On 22 June the Church celebrates the memory of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, both martyred in England for refusing to join Henry VIII’s revolt against the Papacy.
Newsroom (23/06/2022 09:00, Gaudium Press) Thomas More was born in London in 1478. A very intelligent boy, he followed the career of his father, who was a magistrate, and at the young age of 22, he obtained a doctorate in law. When he began to doubt the vocation that God had destined for him, his great religious sensitivity led him to come to know the community life of some of the Catholic Orders. He spent some time with the London Carthusians and then with the Franciscans of Greenwich. But after long meditations, he concluded that he should choose the matrimonial path.
He was an excellent husband, an exemplary father, and a true friend to those who gained his trust. He practiced regular common prayer in the family, attended daily Holy Mass, received Holy Communion, and went to Confession frequently. These austere penances that he embraced were known only to his most intimate relatives.
In 1504, during the reign of Henry VII, he was elected to Parliament for the first time, which marked the beginning of a brilliant career as a public man. Then, under King Henry VIII, he became a member of the Crown Council, a presiding judge at the court, and deputy treasurer and knight, until he became Speaker of the House of Commons. And finally, for his indefectible moral integrity, astute thought, faithful character, and extraordinary erudition, he was appointed Chancellor of the Realm in 1529, at a time of political and economic crisis in the country.
Persecuted by the King
The great trial of such a brilliant man was yet to come.
When Henry VIII wished to take control of the Church in England, rejecting Catholic precepts and especially the authority of the Supreme Pontiff, his Chancellor, Thomas More, did not support him and resigned. Thomas More was therefore persecuted by the King, who confiscated all of his possessions, seeking to force him to prevaricate from the Faith by various forms of psychological pressure.
Seeing the unyielding firmness with which this man would not accept his impositions, the King had him imprisoned in the Tower of London.
There, the former Chancellor suffered greatly for a long time. When his daughter visited him in prison for the last time, he pointed out to her four Carthusian monks he could see through the bars, who were to be martyred for having also refused to accept the King’s errors: “See how happy they are to offer their lives for Jesus Christ. Perhaps God will also grant me the courage to offer my life for His holy religion!” he said to her.
God granted his wishes, and in the early hours of 6 July 1535, he was beheaded for refusing to swear allegiance to the new religion imposed on his country.
He died reciting Psalm 50: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy.”
Saint John Fisher
St. John Fisher had been Chaplain to Henry VII’s mother and Chancellor of Cambridge University before being appointed Bishop of Rochester.
He opposed the divorce of Henry VIII from Catherine of Aragon and the establishment of the Anglican church. Having refused to take the oath required by the King for English Bishops, he too was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London.
During his seclusion of imprisonment, in May 1535, he was made a Cardinal by the Supreme Pontiff Paul III.
St. John Fischer was condemned to die by torture, but his sentence was commuted to decapitation because of his very weakened state of health.
Unshakable in the Faith and the defense of the Truth, St. John Fisher approached his last moments in prison with calmness and hope in divine goodness. But before receiving the executioner’s blow, he did not trust in his own strength and asked for the prayers of those who witnessed his death, so that he would not weaken and give in at the last moment.
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
