Patron Saint of the Company
The Company has Adopted St Thomas The Apostle as our Patron Saint.
In September 2012, under our Master Patricia Newton and with the guidance of The Company Chaplain Canon David Parrot, the Court of The Constructors adopted St Thomas as our Patron Saint. This event preceded the celebration event of the granting of our Royal Charter attended by HRH The Duke of Gloucester.
St Thomas is known as the Patron Saint of Architects and Builders so it was with great humility the Company adopted St Thomas to help guide our thoughts and beliefs in the future.
Thomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus (meaning "Twin") was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Although he questioned Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, he later said: "My Lord and my God" on actually seeing Jesus in John 20:28.
After Jesus had ascended into heaven, and the Apostles began the work of telling others about Him, Thomas was probably the only Apostle who went outside the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel. According to later Christian tradition he went as far as India. There Thomas, apparently a skilled carpenter, visited the Indo-Parthian king Gondophernes, who asked him to build a palace. However, he spent the money on charity instead, and was imprisoned. It is, however, this tradition which makes him the patron saint of builders (and Constructors).
Thomas' best known appearance in the New Testament, he doubts the resurrection of Jesus and demands to touch Jesus' wounds before being convinced. Caravaggio's painting, The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (illustration above), depicts this scene.
St. Thomas was a Jew, called to be one of the twelve Apostles. He was a dedicated but impetuous follower of Christ. When Jesus said He was returning to Judea to visit His sick friend Lazarus, Thomas immediately exhorted the other Apostles to accompany Him on the trip which involved certain danger and possible death because of the mounting hostility of the authorities. At the Last Supper, when Christ told His Apostles that He was going to prepare a place for them to which they also might come because they knew both the place and the way, Thomas pleaded that they did not understand and received the beautiful assurance that Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
His feast day is July 3rd.