Picture source
Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More. It is also the start of the Fortnight for Freedom.
A MODEL FOR
OUR SEASON
St. Thomas
More, God’s Servant First
by Brother John M. Samaha, S.M.
St.
Thomas More, patron of statesmen and politicians, serves as a model of charity,
courage, and fidelity for all seasons.
Like Americans today, he was challenged in 16th century England to rise
to the defense of his faith and the liberty of the Church. We celebrate his feast on June 22.
In
the superb play and film, A Man for All
Seasons by Robert Bolt, Thomas More is deftly portrayed as a martyr of conscience. He is unyielding in his stance against King
Henry VIII’s move to divorce Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn. Ours is a season in which Christians face the
challenge of remaining true to the faith despite political pressure, the threat
of sanctions, and the stigma of social ostracism. The HHS mandate is but one example. Secularism is rampant.
Henry VIII
weakens
The
reign of King Henry VIII began with much hope for England. In fact More had
called Henry “the everlasting glory of our time.” But gradually the situation deteriorated, and
after 17 years on the throne and 17 years of marriage to Catherine, Henry began
an affair with Anne. Nor was it his
first affair. Determined to put
Catherine aside and marry Anne, he asked the pope to declare his marriage
invalid.
The
16th century was a tumultuous time for the Catholic Church in
Europe. England had experienced
occasional conflicts between the Church and the crown, but now the Reformation
was in full swing. Martin Luther had
already separated much of Germany from Rome.
A faction in England with a political and religious agenda saw an
opportunity to sabotage the Church’s authority and encouraged Henry in that direction. But Henry needed little encouragement and was
already moving to assert royal control over the Church and bypass Rome in his
plan to marry Anne. Gradually a strategy
unfolded to undermine the authority of the hierarchy by advocating
parliamentary “reform” of clerical “abuses.”
The
king tried to enlist the keen legal mind and impeccable reputation of Thomas
More to support his divorce effort. But
More declined and carefully presented his reasons. The unsatisfied Henry ordered More to
re-examine the king’s position with advisors who sided with the king. More did so, and pointed out that the key
question was not in the details of the marriage law, but in the king’s desire
to dictate Church teaching and
discipline, to define what it meant to be Catholic in England. That authority belonged to the bishops in
union with the pope.
Lord
Chancellor
The
disappointed Henry still believed he could sway More to his side by appointing
him lord chancellor. More did not want
the position, but saw it as an opportunity to defend the Church’s liberty and
possibly steer Henry away from a break with Rome. Besides, refusal was hardly an option.
Without
ever speaking ill of Henry, More worked diligently to defend the Church’s
liberty, and lobbied members of Parliament to reject unjust bills. He was
loyal to the monarch, but God’s servant first.
As
the situation deteriorated Henry pressured the English bishops and levied
enormous fines on them. In the name of
correcting clerical “abuses” he asked the bishops to grant him authority to
make rules concerning the Church. The
bishops refused and issued a stern statement of refusal. Henry responded with open threats of
imprisonment and veiled threats of death unless he be given full power of
Church governance. When the bishops met
again to formulate their reply, he gave them an ultimatum to capitulate to him
that very day or suffer the consequence.
In a close vote, the bishops succumbed.
Thomas
More resigned the next day. Though he
never criticized the king, all of England and other countries understood why he
removed himself as chancellor. And the
king’s ire was obvious.
Thomas
More insisted that the spiritual authority and rightful liberty of the Church
were given by God to be exercised by the bishops in union with the pope. No secular power, no king, no parliament,
nor any civil law has jurisdiction over one’s soul or the Church’s
beliefs. No ruler has the right to
determine Church teaching or to direct the bishops in governing Church life.
More’s
resignation stung. It would have been
easier for him to give in to the king, as many did, even priests and
bishops. But his well formed conscience
dictated otherwise. He obeyed every
lawful directive of the king, but he was God’s servant first. He knew only too well that no human law
contrary to God’s law was binding.
Parliament
passed that Act of Supremacy, which declared Henry VIII the supreme head of the
Church in England. To deny that title
became a capital crime. Each subject was
required to swear an oath affirming it, or face imprisonment.
Silence
speaks louder
Henry
very much wanted the agreement and support of Thomas More, so stellar was his
reputation as a statesman. But More, an
astute lawyer, knew he could not be executed for a simple refusal to swear an
oath. He sought strength in silence and
in prayer.
Soon
Sir Thomas More was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London. His property was confiscated, and that
impoverished his family. Repeatedly he
was asked if he denied the King Henry VIII’s new title. To reply honestly meant death, so More
remained silent. After a year of
imprisonment the crown charged him with treason for allegedly denying the
king’s new title in a conversation with one of the king’s agents. More unequivocally denied the charge.
Judgment
The
trial of Thomas More is one of the most celebrated in English history. His masterful defense practically upset the
carefully laid plot to condemn him. One
account reports More arguing that just as the city of London lacked authority
to annul an act of Parliament for the whole of England, so Parliament lacked
authority to transfer governance of the Church to the monarch because the
Church was entrusted by God to the bishops and the pope. He explained that this was embodied in the
Magna Carta two centuries earlier and was recognized by all Christendom. The chief judge was stymied and hesitated,
“loath to have the burden of that judgment wholly to depend on him.” After consulting with his colleagues he finally
condemned More without ruling on his objection.
Hero, model,
martyr
St.
Thomas More’s defense of the faith and his exceptional fidelity and courage
were not the only lessons he leaves us.
During his last days he radiated the transforming power of God’s grace,
the divine gifts of faith and charity.
He was never bitter. Daily he
prayed for Henry and gave thanks for the spiritual gain he obtained from his
imprisonment – “the very greatest” of “all the great benefits” the king “has
heaped so thickly upon me.”
He
wrote to his daughter that God would bring good from his death: “no matter how
bad it seems, it will be the best.”
The
king’s messenger wept when he brought the news to More that he would die that
day, but the martyr-to-be encouraged him with these words: “Be not
discomforted, for I trust that we shall, once in heaven, see each other full
merrily, where we shall be sure to live and love together in joyful bliss
eternally.”
His final words
When
Thomas More mounted a scaffold on Tower Hill and his masked executioner stood
at the ready with axe in hand, a crowd waited to hear his final statement. Contrary to custom, Henry ordered that he
“not use many words,” because More was a formidable advocate, and Henry’s
assumption of supremacy over the Church was politically unpopular. The king had strongly pressured Parliament
with unprecedented bribes and threats.
He would take no chances now.
More’s
case was already widely known. Only
three years earlier Sir Thomas was lord chancellor, second only to the king
himself in the entire realm. His
integrity was impeccable. He had an international reputation as a humanist,
scholar, writer, and jurist. He had been
among Henry’s most loyal advisors. Now
he stood alone at the executioner’s block.
Actually
the king had nothing to fear from More’s last words from the scaffold, for an
eyewitness account records that, “He spoke little before his execution. He asked only that those looking on would
pray to God for him on this side, and he would pray for them on the other
side. Then he begged them earnestly to
pray to God for the king, that God would give him good counsel, protesting that
he died the king’s good servant, but God’s first.”
For
all seasons and for all peoples St. Thomas More is a model of patriotism, citizenship,
and faith in action. God’s servant first.
