Thomas à Kempis

The figure depicts Thomas à Kempis seated, wearing a richly draped monastic habit, a scholar's cloak, and a cap. In his left hand he holds his principal work, "The Imitation of Christ." The composition combines several types of stone: a two-tiered granite base, an octagonal surround of basalt lava, and a marble pedestal.

Thomas Hemerken was the younger of two sons in the Hemerken family. After attending Latin school in Kempen, he moved to Deventer in 1393, where he spent seven years at the town school. In 1399 he entered the monastery of Agnetenberg near Zwolle, where his brother served as prior. He lived there for 72 years until his death on 25 July 1471. Ordained a priest in 1413, he served for many years as master of novices.

His work with the novices gave rise to several writings. The four-part "Imitation of Christ" (De imitatione Christi) was strongly shaped by this experience; after the Bible, it long stood as the most widely circulated book in the world. Thomas also wrote a biography of Gerard Groote, a chronicle of the Agnetenberg monastery, as well as poems and hymns. He copied out the entire Bible five times by hand.

Thomas à Kempis is venerated by both Catholics and Protestant believers. The Protestant calendar of saints commemorates him on 25 July, and he is regarded as the patron saint of Kempen. His remains were exhumed in 1672 and rest in a shrine that was transferred to the Basilica of Our Lady in Zwolle in 2006.