About three years after the death of Christ, Saint Thomas set out on a journey with the apostle Thaddeus and four disciples toward the country of the Magi (Three Wise Men). There, he baptized two of the three Magi: Mensor and Teokeno. (In another passage, Anne Catherine notes that Sair, the third king, had already died). Everywhere he went, the apostle Thomas performed great wonders, established teachers of the faith, and left a disciple behind. He traveled as far as Bactria. I have seen him far to the North, in China, where Russia begins, among completely barbarian peoples. In Bactria, especially among those who follow the teachings of the Luminous Star (Zoroaster), he was very well received.
I have also seen him in Tibet. Afterward, I saw Thomas not only in India but also on an island among black people, and in Japan, and I heard prophecies made by him about the fate of religion in that country. Thomas had not wanted to go to India of his own free will. Before he left, he had frequent visions in dreams, in which it seemed to him that he was building large and beautiful palaces in India. At first, he did not understand these visions and dismissed them, as he was not a builder of houses. But later, the promptings returned, telling him to head to India to convert many people and win souls for God; this was the true meaning of the palaces he was building. He recounted his visions to Peter, who encouraged him to go to India. He traveled along the Red Sea. He was also on the island of Socotra, where he evangelized, though he did not stay there long. It was the second city of the kingdom that Thomas had reached when a great festival was being celebrated there. He began to evangelize and heal the sick.
The king and many people listened to his teaching. He managed to convert so many people that a young, idol-worshiping priest grew very angry with him. In the midst of the gathering of people where Thomas was teaching, the priest stepped forward and slapped him across the face. Thomas showed great patience and, remaining unperturbed, offered his other cheek to the blows and even thanked him. The king and the people were deeply amazed by this attitude and regarded Thomas as a holy person. The idol priest himself was converted. His hand had become covered in leprosy, but the saint healed it, and thus, converted, he later became the apostle's most devoted disciple. Thomas also converted the king's daughter and her husband, who was possessed by a demon. Afterward, he left this region, traveling toward the East. When the king's daughter gave birth to a child, she and her husband consecrated themselves to God, living in continence, and distributed their wealth to the poor. Because of this, the husband's father became very angry with Thomas, claiming he was a sorcerer, but the couple persevered in the path they had taken, teaching the faith of Christ everywhere with the simplicity with which they had received it, and converting many people.
The young husband's father was deeply moved and sent word to Thomas asking him to return. Thomas returned, for he had told them, "I shall see you again soon." The king was baptized along with a great multitude of people. I saw that he later became a deacon and retired to the country of the Magi. I believe he eventually became a priest. A son of his built a church.
I saw Thomas in another city in India, by the sea, wishing to turn back on his journey. I believe it was not far from the place where I later saw Francis Xavier. Jesus appeared to him and commanded him to go deeper into India. Thomas hesitated; it seemed to him that the peoples there were very barbarian. Jesus appeared to him again and told him that he was fleeing from His presence just like Jonah; He encouraged him to go, promising to be with him, and told him that great wonders would be performed there through his preaching, and that on the day of judgment, he would stand beside Christ as a witness to what had been done for the conversion of mankind.
I then saw the apostle depart in the midst of many people; I saw him healing the sick, casting out demons, and baptizing next to a well. A noble, highly educated, and very good man approached him, who was always consulting books and became a very devoted disciple. This man had a niece married to a relative of the local king. She was young, beautiful, and very wealthy. When she heard about the apostle, she conceived a great desire to hear his teaching. She mingled with the crowd and, throwing herself at his feet, begged him to instruct her in the truths of the faith. Thomas evangelized and blessed her. She was deeply moved; she wept, prayed, and fasted day and night. Her husband, who loved her dearly, tried to distract her, but she begged him to leave her free for a while longer. Every day she went to the apostle's teaching and became a fervent Christian. This infuriated her husband immensely, who dressed in mourning clothes and went to the king to lodge a complaint against Thomas. The king ordered Thomas to be dragged with a rope by the angry husband, scourged, and imprisoned; yet he thanked God for everything he suffered.
