Fifth Day in the Christmas Octave

Tuesday 29 December 2010

DE V DIE INFRA OCTAVAM NATIVITATIS
5th Day in the Octave of Christmas
2nd Class, White

Oremus:

Deus, pro cujus Ecclésia gloriósus Póntifex Thomas gládiis impiórum occúbuit: præsta, quæsumus; ut omnes, qui ejus implótant auxílium, petitiónis suæ salutárem consequántur efféctum. Per Dóminum...

Let us Pray:

O God, for the sake of whose Church the glorious bishop Thomas fell by the sword of ungodly men: grant, we beseech Thee, that all who implore his aid, may obtain the good fruit of their petition.
Through our Lord...

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From the Baronius Missal:

Saint Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is the Martyr of the liberties of the Church in the XIIth Century. Henry II, King of England, wished him to sanction customs contrary to the liberties of the Church. St Thomas knew that to make this divine society subservient to the secular power, would be to violate her very constitution, and therefore as Bishop he would willingly suffer death in defence of the Church of Christ. He was slain in his Cathedral by the King's soldiers on December 29th, 1170.

Links:

• Remembering the Martyr, St Thomas Becket (new!)
  
• Sub tuum: St Thomas Becket: Cistercian and Martyr (new!)
• The Anglo-Catholic: St Thomas à Becket (new!)

(image: earliest known portrayal of Thomas Becket's murder in Canterbury Cathedral, courtesy of Wikipedia)