Saints who Guarded the Deposit During the Reformation

"O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you." - 1 Timothy 6:20



St. Thomas More

Great Quote

"It is a case in which a man may lose his head and yet have none harm, but instead of harm, inestimable good at the hand of God." - St. Thomas More

Biography

Thomas More was born on February 7, 1478 and was martyred for the Church on July 6, 1535 in the Tower of London. St. Thomas More was a family man who cared very deeply for his son, three daughters, and step-daughter (he was remarried after his first wife died in childbirth). During his 57 years, More was trained in law, philosophy, and theology, and worked as a lawyer, judge, writer, politician, and eventually became Lord Chancellor under the reign of King Henry VIII.

Guarding the Deposit

In 1529 Thomas More was appointed as Lord Chancellor of England, a very high office to hold, by King Henry VIII. At that time, Henry VIII was working very hard at trying to keep the Protestant Reformation out of England. In 1521, Pope Leo X had bestowed on Henry the title "Defender of the Faith" after he had written the Defense of the Seven Sacraments with More's help. Thomas More enjoyed working for and advising Henry VIII. In one of his most famous books, Utopia, More wrote: "Henry VIII, the invincible King of England, a prince unrivalled in those virtues that grace a great monarch."[1] However, in 1527, things began to go bad in England when Queen Catherine of Aragorn had only born Henry female children and no male heir. Henry VIII began to petition Pope Clement VII for an annulment to his marriage so that he could remarry and have a son born to him from another woman. Clement VII denied Henry's petition for annulment.

Thomas More was a very devout Catholic, a lover of marriage and families, and firm follower of the Church's teaching on Papal authority. So even though he thought highly of King Henry VIII, he began to grow cautious because he knew he had to obey the Pope's ruling on the annulment. More knew that marriage was created by God and that no man can break the supernatural bond created in holy matrimony; so divorce was not an option for Henry according to the Church.[2] Henry VIII did not give up easily though on his chance to have a male heir. In 1530 he filed another petition for his annulment, this time having all the bishops of England and all of the higher authorities sign it, including Thomas More. More, however, refused to sign, giving his first clear sign to Henry that he did not like what the King was doing. Before, when Henry had asked for Thomas' advice, the Chancellor had done much research and thinking on it and had told the King that he agreed with the Pope's ruling, but he did it in a very gentle way, knowing it would be very bad for him and his family to become an enemy of the King.[3] But now, by refusing to sign the petition and follow his conscience, Thomas More had made a very bold statement. And even though Henry VIII had gotten some very powerful men, besides Thomas More, to sign the petition, Clement VII would not change his mind.

It was at this point that Henry VIII decided to break off from the Church and spark the major beginning of the Protestant Reformation in England, which Thomas More tried hard to guard the Church against. Since Henry could not obtain an annulment he chose to renounce papal authority and divorce Catherine of Aragorn. Not agreeing with the King, More asked three times to resign as Lord Chancellor and finally on the third time was allowed to leave the position for health reasons. Henry divorced Catherine, was remarried to Ann Boleyn, and broke from the Catholic Church denying the authority of the Pope and declaring himself as head of the Church of England. Knowing that in the recent history of the papacy there had been scandal, Thomas More still could not break off with the King, nor deny the Church of his beloved Christ or Christ's vicar on earth. Of the papacy he said it would be better for Christians to pray for God to raise up holy Popes to reform the papacy rather than abolish it altogether.[4]

Knowing that More followed the Catholic Church and that his family and influential friends followed him, King Henry VIII in 1534 called upon Thomas, even though he no longer held political office, to sign the Act of Succession which proclaimed Ann Boleyn as Queen of England and denied papal authority. Thomas More would not sign however, saying to his daughter that, "I could not swear, without the jeoparding of my soul to perpetual damnation."[5] Four days later Thomas More was imprisoned in the Tower of London for over a year, where he prayed, wrote books and letters, and encouraged his fellow prisoners to hold strong to their faith in Christ and His Church. Speaking about More's willingness to suffer in the Tower and strength to hold onto his faith, his son-in-law William Roper said, "It was for that the love of God wrought in him so effectually that it conquered all his carnal affections utterly."[6] On July 1, 1535 Thomas More was tried and found guilty of treason and on July 6 he was beheaded in the Tower of London. Thomas More did struggle some in worrying about his death but God would comfort him. Shortly before his martyrdom he wrote to his daughter Margaret, "Howbeit if God draw me to himself, then trust I in his great mercy, that he shall not fail to give me grace and strength;"[7] and also, "Nothing can come but that that God wills. And I make me very sure that whatsoever that be, seem it never so bad in sight, it shall indeed be the best."[8] In 1886 Thomas More was beatified by Pope Leo XIII and then canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1935 for his martyrdom and guarding of the Church against Henry VIII and the Protestant Reformation. St. Thomas More is the Patron Saint of politics, statesmen, politicians, adopted children, widowers, difficult marriages, and large families. His feast day is celebrated by the Church on June 22nd.

1. E.E. Reynolds, The Life and Death of St. Thomas More (London: Burns & Oates, 1968), 97.
2. Reynolds, Life and Death, 174.
3. Reynolds, Life and Death, 201, 197.
4. Reynolds, Life and Death, 311.
5. Elizabeth Francis Rogers, ed., St. Thomas More: Selected Letters (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1961), 217.
6. Reynolds, Life and Death, 299.
7. Rogers, Selected Letters, 253.
8. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition (Australia: ST PAULS PUBLICATIONS, 1994), 313.