Born in London in 1118, he was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162. Killed in his cathedral in 1170 by order of Henry of England, he was proclaimed a martyr saint by Pope Alexander III in 1173. The archbishop, in fact, had repeatedly expressed his opposition to some of the sovereign’s intentions and, within a few years, hostility and discontent had grown. In Sicily, worship of the saint spread thanks to William II’s wife, Joan, who was the daughter of Henry of England. Also to atone for this serious fault, Thomas is also depicted among the saints in the mosaic cycle of the Monreale apse.
