Editing Thomas à Kempis (section)

==Life==
Thomas was born in [[Kempen (Germany)|Kempen]] in the Rhineland.<ref name="Ignatius">{{cite book |title=On the Passion of Christ according to the four evangelists|year=2004|publisher=Ignatius Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Z-UcOVsLhYC&pg=PA9|pages=9–12|author=Kempis|isbn=9780898709933}}</ref> His surname at birth was '''Hemerken''' (or '''Hammerlein'''), meaning the family's profession, "little hammer", Latinized into "Malleolus".<ref>{{cite book
 |last=Carraway
 |first=James L.
 |date=1962
 |orig-year=1957
 |title=The Imitation of Christ
 |location=Great Britain
 |publisher=William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd.
 |edition=3rd
 |page=V
 |asin=B001XQECXQ
 |quote=He was the second son John and Gertrude Hamerken (or Hammerlein, 'Little Hammer'), latinised, as was the custom of the age, into 'Malleolus.'}}</ref> His father, Johann, was a blacksmith and his mother, Gertrud, was a schoolmistress.<ref name="Ignatius"/> In his writings he signed himself "Thomas Kempensis" or "Thomas Kempis".<ref>{{cite book |author1=John-Julian |editor1=John-Julian |date=2012 |title=The Complete Imitation of Christ |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=noFF9dSwU2IC&pg=PT28 |location=Brewster, MA |publisher=Paraclete Press |chapter=Introduction - Thomas Hamerken |isbn= 978-1557258106}}</ref>

In 1392, Thomas followed his brother, Johann, to [[Deventer]] in the Netherlands in order to attend the noted Latin school there. While attending this school, Thomas encountered the [[Brethren of the Common Life]], followers of [[Gerard Groote]]'s [[Modern Devotion]]. He attended school in Deventer from 1392 to 1399.<ref name="Ignatius"/>

After leaving school, Thomas went to the nearby city of [[Zwolle]] to visit his brother again, after Johann had become the [[Prior (ecclesiastical)|prior]] of the Monastery of Mount St. Agnes there. This community was one of the [[Canons Regular]] of the [[Congregation of Windesheim]], founded by disciples of Groote in order to provide a way of life more in keeping with the norms of monastic life of the period. Thomas himself entered Mount St. Agnes in 1406. He was not ordained a priest, however, until almost a decade later. He became a prolific copyist and writer. Thomas received [[Holy Orders]] in 1413{{sfn|Scully| 1912}} and was made sub-prior of the monastery in 1429.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1201-1500/thomas-a-kempis-priest-monk-and-writer-11629887.html|title=Thomas a Kempis, Priest, Monk, and Writer|work=Christianity.com|access-date=2018-10-22|language=en-US}}</ref>

His first tenure of office as subprior was interrupted by the exile of the community from Agnetenberg in 1429. A dispute had arisen in connection with an appointment to the vacant See of Utrecht. [[Pope Martin V]] rejected the nomination of Bishop-elect [[Rudolf van Diepholt]], and imposed an interdict. The Canons remained in exile in observance of the interdict until the question was settled in 1432. During this time, Thomas was sent to Arnhem to care for his ailing brother, where he remained until his brother died in November 1432.{{sfn|Scully| 1912}}

Otherwise, Thomas spent his time between devotional exercises in writing and in copying manuscripts. He copied the [[Bible]] no fewer than four times,{{sfn|Scully| 1912}} one of the copies being preserved at [[Darmstadt]], Germany, in five volumes. In its teachings he was widely read and his works abound with biblical quotations, especially from the [[New Testament]].

As subprior he was charged with instructing novices, and in that capacity wrote four booklets between 1418 and 1427, later collected and named after the title of the first chapter of the first booklet: ''The Imitation of Christ''. [[Thomas More]] said it was one of the three books everybody ought to own.<ref name=christianhist>{{cite web| url = http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/131christians/innertravelers/kempis.html| title = "Thomas à Kempis", ''Christian History'', August 8, 2008}}</ref> Thirteen translations of ''The Imitation of Christ'' and three paraphrases in English seem to have been published between 1500 and 1700.{{sfn|Crane|1975|pp=79-100}} Thomas died near Zwolle in 1471. There is a legend that he was denied canonization some 200 years after his death by the Catholic Church due to the presence of scratch marks on the interior of his coffin lid, which supposedly disqualifies him from sainthood as it would mean he did not peacefully embrace death.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Timothy |date=27 July 2016 |title=Why Isn't Thomas a'Kempis a Saint of the Catholic Church? |url=https://www.timothyedmoore.com/why-isnt-thomas-akempis-a-saint-of-the-catholic-church/ |access-date=19 June 2022 |website=Imitating Christ In Daily Life}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|date=March 2024}} However, there is scant evidence to support that he was buried alive or the idea that the Church would have denied him sainthood if they did discover he died in this manner.{{cn|date=March 2024}}