The Truly Venerable Thomas à Kempis

Crazy Church Lady is crazy for a myriad of reasons. Not for her intelligence. She knows what she is talking about all of the time...now just most of the time, actually. She and I can have misunderstandings on occasion though this most recent one was really just more a lack of awareness that certain things can be a greater trigger for me than other people. So it is when it comes to a lot of church affairs these days. They can have that edge and wear. It's a constant battle of the will of the fallen flesh and the will of the Spirit in the Christian life.

For me, that trigger was from a humorous discussion we were having regarding how if she pushed her two youngest too high on the swing, they might fall off. "Remember your brother Steve?" and that sort of thing. I made a comment about how "their sister Margaret" once was pushed too high, fell off, went into a coma, then was buried alive by mistake. To which I mentioned how there used to be bells by the grave-sites in case people were buried alive by mistake. Thence came the trigger..."That's why Thomas à Kempis will never be canonized. He was buried alive and they found scratch marks on the coffin lid when they dug it up," she said.

That threw me into a state of shock. I had heard mention that Thomas à Kempis will never be canonized before. Similar story. Relating to the odd nature of his burial as well. I had forgotten it. Rightly so. You don't really give much thought to it. But having actually experienced God and the Church, this not only triggered me but gravely (no pun intended) disturbed me. How is it that God's grace would deem such an unfortunate situation for an otherwise holy man to prevent not only his canonization but also his veneration? If a gut feeling tells you something isn't true, it likely isn't true. Sure, some might state that they had no reason to deny the claim that it prevented his canonization because they might feel questioning such a claim would deny authority or they've reconciled it with their own view of the Church, but I could not reconcile the claim with either God's grace and abundant mercy and the way I have come to view ecclesiology.

I went into a state of near and total despair. Clearly, the Crazy Church Lady knows her stuff. But still, why does my gut keep saying that the man attributed as the author of The Imitation of Christ, which has not only led so many souls to Heaven but also has been recommended and reflected upon by several of the Church Triumphant, could not possibly be canonized. This literally was eating away at me for an entire day. I needed to talk to someone sober-minded, genuine in character, and who would openly listen. But I also kept obsessing over this seemingly suspicious revelation. I ended up talking about it with the deacon the next night. Well, here's the thing, I haven't been able to find a single source to verify Crazy Church Lady's claim, number one, and the deacon, though he be a Melkite and hadn't actually even heard of Thomas à Kempis before, mentioned that he had never heard such a claim in the Latin Church that evidence of a premature burial is grounds for the denial of canonization. To which I perked a bit. I looked further into this. Indeed, there is no canonical grounds for a dismissal if evidence of a premature burial is found! The only thing I can think of is that it would be related to the issue of mortal sin and whether or not the holy person was in a state of mortal sin at death. Such would be grounds. But given the nature that one would have to be in a coma in order for such a mistake to happen, it is preposterous to contend that mortal sin would occur since for a mortal sin to be committed, one must have made the voluntary consent to sin.

John Duns Scotus

In reading more on this issue, I came across one such translation of The Imitation of Christ by Paraclete Press, which mentions in a footnote the following:

The most bizarre (but extremely consistent) legend had it that when Thomas's remains were discovered in 1672, it was found that the inside of the coffin lid was covered with scratches and there were splinters of wood under the fingernails of the corpse thereby preventing canonization since there was no way to know his true state of mind at the time of his actual death. It might be of interest to know that the Franciscan theologian John Duns Scotus died in Köln in 1308, and when the burial vault was opened, he was found lying outside the coffin. (p. 439)

This story was first stated by the philosopher Francis Bacon in his work Historia vitae et mortis. John Duns Scotus was beatified in 1993. It is possible that it was his philosophical and anti-Scottish opponents that came up with this story and that it is a myth. But it clearly did not stop his beatification regardless.

The Attacks From the Neo-Catholics!

One article that reads quite sickeningly on the subject of Thomas à Kempis has the following to say:

Even 15th-century famous spiritual writer German Thomas à Kempis didn’t make it through the process. His body was exhumed and examined during his case for sainthood. There are stories that there were scratch marks on the inside of his coffin and splinters of wood under his fingernails. These discoveries suggested an escape attempt after being buried alive. The issue would have been that Thomas à Kempis did not peacefully accept death as a saint should.

What? This is on the lines of either a) we have a very cynical Church when it comes to cases where holy men are accidentally buried alive or b) a holy man must have proper compunction if he is mistakenly buried alive. If this sounds sickening to you, then it's possible that either a) the story is not true or b) there may have been a much different reason for why the man has not been canonized that extends beyond the circumstances of his death. To state that we must resist euthanasia on one hand and yet refuse to give in to death on the other hand is both contradictory and absurd. If God's will is for us not to die or be called home, then we have every right to attempt an escape from a coffin we were prematurely buried in. There is nothing in the Latin canonization process that mentions this!

This next attack is even more bizarre.

