Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

BIRTH OF ST. THOMAS. 1/1)
time of Henry's accession. He saw at once the tendencies
of the young King, which everything in
Henry's position went to foster, and he trembled at
the thought of the chancellorship. He singled out
the young Archdeacon of Canterbury, who was in
deacon's orders, as the man of the situation.
Thomas Becket was born in London, on December
21, 1118, and was the son of Gilbert, a London merchant,
and Matilda, his wife, who were both of
Norman extraction. From the first the mystery of a
' great predestination hung over Thomas : before becoming
archbishop and saint, he was of the material
out of which saints are made-magnificent in his
thoughts and dealings, pure and chaste in the midst
of a splendid court and position. It will be remembered
how Archbishop Theobald had insisted
on attending the Council of Rheims in 1148, in spite
of King Stephen and his consueivdints. Thomas
ecket had accompanied him on that occasion; for,
since 1143, he had been a valued member of the
archiepiscopal court, and was receiving the sort of
training amongst men of high station which particularly
fitted him for his subsequent career. Very
early in life he lost his mother, and placed himself
under the spiritual care of Robert of Merton, a Canon
Regular. Stephen's holding of the crown was a life
tenure, on the understanding that it should pass at
his death to Henry Plantagenet. He was constantly
aiming at the coronation of his son Eustace; but
finally circumvented by the " subtle prudence and