Speak your truth! In an age where all of our basic physical and intellectual needs are met, we tend to chase experiences because we believe that the variety can satisfy our restless hearts. This need to find happiness out there often leads us to forget the treasures we have at home. King Henry VIII began his life as a staunch Catholic and was even awarded the title Defender of the Faith by the pope because of his fidelity to God’s choice. However, we know how the story goes. The king’s selfishness led to him separating from the true Church and creating his own religion where he got to set the rules. Throughout all of this, his friend, St. Thomas More faithfully pleaded for the king to remain true to his wife and the covenant they made before God. He did this until the very end of his life where he was ordered to be executed by that very friend.
Thomas was a very accomplished man as a lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and respected Renaissance humanist. He was born in London, England on February 7, 1478 to Sir John More and Agnes Graunger, who was his father’s first wife. John would have fours wives in his lifetime with each dying leaving him a widower. Thomas had five other siblings, however, three of them died at childbirth. As horrible as it was, such tragedies were common during the time period. His family was pretty close though and they positively influenced him at a young age. He went to the best schools in London and even worked under the Archbishop of Canterbury who encouraged the young man to become well learned in different subject areas. His father made sure that he read all the classics including the Sacred Scriptures and the Church Fathers. This kind of wholistic education prepared Thomas to enter Oxford and become a lawyer.
While he was working as a lawyer, he lived next to a monastery and often visited to learn their lifestyle. Their simple piety, spiritual regiment, and structured lifestyle inspired him to discern if God was calling him to be a monk. His prayers leader him to determine that his work was to continue in the secular world though he never forgot the monks. In fact, his friends had noticed that he even adopted their practices of rising early, prolonged prayer, fasting, and wearing a hair shirt. Thomas decided to start a family with Joan “Jane” Colt a year after in 1505 and they would have four kids together before her tragic death during childbirth. By all accounts, Thomas had loved his wife dearly and even tutored her in music and literature. Soon after, he married Alice Harpur Middleton, who was a wealthy widow with a rather cantankerous temperament. The wedding even took place less than one month after Jane’s passing and his friends seemed to think it was inappropriate. It was said that Thomas married her because he believed his children needed a mother to care for their wellbeing and she was close to the family. He even took in her daughter and adopted two more. Thomas did not treat them differently from his children showering them with love and care. The Catholic theologian Erasmus of Rotterdam praised the future saint for his charisma, magnanimity, strong voice, sharp memory, warm demeanor, and jovial attitude as a model for the upper class in England. He was the kind of man who gave freely without expecting anything in return.
Thomas was famous for living very humbly and refused to accept anything which could even be interpreted as a bribe. This made him a prime candidate for the English Parliament where he worked hard on behalf of the people. He was beloved by those he served and was elected the Speaker for the House of Commons. Even throughout all of this, he found time to write on theology and published his most famed piece Utopia which was a fictional story about a perfect island society. Drawing on his English wit and deft use of satire, Thomas deconstructs the idealistic vision proposed by intellectual collectivists who believed that human evil can be controlled by making everything equal by a government ruled by pure reason. He posited that human flaws cannot be solved by human solutions because our knowledge and love is finite while God’s is infinite. Surprisingly, it became very popular among the humanists and an elite group of public officials. There are some who believe that Thomas was advocating for the early forms of what would be known as socialism. However, his working name for the book was Nowhere and the name of his main character meant “dispenser of nonsense” in Latin. He helped to popularize the term utopia to mean an often foolish imaginary world where everything is perfect.
King Henry VIII grew to like Thomas and gave him more responsibility including giving him the authority over the northern part of England on behalf of the king. He proved to be a very capable administrator and worked efficiently with precision to solve the troubles of the region. Thomas had an admirable work ethic and was one of the king’s most trusted servants to the point where he welcomed foreign dignitaries and gave speeches on behalf of Henry VIII. Notably, Martin Luther attacked the King of England because of his treatise defending the seven sacraments. Thomas was commissioned to write the response and he did so with fervor because he saw the Protestant Reformation as heretical and Luther’s call to destroy the Catholic Church as a declaration of war. Under Thomas’ stewardship, Protestantism did not take hold because he made sure to stamp it out to protect the souls of the English citizens.
