Thomas the Apostle

From Wiki Maria Valtorta
Drawing of Thomas by Lorenzo Ferri Salton according to the indications of Maria Valtorta. Source: documentary collection of the Maria Valtorta Heritage Foundation.

Thomas was born in Ramah (Judea) (of Benjamin), near Jerusalem. He is therefore one of the three Judean Apostles along with Judas and Simon the Zealot (Apostle). He comes from a wealthy family[1]: his father is a renowned goldsmith. Joseph of Arimathea knows him well. Thomas himself is a goldsmith and occasionally practices this trade.

In 28, he witnesses, like Judas, the expulsion of the Merchants of the Temple[2]-[3], which convinces him to follow Jesus.[4] He becomes the 7th apostle.

Barely returned from Homel, he is sent on a Mission to Simon the Zealot (Apostle) who has just been healed as well as to other lepers in Jerusalem, to announce the hope.[5]
- "When your Good News can be announced by the world," he says to Jesus, "I believe that the first to hear it and the most numerous will be the slaves, those who have no comfort humanly speaking and who will take refuge in your promises to find it... if it indeed befalls me the honor to announce you, I will have a special love for these unhappy...

- "How will you approach them?" asks Jesus.

- "It is through work that I will do propaganda among the infidels. I will be a goldsmith for the ladies and a master for their slaves." [6]-[7]
During a stay in Nazareth, he puts his talent to use: he makes a brooch representing lilies of the valleys (lily of the valley). He offers it to the Virgin Mary.[8] He knows she will not wear it, but he had heard Jesus compare the humility of the flower to the humility of His mother.[9]
"Good Thomas who loves his Master," says Mary, "to the point of retaining not only his Doctrine, but even his humblest words on the most humble things and the most insignificant people." She thus refers to his love for the forsaken.[10]
Jesus goes to his Family in Ramah (Judea).[11] There He meets his parents, his brothers and sisters, including his twin sister. His nickname Didymus[12] indeed means twin in Greek. During this stay, Jesus delivers the discourse on the number of the chosen and the narrow door that must be crossed.[13]-[14]-[15]
Wanting to honor the Virgin Mary who came to join her son in his exile in Ephraim in Samaria, he deploys his talent for decoration: "He is truly an artist," says Simon the Zealot (Apostle) to the other Apostles. "Out of nothing, he decorated the room as for a Weddings feast. Go and see."[16]
His sensitivity does not prevent his courage: When Jesus decides to go to Bethany to raise Lazarus, knowing the hostility that awaits them there, he tells the other Disciples:
"Let us go too, to die with him!"[17]-[18]
According to Maria Valtorta, he goes to fetch the donkey colt with Andrew the Apostle for Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.[19]

He flees after Jesus' arrest[20] and thus does not witness the Passion. He is found a week later in the Nativity cave where he had taken refuge.[21]

Shaken by events, he initially refuses to To Believe in the Resurrection:
"I believe He is God. But precisely because I believe it, I say that, as good as He may be, He cannot be good enough to come among those who loved Him so little. And I add that, humble as He is, He must be fed up with humbling Himself in our flesh. No. He must be—He certainly is—triumphant in Heaven, and perhaps He will appear as spirit. I say: perhaps. We don't even deserve that! But resurrected in flesh and in bone? No. No, I don't believe it."
And:
"I don't believe it at all. I cannot believe. To believe, I would have to see. If I do not see the hole of the nails in His hands and if I do not put my finger there, if I do not touch the wounds in His feet, and if I do not put my hand where the lance opened His side, I will not believe. I am neither a child nor a Woman. I want evidence. What my reason cannot accept, I refuse. And I cannot accept your word."[22]
Jesus appears to him in the following days.[23] He reproaches him for his unbelief and invites him to touch His wounds. Thomas had said he would not believe without touching Jesus' wounds. He then utters his famous exclamation: "My Lord and my God!"[24]

Witness of the Last Supper[25], the Resurrection, the Ascension[26], and Pentecost.[27]

On the eve of her Assumption, while summarizing the characters of the Apostles, Mary confides to John, the only witness present: "Thomas is a peaceful one."[28]

Character and appearance

He has a cheerful, good-natured, and peaceful character, with a somewhat plump appearance.[29] He is about 38 years old. His voice is baritone.[30] His face radiates liveliness.

Thomas willingly acts as the cook of the group of Apostles. He himself has a hearty appetite.

He is eloquent and voluble:
"Thomas knows how to speak. It seems like he is advertising at the market to sell his merchandise, but he manages to convince," says Simon Peter about him.[31]
His rhetoric is very useful to the group of Apostles, especially when it comes to negotiating with the Philistines, who are not favorable to the Jews.[32]

His name

In Aramaic "Toma" means "twin" (Didymus in Greek).

