Feastday: August 2
Death: 1295
Benedictine monk and martyr. Also called Thomas Hales, he served as a Benedictine monk at St. Martin's Priory in Dover, England. In 1295, the priory was overrun by a French raiding party which was assailing Dover, and Thomas, being old and infirm, could not escape with the rest of the community. The French raiders demanded that he tell them the whereabouts of the church treasures. When he refused, they murdered him. Miracles were soon reported at his tomb, and an altar was dedicated to him in the priory church in 1500. King Richard II of England (r. 1379-1399) requested that his cause be opened in 1382.
Thomas of Dover (died 1295) was a Roman Catholic monk who was sainted for martyrdom.
On 2 or 5 August 1295, a French raiding party attacked the Benedictine Dover Priory in Dover, England. The only person the raiders found there was an old sick monk named Thomas Hales (or de Halys).
The French killed Hales when he refused to reveal the hiding place of the priory valuables.
