Today, June 22, we celebrate the feast day of
Saint Thomas More (1478-1535) and
Saint John Fisher
(1469-1535), English martyrs for the faith. Both men, despite certain
punishment, vocally opposed the claims of King Henry VIII as head of the
Church of England. For their steadfast proclamation of the truth, they
were imprisoned, tried, and martyred.
Saint Thomas More
was born in London, the son of a judge. At a young age, Thomas was
placed in the home of Cardinal Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury, who,
noting the boy’s cheerful disposition and scholastic aptitude, arranged
for him to attend Oxford. A serious student, and with few financial
means, Thomas applied himself and avoided "
vain or hurtful amusements"
to the detriment of his studies. He quickly demonstrated considerable
academic skills, mastering both Greek and Latin, becoming expert in
French, mathematics, and history, and learning to play both the flute
and viola. His gifts quickly attracted attention, and he was admitted to
law school, becoming a barrister several years later.
His friend and pupil, Erasmus, described him in a letter: “
He
seems born and framed for friendship, and is a most faithful and
enduring friend. He is easy of access to all; but if he chances to get
familiar with one whose vices admit no correction, he manages to loosen
and let go the intimacy rather than to break it off suddenly. When he
finds any sincere and according to his heart, he so delights in their
society and conversation as to place in it the principal charm of life…
Though he is rather too negligent of his own interests, no one is more
diligent in those of his friends. In a word, if you want a perfect model
of friendship, you will find it in no one better than in More. In
society he is so polite, so sweet-mannered, that no one is of so
melancholy a disposition as not to be cheered by him, and there is no
misfortune that he does not alleviate. Since his boyhood he has so
delighted in merriment, that it seems to be part of his nature; yet he
does not carry it to buffoonery, nor did he ever like biting
pleasantries.”
It
quickly became clear that Thomas excelled at law, but it was not where
his primary interests lay. He was deeply drawn to the idea of the
religious life, spending considerable time in prayer and contemplation,
delivering lectures on the writings of Saint Augustine, and engaging in
penance and mortification similar to those enacted by local monks. For
example, Thomas wore a hair shirt each day and fasted. He eventually
moved into the monastery, but could not ignore the injustices of English
society, and eventually left to enter into a career in politics. He was
married shortly thereafter.
Erasmus wrote: “
Meanwhile
he applied his whole mind to exercises of piety, looking to and
pondering on the priesthood in vigils, fasts and prayers and similar
austerities. In which matter he proved himself far more prudent than
most candidates who thrust themselves rashly into that arduous
profession without any previous trial of their powers. The one thing
that prevented him from giving himself to that kind of life was that he
could not shake off the desire of the married state. He chose,
therefore, to be a chaste husband rather than an impure priest.”
Thomas
entered Parliament, and tirelessly defended the rights of the poor,
much to the annoyance of King Henry VII. In revenge, the King imprisoned
Saint Thomas’ father and would not release him until Thomas agreed to
withdraw from public life. After the death of the King in 1509, Thomas
became active once more. In 1510, he was appointed one of the two
undersheriffs of London. In this capacity, he gained a reputation for
being impartial, and a patron to the poor.
More’s
political career became increasingly at odds with King Henry VIII, who,
himself was looking to break from the Catholic Church so that he might
remarry. Despite his opposition to the plans of the king to divorce, he
was elected Lord Chancellor.
While
his work in the law courts was exemplary, following his vocal
disapproval of the king’s plans, his career quickly came to a halt. He
resigned in 1532, citing ill health. After failing to attend the
coronation of the king’s new wife, Anne Boleyn, he was one of the people
accused of complicity with Elizabeth Barton, the nun of Kent who
opposed Henry's break with Rome. Subsequently, Thomas refused to
acknowledge the king as the head of the Church of England, defending the
papacy. He was committed to the Tower of London, tried in a one-sided
trial, and found guilty of treason.
Upon
sentencing—death by beheading—the constable of the Tower of London
visited More, respecting him, and seeking his forgiveness. More spoke to
him, saying,
“Good Master
Kingston, trouble not yourself but be of good cheer; for I will pray for
you, and my good Lady your wife, that we may meet in heaven together,
where we shall be merry forever and ever." His last words, prior to the axe falling were:
"I die - the King's good servant but God's first."
Saint Thomas’ body was buried the Church of Saint Peter. His parboiled
head was placed on display on the Tower Bridge for one month prior to
the local faithful rescuing it. During his lifetime, Saint Thomas wrote
extensively—poems, fiction, scholarly works, legal reviews,
translations, contemplations of scripture, and prayers. Below is one
such prayer:
Give me the grace, Good Lord
To set the world at naught. To set my mind firmly on You and not to hang upon the words of men’s mouths.
To be content to be solitary. Not to
long for worldly pleasures. Little by little utterly to cast off the
world and rid my mind of all its business.
Not to long to hear of earthly things, but that the hearing of worldly fancies may be displeasing to me.
Gladly to be thinking of God, piteously to call for His help. To lean into the comfort of God. Busily to labor to love Him.
To know my own vileness and
wretchedness. To humble myself under the mighty hand of God. To bewail
my sins and, for the purging of them, patiently to suffer adversity.
Gladly to bear my purgatory here. To be joyful in tribulations. To walk the narrow way that leads to life.
To have the last thing in remembrance.
To have ever before my eyes my death that is ever at hand. To make
death no stranger to me. To foresee and consider the everlasting fire of
Hell. To pray for pardon before the judge comes.
To have continually in mind the passion that Christ suffered for me. For His benefits unceasingly to give Him thanks.
To buy the time again that I have
lost. To abstain from vain conversations. To shun foolish mirth and
gladness. To cut off unnecessary recreations.
