( St.) THOMAS MORE AS STATESMAN: A BRIEF SKETCH

This bothers me as well. I'm not sure, but I think as Chancellor he had neither the power to condemn, nor the power to pardon? --- but that doesn't go far as a justification: he definitely had Protestants spied on, arrested, and approved of their executions.

The other thing (I'm not sure here either) is that he evidently didn't think that professing Protestant belief per se was a reason to prosecute people by law. His own son-in-law William Roper was Protestant in belief for a time --- maybe daughter Meg too --- and he always had a loving relationship with them.

It seem he went for arrest and prosecution when he thought sedition was involved. Understandable at the time, when faith-change generally went with regime-change. Investigating and suppressing sedition would have been within his legitimate duty as Chancellor, and the ultimate outcome would be for the judge and jury to decide.

But my uneasiness continues. I wonder if he repented of some of his official actions before he died? I know that a person could not be canonized in the Church if the person were guilty of serious, manifest and unrepented sins.

He was not, BTW, canonized promptly after his martyrdom on some kind of wave of contemporary enthusiasm, -- not until 1935, in fact, 400 years after his death. Hmm. That inclines me to think his life and all his writings had been thoroughly vetted. But I'd still like to know more about it.

Saint Thomas More, Martyr

Saint Thomas More, Martyr
Optional Memorial with Saint John Fisher
June 22nd

Sir Thomas More
Hans Holbein the Younger
1527
Tempera on wood, 74,2 x 59 cm
Frick Collection, New York

Saint Thomas More was born in London and was Chancellor of King Henry VIII. As a family man, a public servant, and writer, he displayed a rare combination of human warmth, Christian wisdom, and sense of humor.

Source: Daily Roman Missal, Edited by Rev. James Socías, Midwest Theological Forum, Chicago, Illinois ©2003

Voices Young Writer Award - Pentecost 2004
A Life Lived with Faith and Reason - by Anna Maria Mendell

Collect:
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, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Reading: I Peter 4:12-19
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or a wrongdoer, or a mischief-maker; yet if one suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but under that name let him glorify God. For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? And "If the righteous man is scarcely saved, where will the impious and sinner appear?" Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will do right and entrust their souls to a faithful Creator.

Gospel Reading: Matthew 10:34-39
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's foes will be those of his own household. 37 He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.

Voices, Young Writers Award -- Thomas More: A Saint for Today — Bernadette Pfang, Voices, Michaelmas 2007

LITANY OF ST. THOMAS MORE,
Martyr and Patron Saint of Statesmen, Politicians and Lawyers

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