At length, against all his enemies the martyr so far prevailed, that almost every day you might see that to be repeated in the servant which is read of the Only-begotten:  “They who spoke evil of thee shall come unto thee, and adore the traces of thy feet.”  Now the celebrated champion and martyr of God, Thomas, suffered in the year from the incarnation of the Lord, according to Dionysius, 1171, on the fourth of the kalends of January, on the third day of the week, about the eleventh hour, that the birth-day of the Lord might be for labour, and his for rest; to which rest the same our God and Lord Jesus Christ vouchsafe to bring us; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

  O good Jesus, BY THE MERITS OF THOMAS,
  Forgive us our debts;
  Visit the house, the gate, the grave;
  And raise us from the threefold death. 
  What has been lost by act, in mind, or use,
  Restore with thy wonted pity. 
      Pray for us, O blessed Thomas.

N.B.  This appears to be the end of the first service in honour of Thomas Becket[78]; and at this point {216} another service seems to commence, with a kind of new heading, “In the commemoration of St. Thomas[79].”

    [Footnote 78:  All the Lessons between this passage and “In
    Lauds,” are wanting in MS. 1512.]

    [Footnote 79:  Another Feast was kept in honour of his
    translation, on the 7th of July.]

The First Lesson.

When Archbishop Theobald, of happy memory, in a good old age, slept with his fathers, Thomas, archdeacon of the Church of Canterbury, is solemnly chosen, in the name of the Holy Trinity, to be archbishop and primate of all England, and afterwards is consecrated.  Then pious minds entertained firm hope and confidence in the Lord[80].

[Footnote 80:  There is much of obscurity in the next paragraph.  Reference seems to be made to his twofold character of a regular and a secular clergyman, and to his improved state morally.  The Latin is this:  “Erat autem piis mentibus spes firma et fiducia in Domino, quod idem consecratus utriusque hominis, habitu mutato moribus melioratus praesideret.  Probatissimum siquidem tenebatur sedem illam sedem sanctorum esse sanctam recipere aut facere, vel citius et facile indignum abicere, quod et in beato Thoma Martyre misericorditer impletum est.”]

Second Lesson.

Therefore the chosen prelate of God being elected, and anointed with the sanctifying of the sacred oil, immediately obtained a most hallowed thing, and was filled with manifold grace of the Holy Spirit.  For walking in newness of life, a new man, he was changed into another man, all things belonging to whom were changed for the better; and with so great grace did he consecrate the commencement of his bishopric, that clothing himself with a monk’s form secretly, he fulfilled the work and merit of a monk. {217}