Anglicans and Saints

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For what its worth, my mom is an Anglican with a devotion to both Our Lady and St. Therese the Little Flower.
 
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The Anglicans executed St. Thomas More for being a Catholic and refusing to acknowledge Henry VIII as the supreme head of the church. Sarcastically, the same church that murdered him now had him canonized and they even installed his statue above the entrance of Westminster Abbey.

I call it “crocodile tears”.
 
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That’s a little bit harsh. I wouldn’t really blame the current Church of England for Thomas More’s death. It can be argued that the Reformation was more a result of European dynastic politics than actual doctrinal disagreement. As such his death was a somewhat political move by the state, as much as it was to do with religion. I don’t mean this in a disrespectful way.

There have been killings on both sides of the divide for centuries and the split has influenced politics through The Troubles up to the present day in one form or another.

The Church of England adopted a “middle way” between Protestantism and Catholicism, which I’m guessing is partially a result of the trauma of civil war and violence. This is why I guess I’m finding it interesting how people are “canonised” in the Anglican Communion. I’m not sure that comments about Anglicans murdering and sarcastically canonising Catholics is too helpful to this discussion 🤷
 
First, there is no statue of Thomas More outside Westminster Abbey. Anyway, it’s a somewhat anachronistic and also inaccurate to claim that Thomas More was murdered by the Anglican Church. He was convicted of treason by the English state and executed. Please remember that this was in 1535. People did things rather differently back then.

Furthermore, the Church of England didn’t recognize Thomas More as a hero of the Christian Church until 1980, some 445 years after his death. Do you not accept that institutions are capable of changing? It’s not as if anyone alive in 1980 was also alive in 1535! More than four centuries after the Reformation, some of us are prepared to make friends with our fellow Christians, rather than bearing a grudge for a conflict involving our ancestors around 15 generations ago.

You presumably know about the state visit of His Majesty Emperor Akihito to the United Kingdom in 1998. On that occasion, people gathered in the streets not to welcome the emperor, but to deliberately insult him by turning their backs on him. At the end of the Second World War, His Majesty was 11 years old. He could hardly be held responsible for the atrocities of the Japanese Empire. On that occasion, Queen Elizabeth II awarded the emperor the highest honor in her gift, the Order of the Garter. What would you say about that? More crocodile tears? And remember that this event took place barely more than half a century after the end of the war, when many veterans on both sides were still alive.
 
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That’s why I said they are recognised not canonised. Usually, the form of recognition is being given a date in the calendar.
 
It’s also worth recalling the Ugandan Martyrs, some were Catholic, some Anglican. Pope Paul VI mentioned when they were canonised, “Nor, indeed, do we wish to forget the others who, belonging to the Anglican confession, confronted death in the name of Christ." Probably the closest thing to canonisation the Anglican martyrs have.
 
do_justly_love_mercy said:
More than four centuries after the Reformation, some of us are prepared to make friends with our fellow Christians, rather than bearing a grudge for a conflict involving our ancestors around 15 generations ago.
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I don’t think observing the irony is “bearing a grudge”. We have another thread on the forum where we have similarly observed the irony that the Catholic Church has canonized several people whom it had previously excommunicated during their lifetimes.

If the Anglican Church sincerely feels that it did a wrong thing by what they did to Saint Thomas More, then they are free to rectify that wrong, which will take much more than simply adding his name to a heroes list.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
If the Anglican Church sincerely feels that it did a wrong thing by what they did to Saint Thomas More, then they are free to rectify that wrong, which will take much more than simply adding his name to a heroes list.
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I’m not really sure what else they can do at this stage.
PickyPicky said:
And if Rome were to commemorate the martyrs Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley, I would call that likewise.
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At one time one of the Catholic churches in Oxford did commemorate the Broad Street martyrs in some way. They did come in for some criticism for doing so. Certainly the heroism of Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley cannot be denied. “Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the man.” The image of Cranmer thrusting his right hand into the flames so that it should burn first is a powerful one.
 
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