THE
P RTAL
December 2011
Two Henrys
and two
Thomases
Page 6
A Recusant
Martyr
by Joanna Bogle
Twice in
English history a king named Henry has
clashed with a man named Thomas who would later be
hailed as a martyr and a saint. The first of these gives us a
winter saint - St Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury,
whose feast day we mark on December 29th. The second
gives us a summer saint, St Thomas More, martyred in
1535, whose feast day we mark on June 22nd.
Midsummer and midwinter: Two martyrs, each which led to the Constitutions of Clarendon and
named after the great Apostle Thomas, nicknamed Becket’s refusal to bargain with anything which he felt
to belong the Church’s status or independence. Then
“the twin”.
Henry’s rage, his famous cry asking if anyone would
Thomas Becket
rid him of this turbulent priest, and the four knights
Thomas Becket belongs to the early 12th century who took this as a royal command and set out for
and was a Londoner, born in Cheapside near St Paul’s Canterbury.
Cathedral, on the feast of St Thomas the Apostle,
Becket was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral as
probably in 1113 although the year is not certain.
He was educated by monks at Merton Abbey, on the he was at prayer there. It was during the Christmas
outskirts of what is today suburban Wimbledon - there season. He was brutally slaughtered - there are
are still remnants of this great religious foundation to horrible accounts of his blood and brains splashing
be explored, although much of what was their land is out across the floor. He was immediately hailed as a
martyr, canonised a few years later by the Church, and
now occupied by a massive supermarket.
pilgrims poured into Canterbury by the hundreds and
Becket’s family was well-connected, but by the time then thousands.
he was in his teens his father had suffered financial
reverses and he knew he would have to work hard if he Thomas More and Henry VIII
wanted to do well. He was fortunate in securing a place
Centuries later, Thomas More clashed with Henry
in the household of the Archbishop of Canterbury from VIII and this time in one sense the issue was the same
where he was sent to study canon law. He eventually - whether or not the Crown should have authority
rose to high office in the Church.
over the Church. Thomas More died on the scaffold at
Tower Hill because he refused to recognise Henry as
Henry II
head of the Church. While Henry II publicly repented
The King, Henry II, liked Thomas and in 1162 he of Thomas Becket’s death, Henry VIII went on to
appointed him Archbishop of Canterbury. Thomas was oversee the killing of many more people including two
not a priest at the time - this was a court appointment of his own wives, and never begged forgiveness.
and it was assumed that the Church would approve
and that ordination would follow, which it did. And the king’s good servant, but God’s first
with ordination came, it seems, a change in Thomas -
Today, the tradition of being “the king’s good servant,
he started to take prayer seriously, and he regarded his but God’s first” in Thomas More’s words is a rich part
priesthood as sacred and his first duty as being to God. of our heritage here in Britain. Our soil has been made
holy by the blood of martyrs. Something to think
From here, the story is well-known - Becket’s clash about as we move ahead into this second decade of the
with the king about the role and limits of the royal 21st century, with many issues ahead where Christians
power as it related to the Church, his banishment will need to stand firm and not give in to Government
to France, the heightened bitterness and arguments pressure.