Saint Thomas More:

Feast day : 22 June

Today the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Thomas More, an English lawyer, social philosopher, author and statesman who lived during the period 1478 to 1535. He was the Chancellor and a close friend of King Henry VIII. However, when the King proclaimed himself Head of the Church of England, he supported the supremacy of the Pope over that of the King. For this he was charged with treason and sentenced to death. On 29 December 1886, Pope Leo XIII beatified Thomas More, John Fisher, and 52 other English Martyrs. He was canonized by Pope Pius XI on 19 May 1935.

Personal life:

Thomas More was a clever lawyer, author and the Chancellor to King Henry VIII. The King liked to visit him often at his house and spend time with him and they appeared to be good friends. As secretary and personal adviser to King Henry VIII, Thomas More became increasingly influential: welcoming foreign diplomats, drafting official documents, and serving as a liaison between the King and Lord Chancellor Wolsey. He later served as High Steward for the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. He married Jane Colt in 1505 and had four children. After her death he again got married to Alice Middleton. He had no children from his second marriage but raised his wife’s daughter from her previous marriage as his own. He was also a foster father to two young girls. He lived a happy life and was known to be an affectionate father to all his children.

Conflict with King Henry VIII:

King Henry VIII wanted to annul his existing marriage and remarry a woman of his choice. When the Pope objected to it, he decided that he would get his own bishops to do what he wanted in England. He proclaimed himself as the Head of the Church of England and made people take an oath that he and not the Pope was the supreme authority over the Church of England. As the conflict between the Papacy and the King reached its peak, Thomas More continued to remain steadfast in supporting the supremacy of the Pope over that of the King of England. With the Parliament’s reinstatement of the praemunire, the law that prohibited the assertion or maintenance of papal jurisdiction, or any other foreign jurisdiction or claim of supremacy in England, against the supremacy of the monarch, Thomas More’s stand became illegal. In 1530, Thomas More refused to sign a letter by the leading English churchmen and aristocrats asking Pope Clement VII to annul King Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, and also quarrelled with King Henry VIII over the heresy laws.

In 1531, a royal decree required the clergy to take an oath acknowledging the King as Supreme Head of the Church of England. The bishops at the Convocation of Canterbury in 1532 agreed to sign the Oath but only under threat of praemunire and only after these words were added: "as far as Christ law allows". This was considered to be the final Submission of the Clergy. Cardinal John Fisher and some other clergy refused to sign. King Henry VIII purged most clergy who supported the papal stance from senior positions in the Church. Thomas More continued to refuse to sign the Oath of Supremacy and did not agree to support the annulment of King Henry's marriage to Catherine.

On 16 May 1532, he resigned from his role as Chancellor but remained in King Henry's favour despite his refusal. His decision to resign was caused by the decision of the convocation of the English Church, which was under intense royal threat, on the day before. On 13 April 1534, Thomas More was asked to appear before a Commission and swear his allegiance to the Parliamentary Act of Succession. He accepted Parliament's right to declare Anne Boleyn the legitimate Queen of England, though he refused "the spiritual validity of the king's second marriage", and, holding fast to the teaching of papal supremacy, he steadfastly refused to take the oath of supremacy of the Crown in the relationship between the kingdom and the Church in England. He furthermore publicly refused to uphold King Henry's annulment from Catherine. John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, also refused the oath along with Thomas More.

His refusal was enough evidence to arrest him for treason. Four days later, King Henry VIII ordered for his arrest and imprisoned him in the Tower of London. He was given a public trial. The trial was held on 1 July 1535, before a panel of judges that included the new Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas Audley, as well as Anne Boleyn's father, brother, and uncle. The jury took only fifteen minutes, to find Thomas More guilty. He was sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered (the usual punishment for traitors who were not the nobility), but the King commuted this to execution by decapitation.

Death:

The execution took place on 6 July 1535. He made a very short speech to the people who had come to see him dying. He ended his speech by saying, “I die the King’s faithful servant, but God’s first.” After his execution his head was put on a pole over the London Bridge so that all people should see that even a great man who was the King’s friend was shown no mercy when he refused to obey the King. His remains were buried at the Tower of London, in the chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula in an unmarked grave. His head was secretly removed from the pole by his daughter Margaret and is believed to have been laid to rest in the Roper Vault of St. Dunstan’s Church, Canterbury. Sainthood:

Pope Leo XIII beatified Thomas More, John Fisher, and 52 other English Martyrs on 29 December 1886. Pope Pius XI canonized More and Fisher on 19 May 1935. Since 1970 the General Roman Calendar has celebrated St. More with St John Fisher on 22 June (the date of Fisher's execution). On 31 October 2000 Pope John Paul II declared Saint More "the heavenly Patron of Statesmen and Politicians". Saint Thomas More is the patron of the German Catholic youth organisation Katholische Junge Gemeinde. In 1980, Saint Thomas More was added to the Church of England's calendar of Saints and Heroes of the Christian Church, despite being a fierce opponent of the English Reformation that created the Church of England.