The young wife cut her hair, wept, prayed, and gave much alms to the poor, and from then on, she ceased to adorn herself. During the night, in the absence of her husband, having won over the guards, she went with others to listen to Thomas's teachings inside the prison itself. Her nurse went with her and became a Christian. Thomas told them to prepare everything for baptism in their own home. He left the prison and baptized them and many others. By God's permission, the guards slept during this time, and Thomas later returned to his confinement.
Later, as some members of the royal family had amended their lives upon hearing the apostle's preaching, the king ordered Thomas to appear before him. The apostle evangelized him, and since the king did not believe, Thomas told him to put him to some test so that he might see he was preaching the truth. The king then ordered red-hot spits to be brought, and Thomas walked upon them without feeling any harm. In the place where the burning irons had been, a spring gushed forth. Thomas told him how he himself had seen Christ's miracles for three years—something he said often—and that, despite everything, he had frequently doubted; for that reason, he wanted to convince the most incredulous. Thomas recounted his own fault everywhere. The king tried once more to suffocate him inside a room that he had filled with hot steam; but it caused him no harm at all, and the room was filled with cool air. When the king demanded that Thomas sacrifice to his idols, the apostle told him: "If Jesus cannot destroy your idol, then I will offer incense to it." A great festival was prepared; they marched toward the temple amidst music and singing. The golden idol was carried on a majestic chariot. No sooner had Thomas prayed than fire was seen descending from heaven, melting the idol in an instant. Many other idols fell shattered to the ground. This caused a great uprising among the people and the priests, and Thomas was thrown back into prison. From this prison, he was delivered by an angel, just like Peter, and reached an island where he stayed for a long time. Thomas left his teaching there and headed toward Japan, where he stayed for half a year. Upon his return, many members of the king's own family were converted.
The idol priests were even more incensed against him. One of them had a sick son and asked Thomas to come and heal him. Meanwhile, he smothered his own son and then accused Thomas of being the author of the deed. Thomas had the corpse brought and commanded him, in the name of Jesus, to rise and say who had killed him. The dead boy arose and said: "My father did it." Because of this, many were converted.
I saw that Thomas, kneeling on a stone, used to pray outside the city, at a place far from the sea, and that his knees left an impression on the stone. He predicted that when the sea—which was then quite far away—came to lap against that stone, a man would come from very far away and preach the faith of Jesus Christ there. I could not have thought that the sea would eventually reach that far. A stone cross was erected in that place when Xavier arrived in this region. I saw Thomas kneeling on this stone, praying in ecstasy, and an idol priest, approaching from behind, pierced him through with his spear. His body later reached Edessa, and I saw a religious festival in his honor. However, a rib of Thomas and the spear remained at the site. Next to the stone where he prayed, there was an olive tree that was watered with his blood. Always, on the day of his martyrdom, the tree sweats oil, and when this does not happen, the people fear a bad year. I have seen that the pagans tried in vain to uproot this tree, but it always grows back. A church was built there, and when Mass is said in it, the tree sweats oil again. The city is called Mylapore. Now the faith does not flourish there, but Christianity will rise again in that place.
I was told that Thomas reached three hundred and ninety years of age. He was very emaciated, somewhat dark-faced, and had somewhat reddish-brown hair. At his death, the Lord appeared to him and told him that he would sit with Him to judge on the day of judgment. If I am not mistaken in my many travels, it seems to me that Thomas departed, after the separation of the apostles, first to Egypt, then to Arabia, and traveling through the desert, he sent a disciple to tell Thaddeus to go see King Abgar. Afterward, he baptized the Magi and reached Bactria, China, Tibet, and Russia, and from there he returned to attend the death of Mary. Afterward, I saw him in Palestine, through Italy, a piece of Germany, Switzerland, a bit of France, then in Africa reaching Ethiopia and Abyssinia, where Judith lived (who is spoken of in another vision). From there to Socotra, to India, to Mylapore, where he was delivered from prison by the angel; crossing part of China, he reached far to the North, where the Russian part is now. From here he went to the North of the islands of Japan.(*)
(*) The Kirchenlexikon says: According to Syrian tradition, Thomas sent the apostle Thaddeus to Edessa, where Abgar was king. The body of the Saint rests in Edessa, and part of his relics remained in India.