The life of Saint Thomas More is very interesting and throughout this paper more details will be presented. Briefly, he was born in London in February 7, 1477. His father, John More, had a legal profession and advised Thomas to follow his career. When Thomas was 12, he was appointed as a page of Cardinal John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury. He began to study law in the Canterbury College in Oxford, but then moved to London. There, he lived with the Carthusian monks for four years, discerning about the possibility of having a career in the Church. Finally, he desisted to pursue a life as a religious man and married Jane Colt with whom he had four children: Margaret, Elizabeth, Cecily, and John. His wife died in 1511 and within six weeks he …show more content…
However, he always emphasized the precedence of the spiritual world over the temporal one. For instance, he said that in the glorious presence of God “all the princess of the world must confess (unless they are out of their minds) that they are the merest mites and earth-creeping worms.” With this strong phrase, More highlighted that God, and all that pertained to him, was more important than the powerful of the world. The most interesting thing here is that More was involved with the political elite of England for several years of his life. Nevertheless, as Saint John Paul II put it in his Motu Proprio proclaiming Saint Thomas More Patron of the Statesmen and Politicians in 2000, “What enlightened his conscience was the sense that man cannot be sundered from God, nor politics from morality. Indeed, during his life More exercised his political career with integrity and with a huge sense of justice to everyone, especially to those who were weak or poor. In addition, his vast knowledge of law are present in his book, especially when he meditated on Jesus teaching Peter that those who attack by the sword will perish by the sword. It is interesting that More mentioned that Jesus was paralleling the civil law, explicitly the Roman law, which punished a man for wearing an illegitimate sword as if he had killed a man. His experience in law was a …show more content…
This man who had been living with the Carthusians and learned from their spirituality, who had contact with priests and bishops, seemed discouraged about the role that the clergy was playing in the situation of his nation. In meditating on how the apostles were asleep when Jesus came back from his prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, More wrote, Why do not bishops contemplate in this scene their own somnolence?... For many are sleepy and apathetic in sowing virtues among the people and maintaining the truth, while the enemies of Christ, in order to sow vices and uproot the faith are wide awake… For some of them do not drift into sleep through sadness and grief as the apostles did. Rather, they are numbed and buried in destructive desires; that is, drunk with the new wine of the devil, the flesh, and the world, they sleep like pigs sprawling in the
10 children with his wife. Not soon after they moved to Salem, his wife passed away, leaving a
Prior to the careers of Popes Celestine V and Boniface XII in the 13th century, the long and, sometimes tumultuous, history of the church can be helpful in setting the stage for these two church official’s very famous, and very different tenures as pope. In different forms and methods, the medieval Catholic Church has always had a strong hold on society in addition to politics. The church has also had a troubling past when it comes to corruption, usually manifesting itself through the pursuit of this dominance over political and outside figures on all aspects of everyday life. Coupling these two themes together, the past actions and power exerted
It was inconceivable, the agony with which this public veneration tortured him! … He longed to speak out, from his own pulpit, at the full height of his voice, and tell the people what he was. … ‘I, your pastor, whom you so reverence and trust, am utterly a pollution and a lie!’ (143)
St. Thomas concludes this section by reiterating a foundational component of Catholicism, namely, that man’s ultimate happiness is not to be found in an earthly city, but transcends the political community. This prudential doctrine clarifies and concretizes the positive and substantial, albeit limited, aim of the ruler, since “if this end could be attained by the power of human nature, then it would be necessary that the office of a king would have to include the direction of men to it. We are supposing that he is called king, to whom the supreme power of governing in human affairs is entrusted.” Man’s supernatural end is incapable of being fully actualized in this life; it can only be brought about by divine government and the outpouring of grace, which properly belongs to the ministry of the Catholic Church and its priests. In light of this integration and crucial distinction between the intrinsic and extrinsic finality of the polis, articulating the precise content of the common good and man’s ultimate happiness beyond this life, St. Thomas can provide concrete guidance for how the king can inculcate genuine virtue in his subjects.
...and, “I don’t believe this had to happen”(144). At least twice Sir Thomas More made poor choices and put himself into bad situations in the play, which ultimately took him closer and closer to his death.
Reason to defend Sir Thomas More: More is just thinks that his private conscience is more important than his public duties and will do what he thinks is right, not what is convenient. This is not considered High Treason as More is not attempting to betray his country in any way.
