The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1912-12-21
Sent to Scaffold by Henry VIII. the
Founder of the Church as by
Law Established.
Pope Leo XIII, Decreed Him Blessed
Three Hundred and Fifty Years
After His Death.
Occupied the Exalted Position Of
Lord Chancellor and Was q Man
of Tried Probity.

He must die before o'clock. 90
the message had come to Sir Thomas
More early on the morning Of July 6.
1885. Without shrinking or disn,ay,
but rather with gladness of heart, was
tho summons received.
He had not sought death; neither
had he judged the conscience Of 9TH
ors, nor meddled with any who made
submission to the king when the new
claims were set up and the old obedi.
ence to the Papncy forbidden.
Only for Sir Thomas More, as for
his friends the Carthusians, and for
Blessed John Fisher, Bishop of Roch-
ester. such submission was impossible.
The king had taken his way, the way
of the flesh, and Sir Thomas More
must go his way, tho way of the spir-
1t. Tho old friendship of Henry for
his chancellor was broken two years
before. when Henry had made Anne
Boleyn his wife. with the sanction OF
Archbishop Cranmer. and in spite Of
tho refusal OF Rome to annul the
marriage with Catherine. The chan
cellor had resigned the great seal,
Seeing that affairs wero going badly,
and likely to be worse, and that IL he
retained his office he would be obliged
to act against his conscience, or incur
the kings displeasure. as he had al
ready begun to do, for refusing to
take his part against the clergy" The
disploasure deepencd when Sir Thom-
as More declined to he present at Ann
Boleyn's coronation-holding that his
presence would signify approval of the
divorce from Queen Catherine.
The act of succession making Eliza
beth. Annc's child. heir to the throne
and passing over Mary, was another
matter. and to this More could assent.
The English parliament could lawfully
decide who should wear the crown of
England. but it was not for parlia-
ment to deny the allegiance of Eng
lisl church-folks to the Holy Father
at Rome, and set up new supremacy
over the Catholic Church in England,
That point was clear to Sir Thomas
More, and no oath admitting such su-
premacy could he, would he. take.
For fifteen months he lay prisoner
in the Tower, and then. on July LIST,
was Sir Thomas More brought to trial
on the charge of treason, having re-
fused tho king "maliciously, falsely
and traitorously, his title of supreme
head of the Church Of England" He
pleaded that he had but kept silence,
and that neither statutes nor laws
could condemn people for keeping ST.
lcnce. This very silent disapproval
had brought the anger Of the king, and
only when the Jury had declared him
guilty of death, and sentence had been
pronounced, did Sir Thomas More
state calmly that for seven years he
had studied the matter, and could not
find that supremacy in a Church be-
longed to "a layman, or to any but the
See Of Rome, as granted personally
by Our Lord when on earth, to St.
Peter and his successors.
TO the Duke Of Norfolk's tauuting
question, whether he wished to be con-
sidcred wiser and better than all the
bishops and mobiles of the realm who
had sworn to the kings supremacy,
More answered, with touch of high
scorn: FOR one bishop Of your
opinion. my lord, have a hundred
saints Of mine; and for one parliament
Of yours. and God knows of what
kind, have all the General Councils
for a thousand years." On this the
Duke Of Norfolk said that now his
malice was clear.
Never was man freer from malice
than was this great-hearted, clear
headed Englishman, Blessed Thomas
More. Liberty of conscience was dear
to him, the unity of Christendom was
dear to him, and he could not con-
ceive that it was possible to remain.
Catholic and at the same time to
repudiate the very center of the Cath
olic Church, and deny the headship OF
pomo vot ho t1aa M morS - h1oyn>g