Of worldly substance, friends, liberty, life and all, to set the loss at naught, for the winning of Christ.
To think my worst enemies my best
friends, for the brethren of Joseph could never have done him so much
good with their love and favor as they did him with their malice and
hatred.
These minds are more to be desired of
every man than all the treasures of all the princes and kings, Christian
and heathen, were it gathered and laid together all in one heap.
Amen.
Saint John Fisher
was born in Beverly, Yorkshire. He studied theology at Cambridge
University, receiving several degrees, and eventually decided to enter
seminary. Upon ordination as a priest, he was assigned to Northallerton,
England, where he established a reputation as an extraordinary preacher
and scholar. Appointed proctor of Cambridge University, he created
scholarships, introduced Greek and Hebrew into the curriculum, and
brought in the world-famous Erasmus as professor of Divinity and Greek.
It was likely Saint John who introduced Erasmus to Saint Thomas More,
beginning their lifelong friendship. In 1504, Saint John became was
elected Bishop of Rochester and Chancellor of Cambridge, in which
capacity he also tutored Prince Henry who was to become Henry VIII.
Much
like Saint Thomas, however, Saint John’s commitment to the Church,
including the sanctity of marriage and the legitimacy of the Pope, that
was his undoing in English society. When Henry VIII decided to divorce,
he asked Saint John to look into the matter. John, well respected as a
theologian and a scholar, was quite vocal in his opposition to the
divorce, and even more so regarding Henry’s claims as the Head of the
Church of England. Like Saint Thomas, John refused to pledge an oath of
allegiance to the King, recognizing the Anglican church, and as such,
was arrested and confined to the Tower of London for 14 months without
trial. During that time, many former colleagues-- bishops, who had
pledged allegiance to the king—were sent to visit John, hoping to
convince him to submit. His response, in letter format, follows:
“Methinks
it had been rather our parts to stick together in repressing these
violent and unlawful intrusions and injuries daily offered to our common
mother, the holy Church of Christ, than by any manner of persuasions to
help or set forward the same.
And we ought rather to seek by all
means the temporal destruction of the so ravenous wolves, that daily go
about worrying and devouring everlastingly, the flock that Christ
committed to our charge, and the flock that Himself died for, than to
suffer them thus to range abroad.
But (alas) seeing we do it not, you
see in what peril the Christian state now standeth: We are besieged on
all sides, and can hardly escape the danger of our enemy. And seeing
that judgment is begone at the house of God, what hope is there left (if
we fall) that the rest shall stand!
The
fort is betrayed even of them that should have defended it. And
therefore seeing the matter is thus begun, and so faintly resisted on
our parts, I fear that we be not the men that shall see the end of the
misery.
Wherefore, seeing I am an old man and
look not long to live, I mind not by the help of God to trouble my
conscience in pleasing the king this way whatsoever become of me, but
rather here to spend out the remnant of my old days in praying to God
for him.”
As
the fourteen months went on, John became frail, ill, and emaciated due
to the harsh treatment he received. Also, during this time, he was
appointed Cardinal by the Pope. The following day, he was condemned to
death by torture, but this sentence was modified to beheading as the
jailors feared that the 66-year-old Cardinal was ill and too weak to
endure any length of torture.
One
hour before his execution, the Tower guard found Fisher standing and
dressed, awaiting his fate. The holy Prelate took the New Testament and
read aloud the from the Gospel of John:
“Now
this is eternal life: That they may know Thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on earth; I
have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do. And now glorify Thou
me, O Father, with Thyself, with the glory which, before the world was,
was with Thee” (John 17:3-5). He closed the Bible and said,
"There is enough learning in that to last me the rest of my life." And with that, he was led to the scaffold.
Weak and emaciated, Saint John Fisher found the strength to address the
crowd gathered before the scaffold. He is said to have proclaimed in a
loud voice:
"Christian
people, I am come hither to die for the faith of Christ's Holy Catholic
Church, and I thank God hitherto my stomach hath served me very well
thereunto, so that yet I have not feared death.
Wherefore I do desire you all to
help and assist me with your prayers, that at the very point and instant
of death's stroke, I may in that very moment stand steadfast without
fainting in any one point of the Catholic faith free from any fear; and I
beseech Almighty God of His infinite goodness to save the king and this
Realm, and that it may please Him to hold His holy hand over it, and
send the king good Counsel."
With those words, having been offered a stay of execution multiple times
should he relent his position, Saint John Fisher was beheaded. His head
was placed on display on the Tower Bridge, but after two weeks during
which time no decomposition was noted, the head was tossed into the
Thames to deter those who had begun speaking of miracles. The spot his
head had been placed was quickly filled with that of Saint Thomas Moore,
martyred just nine days later. Saint John’s relics remain in the Church
of Saint Peter at the Tower of London.
The
lives of Saint Thomas More and Saint John Fisher are significant for
not only their sacrifice, but their steadfast opposition to heresy and
upholding of the Catholic faith. Both men—learned and
scholarly—recognized not only the historical truth of the Church, but
also the logical and theological bases for our beliefs. From a place of
conviction, these holy men were able to walk confidently to their
glorious martyrs’ deaths, certain of their place in Heaven. We might, by
their example, undertake to learn more of the history of our faith,
more of the Church’s teachings, and the reasons for the Dogma that many
are quick to malign. Without a solid base of knowledge, Saints Thomas
and John would not have had the conviction of their beliefs, and would
not have had the courage to speak out against the most powerful ruler of
their time. Without that same solid base of knowledge, how can we
defend our faith, and in the process, spread the good news of Christ?
Father,
you confirm the true faith
with the crown of martyrdom.
May the prayers of Saints John Fisher and Thomas More
give us the courage to proclaim our faith
by the witness of our lives.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.
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