MARTYRS OF CONSCIENCE

 

MARTYRS OF CONSCIENCE

On June 22 the Church’s Calendar of Saints commemorates the sixteenth century martyrdom of two prominent Englishmen who refused to accept the validity of the king’s divorce and remarriage, as well as his claim to be the temporal head of the Church in England (and thus his power to declare his marriage to Catherine of Aragon as null and void).  They did not openly oppose the king or foment rebellion against him, but they would not obey the order to sign the oath of supremacy since their Catholic conscience would not permit it.  King Henry VIII had them arrested. 

Saint John Fisher was a leading intellectual in his day, the first administrator of the University of Cambridge, and the longtime bishop of the humble diocese of Rochester.  He had a reputation as an excellent preacher and wrote works in defense of the Catholic faith against the errors of Martin Luther.  Many of his sermons can be read today with great spiritual profit.  St. John showed more courage than any of the other bishops in England as the only one among them who did not bow to the king’s demand, under penalty of death.

Saint Thomas More was also a well-known intellectual.  Under King Henry VIII’s reign he quickly rose to various positions of government to become Lord Chancellor in 1529.  In this post he was an effective administrator and promoter of the interests of the king and of England.   However, his relationship with the king suffered when he refused to sign a letter to the pope requesting the annulment of the king’s marriage.  He resigned his position in 1532 for reasons of health.  Unfortunately, Henry refused to allow him to retire to obscurity and eventually had him arrested on trumped-up charges of treason.  He languished in the Tower of London until his trial and execution on July 6, 1535. He would have been spared had he signed the oath of supremacy.  In remembrance of their former friendship, King Henry revoked Parliament’s harsh sentence of execution by being hung, drawn, and quartered.  Instead, he was more neatly executed by decapitation.

It is said that while ascending the scaffolding St. Thomas asked one of the executioners for help, saying “Assist me up.  I will shift for myself on the way down.”  He also said, “I am the king’s good servant, but God’s first.”  A man who was known for his sense of humor and irony kept it until the end.  The peace that allowed him to joke was a result of following his conscience.  He was not moved by politics or a sense of self-preservation to betray his faith.  Nor did the tears of his loved ones cause him to deny his integrity.  In a letter he was able to sneak out to his daughter while in prison, he wrote, “By the merits of his bitter passion joined to mine and far surpassing in merit for me all that I can suffer myself, his bounteous goodness shall release me from the pains of purgatory and shall increase my reward in heaven besides.  I will not mistrust him, Meg, though I shall feel myself weakening and on the verge of being overcome with fear…And, therefore, my own good daughter, do not let your mind be troubled over anything that shall happen to me in this world. Nothing can come but what God wills.  And I am very sure that whatever that be, however bad it may seem, it shall indeed be the best.”

Henry VIII eventually had his second wife, Anne Boylen, executed on false charges in 1536, after she failed to produce a male heir.  It is ironic that Anne’s father, brother, and uncle had been on the jury that convicted St. Thomas Moore and sentenced him to death.  Their presence on the jury at the trial of a man who refused to admit as legitimate the marriage of their daughter/sister/niece was clear evidence of corruption.  However, given the fate of Anne, I am sure that they soon regretted their involvement.  Jesus said, “He who lives by the sword dies by the sword” (Matthew 26:52).  Someone less known said, “What goes around, comes around.”  It is always better to follow a well-formed conscience and stay away from corrupt leaders!