St. Thomas
One of the twelve, the disciple of Jesus who doubted ( John xxi. 25); hence the phrase, a doubting Thomas, applied to a skeptic. The story told of him in the Apocryphal Acts of St. Thomas is that he was deputed to go as a missionary to India, and, when he refused, Christ appeared and sold him as a slave to an Indian prince who was visiting Jerusalem.
He was taken to India, where he baptized the prince and many others, and was finally martyred at Meliapore. His day is December 21.
Another legend has it that Gondoforus, King of the Indies, gave him a large sum of money to build a palace. St. Thomas spent it on the poor, "thus erecting a superb palace in heaven." On account of this he is the patron saint of masons and architects, and his symbol is a builder's square. Still another legend relates that he once saw a huge beam of timber floating on the sea near the coast, and, the king unsuccessfully endeavoring, with men and elephants, to haul it ashore.
St. Thomas desired leave to use it in building a church. When his request was granted he dragged it easily ashore with a piece of packthread.
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