St Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket was born in London, England. He was very well liked and had many friends, one of whom was the King of England, King Henry II. Thomas was studying to become a priest when the king asked him to be his chancellor. As chancellor, he was very prayerful and gave a lot of what he had to the poor. When the Archbishop of Canterbury died, King Henry II wanted his friend Thomas to finish his studies to become a priest so he could make Thomas the archbishop. Thomas warned his friend that it was not a good idea and that it would be hard on their friendship, but the king did not listen. As time went on, Thomas served God’s Church well but the king kept trying to take over more power in the church. At first, Thomas almost gave in to his friend but he stood for his faith in the Church instead. King Henry became so mad at Thomas that he sent out four of his knights to “rid him of this archbishop”. On December 29th, 1170, Thomas was killed in his own cathedral for defending Jesus and His Church.