Thomas male forename, and name of several saints.
St Thomas an Apostle, known as Doubting Thomas. He earned his nickname by saying that he would not believe that Christ had risen again until he had seen and touched his wounds (John 20:24–9). According to tradition he preached in SW India. A non-canonical gospel of Thomas, found in a Coptic text, is apparently a Gnostic work.

His feast day is 21 December, traditionally the time at which animals were slaughtered before the winter, and this gives rise to the proverbial saying (recorded from the mid 18th century) on Saint Thomas the Divine kill all turkeys, geese and swine.
Thomas à Kempis (c.1380–1471), a German theologian. An Augustinian canon in Holland, he is the probable author of On the Imitation of Christ (c.1415–24), a manual of spiritual devotion.
St Thomas Aquinas (1225–74), an Italian philosopher, theologian, and Dominican friar; known as the Angelic Doctor. He is regarded as the greatest figure of scholasticism; one of his most important achievements was the introduction of the work of Aristotle to Christian western Europe. His works include commentaries on Aristotle as well as the Summa Contra Gentiles, intended as a manual for missionaries, and Summa Theologiae, the greatest achievement of medieval systematic theology. He also devised the official Roman Catholic tenets as declared by Pope Leo XIII. His feast day is 28 January. Thomism is the theology of St Thomas Aquinas or of his followers.

See also St Thomas à Becket.