Sts. John Fisher & Thomas More
Kyler King: 6th Hour
St. John Fisher
Role in Reformation
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Contributions
St. Thomas More
Role in Reformation
Although he knew that if he did not sign the Oath of Supremacy he would be a risk of of being imprisoned, but not executed.For more than a year, St. Thomas More was kept in the Tower where he refused to speak for or against the Oath. When he was asked, his only response was:
"I am the king's truth faithful subject and daily bedesman, and pray for his Highness, and all his, and all realm. I do nobody harm, I say none harm, I think none harm, but wish everybody good. And if this be not enough to keep a man alive, in good faith I long not to live."
Originally sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, St. Thomas More was beheaded on July 6, 1535, two weeks after St. John Fisher. On the Scaffold he said "I die the King's good servant, but God's first."
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In 1516, More published Utopia, a work of fiction primarily depicting a pagan and communist island on which social and political customs are entirely governed by reason. The description of the island of Utopia comes from a mysterious traveler to support his position that communism is the only cure for the egoism found in both private and public life—a direct jab at Christian Europe, which was seen by More as divided by self-interest and greed. Utopia covered such far-reaching topics as theories of punishment, state-controlled education, multi-religion societies, divorce, euthanasia and women's rights, and the resulting display of learning and skill established More as a foremost humanist. Utopia also became the forerunner of a new literary genre: the utopian romance.
St. John Fisher & St. Thomas More: Fun Facts
- Were killed for the same reason.
- Canonized together in 1935, 400 after their martyr
- Were both beheaded within two weeks of each other.
- Their shared feast day is celebrated on June 22.