St. Thomas Becket

Chancellor of England and the close friend of King Henry II, Thomas was made archbishop of Canterbury and underwent a profound conversion that put him at odds with the king over the rights of the Church. After years of exile and an apparent reconciliation he returned to Canterbury, where four knights — believing they were acting on the king's wishes — murdered him in his own cathedral on December 29, 1170. T. S. Eliot wrote his death into Murder in the Cathedral.

Born in London around 1118 to a Norman merchant family, Thomas was educated in Paris and rose rapidly through the ranks of the English Church and state. As chancellor he was a worldly, brilliant administrator who hunted with the king and lived in magnificent style. His appointment as archbishop was Henry's masterstroke — or so the king thought — designed to bring the Church firmly under royal control.

But the office transformed the man. Thomas exchanged silk for a hair shirt, embraced austerity, and defended ecclesiastical privileges with the same tenacity he had once devoted to the crown. His martyrdom shocked Christendom; within three years he was canonized, and Canterbury became the greatest pilgrimage site in England. Henry himself did public penance at Becket's tomb, walking barefoot through the streets while monks scourged him.