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THE ARCHBISHOP. 183
the mark of kings. The chancellor then was consecrated
in Canterbury Cathedral on the Octave of
Pentecost, June 3, 1162. Thomas thus connected
his episcopal career with the mystery of the Holy
Trinity to which he had a special devotion. It wTas
he who introduced the feast into England and finally
settled that it should be kept on the Octave of
Pentecost. The consecrating prelate was that
same Henry of Blois who had been instrumental
in procuring his chancellorship. He, too, read
some of the future. Immediately after the consecration,
he addressed these words to Thomas:
"Dearest brother, I give you now the choice of
twro things : beyond a doubt you must lose the
favour of the earthly or of the heavenly king". i
Henry of Blois lived to see the head which he had
anointed receive the crown of martyrdom.
The Chancellor, who had kept his purity untarnished
in a splendid and most licentious court,
now put on the mortification of Jesus after the
fashion of the saints. As Archbishop of Canterbury
he became ipso facto superior of the Christchurch
monks; his own life was henceforth that of a religious.
He had chosen the "heavenly King,"
whilst saying in his humility, de pastorc amumfactus
sum pastor ovium. The service * the earthly sovereign
expected from him was that not only of a fide/is but
of a homo. The strife began on the very day when
Henry discovered the mind of the Archbishop, and
1 Morris, p. 71.