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Les martyrs
n°46

England

1478-1535

Thomas More: “The king’s good servant, but God’s first”

Thomas More was a brilliant figure of Christian humanism in the 16th century. A happy father, he also had an outstanding political career, culminating in the important and prestigious position of Lord High Chancellor of England. Thomas fought firmly against Luther's theses and in defense of the Catholic Church. His faith and integrity came into conflict with Henry VIII when the latter broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church to marry Anne Boleyn. Refusing to sign an act whose preamble established the foundation of an Anglican Church under the authority of the king, Thomas More was beheaded in 1535. "His holiness shone forth in martyrdom, but it was prepared by a whole life of work in devotion to God and neighbor" (John Paul II, motu proprio, 2000).

Detail of a portrait of Sir Thomas More by Holbein the Younger, 1527, The Frick Collection / © CC0/wikimedia
Detail of a portrait of Sir Thomas More by Holbein the Younger, 1527, The Frick Collection / © CC0/wikimedia

Reasons to believe:

  • Our historical knowledge of Thomas More's life goes far beyond mere facts and dates. The books and numerous letters written by More and those close to him (in particular to his daughter Margaret and Erasmus of Rotterdam) tell us a great deal about the foundations of his faith and the profound motivations behind his actions.
  • Henry VIII held Thomas More in high esteem, even befriending him for many years. The king hoped to the end that More would bend, so he wouldn’t have to condemn him to death. It would have been easy for More to save his own life, but he didn't do it. He was by no means suicidal; on the contrary, he was very attached to his family's happiness, which he enjoyed to the full. More's determination can only be explained by a conviction, far superior to all others, that there is life after death.
  • Before being executed, Thomas More spent a year in a grim prison, separated from his loved ones and subjected to harsh treatment. Right up to the end, in the face of death, he maintained a peaceful and cheerful countenance. This attitude is superhuman. More himself explains it in his writings: faith discovers the supernatural value of one's suffering.
  • Thomas More's last words to the jury condemning him are inexplicable without divine graces, especially in view of the iniquity of his trial: "More have I not to say, my lords, but that like as the blessed apostle Saint Paul, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, was present and consented to the death of Saint Stephen, and kept their clothes that stoned him to death, and yet be they now twain holy saints in heaven, and shall continue there friends forever: so I verily trust and shall therefore right heartily pray, that though your lordships have now in earth been judges to my condemnation, we may yet hereafter in heaven merrily all meet together to our everlasting salvation."

Summary:

Thomas More was born in London in 1478. He was the son of a high-ranking London lawyer and later a judge. As a young man, More served John Morton, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor of England, as a household page. He then studied law at the University of Oxford, at his father's instigation, although Thomas's interests were wide-ranging, including theology, classical literature and Greek. He maintained close ties and friendships with important figures in humanist culture, in particular Erasmus of Rotterdam.

Thomas was drawn to religious life, which led him to make a long retreat at the Carthusian monastery in London in 1503. He eventually felt called to marriage, family life and secular service, and in 1505 married Jane Colt, with whom he had three daughters and a son. On his wife's death, he remarried: his second wife was Alice Middleton, a widow with two children. Throughout his life, Thomas More proved to be a faithful and attentive husband and father. He was keen to give his children, both boys and girls, a complete education.

Thomas More was also the author of Utopia (a satirical vision of an ideal republic), published in 1516, which was a great success and the origin of the word "utopia". His career in law gradually became tinged with politics. In 1504, he became a member of Parliament, where heproved his integrity. For example, he spoke up in daring opposition to King Henry VII's demand for money to finance his royal daughter’s wedding. This position forced him into exile in France for several years; Thomas's return was only made possible by the accession of the next King of England: Henry VIII.

homas went on to enjoy a highly successful political career. His moral rectitude, intelligence, erudition and cheerful disposition were widely known. He was noticed by the king, who held him in high esteem and even friendship. More successively held several important positions: Master of Requests, member of the King's Privy Council, Treasurer of the Crown and Speaker of Parliament. In 1529, he was appointed to the highest office in the land: Lord High Chancellor of the Realm, a position usually reserved for a clergyman.

