Who was St Thomas The Apostle ?
There is no record why the parish church was named after St Thomas the Apostle – although it might be because St Thomas’s Hospital held land in the area (although not the land the church was built on). St Thomas is the patron saint of builders and architects, so it was also a suitable dedication for a church built by a builder (although the dedication is first used in 1827). Thomas is the Aramaic equivalent of the Greek name Didymus which means Twin. St John the Evangelist seems to have taken a personal interest in St Thomas. He gives four of his sayings (John 11 : 16 ; 14 : 5 ; 20: 24-29) and includes St Thomas among the seven who met the Risen Christ by the Lake o£ Galilee at His third appearance to the Apostles after the Resurrection. In the Synoptic gospels St Thomas’ name is coupled with that of St Matthew (hence when the sister church was consecrated in 1869, it was given the name of St Matthew). There is an apocryphal ” Gospel of St Thomas” about Jesus’ childhood, and from the t
