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Thomas a Kempis
Born	1380 Kempen, Germany
Died	25 July 1471 Zwolle, Netherlands
Nationality	German
Other names	Thomas von Kempen Thomas Haemerkken Thomas Hammerlein Thomas Hemerken Thomas Hämerken
Occupation	monk
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 (Thomas van Kempen or Thomas Hemerken or Haemerken, litt. "small hammer"); (c. 1380 – † Zwolle, 25 July 1471)^[1] 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.

Life[link]

He was born at the Lower Rhine region in Kempen, Germany, County of Cleves ca.1380.^[2] His paternal name was Hemerken, Kleverlandish for little hammer. His father John was a blacksmith and his mother, Gertrude was a school-mistress.^[2]

In 1392 he followed his brother, Jan, to Deventer, Netherlands 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.^[2]

After leaving school, Thomas traveled to Zwolle, Netherlands to visit his brother again, after Jan had become the prior of the Mount St. Agnes monastery. Thereafter, Thomas was invested at the Mount St. Agnes monastery in 1406. He was not ordained 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, Germany in five volumes. In its teachings he was widely read and his works abound in Biblical quotations, especially from the New Testament.

Kempis died in 1471 near Zwolle in the Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht, seventy-five miles north of his birthplace.

Works[link]

Thomas à Kempis was a copyist and writer. Kempis copied two Bibles, each in ten volumes. Kempis wrote the biographies of New Devotion members—Gerard Groote, Florens Randewijns, John van de Gronde, and John Brinckerinck.^[3] His important works include a series of sermons to the novices of St.Augustine monastery, including Prayers and Meditations on the Life of Christ, Meditations on the Incarnation of Christ, Of True Compunction of Heart, Soliloquy of the Soul, Garden of Roses, Valley of Lilies, and a Life^[4] of St. Lidwina of Schiedam. Kempis's 1441 autograph manuscript of The Imitation of Christ is available in the Bibliothèque Royale in Brussels (catalog : MS 5455-61).^[3]

Quotations[link]

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

"In angello cum libello" (with slight variations), "In a little corner with a little book"

— Shortened form of a motto often ascribed to, or associated with, Thomas a Kempis. The complete saying as reported by an early biographer is a mixture of Latin and Dutch and runs as follows: "In omnibus requiem quaesivi, sed non inveni, nisi in hoexkens ende boexkens", "I have sought everywhere for peace, but I have found it not save in a little nook and in a little book."^[5]

Veneration[link]

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

Notes[link]

References[link]

• 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 

External links[link]

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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Thomas a Kempis

Wikisource has original text related to this article: 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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