Thomas Becket
vers 1120-1170 12th century Feast day: December 29
Not leaving the place where one has been set, even knowing what is coming.
Who was Thomas Becket?
The son of a London merchant, chancellor of the realm and friend of King Henry II, he became archbishop of Canterbury and immediately stood in the way of the man who had appointed him, over the question of the church courts. Seven years of conflict, six of them in exile in France, a return, and four of the king's knights who killed him in his own cathedral one December evening. A monk who was there, Edward Grim, wounded as he tried to shield him, wrote down what he had seen and heard.
In their own words
It is not fitting to make a fortress of the house of prayer.
I am ready to die for my Lord, so that in my blood the Church may find liberty and peace.