Thomas

Today in RCIA class, one of the students was particularly interested in the martyrdom of the 12 Apostles.  A couple of weeks ago, this same student had everyone looking up Patmos, the island where the apostle John exiled.  BTW, it's off Greece.

Today, he thought it awfully coincidental that the Apostle Thomas died by being run through with a spear when Thomas was the one who put his hand in Jesus' wound, made by a spear.  Tonight, I've googled it more and it seems that's the prevalent opinion. The following is from the blog Scanned Thoughts.

Thomas (impaled by a spear)—Called by most Christians as the “Doubting Thomas” for disbelieving the Lord’s Resurrection. But after his doubts were erased by touching Jesus’ wounds, he became a fearless preacher of the Gospel and builder of churches. He was the only Apostle who witnessed the Assumption of Mary and the one of the first Apostles who preached outside the boundaries of the vast Roman Empire (out of Europe). He preached in Babylon (present day Iraq) and established its first Christian church. Then he went to Persia (Iran) and travelled as far as China and India. He was martyred in Mylapore, India when a local king named Masdai condemned Thomas to death. The Apostle angered the Brahmins (high ranked priests/scholars who served as the king’s advisers) who thought Christianity disrespected India’s Caste System. Thomas was brought to a nearby mountain and was stabbed-to-death with a spear. He is believed to be buried around the suburb of Madras, in India.