June 26, 2022 - "John Fisher & Thomas More"

On last Tuesday, June 21^st, the Church remembered two martyrs of the Catholic Church in sixteenth century England:  a bishop (John Fisher) and a layman (Thomas More).  They were both canonized in 1935.  Their feast was placed on the day of martyrdom of John Fisher, while Thomas More was put to death a few days later (on July 6).
 
John Fisher was born in Yorkshire, England in 1469 and was ordained a priest when he was twenty-five, after doing very well in his studies at Cambridge University.  He distinguished himself by combating the Protestant heresies and especially the theses proposed by Martin Luther.  At the age of thirty-five he became bishop of Rochester (while remaining the Chancellor at Cambridge University).  He was the confessor to the mother of King Henry VIII, Elizabeth of York, and was well-known for his humanistic as well as his theological learning.  He was a friend of Erasmus of Rotterdam who said of John Fisher: “There is not a man more cultured, more admired or more holy.” John Fisher’s Episcopal residence was more like a monastery because of the regular celebration there of Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours.  Because John Fisher defended the first marriage of Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon, he was first imprisoned in 1533.  Later he was interned in the Tower of London because he refused to take the oath of loyalty after the king married Anne Boleyn and rejected papal authority over the Church in England.  On June 22, 1535, he was beheaded a month after Pope Paul III had named him a cardinal.
 
Thomas More was born in London in 1477 and studied in Oxford and in London.  He was twice married and a member of Parliament.  Thomas More was known as a very well-read and cultured individual who was a friend of both Pico della Mirandola (a famous Italian Renaissance noble and philosopher) and also Erasmus.  Thomas More’s most famous book, Utopia, is a book of political philosophy, showing a society based on the natural virtues.  Eventually he became Chancellor of England, succeeding Cardinal Wolsey.  Thomas More was opposed to the king’s divorce and refused to accept the spiritual supremacy of the monarch over the Roman Pontiff.  For this he was imprisoned in Tower of London, and beheaded on July 6, 1533 at the age of 57.
 
The phenomenon of people giving their lives for faith in Christ has continued even into recent times. During this month of June a number of people who were killed in hatred of their Catholic faith were beatified.  These were individuals who were killed in Spain during the time of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) and in Poland at the close of the Second World War (1945).
 
On June 11, 2022, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro beatified ten Sisters of Saint Elizabeth in the Cathedral in the Polish city of Wroclaw.  These Sisters took care of the elderly, the sick, and children.   They refused to leave their duty post and their charge as the Russian Army overran Poland in 1944-45. 

The Sisters were well aware that the invading Russian army was known for its brutality and for the atrocities its soldiers were committing against the inhabitants of East Prussia. Cardinal Semeraro compared their martyrdom to the current situation in the Ukraine.  On the occasion of their beatification, he said that the whole life of these sisters was a true gift of self in service to the sick, the little ones, the poor, the most needy.  At the end of his homily on Sunday, June 12 Pope Francis made the following remarks about the newly beatified Sisters of Saint Elizabeth:
 
“Although they were aware of the risks they were running, these…women religious remained alongside the elderly and sick persons they were looking after.  May their example of faith to Christ help us all, especially Christians who are persecuted in various parts of the world, to bear witness to the Gospel courageously.  A round of applause for the new Blesseds!”
 
On Saturday, June 18, 2022, Cardinal Semeraro beatified twenty-seven Dominican martyrs who were killed during the Spanish Civil War.  The religious from the Dominican family include Angelo Marina Alvarez and nineteen companions, Giovanni Aguilar Donis and four companions from the Order of Friars Preachers, Isabella Sanchez Romero, an elderly nun from the Order of Saint Dominic, and Fructuoso Perez Marquez, a lay Dominican tertiary.
 
During the Mass celebrated in Seville Cathedral, Cardinal Semeraro noted that these new Blesseds were very different persons in terms of character and personal stories.  But they had in common the charism of Saint Dominic: a vocational choice they lived with fidelity, consistency, and generosity.
 
The June 18^th Mass brought to 2,112 the total number of Catholic martyrs beatified from the Spanish Civil War, which saw 2,000 churches destroyed and up to 8,000 members of the clergy killed, along with tens of thousands of lay Catholics.
 
May Saints John Fisher and Thomas More, Blessed Maria Paschalis Jahn and Companions, and Blessed Angelo Marina Alvarez and Companions, pray for us!
 
Until next week,
Fr. John