Saint Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr

Thomas Becket was born about 1120 in London, the son of a merchant. He served in the household of Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury, and in 1155 King Henry II made him his chancellor; the two were close friends, and Thomas lived in great splendour. Made archbishop of Canterbury in 1162, he changed his way of life and resisted the king, above all over the Constitutions of Clarendon, which would have sent clergy accused of crimes to the royal courts. He spent six years in exile. Soon after his return, on 29 December 1170, after the king's angry words, four knights killed him in his cathedral at the hour of vespers; Edward Grim, a monk who tried to shield him, left an eyewitness account. He was canonized in 1173, and Henry did public penance at his tomb in 1174.