June
22: Sir Thomas More
Described as “a man for all seasons,” More was a literary scholar,
eminent lawyer, gentleman, father of four children and chancellor of England.
An intensely spiritual man, he would not support the king’s divorce from
Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn. Nor would he acknowledge
Henry as supreme head of the Church in England, breaking with Rome and denying
the pope as head.
More was committed to the Tower
of London to await trial for treason: not swearing to the Act of Succession and
the Oath of Supremacy. Upon conviction, More declared he had all the councils
of Christendom and not just the council of one realm to support him in the
decision of his conscience.
Beheaded on Tower Hill, London, July 6, 1535, he
steadfastly refused to approve Henry VIII’s divorce and remarriage and
establishment of the Church of England.
Four hundred years later, in 1935, Thomas More
was canonized a saint of God. Few saints are more relevant to our time. In
fact, in 2000, Blessed John Paul II named him patron of political leaders. The
supreme diplomat and counselor, he did not compromise his own moral values in
order to please the king, knowing that true allegiance to authority is not
blind acceptance of everything that authority wants. King Henry himself
realized this and tried desperately to win his chancellor to his side because
he knew More was a man whose approval counted, a man whose personal integrity
no one questioned. But when Thomas resigned as chancellor, unable to approve
the two matters that meant most to Henry, the king had to get rid of Thomas
More.
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