Did St. Thomas More have Lutherans executed as heretics?

[dagostmd]

I have, for many years, had a great admiration for St. Thomas More. Recently a (non-catholic) business colleague attacked St. Thomas’ reputation citing his cruelty and violence towards Lutherans. I didn’t know how to respond to this. Can someone help out?

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia:

As chancellor it was his duty to enforce the laws against heretics and, by doing so, he provoked the attacks of Protestant writers both in his own time and since. The subject need not be discussed here, but More’s attitude is patent. He agreed with the principle of the anti-heresy laws and had no hesitation in enforcing them. As he himself wrote in his “Apologia” (cap. 49) it was the vices of heretics that he hated, not their persons; and he never proceeded to extremities until he had made every effort to get those brought before him to recant. How successful he was in this is clear from the fact that only four persons suffered the supreme penalty for heresy during his whole term of office.

According to Wikipedia:

Stories of [torture] were current even in More’s lifetime and he denied them forcefully. He admitted that he did imprison heretics in his house – ‘theyr sure kepynge’ – he called it – but he utterly rejected claims of torture and whipping… ‘so helpe me God.’

More needs to be evaluated by the era in which he lived. More lived in a period of history where heresy was seen not just as a religious offense but a civil one. The world had not yet come to understand muli-cultural societies. It was thought, essentially, that different religions in a country would lead to chaos and civil strife. When Protestants became the officials in a nation they in turn would persecute Catholics under the same notion.

To be a saint does not mean someone is considered perfect. It simply means that person heroically lived their faith in the times in which they lived. St. Thomas More, despite his human frailty and limitedness, truly loved God above all else. Had More lived today he would most likely take a different view on this issue.