Thomas More took to heart the defense of the Catholic faith, particularly in the tense religious context of the 16th century, which saw the spread of Protestant ideas. He took a firm stand against Luther's theses, which he refuted in seven books written between 1528 and 1533. At the beginning of his reign, Henry VIII also positioned himself as a fervent defender of the Pope and the Catholic Church; but when his desire to have his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled in order to marry Anne Boleyn was not ratified by the Church, Henry VIII chose to break with Rome. The king proclaimed himself supreme head of the Church of England, provoking a schism with this act.

Thomas More found himself in an extremely difficult position: he refused to break away from the Catholic Church, because he was convinced that God is Truth, and that the Catholic Church teaches the Truth. But opposing the king could be a death sentence... Thomas firmly stood by his religious convictions, while skilfully avoiding openly challenging Henry VIII politically. With this in mind, he sought to withdraw from public life, tendering his resignation in 1531. Similarly, Thomas did not attend Anne Boleyn's coronation in 1533, but deftly explained the reasons for this in a letter to the King.

Thomas More was the target of several libels aimed at convicting him (accusations of lese-majesty, corruption, and conspiracy against the crown), which he was able to refute by producing documents proving his innocence. In 1534, More was summoned before a commission to swear allegiance to the Act of Succession of Parliament - the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy (to swear allegiance to the monarch as Supreme Governor of the Church). Failure to do so was to be treated as treasonable. 

He recounted his oath-taking appearance in a letter to his daughter: 

When I was before the Lords at Lambeth, … I desired the sight of the oath, which they showed me under the great seal. Then desired I the sight of the Act of the Succession, which was delivered me in a printed roll. After which read secretly by myself, and the oath considered with the act, I showed unto them that my purpose was not to put any fault either in the act or any man that made it, or in the oath or any man that sware it, nor to condemn the conscience of any other man. But as for myself in good faith my conscience so moved me in the matter that though I would not deny to swear to the succession, yet unto the oath that there was offered me I could not swear, without the iubarding of my soul to perpetual damnation…Unto this my Lord Chancellor said that they all were sorry to hear me say thus, and see me thus refuse the oath. And they said all that on their faith I was the very first that ever refused it; which would cause the King’s Highness to conceive great suspicion of me and great indignation toward me. ..And therewith they showed me the roll, and let me see the names of the lords and the commons which had sworn, and subscribed their names already. Which notwithstanding when they saw that I refused to swear the same myself, etc.”(More’s Letter to His Daughter Margaret, 17 April 1534  - written from the Tower of London).

Thus, More recognized Parliament's right to declare Anne legitimate Queen of England, but refused to take the oath because of its opening words, which asserted the King's authority in religious matters, denying the Pope this competence. He was locked up in the Tower of London for over a year, during which time he was subjected to various forms of psychological pressure to make him comply, to no avail. He used the time of his imprisonment to prepare for death, and wrote several remarkable works (A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation; The Four Last Things): "Every tribulation whichever comes our way either is sent to be medicinal, if we will take it as such, or may become medicinal, if we will make it such, or is better than medicinal, unless we forsake it."- Thomas More, 'Utopia', 1516.

