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Kempis, Thomas á

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Thomas à Kempis

Born	1380
Died	25 July 1471 Kempen, Germany
Known for	The Imitation of Christ

Monument on Mount Saint Agnes in Zwolle "Here lived Thomas van Kempen in the service of the Lord and wrote On the Imitation of Christ, 1406–1471"

The reliquary with the relics of Thomas à Kempis

Thomas à Kempis on Mount Saint Agnes - (1569)

Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380 – 25 July 1471) was a late Medieval Catholic monk and the probable author of The Imitation of Christ, which is one of the best known Christian books on devotion. His name means, "Thomas of Kempen", his home town and in German he is known as Thomas von Kempen. He also is known by various spellings of his family name: Thomas Haemerkken; Thomas Hammerlein; Thomas Hemerken, and Thomas Hämerken.

[edit] Life

He was born at the Lower Rhine region in Kempen, Germany, County of Cleves in 1380 and died in 1471 near Zwolle, Netherlands in the Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht, seventy-five miles north of his birthplace. His paternal name was Hemerken, Kleverlandish for little hammer.

In 1392 he followed his brother, John, to Deventer in order to attend the city school. While attending school in Deventer, Thomas encountered the Brethren of the Common Life, followers of Gerard Groote's Modern Devotion. He attended school in Deventer from 1392 to 1399.

After leaving school, Thomas traveled to Zwolle to visit his brother again, after John had become the prior of the Mount St. Agnes monastery. Thereafter, Thomas was invested at the Mount St. Agnes monastery in 1406. He did not become ordained as a priest, however, until almost a decade later. He became a prolific copyist and writer. Thomas received priest's orders in 1413 and was made sub-prior of the monastery in 1429.

The monastery was disturbed for a time because of the pope's rejection of the bishop-elect of Utrecht, Rudolf van Diepholt; otherwise, Thomas's life was a quiet one, his time being spent between devotional exercises, composition, and copying. He copied the Bible no fewer than four times, one of the copies being preserved at Darmstadt in five volumes. In its teachings he was widely read and his works abound in Biblical quotations, especially from the New Testament.

[edit] Work

No doubt, his life is fittingly characterized by the words under an old picture first referred to by Francescus Tolensis: "In all things I sought quiet and found it not save in retirement and in books".

Thomas à Kempis is classified as belonging to the school of mystics that was scattered along the Rhine from Switzerland to Strasburg and Cologne and in the Netherlands. He was a follower of Geert Groote and Florentius Radewijns, the founders of the Brethren of the Common Life.

The writings of Hemerken are all of a devotional character and include tracts, meditations, letters, sermons, and a biography of Saint Lydewigis, a Christian woman who remained steadfast under a great stress of afflictions, as well as biographies of Groote, Radewijns, and nine of their companions.

Works similar in content to the Imitation of Christ, pervaded by the same spirit, are his prolonged meditation on the life and blessings of the Savior. Another focuses upon the Incarnation. Both of these works overflow with adoration for Christ.

[edit] Quotations

The following quotes are attributed to him:

"Without the Way,

there is no going,

Without the Truth,

there is no knowing,

Without the Life,

there is no living."

"If thou wilt receive profit, read with humility, simplicity, and faith, and seek not at any time the fame of being learned."

"At the Day of Judgement we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done."

— The Imitation of Christ, Book I, ch. 3

"For man proposes, but God disposes"

— The Imitation of Christ, Book I, ch. 19

"If, however, you seek Jesus in all things, you will surely find Him. "

— The Imitation of Christ, Book II, ch. 7

[edit] Books written by Thomas à Kempis

Imitatio Christi — The Imitation of Christ
Vita Gerardi Magni — Life of Geert Groote
Vita Lidewigis — Life of Liduina of Schiedam (epitomized by Thomas à Kempis)

[edit] Veneration

Thomas à Kempis has yet to be declared a Blessed or a Saint by the Roman Catholic Church. He is venerated by the Church of England, however, in its Calendar of Saints.

A monument was dedicated to his memory in the presence of the archbishop of Utrecht in St. Michael's Church, Zwolle, on November 11, 1897. Because of the closing of this church, in 2006 his shrine was moved to a historical church in the centre of Zwolle

Saints portal

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

This article incorporates Public Domain material from the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. VI: Innocents — Liudger, Schaff, Philip.
Thomas à Kempis (2007), The Imitation of Christ, Filiquarian, ISBN 1-59986-979-9
Thomas à Kempis (2005), The Imitation of Christ: A Spiritual Commentary and Reader's Guide, Ave Maria Press, ISBN 0-87061-234-4
Thomas à Kempis (1989), William C. Creasy, ed., The Imitation of Christ, Mercer University Press, ISBN 0-86554-339-9
Thomas à Kempis (1955), Harold C. Gardner, S.J., ed., The Imitation of Christ, Doubleday, ISBN 978-0-375-70018-7

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Thomas à Kempis

Read Imitation of Christ online
Thomas à Kempis at The Catholic Encyclopedia
Quotes from Thomas à Kempis
Works by Thomas à Kempis at Project Gutenberg
Imitation of Christ in PDF
Imitation of Christ in downloadable MP3

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Books By This Author The Confessions of St. Augustine & The Imitation of Christ by Thomas á Kempis: The Five Foot Shelf of Classics, Vol. VII (in 51 volumes) The Confessions of St. Augustine & The Imitation of Christ by Thomas á Kempis: The Five Foot Shelf of Classics, Vol. VII (in 51 volumes) The Imitation of Christ The Confessions of St. Augustine, Including The Imitation of Christ Vera Sapientia, or True Wisdom