Saint Thomas, Apostle

Thomas, called Didymus, “the Twin,” was one of the Twelve. The Gospel of John gives him three sayings: when Jesus went to Bethany, where his life was in danger, Thomas urged the others to go with him and die with him; at the Last Supper he asked, “Lord, we do not know where you are going”; and he refused to believe in the Resurrection until he could touch the wounds, but when Jesus appeared to him a week later he said, “My Lord and my God.”

Tradition holds that he preached in Persia and India and was killed near Mylapore, today part of Chennai, about 72; the Christians of Kerala call themselves the Saint Thomas Christians. The date of 3 July recalls the moving of his relics to Edessa.