St. Thomas the Apostle (RLS 18) Tile

St. Thomas the Apostle, also called Didymus (the "twin"), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ according to the New Testament. After initially doubting the Resurrection until he touched Christ's wounds for himself, St. Thomas went on to evangelize Parthia, Persia, and India with missionary zeal. Here, he holds a builder's square. This attribute has several explanations both literal and symbolic. In one origin story, he erects the very first church building in India with his own hands. In another, he builds a palace for an Indian ruler; in its variant, he gives away his fee to the poor explaining away the actual palace as one of Christ's promised mansions in heaven. The third explanation is merely symbolic of building the Church in India on a strong spiritual foundation. + Image Source (RLS 18): Antique image of St. Thomas the Apostle in chromolithography with gilt accents from Red Letter Saints: Being a Series of Biographies of those Saints for which Proper Collects, Epistles and Gospels are appointed in the Book of Common Prayer. Printed by E. Kaufmann, Lahr, Baden, Germany, for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge / S.P.C.K. (London, 1911), p. 8. From the designer’s private library. + Feast: July 3 + Text is in dark red-brown (#460000) which matches the figure's outline.