Preview: Mementoes of Saint Thomas More

July 7 was the Feast of the Translation of St. Thomas Becket at the time of St. Thomas More's execution. In 1220 the relics of Becket were moved (translated) from his tomb in the Cathedral Crypt to a new elaborate shrine in the Trinity Chapel. 

Canterbury Cathedral still remembers this date with Solemn Evensong and a Procession, even though Henry VIII had Becket's shrine destroyed and his remains desecrated in 1538. Henry VIII went even further than that, of course, in his Proclamation of November 17, 1538:

Therefore his Grace strayghtly chargeth and commandeth that from henseforth the sayde Thomas Becket shall not be estemed, named, reputed, nor called a sayncte, but bysshop Becket; and that his ymages and pictures, through the hole realme, shall be putte downe, and avoyded out of all churches, chapelles, and other places; and that from henseforthe, the dayes used to be festivall in his name shall not be observed, nor the service, office, antiphoners, colletes, and prayers, in his name redde, but rased and put out of all the bokes.”

But in 1535, that hadn't yet been decreed and St. Thomas More cited this feast of Becket in his last letter to his daughter Margaret, as he thought it appropriate for his execution to occur the day before it:

I cumber you, good Margaret, much, but I would be sorry, if it should be any longer than tomorrow, for it is Saint Thomas' Even and the Utas [Octave] of Saint Peter and therefore tomorrow long I to go to God, it were a day very meet and convenient for me. 

On Monday, July 10, we'll discuss the mementoes of St. Thomas More in Father Henry Sebastian Bowden's daily reflections on the English Martyrs and Confessors. I'll be on the Son Rise Morning Show at my usual time: about 6:50 a.m. Central/7:50 a.m. Eastern: please listen live here and/or listen to the podcast later here!

Father Bowden did not surround the date of More's execution with as many memories as he did Bishop Fisher's; he highlights More's behavior on the scaffold on July 6, which might provide an answer to the question: did More say "but God's servant first" or "and God's servant first"?

The account Bowden is basically chronicler Edward Hall's version: More was so weak that he had to ask for help up the scaffold: 'See me safe up,' he said to Sir William Kingston, Constable of the Tower. 'For my coming down I can shift for myself.' He had been asked not to speak much so he  asked those witnessing his execution for their prayers, and desired "them to bear witness for him that he died in the faith of the holy Catholic Church, and a faithful servant of God and the King."

Since there is no use of the word "but" and the Paris Newsletter, published on August 4 (less than a month later) the same year doesn't use the word "but" either, perhaps we should always the word "and":

He then besought them earnestly to pray to God to give the King good counsel, protesting that he died his faithful servant, and God's first.

He prayed the Miserere Psalm, thanked the executioner and then asked him to please aim true:

'Thou art to do me the greatest benefit that I can receive,' he said. 'Pluck up thy spirit, man, and be not afraid to do thine office. My neck is very short. Take heed therefore that thou strike not awry for saving of thine honesty.'

More stopped the executioner briefly to move his beard off the block, saying it had done no treason. "So with great alacrity and spiritual joy he received the fatal blow." 

Edward Hall didn't know what to think about More's humor on the scaffold, with these jokes about his beard, his short neck, and his method of getting off the scaffold:

I cannot tell whether I should call him a foolish wiseman, or a wise foolishman, for undoubtedly he beside his learning, had a great wit, but it was so mingled with taunting and mocking, that it seemed to them that best knew him, that he thought nothing to be well spoken except he had ministered some mock in the communication . . .

Like Saint John Fisher, who demonstrated his faithful and resolute demeanor before his execution, I think More was just being himself, able to face death with good humor and even wit. He had prepared for his death by meditation on Our Lord's Passion and ready to face this more merciful execution (instead of being hanged, drawn, and quartered), but he still didn't want the headsman to miss!

Saint Thomas More, pray for us!