April 7, 1321 - Thomas of Tolentino

Peter Paul Rubens, The Martyrdom of Saint Livinus (c. 1633), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Thomas of Tolentino, a Franciscan missionary, was sent from Europe to preach the gospel to Asia during the early fourteenth century. Traveling through the Middle East and Asia, he was part of the missionary expansion of the Franciscian Order. The missionaries of this Order worked during the era of the Mongol Empire Expansion. In 1321, Muslims near Bombay challenged Thomas of Tolentino to say what he believed about Muhammad to which he replied that “Muhoammad is the son of perdition and has his place in hell with the devil his father.” As a result Thomas of Tolentino and his three companions, James of Padua, Peter of Siena, and Demetrius of Tiflis, were martyred in the city of Thana (modern Thane), coining them the Four Martyrs of Tana. Jordanus of Severac survived the attack and buried the deceased missionaries. He continued mission work in India and was later named the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Quilon (modern Kollam). Although Christianity had existed in India for centuries because of the St. Thomas Christian tradition, missionaries like the Four Martyrs of Tana were some of the first western missionaries to attempt to establish Catholic missions there.