| Thomas à 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 |
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.
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He was born at the Lower Rhine region in Kempen, Germany, County of Cleves ca.1380.[1] His paternal name was Hemerken, Kleverlandish for little hammer. His father John was a blacksmith and his mother, Gertrude was a school-mistress.[1]
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.[1]
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 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, 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.
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.[2] 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[3] 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).[2]
The following quotes are attributed to him:
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.
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