“I Die the King’s Good Servant, and God’s First”

Today is the memorial of one of my favourite saints, Saint Thomas More, who died at the hands of King Henry VIII (that villain).

That is, today is his memorial in the modern Roman calendar, which he shares with Saint John Fisher, also executed by the same king.

In my Benedictine ordo, however, it is no such thing – you’d have to wait for July 9 for their memorial.

Fortunately, I’ve become familiar enough with my Diurnal, that I can make adjustments. Some saints get double holidays in my own personal ordo. I’ve known for some time that it’s possible to use the Diurnal with the newer calendar – I believe that this is more or less what they do at Clear Creek Monastery.

The life of Saint Thomas More was (more or less) made into the wonderful movie A Man for All Seasons, starring Paul Scofield as Sir Thomas More.

The script is just brilliant, and eminently quotable. The “but for Wales?” bit alone is worth the price of admission.

Here is one of my favourite exchanges:

William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!

Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?

William Roper: Yes, I’d cut down every law in England to do that!

Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat?

This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down, and you’re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?

Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake!

That bit about “cutting down every law” to get the outcome you want of course comes from the top – this was in essence the entire program of King Henry VIII (that scoundrel). It also reminds me uncomfortably of some of the people who govern in the present day. People never really learn, do they?

Perhaps this is why Saint Thomas More is the patron saint of attorneys.

Sir Thomas More’s refusal to accept the claims of the King over the Pope in ecclesiastical matters led to his resignation as Chancellor.

His refusal to attend the coronation of Anne Boleyn as the Queen of England led to his arrest on charges stemming from Papal supremacy.

After a sham trial, where the prosecution rested on perjury and innuendo, he was found guilty of treason, at which point he gave his final statement to the court:

For as much as, my Lords, this Indictment is grounded upon an Act of Parliament, directly repugnant, to the Laws of God and his Holy Church, the Supreme Government of which, or of any part thereof, no Temporal Person may by any Law presume to take upon him, being what right belongs to the See of Rome, which by special Prerogative was granted by the Mouth of our Savior Christ himself to Saint Peter, and the Bishops of Rome his Successors only, whilst he lived, and was personally present here on Earth: it is therefore, amongst Catholic Christians, insufficient in Law, to charge any Christian to obey it.

He was sentenced to death.

An officer steadied More as he climbed to the execution block.  Following the wishes of the King, More spoke only briefly to the large crowd that had gathered to watch the event.  He told the bystanders to pray for him in this world, and that he would pray for them in the next.  He told the crowd, “I die the King’s good servant, and God’s first.”  He knelt down in front of the block and uttered the words of Psalm 51.  Then he rose and kissed his red-robed executioner. “Be not afraid to do thine office,” he said. 

source: the Trial of Sir Thomas More: An Account

For the last several years, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has called for a Fortnight for Freedom, which begins today. Who couldn’t love their use of the word “fortnight”? Sadly, in recent years it has been reduced to “Religious Freedom Week“, which is fine as far as it goes… but it’s no fortnight.

The project is part of the bishops’ call to penance and prayer to restore religious freedom and conscience protections in the United States.

It would be appropriate, I think, to take some time to pray for the intercession of Saint Thomas More, who died a martyr at the hands of his King for exactly this issue.

Perhaps we should take our prayer from his. This is the text of the prayer he wrote out just before his execution on the orders of King Henry VIII (that bum):

Almighty God, have mercy on all that bear me evil will,
and would me harm,
and their faults and mine to-gether,
by such easy, tender, merciful means,
as thine infinite wisdom best can devise.

Vouchsafe to amend and redress,
and make us saved souls in heaven together
where we may ever live and love together with thee
and thy blessed saints.

The things, good Lord, that I pray for,
give me thy grace to labour for.

O glorious Trinity,
for the bitter passion of our sweet Saviour Christ.

Amen.