The Apostle Thomas, called Didymus, or the Twin, was a Galilean. After the descent of the Holy Ghost, he went into many provinces to preach Christ's Gospel. He gave knowledge of the rules of Christian faith and life to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, Hyrcanians, and Bactrians. He went last to the East Indies. Here he provoked the anger of one of the idolatrous kings, because the holiness of his life and teaching, and the number of his miracles, drew many after him, and brought them to the love of Christ Jesus. He was therefore condemned, and slain with lances. He crowned the dignity of the Apostleship with the glory of martyrdom, on the Coromandel coast, not far from Madras.
The Lesson is taken from a Sermon
by St. Gregory the Pope
It is written: By his Spirit the Lord hath garnished the heavens. Now the garniture of the heavens are the godly powers of preachers, and this garniture, what it is, Paul teacheth us thus: To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues; but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
So much power then as have preachers, so much garniture have the heavens. Wherefore again it is written: By the word of the Lord were the heavens made. For the Word of the Lord is the Son of the Father. But, to the end that all the Holy Trinity may be made manifest as the Maker of the heavens (that is, of the Apostles), it is straightway added touching God the Holy Ghost: and all the host of them by the Breath of his mouth. Therefore the might of the same heavens is the might of the Spirit, for they had not braved the powers of this world, unless the strength of the Holy Ghost had comforted them. For we know what manner of men the Teachers of the Holy Church were before the coming of this Spirit: and since he came we see in whose strength they are made strong.
The Lesson is taken from a Sermon
by St. Gregory the Pope
It is written: By his Spirit the Lord hath garnished the heavens. Now the garniture of the heavens are the godly powers of preachers, and this garniture, what it is, Paul teacheth us thus: To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues; but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
So much power then as have preachers, so much garniture have the heavens. Wherefore again it is written: By the word of the Lord were the heavens made. For the Word of the Lord is the Son of the Father. But, to the end that all the Holy Trinity may be made manifest as the Maker of the heavens (that is, of the Apostles), it is straightway added touching God the Holy Ghost: and all the host of them by the Breath of his mouth. Therefore the might of the same heavens is the might of the Spirit, for they had not braved the powers of this world, unless the strength of the Holy Ghost had comforted them. For we know what manner of men the Teachers of the Holy Church were before the coming of this Spirit: and since he came we see in whose strength they are made strong.
The tomb of St. Thomas the Apostle in Mylapore Cathedral, Madras, India
St. Gregory of Tours (Glor. Mart.), before 590, reports that Theodore, a pilgrim who had gone to Gaul, told him that in that part of India where the corpus (bones) of Thomas the Apostle had first rested (Mylapur on the east or the Coromandel Coast of India) there stood a monastery and a church of striking dimensions and elaboratedly adorned, adding: "After a long interval of time these remains had been removed thence to the city of Edessa." The location of the first tomb of the Apostle in India is proof both of his martyrdom and of its Apostolate in India. The evidence of Theodore is that of an eyewitness who had visited both tombs — the first in India, while the second was at Edessa. The primitive Christians, therefore, found on both coasts, east and west, witness to and locate the tomb at Mylapur, "St. Thomas", a little to the south of Madras; no other place in India lays any claim to possess the tomb, nor does any other country. On these facts is based their claim to be known as St. Thomas Christians.
