This Week in Christian History: Tolstoy excommunicated, Quakers protest slavery, Thomas Becket canonized
Thomas a Becket canonized – February 21, 1173
This week marks the anniversary of when Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas a Becket was famously martyred in Canterbury Cathedral in response to his rivalry with King Henry II.
Pope Alexander III officially declared Becket a saint less than three years after he was brutally murdered by four knights who were supportive of King Henry.
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In the centuries since his death and canonization, Becket has become synonymous with freedom of religious conscience in the face of state-sponsored oppression.
The Becket Fund, a law firm that specializes in religious liberty cases and has argued litigation before the United State Supreme Court, took their name from the Medieval saint.
