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The saints

St. Thomas the Apostle

He said he would not believe without touching the wounds. Then he did, and said the greatest line in the Gospels.

Feast: 3 July · died about 72 · The early Church · Galilee and India

Read the story 1 min read
Painting of St. Thomas putting his finger into the wound in the side of the risen Jesus, as two apostles look on.

Caravaggio, 1601. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The saints / St. Thomas the Apostle

A locked room in Jerusalem

Thomas wasn’t in the room the night the risen Jesus first came to the apostles.1

When they told him, he said he would not believe unless he put his finger in the wounds.2

A week later Jesus came back, for him.

Patron of architects and builders5; India5; theologians5

01St. Thomas the Apostle

My Lord and my God

Jesus invited him to touch the wounds, and Thomas answered with the clearest confession of faith in the Gospels: My Lord and my God.3

Earlier he was the one who said, let us also go, that we may die with Him.4

02St. Thomas the Apostle

To India

Ancient tradition says Thomas carried the Gospel to India, and the St. Thomas Christians there trace their faith to him.5

He is said to have been martyred near Chennai.5

Live it this week

Ask your hardest question honestly

Thomas didn’t fake it, and Jesus came back for him. Write down your one real doubt this week, bring it to Jesus in prayer in your own words, and ask a priest or a trusted Catholic friend about it.

Notes

How we know · 5 sources for this page
  1. John 20:24, World English Bible. read the chapter
  2. John 20:25, World English Bible. read the chapter
  3. John 20:28, World English Bible. read the chapter
  4. John 11:16, World English Bible. read the chapter
  5. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saint Thomas”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.