Saint of the day June 22: Saint Thomas More. Catholic Saints

Every June 22, the Catholic Church celebrates Saint Thomas More (1478 -1535), politician, multifaceted humanist, man of law, translator. He served as chancellor to King Henry VIII of England, who was his friend for many years, but who would ultimately have him killed.

More thought that there is no possibility for a political community to run well if its members are not respectful of faith, ethics and morals, starting with the king, who is the one who holds power and who must set the example. “Man cannot be separated from God, nor can politics from morality,” stated the saint, suggesting that just as the human being, if he separates himself from God, is condemned to perdition, in the same way, the ‘sphere of the ‘human affairs’ (social and political organization) disconnected from moral limits and restraints turns into abuse, tyranny, injustice and widespread unhappiness. Sad times like those the world is experiencing today make sentences like Moro’s take on unusual relevance.

Tough times: being a believer and doing politics

Unfortunately, in More’s time, forms of thought that went back to the pre-Christian past multiplied, seeking sources of inspiration that arouse originality and renewal, not all of them compatible with Christianity and some certainly anti-Christian. On the other hand, Christianity suffered a real crisis that would lead to the Protestant Reformation and the proliferation of rejection of the secular authority of the Pope and the Church as a whole. For Saint Thomas More, the rejection of morality, or the break between it and the political, represented, paradoxically, the most serious of political errors, comparable, in the spiritual realm, to the break with God.

Thomas More was born in London in 1477. He graduated from Oxford University as a lawyer and had a successful career that ended up taking him to the English parliament. He married Jane Colt, with whom he had a son and three daughters. Upon the death of the mother of his children, Lady Colt, the saint married a second time, to a lady named Alice Middleton.

Hope, the “engine” of the politician

Of fine and ingenious mind, Sir Thomas More In 1516 he published a work of extraordinary acuity, both for its critical content towards social evils and for its suggestive nature; his name: UtopiaWhat does it mean ‘no place’o ‘nowhere‘ (the term, coined by More, makes use of the Greek negative prefix or- and from the word –toposplace).

That text has remained perennial in the history of Western thought for its philosophical, political and theological richness, as well as for its literary value – which ended up defining the genre called Utopian-. The work was well received in its time and caught the attention of the English monarch, Henry VIII, who summoned More to be part of the public administration.

Friend yes, but more than the truth

Henry VIII and Thomas cultivated a certain friendship and a relationship of trust. However, the king’s desire to repudiate his wife and remarry, going against what was prescribed by the Church and the intrinsic nature of marriage, ended up confronting them. More, as the king’s advisor, tried to dissuade him, but the monarch’s whim began to turn into obsession, to the point of being willing to disobey the Pope himself. The episode is well known, as is the outcome: the definitive break of the British crown with Rome and the emergence of the Anglican Church as a schismatic Church. This situation, contrary to Thomas’ deep Catholic faith, made him renounce all of his positions.

Later, More dedicated himself to the defense of Catholic orthodoxy, and together with his friend, Bishop Saint John Fisher, they opposed the king, now self-styled “head” of the (Anglican) Church. Both saints, faithful to Christ, would be accused of treason to the crown and taken to prison. Months later, Saint John Fisher would be executed and, a few days later, Saint Thomas would follow the same fate.

Christ is the one who gives us freedom

The “fault” for which Thomas More was beheaded? Oppose the position of the king who decided to ignore the papal refusal to annul the royal marriage. While for Henry it was a matter of ‘furos’ – the Pope could no longer exercise authority over him – for Thomas the crown’s decision was an affront to the sacrament and an incitement to the division of the Church of Christ. The king – political authority – had established himself as a moral and religious authority. On the scaffold, before being executed, the king’s former chancellor shouted to the crowd: “I die as a good servant of the king, but first a servant of God.”

Saint Thomas More was martyred on July 6, 1535. His feast day is celebrated every June 22, along with Saint John Fisher.

“The story of Saint Thomas More clearly illustrates a fundamental truth of political ethics. Indeed, the defense of the freedom of the Church against undue interference by the State is, at the same time, a defense, in the name of the primacy of conscience, of the freedom of the person against political power. In this lies the fundamental principle of all civil order in accordance with the nature of man” (Saint John Paul II).

Saint Thomas More was declared the patron saint of rulers and politicians by Pope Saint John Paul II in 2000.

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If you want to know more about Saint Thomas More, we recommend this article from the Catholic Encyclopedia: https://ec.aciprensa.com/wiki/Santo_Tomás_Moro.