Some might say he’s a hypocrite. Others may adopt a Christian perspective to his moral struggle. Robert Bolt, however, would describe him as a man who exemplified an “adamantine sense of his own self” (Bolt xii). A Man for All Seasons, although non-theological in its scope, nevertheless presents a dramatic hero of no small interest to the contemporary Christian, but whose significance does not end there. Sir Thomas More, a well-known martyr and inspiration to those “moral” among us, is a man of inexorable integrity, whose steadfast adherence to his religious and ethical beliefs led to his tragic demise, and to the expanding popularity of his character. More’s struggle presents a morally blatant — and historical — example of man’s struggle to assert his spiritual self in a secular society.
Francis of Assisi is one of the most influential personalities in the entire world. In the book ‘Francis of Assisi: Performing the Gospel Life,’ Cunningham recounts the life of this humble monk who lived in the medieval times, and shaped the Christian life, which spread in Western culture throughout the rest of history. I believe Cunningham accurately accounts for the life of Francis of Assisi, and in doing so; he provides a trajectory of the Christian faith from its early and historical proponents through its fusion with western culture, and its subsequent spread throughout the world.
Sir Thomas More was an English lawyer and best known as the councilor to King Henry VIII before he took the throne. More was married with children and a full on family man who also was active in his community. More held many different positions of great status in England and held himself to an equally high standard of judgment to always live out a life of great morality. Sir Thomas More’s fought to uphold the dignity and beliefs of the holy Church in a time of adversity and attack upon the Roman Catholic Church.
More’s life portrays inadvertent correlations to socialist characteristics. One trait of socialism is adhering to non-violent restraint (Democratic Socialism). More displays this in his well-formed, diplomatic defense on his trial of refusing to acknowledge King Henry VIII’s declaration of supremacy of the Church of England (Utopia & Utopian Literature). This is a representation of peaceful restraint that was incorporated into More’s life; because of his strong religious background, he does not believe in warfare and the better way to prove him is through facts and educated arguments. Another aspect of socialism is the emphasis on the working class (Democratic Socialism). More exemplifies this when he became a patron of the poor after his father was thrown in jail (Jokinen). This s...
Sir Thomas More was born in London to Agnes and John More a lawyer in 1477. Tomas after being a page in the Morton Household was sent to Oxford University and became a successful lawyer. After becoming an MP for the Under-Sheriff of London he started writing the book Utopia and finishing it 1516. After writing the book he was appointed as the privy councilor to King Henry VIII in 1518. He was latter executed in 1535 for refusing King Henry VIII to be the head of the church. Utopia is a fictional book about Mores talk with Raphael Nonsenso and his travels to Utopia.
When one reads the story, initially they would consider More as a wise and religious man, who wouldn’t even harm a fly. He was deeply respected for he was quite intelligent, in the aspect that he was a lawyer and knew the business of politics well. More was considered wise. He had his own ideas of things, and he seems to know what is best for everyone. However, it was his philosophies and his strong faith in the Church, the King, and in God that got him prosecuted.
This clearly demonstrates the fact that More knew what he was on about and wasn’t going to go against his beliefs for the sake of living. More strongly believed in the church and the Head of the Church, the Pope. He sustained in doing what you feel right in your heart, not what people tell you. More knew that if he stayed alive, it would have been sufferable, living in jail for the rest of his life, no job and little sight of family. He did what he thought was right. “ I do no harm, I say none harm, I think none harm. And if this be not enough to keep a man alive, in good faith I long not to live”(pg. 97)
are the basis for More’s invention, make it impossible for him to do anything but claim power as
Sir Thomas More was a character who was faced with a number of difficult choices. The major one being, when Henry VIII's first wife was unable to produce an heir to the throne, he used that as an excuse for the pope to grant him a divorce, so he could marry a new wife. The King is backed by everyone on this request except the highly regarded and religious Sir Thomas More. When the old Chancellor of England, named More his successor, it became important for Henry to get More's support, but More could not be swayed. He made his decision to oppose the marriage early on, but even though it was something he did not waver from, he still had trouble with it. More made a very difficult decision in opposing the King and his family, but regardless of the consequences, he felt that he was morally correct and for him to choose any other path would have been impossible for he could not oppose the church and God.