Where is he mentioned in the work?

Calling of the first Apostles: EMV 53 EMV 54 EMV 55 EMV 56
Apostolic journey in Judea: EMV 66 EMV 70 EMV 91 EMV 92 EMV 93 EMV 94 EMV 95 EMV 96 EMV 97
The last shepherds: EMV 98 EMV 99 EMV 100 EMV 102 EMV 103 EMV 104 EMV 105 EMV 108 EMV 109
In Judea before communal life: EMV 110 EMV 111 EMV 112 EMV 114 EMV 115 EMV 116 EMV 117 EMV 118
Teachings on the Ten Commandments: EMV 119 EMV 120 EMV 121 EMV 122 EMV 123 EMV 124 EMV 125 EMV 126 EMV 127 EMV 128 EMV 129 EMV 130 EMV 131 EMV 132
End-of-year festivals: EMV 133 EMV 134 EMV 135 EMV 136 EMV 137 EMV 138 EMV 139 EMV 140 EMV 141 EMV 142
The Samaritan woman: EMV 143 EMV 144 EMV 145 EMV 146 EMV 147 EMV 149
Female apostleship: EMV 153 EMV 154 EMV 155 EMV 157 EMV 158
In Galilee, election of the Apostles: EMV 160 EMV 162 EMV 164 EMV 165 EMV 166
The Sermon on the Mount: EMV 169 EMV 170 EMV 171 EMV 172 EMV 173 EMV 174 EMV 176
Apostleship in Galilee: EMV 177 EMV 178 EMV 179 EMV 180 EMV 181 EMV 182 EMV 183 EMV 184 EMV 186
The second Easter journey: EMV 187 EMV 188 EMV 189 EMV 190 EMV 191 EMV 192 EMV 193 EMV 194 EMV 195 EMV 196 EMV 197 EMV 198 EMV 199 EMV 201 EMV 202 EMV 203
Apostleship in Judea: EMV 205 EMV 206 EMV 206 EMV 207 EMV 208 EMV 210 EMV 211 EMV 212 EMV 212 EMV 214 EMV 215
Apostleship in Philistia: EMV 216 EMV 217 EMV 218 EMV 219 EMV 220 EMV 221 EMV 222 EMV 223 EMV 224 EMV 225
The conversion of Mary Magdalene: EMV 228 EMV 230 EMV 232 EMV 233 EMV 235 EMV 237 EMV 238 EMV 239 EMV 240 EMV 241 EMV 242 EMV 243 EMV 244 EMV 247 EMV 248 EMV 249 EMV 250 EMV 251 EMV 252 EMV 253 EMV 254 EMV 255
Sending of Apostles and Disciples on Mission: EMV 256 EMV 257 EMV 260 EMV 261 EMV 262 EMV 265 EMV 268 EMV 269 EMV 271 EMV 272 EMV 273 EMV 274 EMV 275 EMV 276 EMV 277 EMV 278 EMV 279 EMV 280
Perea, Gilead and Trachonitis: EMV 281 EMV 284 EMV 296 EMV 297 EMV 298 EMV 299 EMV 300 EMV 301 EMV 302
End-of-year festivals in Nazareth: EMV 309
Phoenicia and Upper Galilee: EMV 334 EMV 335 EMV 336 EMV 338 EMV 339 EMV 340 EMV 341 EMV 342 EMV 343 EMV 344 EMV 345 EMV 346 EMV 347
The Transfiguration and the Bread of Heaven: EMV 348 EMV 349 EMV 350 EMV 351 EMV 352 EMV 353 EMV 354 EMV 355 EMV 356 EMV 357 EMV 358 EMV 359 EMV 360 EMV 361 EMV 362 EMV 363
The penultimate Passover: EMV 364 EMV 365 EMV 366 EMV 367 EMV 368 EMV 369 EMV 370 EMV 371 EMV 372 EMV 374 EMV 375 EMV 376 EMV 377 EMV 378
In Judea: EMV 379 EMV 380 EMV 381 EMV 382 EMV 383 EMV 384 EMV 385
AGodx in Judea: EMV 386 EMV 387 EMV 388 EMV 389 EMV 390 EMV 391 EMV 392 EMV 393 EMV 394 EMV 398 EMV 399 EMV 402 EMV 403
Plain of Sharon: EMV 404 EMV 405 EMV 406 EMV 407 EMV 408 EMV 410 EMV 411 EMV 412
Pentecost, Decapolis and Esdraelon Plain: EMV 413 EMV 414 EMV 415 EMV 416 EMV 417 EMV 418 EMV 419 EMV 420 EMV 421 EMV 422 EMV 423 EMV 424 EMV 425 EMV 426 EMV 427 EMV 428 EMV 429 EMV 430 EMV 430 EMV 431 EMV 432
Summer in Nazareth: EMV 433 EMV 434 EMV 435 EMV 436 EMV 439 EMV 440 EMV 441 EMV 443 EMV 444 EMV 445 EMV 446 EMV 447 EMV 448 EMV 449 EMV 450 EMV 451 EMV 452 EMV 453 EMV 454 EMV 455 EMV 456 EMV 457 EMV 458 EMV 459 EMV 460 EMV 461 EMV 462 EMV 463 EMV 465
In Syro-Phoenicia: EMV 466 EMV 467 EMV 469 EMV 470 EMV 471 EMV 475 EMV 473 EMV 474 EMV 475 EMV 476 EMV 477 EMV 482 EMV 483
The Feast of Tabernacles and the Dedication: EMV 488 EMV 490
In Moab and Judea: EMV 496 EMV 497 EMV 498 EMV 500 EMV 503 EMV 504 EMV 505 EMV 508 EMV 511 EMV 519 EMV 520 EMV 522
The Feast of Dedication: EMV 527 EMV 528 EMV 529 EMV 531 EMV 532 EMV 535 EMV 537 EMV 538
The resurrection of Lazarus: EMV 545 EMV 547 EMV 550
The exile in Samaria: EMV 551 EMV 552 EMV 553 EMV 554 EMV 566 EMV 567 EMV 568 EMV 571 EMV 575
Return to Jerusalem: EMV 577 EMV 582 EMV 584 EMV 586
Holy Week: EMV 590 EMV 595 EMV 596 EMV 597 EMV 598 EMV 600
The Passion: EMV 602
Resurrection Sunday: EMV 621
From Resurrection to Ascension: EMV 628 EMV 629 EMV 630 EMV 631 EMV 633 EMV 634 EMV 635 EMV 636 EMV 638 EMV 639 EMV 640 EMV 649 EMV 651

