they deny him in their works." Therefore James says: "Faith without works is dead." - from a homily by Pope Saint Gregory the Great