"The first Comfort in Tribulation may a man take in this, when he feeleth in himself a desire and longing to be comforted by God…; that it refraineth us from sin that else we would fall in, and in that serveth us through the merit of Christ’s passion as a mean by which God keepeth us from hell; and serveth for the satisfaction of such pain, as else we should endure in purgatory. Howbeit there is therein another great cause of joy besides this. For surely those pains here sent us for our sins, in whatsoever wise they happen unto us, be our sin never so sore, nor never so open and evident unto ourself and all the world too; yet if we pray for grace to take it meekly and patiently, and confessing to God that it is far over too little for our fault, beseech him yet, nevertheless, that sith we shall come hence so void of all good works whereof we should have any reward in heaven, to be not only so merciful to us, as to take that our present tribulation in relief of our pains in purgatory, but also so gracious unto us, as to take our patience therein for a matter of merit and reward in heaven: I verily trust, and nothing doubt it, but that God shall of his high bounty grant us our boon…the tribulation that is sent us for our sin here shall (if we faithfully so desire), beside the cleansing and purging of our pain, serve us also for increase of reward." -Thomas More, A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulations, Chap. XII

His trial took place in July 1535. The jury, which included Anne Boleyn's father, brother and uncle, found him guilty of treason following perjured testimony. Thomas More again asserted that "no temporal man may be the head of spirituality". His sentence was to be hanged, disembowelled and quartered, but "as a favor", the king commuted his sentence to a simple decapitation; "God preserve my friends from the same favor!" Thomas replied. On the scaffold, he declared that he was dying as "the king's good servant, but God's first."

Thomas More was beatified in 1886 by Leo XIII, then canonized in 1935 by Pius XI. John Paul II made him the patron saint of government officials and politicians in 2000 with a motu proprio in which he said: 

"It was precisely in defence of the rights of conscience that the example of Thomas More shone brightly. It can be said that he demonstrated in a singular way the value of a moral conscience which is ‘the witness of God himself, whose voice and judgment penetrate the depths of man’s soul(...) The life of Saint Thomas More clearly illustrates a fundamental truth of political ethics. The defence of the Church’s freedom from unwarranted interference by the State is at the same time a defence, in the name of the primacy of conscience, of the individual’s freedom vis-à-vis political power. Here we find the basic principle of every civil order consonant with human nature."

Solveig Parent


Beyond reasons to believe:

Thomas More's attitude is a light for our time. Pope John Paul II affirms that with laws such as those that claim to legitimize abortion or euthanasia "there is a grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection. From the very beginnings of the Church, the apostolic preaching reminded Christians of their duty to obey legitimately constituted public authorities (cf. Rom 13:1-7; 1 Pet 2:13-14), but at the same time it firmly warned that ‘we must obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29)....The passing of unjust laws often raises difficult problems of conscience for morally upright people with regard to the issue of cooperation, since they have a right to demand not to be forced to take part in morally evil actions. Sometimes the choices which have to be made are difficult; they may require the sacrifice of prestigious professional positions or the relinquishing of reasonable hopes of career advancement…Christians, like all people of good will, are called upon under grave obligation of conscience not to cooperate formally in practices which, even if permitted by civil legislation, are contrary to God's law…Each individual in fact has moral responsibility for the acts which he personally performs; no one can be exempted from this responsibility, and on the basis of it everyone will be judged by God himself."  (Encyclical Evangelium vitæ, March 25, 1995, n. 73-74).


Going further:

The Yale Edition of the Complete Works of St. Thomas More is the standard scholarly edition of the works of Thomas More, published by Yale University Press. The first of the fifteen volumes to be published appeared in 1963, and the last in 1997.


More information:

  • Pope St. John Paul II’sMotu proprio proclaiming Saint Thomas More patron of statesmen and politicians, October 31, 2000. 
  • The Correspondence of Sir Thomas More by Elizabeth Frances Rogers. Publication date 1947 Publisher Princeton University Press Collection; reprinted in1971.
  • A Man for All Seasons 1966 British historical drama film directed and produced by Fred Zinnemann, adapted by Robert Bolt from his play of the same name; Academy Award for Best Picture at the 39th Academy Awards, while the cast and crew won another five, including Best Director for Zinnemann and Best Actor for Scofield. It also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama and the BAFTA Awards for Best Film and Best British Film. In 1999, the British Film Institute named it the 43rd greatest British film of all time.
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