Latest news with #CatholicMartyr
The Sun
4 days ago
- General
- The Sun
Church seeks to exhume head of Catholic martyr Sir Thomas More… 500 years after it was put on a pike
THE head of Sir Thomas More, the Catholic martyr and former Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII, could soon be dug up, five centuries after it was boiled and placed on a pike. St Dunstan's Church in Canterbury has revealed plans to exhume and preserve the centuries-old relic, with hopes of putting it on display. 4 4 4 The remains would be placed in a shrine in 2035, lining up with the 500th anniversary of More's execution. More was Henry VIII's lord chancellor but was best known for defying the King and was executed for treason in 1535 in Tower Hill, London. The lawyer, author and philosopher refused to accept Henry as head of the newly formed Church of England - a decision that cost him his life. While his body was buried in the Tower of London, his head was parboiled and mounted on a spike on London Bridge as a grim warning to others thinking of crossing the king. More's daughter, Margaret Roper, secretly recovered the head, reportedly preserving it in spices and keeping it with her for the rest of her life. When she died in 1544, the head was buried alongside her and in 1578, her remains, along with her father's head, were transferred to the Roper family vault at St Dunstan's Church, where it's been ever since. Now, church leaders say the time has come to unearth what remains and preserve it using modern conservation techniques. A statement read to the congregation at St Dunstan's last Sunday confirmed that the parochial church council (PCC) has agreed to begin the process if granted permission, The Times reported. It read: "What the PCC has agreed, subject to all the right permissions being granted, is to exhume and conserve what remains of the relic, which will take several years to dry out and stabilise. "We could just put it back in the vault, maybe in a reliquary of some kind, or we could place the reliquary in some sort of shrine or carved stone pillar above ground in the Roper chapel, which is what many of our visitors have requested. "We'd really appreciate your ideas and thoughts." The move could turn the quiet Kent parish into a major draw for pilgrims, tourists, and history buffs but first, the church needs the green light from church authorities. It would also require around £50,000 in donations to make it happen. The relic could take several years to fully stabilise and dry, but once conserved, the church plans to either place it back in the vault or move it into a custom-built shrine or stone pillar inside the chapel. Visitors have reportedly been asking to see the relic for years, and the church is now inviting ideas from the community about how best to honour More's legacy. The church hopes to raise tens of thousands of pounds to fund expert archaeologists and conservation specialists but Rev Jo Richards, rector of the benefice, said early reaction from the congregation has been positive. Church courts don't often approve exhumations, but in this case, supporters hope More's global significance as a saint, scholar, and martyr will help make the case. More is also officially regarded as a holy relic by the Catholic Church, which could help the Church's case. He was a respected lawyer and the author of Utopia, a visionary text imagining an ideal society but was also a firm defender of the Catholic faith. While he's remembered for his courage and moral conviction, More also played a part in persecuting heretics, those who had different beliefs, defending their executions in his writings. Even so, his private life was marked by generosity, wit, and deep religious devotion, according to those who knew him. His friend Erasmus called him 'the most virtuous man in England'. If the project goes ahead, work could begin in the next few years, with the shrine ready in time for the anniversary in 2035. 4
Wall Street Journal
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
‘Thomas More' Review: A Persecutor and a Martyr
On July 6, 1535, Thomas More, former Lord chancellor of England, was executed. Five days prior, he had been convicted of denying Henry VIII's title as supreme head of the Church of England. This title was the cornerstone of the English Reformation and denial of it constituted treason. On his last morning More was escorted from the Tower of London, where he had been imprisoned for more than a year. Traditionally, traitors were half-hanged, disemboweled alive, then drawn and quartered. More, long the king's servant, was spared this gruesome fate in favor of beheading. The witnesses to his death were few, as the government feared riots. Ill and frail, More mounted the scaffold and asked for prayers. 'I die the King's good servant,' he said, 'and God's first.' Moments later resounded the thud of ax on block. Renowned in his life as a man of letters, More has been revered as a Catholic martyr since his death. He was only canonized in 1935, however, and his popular fame has relied on dramatic depictions of his confrontation with Henry VIII. The most famous of these is the 1966 Oscar-winning film adaptation of Robert Bolt's play 'A Man for All Seasons,' which cast More as a noble, principled resister of tyranny. Provoked by this depiction, Hilary Mantel in 'Wolf Hall' (2009) portrayed More as a sadistic religious fanatic and a creepy domestic tyrant. Behind these rival mythologies was an actual man, whose complex life defies facile moralizing. More, to be sure, has not lacked for biographers. Dozens have appeared across the centuries. Joanne Paul's 'Thomas More: A Life' is a worthy addition. Ms. Paul, a university lecturer in Britain, is also a broadcaster, popular writer and historical adviser. Her books on Tudor history achieve that increasingly rare balance between expertise and style. This book beautifully captures both the life of a fascinating man and the fading world that he died trying to preserve. More's life had the arc of a Shakespearean tragedy. He was born in 1478 during the Wars of the Roses, which established the Tudor dynasty. His father served as a judge of the King's Bench, the very court that would eventually convict his son of treason. More himself was educated at Oxford and the Inns of Court.
