Thomas – after the resolution of his doubts!

Thomas the Apostle – also known as  Didymus (meaning “Twin,” as does “Thomas” in Aramaic“)  but best remembered  as “Doubting Thomas” , because he was incredulous when Mary Magdalene told him that she had met the resurrected Jesus in the garden.

However, having famously stuck his finger- if not his whole hand – in the hole in Christ’s side made by the Roman spear – he went on to become the most far flung of all the disciples of Jesus – and is reported to have traveled as far as India where he preached to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, Hyrcanians, Bactrians, and Margians, and died when he was  “thrust through in the four members of his body with a pine spear at Calamene, (Madras) in India, and was buried there”.

The map above shows the ultimate location of all of the Apostles, and Thomas is also notable for having gone outside the Roman Empire as far south in India as Madras.

Due to  being the furthest from the home of the Virgin Mary Thomas was too late to get back for her funeral – however as a result of visiting her later in her tomb it was Thomas who was reputed to have been present when the Virgin Mary had her Dormition and ascended into Heaven – and thus it was Thomas who was the first custodian of the Virgin’s famous “girdle” – which she let down to him from on high.

Perhaps because his doubt was more dramatically pictorial than his death,  Thomas is more often featured in paintings having his doubts assuaged than with an attribute of death, – particularly one that might be difficult to differentiate from any other brand of wooden spear?  Instead his symbol is a  builder’s square – or T square – as shown below

The reason given for this attribute  is because he built a palace for King Guduphara in India  – but I think it is more likely he was misunderstood when he offered to build a palace for an Indian king that would last forever. When the king gave him money for the job Thomas simply gave away to the poor and explained that the palace he was building was in heaven, not on earth -which possibly didn’t go down too well with the King?

This incident is not shown to be related to his death – as noted above he was killed with a spear around c.72 -so he survived to a good age – and should have been well shriven as he died whilst in prayer on a hill in Mylapur,          (Calamene/Madras ) India.

Thomas was initially buried near the site of his death, until some fans moved his relics  to Edessa, Mesopotamia and later  in the 13th century to Ortona, Italy