Saint Thomas the Apostle

Thomas, called Didymus, “the Twin,” was one of the Twelve. The Gospel of John gives him three short, vivid moments.

When Jesus decided to go back to Judea, where his enemies had tried to stone him, to raise Lazarus, Thomas said to the others: “Let us also go, that we may die with him” (John 11). At the Last Supper, when Jesus spoke of going to prepare a place for them, Thomas objected honestly, “Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?” and received the answer, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14).

He was absent when the risen Lord first appeared to the Apostles, and he refused to believe unless he could put his finger into the wounds. Eight days later Jesus came again and invited him to do so. Thomas answered with the clearest confession of faith in the Gospels: “My Lord and my God.” Jesus said to him, “Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed” (John 20).

Ancient tradition holds that Thomas carried the Gospel east through Persia to India, landing on the Malabar coast around the year 52. He was martyred with a spear near Mylapore, in present-day Chennai, where the basilica of San Thome stands over his tomb. The Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala, among the oldest Christian communities in the world, trace their faith to him.