Learn more about this character

Excerpts from the Dictionary of Gospel Characters, according to Maria Valtorta (Mgr René Laurentin, François-Michel Debroise, Jean-François Lavère, Salvator Editions, 2012):
The Chaldean Church of Iraq claims its foundation by Saint Thomas.

According to Eusebius of Caesarea, he evangelized the Parthians whose empire extended from present Iran to India[33], which is echoed in the Acts of Thomas, a 3rd-century apocryphon. He reportedly converted King Goudnaphar (or Gondophares) who ruled over Afghanistan and part of Pakistan. Thomas is said to have preached the Gospel in India where he founded a Church in Kerala, called the Saint Thomas Church. He is said to have continued his mission to China.

He was martyred in Calamina near Madras. Christians in this region have venerated his tomb since time immemorial. St. Gregory of Tours reports, in support, the testimony of a priest who passed there in the 6th century.[34]

His Relics were reportedly transferred to Edessa in Mesopotamia and then to Italy, to Ortona in the Abruzzo region, of which he is the patron saint.

In 1972, Paul VI proclaimed him apostle and patron saint of India. He is celebrated on July 3.

Notes and references

  1. ↑ EMV 490.7
  2. ↑ John 2:13-21.
  3. ↑ EMV 53.3-4
  4. ↑ EMV 54.8
  5. ↑ EMV 55.3
  6. ↑ EMV 434.2
  7. ↑ EMV 440.2
  8. ↑ EMV 441.1
  9. ↑ EMV 412.3
  10. ↑ EMV 441.1
  11. ↑ EMV 363.2-4
  12. ↑ John 11:16
  13. ↑ Matthew 7:13-14
  14. ↑ Luke 13:23-35
  15. ↑ EMV 363.6-7
  16. ↑ EMV 566.3
  17. ↑ John 11:16
  18. ↑ EMV 547.6
  19. ↑ EMV 589.9
  20. ↑ EMV 602
  21. ↑ EMV 608.5
  22. ↑ EMV 628.6
  23. ↑ EMV 629.2-4
  24. ↑ John 20:26-29.
  25. ↑ EMV 600
  26. ↑ EMV 638.16-23
  27. ↑ EMV 640
  28. ↑ EMV 649
  29. ↑ EMV 545.6
  30. ↑ EMV 195.4
  31. ↑ EMV 132.7
  32. ↑ EMV 218.2
  33. ↑ Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History, III, §1.1.
  34. ↑ Saint Gregory of Tours, To the Glory of the Martyrs.
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