What we know of the life of St. Thomas is what is recorded of him in the Gospels -especially the Gospel of John - and what has been handed down by tradition. He is named in the three synoptic Gospels but only in the lists of the Apostles of Christ.

St. Thomas is most famously known for having doubted the news of Christ's Resurrection, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." (John 20:25)

He believed a week later when Christ presented Himself and said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe."  When Thomas did so he exclaimed, "My Lord and my God!"

But Thomas was also the Apostle who was ready to die with the Lord when Jesus said that he would go to Judea to visit His friend Lazarus, a journey that was clearly perilous because the Jewish authorities were looking to kill Him: "Let us also go, that we may die with him" (John 11:16).

St. Thomas, as tradition has it, is said to have been the Apostle who preached the Gospel in the East, to the Persians and Medians, and all the way to the southern coast of India. The Syro-Malabar Catholics, of southern India, claim that their church was founded by the Apostle Thomas in 52 A.D. and he is said to have been martyred in the year 72 by being struck by a spear.

Pope Paul VI declared St. Thomas the Apostle of India in 1972. He is the patron of architects, carpenters and builders.

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