My "patron saint" is Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 to 1170.
In brief, Becket was a friend of King Henry II through family connections. The king appointed Becket to Archbishop in an attempt to exert more control over the church through his close relationship, as Becket had always done for Henry.
It was not uncommon in that time to appoint secular men to very high ranking church positions. It was all politics.
The plan backfired. Becket chose to ally himself with Rome and resisted the influence of Henry. Henry did have a legitimate beef with the church and felt he had been betrayed. Eventually, apparently at Henry's urging, four Knights murdered Becket at Canterbury Cathedral on December 29, 1170.
I've been to Canterbury Cathedral, and stood in the spot that Becket died. It's quite an impressive church.
The traditional explanation for Becket betraying his friend Henry is Becket's principles and character. Once appointed to the position of Archbishop, he was honor bound to fufill the role in support of the church.
However, in December 2005, historians named Becket one of the "worst Britons of the last 1,000 years."
The "greedy" Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was nominated by Professor John Hudson, of St Andrews University, as the 12th century's worst villain.I really don't know which version of Becket is true. He was either a man of staunch character, or merely a total suck up.
"He divided England in a way that even many churchmen who shared some of his views thought unnecessary and self-indulgent," he said.
"He was a founder of gesture politics.
"Those who share my prejudice against Becket may consider his assassination in Canterbury Cathedral on 29 December, 1170, a fittingly grisly end."
Do you know the history of your patron saint?
13 comments:
How does one go about getting (or finding) one's patron saint?
Well, one way is if your parents tell you and fill you in on your geneology. Another is if you look at your geographic and religious ancestry. It's kind of a voodoo science.
If you look at the origin of the name Thomas, you'll see it goes very far back but it's popularization was directly the result of the legend of Thomas Becket.
Since my family genelogy is Irish Catholic - that's logically my patron saint.
You could try doing a wiki on your given and surnames to see what kind of info it has.
Hmmm...I guess St. Christopher is a logical place to start. Let's see what I can find.
Among Roman Catholics, the most popular St. Christopher legend is preserved in Jacobus de Voragine's 13th century Golden Legend. The story states that Christopher was a sort of Canaanite giant or ogre...
Not off to a great start. =(
Mine is Richard The Lionheart.
Lord Brown Mouse
Richard the Lionheart was never cannonized...
He should have been.
Why? Because he completely bankrupted England forcing exhorbitant taxes to be enforced by John while he was off in Israel?
Yes, cannonization at its finest.
Because he attempted to reclaim the holy lands in the name of christianity.
He is an example to us all in the way he faced the problems of his time head on.
We need more like him today.
Richard The Lion Heart lead an army of European Christians that took the Holy Lands from the Islamic Invader's.
The Childrens Crusade was nothing to do with the Lion Heart.
Actually.. Richard failed to capture Jerusalem during the 3rd crusade, though he did work out a deal with Saladin so that Christians could have safe passage there. The army was mostly Norman.
Then, he buggered off back to France..but was of course captured on his way back and held for ransom, and so on.
The most amusing part is that Richard "the Lionheart" was gay.
And no.. he cannot be a "patron saint" as the definition requires that the patron be a saint. Richard was actually quite a mean bastard.
How can you call them Islamic Invaders? Its their land. Thats like calling the Native Americans (And I still hate using that term) invaders.
I love how Jesus is always portrayed as some white guy with a short beard, when in all actuality, it should be more like Mohaj Malik el Jesus. ( If you know where that comes from, you get a cookie)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire#Komnenoi_and_the_crusaders
Note also, that the byzantine empire claimed its residents were christain. Archaelogical evidence suggest it was not so however, since none of them could write or had a voice in goverment, it is recorded that they were christain.
Note: A lot of the crusades were against people who were, in fact, christian.
/shrug
But I guess we dont care about facts, as long as falacys make us feel good eh?
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