[00:00] St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, great saints and martyrs, as an example for all of us in living our faith within the Church. St. Thomas More was born in 1477 to 1480, depending on where you read about his life.

[00:30] St. John Fisher was born a little earlier in 1468. Both of them, although eventually becoming a bishop and then a layperson respectively, a statesman, St. Thomas More, they both had a similar upbringing within the faith. Both of them were highly intelligent. Both of them went to prestigious schools, one of Cambridge, another Oxford, and they

[01:05] both wrote many articles and defended the faith against the errors of that time. St. Thomas More we know a little bit more about, but Bishop Fisher, he was also made a cardinal, but he was not made a cardinal until he had to suffer many things. Both of them were living at the time of King Henry VIII. Both of them were very good friends with King Henry. St. John Fisher, he was good friends even with King Henry's father and helped him out

[01:41] in many different areas, and he actually taught King Henry. St. Thomas More, through his different contacts, became friends with King Henry VIII, and they both wrote a book together, ironically, on the defense of the faith, by which the Pope at that time had given King Henry VIII the title Defender of the Faith, which it hasn't

[02:12] been given to anyone else except for G.K. Chesterton, Gilbert Keith Chesterton in the future. So, this book that he wrote was on the sacraments, but it was mostly written, historians say, by the help of St. Thomas More. St. Thomas More was also a Third Order Franciscan, and he had a chance to prove the lessons that he learned from meditating on the life of St. Francis and his contempt for the world.

[02:45] Although he was living fully within the world, he was a great lawyer. His services were sought after. People tried to bribe him, and they never prevailed. He was sought after for his wisdom, his advice. He eventually became Chancellor of England, second only to King Henry VIII himself. And at a certain point, King Henry, going against the faith of the Church, rejecting the Pope and His authority, decided to divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry a lady-in-waiting

[03:24] Anne Boleyn, and he did many other horrible things. However, the main point in this recounting of the story of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More is that he even went against his own friends who advised him in the right path. He tried to force them, and he succeeded with many bishops and many of the people that were under him to make them sign a petition agreeing with him over the authority of the Holy Father,

[04:00] who said that it was not lawful for him to divorce his then-wife, and he came up with many different things and reasons why, but it came right down to lust. It came down to his desire for someone other than his wife, and because of his power and his state in life, he was able to manipulate the people around him and even declare himself head of the Church and oppose the Holy Roman Catholic Church.

[04:33] St. John Fisher was one of the only bishops, clergy members, who opposed King Henry. He was one of the only ones that went against him and was not afraid of what the consequences might be. St. Thomas More, as well, he vowed to never go against the Church no matter what happened. He resigned his office. St. John Fisher couldn't really resign his office, but St. Thomas More did as a statement

[05:07] of rather showing that he was opposing the king, but was also giving the king a way out in the sense of that St. Thomas More was enough for him to renounce his position because then he didn't have to sign anything. But King Henry knew of his influence, and he not only wanted him to sign it as chancellor, but he wanted him to sign it as his friend because he knew that it would make a big statement

[05:39] to the people that would be influenced by St. Thomas More. But both St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More refused, and they were both taken to the Tower of London, where they suffered for a long time in that tower, away from family, friends, and in terrible conditions. St. Thomas More had a chance many times to recant his position, to save himself, but

[06:12] he didn't take those opportunities, even when his daughter tried to prevail on him, even when his wife tried to prevail on him, to sign the petition, just get it over with. And St. Thomas More said to her that, "You know, how long do you think you would have me for in this life if I was to sign this and go against God?" And she said, "Well, at least 20 years." And he said, "Well, if you had to set a thousand years, maybe it could have made a difference."

[06:46] But he said that, really, you're showing that the devil loves me more than you, because the devil would be even willing to wait a thousand years to have me for all eternity. But you're willing to have me in this life only for 20 years and give me up for eternity. And he said that he would not sign it. And he showed his strength that came from God because of the fact that he always told people that I'm not, I'm not the stuff of martyrs, I'm not the stuff that martyrs are

[07:20] made of. Like I'll never, God will never ask me to die a martyr's death, but he was always willing and God did ask him to do that. And he showed his constancy and even in his humor when he was going to the scaffolding walking up the stairs, he asked the guard to help him. He said, "Well, just help me up." He said, "I'll worry about how I'm getting down." In other words, he was going to be beheaded. So his head was going to roll off anyway. So he said, "Just, you know, help me out."

[07:51] "Help me up and I'll figure out how to get back down myself." And then the guard, obviously, they all knew him. He was famous. He was the second highest in England at one point. And so the guard was actually shaking, you know, when he was, he was going to have to behead St. Thomas More, St. Thomas More grabbed him and said, "It's okay, you're exercising your office in the name of the state and not individually."

[08:22] And then when he was to be beheaded, he pulled his beard up off the block and he said that, "Just one second, let me save my beard." He was innocent in this. And then his last words were, "I die the king's great servant, but God's first." And that is the motto of both St. Cardinal John Fisher and St. Thomas More, that they were willing to die before, even though they were the king's good servant, although they

[08:58] were the best citizens in the land, in a sense, they were not willing to go against God. Even despite that natural fear and the things that they went through, the torture, the losing everything, their state in life, their influence, losing their family, their friends, when everything was against them, when they were alone in the Tower of London, they stayed fast with

[09:30] the protection of the faith and the life that they had lived before, which gave them that strength from God and one for them, the crown of martyrdom. So let us use their example. Let us pray to them and ask our Lord to give us the same graces that He gave to them. The constancy in faith, the strength of the faith, the example for others, and to be willing to give up everything in our lives if our Lord asks of it, to, if we're not able to

[10:09] die a martyr's death, to at least live a martyr's life.