Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.
Saint Thomas of Canterbury.
Bishop and Martyr.
Feast Day 29 December.
Double.
Red Vestments.
Canterbury Cathedral,
where Saint Thomas was murdered on 29 December 1170.
Photo: 2006.
Source: http://www.wyrdlight.com
Attribution must say: WyrdLight.com
Author: Antony McCallum: Who is the uploader, photographer,
full copyright owner and proprietor of WyrdLight.com
(Wikimedia Commons)
This miniature, from an English Psalter, presents an account of
the murder of Saint Thomas of Canterbury. Three of the four Knights
attack the Archbishop kneeling in Prayer before the Altar. One of the Knights
kicks Saint Thomas to the floor, and sends his Mitre flying.
Artist: Anonymous.
Date: Circa 1250.
Current location: Walters Art Museum, Baltimore,
Maryland, United States of America.
Credit line: Acquired by Henry Walters.
Source/Photographer: Walters Art Museum
(Wikimedia Commons)
If 29 December falls on a Sunday, The Mass of The Sunday within The Octave of The Nativity is said, with a Commemoration of Saint Thomas.
The Season of Christmas, by manifesting to us The Divine Filiation of The Child in The Crib, as the Epistle of The Day reminds us, shows that He is a Priest. His Priesthood consists in making The Life of God penetrate our Souls and in defending, even at the cost of His Life, The Divine Rights of this Beloved Spouse.
The Feast of Saint Thomas Becket shows us that, in participating in The Dignity of The Christ Priest, as Archbishop of Canterbury, he knew how to prove himself, like Christ, The Shepherd, who defends His flock against the ravages of the wolf (Gospel).
showing the murder of Saint Thomas Becket.
Arbroath Abbey was Founded eight years after the death of Saint Thomas and
Dedicated to him. Arbroath Abbey became the wealthiest Abbey in Scotland.
Date: Mediæval Seal. Photo from the 1850s.
Source: Cosmo Innes and Patrick Chalmers (eds.),
Liber S. Thome De Aberbrothoc;
Registrorum Abbacie De Aberbrothoc, Volume 2, Edinburgi
(Bannatyne Club) 1848-1856, front.
(Wikimedia Commons)
He was slain in his Cathedral by the King's soldiers on 29 December 1170.
Against those who seek to enslave The Church, let us neither employ the craft of politics nor the weapons of warfare, but, after the example "of the glorious Thomas, who fell by the swords of the wicked in the defence of The Church" (Collect), let us know how to withstand them resolutely with all the moral strength that the defence of The Rights of God inspires.
Mass: Gaudeámus omnes in Dómino.
Second Collect: Of The Octave of The Nativity.
Creed.
Preface: For Christmas.
Communicantes: For Christmas.
It always seems impossible, looking at this beautiful, sunlit, peaceful photo of Canterbury Cathedral, to imagine that inside, it was the scene of the most bloody and terrible martyrdom of Holy Thomas a Becket on a crisp December morning during the Octave of Christmas, some 850 or so years ago. Ora pro nobis, Thomas a Becket.
ReplyDeleteAgain, Thank You, Dante Peregrinus, for your welcome Comment.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, it beggars belief that such a heinous act could be contemplated and enacted in a Holy Place.
The Evil One, of course, loves to disrupt, ruin, and remove, within God's Holy Sanctuaries.
I echo your Prayer: Thomas a Becket, “Ora pro nobis”.