Thomas died in 1471, but when his remains were exhumed they found splinters under his finger nails and the coffin scratched up. In other-words, Thomas was most likely buried alive. The church seeing this as a situation where Thomas may have despaired decided to not proceed with his canonization cause citing this incident twice when the cause is again and again brought up.

Okay, so if you're buried alive and try to escape, you're damned because you refused to give in to death before your time. If you're buried alive and make scratch marks you're damned because you despaired. Make sense?

The forum comments!

Oh, it's indeed true if they say it in forums over and over again! You know random people on the internet are always the most reliable sources of information!

My understanding is that there’s substantial doubt as to whether he ever existed. He might have been a fictitious, composite character created by a small group of anonymous religious writers. (PauloFreire2, Catholic Forums - points for creativity, I laughed)

On[e] of our pastors in South Dakota who is now deceased, a very credible and holy priest, Fr. Leonard D. Fox (1st cousin to Fr. Robert Fox who founded the Fatima Family Apostolate and was on EWTN for the few years of his life) told us that when Thomas’s grave was opened up he was facing downward and that’s why the canonization process was stopped. It was a sign of despair. (Bsokolow - Catholic Forums - well the Crazy Church Lady is a very credible and holy woman, does that mean she's always right? I see her go to confession!)

It is true that he has not been canonized. I read somewhere that his cause was opened, but when he was exhumed, they discovered scratches all over the roof of the coffin and clumps of his hair in his hands. I guess he had been buried alive accidentally, and the powers that be assumed that he despaired, something saints aren't supposed to do. (Iubeltri, Orthodox Christian forums)

Etc. Notice how the story changes. He's facing downward, he's scratching on the coffin lid, he's got clumps of hair in his hands. I've read one commenter saying that he had "a look of despair in his face". It's gone from ambiguity to total confidence - definitely in despair!

But again, if it cannot be argued that he had full mental faculties, then he cannot actually be guilty of mortal sin. Even if awoken alive to find himself in a coffin, the absence of full control over mental faculties from the lack of oxygen to the fact you've just woken from a coma, indicates that mortal sin is impossible to commit in such a state. Mortal sin requires voluntary consent. And there's no rule that indicates that signs of being buried alive by mistake nullifies the canonization process. Anneliese Michel was a demoniac who died from malnourishment in a botched exorcism. People make pilgrimages to her grave-site on a yearly basis. Lack of full mental faculties means one cannot possibly be held accountable for whatever they end up committing.

Okay now, the real story

Yes, there's the real story of the exhumation of Thomas à Kempis. There aren't too many biographies on him but in wrestling with this issue over the last couple days, I searched and sought and finally found one. It is by Francis R. Cruise. A British medical scientist, he actually spent much time dedicated to literary study with a focus in particular on Thomas à Kempis. This is what he writes on the exhumation:

[O]n the 13th of August the coffin was opened, and the bones of the holy man exposed to view. The remains were in wonderful preservation, and the bones were attached in situ. The head was nearly perfect and rested on a mass of peat. The teeth were white, those in the upper maxilla being present, but on being touched they fell from the sockets. The lower jaw retained only a few of the teeth. The right side of the skeleton lay somewhat lower than the left, and had mouldered considerably. The hands were crossed, the right lying on the left. The bones of the fingers and toes were in tact, but the ribs and shoulder-blades had crumbled to dust. The stole, made of white satin and embroidered with flowers, lay around his neck, the lower part being quite consumed. The portion which had escaped destruction was taken by the Elector as a relic. From the inner aspect of the left ankle an abundance of beautiful coloured flowers were found growing--doubtless a variety of lichen. Many circumstances combine to identify these remains, and lead to the conviction that they were undoubtedly those of Thomas à Kempis. (Thomas à Kempis, 322-323)

Well that sounds quite the opposite of all that has been posted about him in forums. Almost as if someone should take up his cause for canonization. Why wasn't he canonized? 

Two centuries after the Reformation, during which the priory was destroyed, the holy remains were transferred to Zwolle and enclosed in a handsome reliquary by Maximilian Hendrik, Prince-Bishop of Cologne. At present they are enshrined in St. Michael's Church, Zwolle, in a magnificent monument erected in 1897 by subscriptions from all over the world and inscribed: "Honori, non memoriae Thomae Kempensis, cujus nomen perennius quam monumentum" (To the honour not to the memory of Thomas à Kempis, whose name is more enduring than any monument). It is interesting to recall that the same Maximilian Hendrik, who showed such zeal in preserving and honouring the relics of à Kempis, was also eager to see the cause of his beatification introduced and began to collect the necessary documents; but little more than a beginning was made when he died (1688) and since that date no further steps have been taken. (New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia)

Oh. Well that makes sense now and seems far less conspiratorial, self-contradictory, or even worrisome of the Church's cynical attitude toward those mistakenly buried alive. It is interesting to note that Wikipedia's articles on premature burial and Thomas à Kempis make no mention of this idea that Thomas à Kempis was buried alive. There are no credible references that back it. Why mention it? The story is contradicted flatly by perhaps the most reliable biographer of Thomas à Kempis we may ever have. The Crazy Church Lady...has a pulse!