However, his friendship with Henry showed signs of conflict in 1530 when the king worked to obtain an annulment from Catherine of Aragon. Thomas refused to sign the letter to pope because he could not condone his friend’s illicit reasoning of trying to have a male heir. In retaliation, Henry purged most of the clergy who supported the pope in an effort to isolate Thomas. It was clear that at this point, the former Defender of the Faith was planning to break away from the Catholic Church. Tried as he may, Thomas was unable to convince the king from rejecting the authority of the pope so he submitted his resignation. Henry VIII accepted, but was very unhappy. Their relationship was further strained when Thomas refused to attend the coronation of Anne Boleyn as Queen of England. Though he did send a letter of congratulations. This was the final straw for the king who saw it as an insult to his new wife and undermining his authority as the head of the church of England.
A number of charges were levied against Thomas in an attempt bury the pious man under a pile of frivolous law suits. There were accusations that he accepted bribes, but his upstanding moral character easily got him out of it and he was not convicted. Another claim was that he was conspiring with a nun to overthrow the king and yet, a letter was discovered where Thomas specifically advised the nun not to get involved despite her feelings regarding the monarchy. Frustrated that he could not entrap his old friend, Henry VIII ordered him take an oath to the Act of Succession which would acknowledge Anne as queen, the king’s annulment from Catherine as being valid, and the king being the head of the church of England. Thomas carefully worded his response to accept that Anne was Henry’s wife, but he could not agree to the annulment and superiority of the king’s authority over the pope’s as head of the church of England because of his faith. This was the justification needed to lead to Thomas’ arrest and imprisonment in the Tower of London.
While in prison, Thomas used the time to write A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation which was a fictional story reflecting on worldly power, fleeting pleasure, and the redemptive power of Jesus Christ. It follows a young man who expresses fear and anxiety to his uncle because the Muslim Turks are about to invade their country. The uncle goes over the different kinds of tribulations and comforts a person will face throughout life. He emphasizes to his nephew that despite our fear, our first instinct should be to seek God for solace because the things of this world can only dull our pains temporarily. The duty of every Christian is to profess the word of God even under persecution. We can look to and reflect on Jesus’ Passion if we find ourselves paralyzed by fear. Still, the young man seems afraid and his uncle consoles him by saying that God will provide us the necessary strength and wisdom to overcome our weaknesses if we ask. With this in mind, Thomas came to trial on July 1, 1535 with the three judges over seeing his case being Anne Boleyn’s father, brother, and uncle.
Since he was an expert on the law, Thomas opted to keep silent while he was being accused. He knew that he could not be credibly charged with treason if the prosecution cannot use his words against him. Yet, the proceeding was not designed to be fair as witnesses came forward to spin false narratives about his intentions and he was convicted in fifteen minutes. Before the punishment was declared, Thomas was allowed to speak and he gave three reasons as to why he opposed the king an opted for martyrdom. The first and main motivation was to have unity within the Catholic Church, especially amidst the Protestant Reformation. The second, was that no mortal can replace the office of the papacy whose spiritual authority comes directly from Jesus Himself. The third and final reason was that Anne Boleyn was clearly using the king to elevate her family’s standing and secure her position as queen seeing as all the men who decided his case were her relatives. Once he was finished, the judges ordered that Thomas be hanged, drawn, and quartered which was the standard punishment for treason. As a final act of mercy, King Henry changed the manner of execution to just decapitation.
