Also known as:
St. Thomas Becket, Thomas à Becket;
Spanish: Tomás Becket;
Latin: Thomas Cantuariensis
THOMAS BECKET, saint - The martyrdom of St. T. B. Reliquary casket with Limoges enamel decoration (12th cent.) - Anagni, Treasury of the Cathedral.
THOMAS BECKET, Saint. - Archbishop of Canterbury, b. in London on 21 Dec. 1117, d. at Canterbury on 29 Dec. 1170.
At the Parliament of Westminster (Oct. 1163) he defended the privilege of the ecclesiastical forum with such force that the sovereign was compelled to withdraw a bill that prohibited it. An amendment was however proposed, according to which the episcopate undertook to respect the ancient customs. B. accepted it, but with the prudent reservation: salvo ordine nostro et iure Ecclesiae; which drew upon him the wrath of the King. The following year, at the Parliament of Clarendon, the ancient customs were specified in 16 articles, all of which infringed the liberties of the Church. It appears that T. accepted them; but he immediately repented and retracted, asking pardon of Alexander III. Condemned to heavy fines, unjust besides, he took refuge at the pontifical Court, then in the Cistercianmonastery of Pontigny.
The negotiations between Alexander III and the King were very difficult and thorny. T. appeared in the presence of Henry II, at Montmirail in 1169; but the agreement desired by the Pope could not be concluded, because the archbishop refused to subscribe to the articles of Clarendon except with the restrictive clause: salvo honore Dei. Nevertheless in 1170 there was a semblance of reconciliation and B. returned to England. But his enemies worked against him and stirred up the animosity of Henry II to the point that he dared to say in the presence of the barons: "Is there then no one capable of avenging the King's dishonor against that priest?". Four knights intervened and cowardly killed the archbishop in the cathedral of Canterbury.
Alexander III canonized him on 21 Feb. 1173. Feast on 29 Dec.Bibliography3 worksthe contemporary sources (BHL, 1184-93) have been published, for the most part, in J. A. Giles, Opera s. Thomae Cantuariensis, London 1845 a
BIBL.: the contemporary sources (BHL, 1184-93) have been published, for the most part, in J. A. Giles, Opera s. Thomae Cantuariensis, London 1845 and PL 190, and in J. C. Robertson, Materials of the history of Th. B., 7 vols., London 1875-85. The letters of Alexander III and concerning T. B. in PL 200; R. Foreville, L'Eglise et la Royaute en Angleterre sous Henri II Plantagenet, Paris 1943; for the latest works v. Anal. Bolland., 70 (1952), pp. 223-26.
Mollat, Guglielmo. “Tommaso Becket, santo.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XII, coll. 298–299. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1954. https://azioneromana.com/article/tommaso-becket-santo.
MLA
Mollat, Guglielmo. “Tommaso Becket, santo.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. XII, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1954, coll. 298–299. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/tommaso-becket-santo.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec12_tommaso_becket_santo,
author = {Mollat, Guglielmo},
title = {Tommaso Becket, santo},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {XII},
pages = {298--299},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1954},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/tommaso-becket-santo}
}
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