St. Thomas More Collection
In 1929, G.K. Chesterton prophesied that “Thomas More is more important at this moment than at any moment since his death . . . but he is not quite so important as he will be in a hundred years.”
Thomas More was a leading Renaissance thinker and champion for self-government and free speech. His life shows us what it means to actively engage in the events of our time with courage and true prudence. His writings challenge us to examine ourselves in light of history and revelation, and ultimately, to be the best versions of ourselves in good times and in bad.
The collection includes:
For All Seasons: Selected Letters of Thomas More
The Life of Pico
The Four Last Things: The Supplication of Souls
Dialogue Concerning Heresies
A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation
The Sadness of Christ
In these writings you will discover:
St. Thomas More was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He was a Councillor to Henry VIII, and Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to May 1532. He is known for his 1516 book Utopia and for his death in 1535, after refusing to acknowledge King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England. He was canonized by the Catholic Church as a saint in 1935.
More opposed the Protestant Reformation, in particular the theology of Martin Luther and William Tyndale. More also opposed the king's separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was convicted of treason and beheaded. Of his execution, he was reported to have said: "I die the King's good servant, and God's first."
Pope Pius XI canonized More in 1935 as a martyr. Pope John Paul II in 2000 declared him the "heavenly Patron of Statesmen and Politicians."
| SKU/ISBN | 10203 |
| Product Number | 10203 |
| Format |
More’s life and writings address key themes from beginning to end. A few are the vital importance of friendship, the peril of tyranny, the challenge of first principles and integrity, the education of conscience, the beauty of virtue, and finally the need for prayer and the love of God, if we are ever ‘to make merry together in heaven,’ as he hoped to the end.
More waged one of the most active and (until suppressed) effective writing campaigns of all times. This campaign was so effective in countering what More saw as the unjust manipulation of England’s most fundamental laws and institutions that Henry VIII and Cromwell used the full force of their leading positions to execute London’s most popular citizen and one of Europe’s most respected scholars. Up to the last moment of his life, More used discrete but effective means of appealing to the conscience of his king and his country. He did this not only at the cost of his own health and safety but at the cost of his family’s material welfare. This he did, convinced that the very principle of just and legitimate government of both church and state was at stake. Although More seemed to end his life as a political failure, history now praises his revolutionary success – a success that helped end a politics of unchecked power and that helped advance a politics of democratic self-rule. As British historian John Guy recently wrote, “For a former Lord Chancellor to defy the King and claim freedom of conscience against the state was a revolutionary step by the standards of the sixteenth century. More stood at the crossroads of history.”
The life and martyrdom of Saint Thomas More have been the source of a message which spans the centuries and which speaks to people everywhere of the inalienable dignity of the human conscience, which, as the Second Vatican Council reminds us, is "the most intimate centre and sanctuary of a person, in which he or she is alone with God, whose voice echoes within them" (Gaudium et Spes, 16). Whenever men or women heed the call of truth, their conscience then guides their actions reliably towards good. Precisely because of the witness which he bore, even at the price of his life, to the primacy of truth over power, Saint Thomas More is venerated as an imperishable example of moral integrity. And even outside the Church, particularly among those with responsibility for the destinies of peoples, he is acknowledged as a source of inspiration for a political system which has as its supreme goal the service of the human person.
In one sense, we are given the same task as St. Thomas: we are charged with the preservation and propagation of truth, prudence, and wisdom for the sake of ourselves, our children, our country, our culture, our Church, and our God. Thomas More completed that task with a high degree of human and divine excellence: our own humble attempts, by contrast, ought to rouse us to do, learn, and teach with greater firmness of purpose and joy.