On July 6, 1535, Thomas was led up the scaffold where he joked to his executioner that he needed help up, but he would see himself down. He prays and his last words were reportedly “the king’s good servant, but God’s first.” After he died, people discovered that he had been wearing hair shirts which are designed to be itchy and are often used for personal penance. His body was buried at the Tower of London and his head was put on display, but his daughter was able to bribe an official take back possession of it. Erasmus in mourning his friend said that Thomas was a great role model and a ‘man for all seasons.”
St. Thomas More lived a very rich life in the sense that he got to experience life as a defender of the law, a judge of law, a maker of the laws, a commentator of the law, and an enforcer of the laws. Yet, there was only one law that guided his life and it was God’s. Here are three things we can notice as we reflect on his life.
Thanks for the advice. Anyways… – In the first half of the Serenity prayer, we ask God to help us “accept the things we cannot change, change the things that we can.” One of the more frustrating things in life is when we offer someone advice that we think is very well thought out and precise then…they just refuse it dismissively or, worse, completely ignore it. St. Thomas could have gotten frustrated when King Henry refused to heed his counsel in regards to his annulment with Catherine of Aragon. No doubt Thomas has supplied him with plenty of good advice in the past so why was the king ignoring him now, especially when his soul was at stake? The saint realized the best he could do was offer the advice and if his friend wanted to take it then it was up to him. Complaining about it would just strain the relationship, build animosity in the other person, and put stress on him. So, if you find that someone is not receptive to your advice, don’t beat them over the head with it because they might have their own reasons as to why they are not responding to you. There’s no use losing your head over something you cannot control!
A heart of flesh – In the Old Testament, especially in the book of Exodus, those who rejected God were said to be hardening their hearts and, therefore, having hearts of stone. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is depicted with a crown of thorns around it to represent our Lord’s sacrificial love. King Henry VIII had a heart of flesh when he was a faithful ruler vigorously defending seven sacraments against heretics. He began to distance himself with God when he tried to justify his desire to illicitly divorce from his wife. Yet, there was a still a chance for him to repent which was why St. Thomas tried to stay as his advisor to steer his friend back to the path of righteousness. Thomas knew that the more power and success a person has, even more humility is needed to remain faithful. Not only did Henry’s decision harm his own soul, but put into peril countless others who lived in England at the time and in the future. A once righteous man refused to soften his heart and became a tyrant who wrongly prosecuted and had his dear friend executed. St. Thomas shows us how vital it is to live a life of humility because, not only does it keep our souls light, it makes it easier for us to live honestly and without worry.
A man for all seasons – This phrase was used to describe St. Thomas because of how knowledgeable he was about a wide variety of subjects. He was adamant to his family and those he came across that education helped to enrich and elevate the human soul. As an accomplished and learned man, it would have been easy for him to be arrogant and selfish because he had the resume to back it up, yet he was anything but those two things. This was because the piety and prayer he observed from the monks helped him to realize that understanding complex ideas allowed him to relish the simple things in life even more. The grateful disposition he cultivated made it a lot easier for him to see God’s work in his daily routine. It was because he realized that whether he was reading a complicated piece of manuscript or just observing nature, the source of all these experiences stem from his Creator. How did he do this? Through consistent and deep prayer! When we pray not only do we talk with God, but we learn to recognize the voice of our Shepherd and reflect on his everlasting love for us!
There are many prayers by St. Thomas more which you can find here. If we find that we are having trouble being humble to God, we can follow St. Thomas More’s example and ask for his intercession:
“O glorious Blessed Trinity, whose justice has damned to perpetual pain many proud rebellious angels, whom your goodness had created to be partners of your eternal glory: because of your tender mercy, plant in my heart such meekness that I may by your grace so follow the motion of my good angel and so resist the proud suggestions of those spiteful spirits who fell that I may, through the merits of your bitter Passion, be partner of your bliss with those holy spirits who stood and who now, confirmed by Your grace, shall stand in glory forever. Amen.”
Stay awesome and blossom 🌱
By: anh Daniel
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