Chiesa di San Tommaso Becket, Romanesque church in Caramanico Terme, Italy.
The Chiesa di San Tommaso Becket is a Romanesque church in Caramanico Terme, Abruzzo, with a three-nave interior and a gabled stone facade. The central portal's architrave carries a high relief of Christ blessing the twelve apostles, and beside it a small carved figure of Thomas of Canterbury wears a mitre, pallium and pastoral staff.
A popular legend, first reported by Nicolini and repeated by Antinori in the 18th century, dates the founding to 45 AD, after the archangels Michael and Gabriel appeared to Antimo of Antioch; Antinori himself doubted it. Studies suggest the church rose on the site of a temple to Hercules, since bronzes of the god were found there and a spring well stands in the crypt. The present building dates to the late 12th or early 13th century, and an inscription on the right portal's architrave names Father Berardo as commissioner in 1202. The church was finished by 1219, and the adjoining monastery was suppressed in 1652.
The church is dedicated to Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered in 1170 and quickly made a saint. Churches named after him appeared across southern Italy soon after his canonization, reflecting how fast his cult spread through medieval Europe.
The church sits in the center of Caramanico Terme, a small mountain town inside the Majella National Park, and is easy to reach on foot from the town center. As it is an active place of worship, it is best to visit outside of service hours to explore the interior freely.
Beneath the church, a crypt contains an ancient well, which suggests the site was considered sacred long before the Christian building was erected. Water sources like this were often deliberately incorporated into medieval churches to take over older places of worship.
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