St. Thomas More - 3

St. Thomas More - 3
St. John, Apostle and Evangelist – cinops be gone – Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008

This is the 3rd report on James Monti’s “The King’s Good Servant But God’s First”

More’s Early Years – 2

In a letter written only six years later (May 1, 1506), Erasmus described the personality and intellectual gifts of his English friend (Thomas More) in the most effusive terms:

“… I do not think, unless the vehemence of my love leads me astray, that Nature ever formed a mind more present, ready, sharp sighted and subtle, or in a word more absolutely furnished with every kind of faculty than his. Add to this a power of expression equal to his intellect, a singular cheerfulness of character and abundance of wit, but only of the candid sort; and you miss nothing that should be found in a perfect advocate.”

Whatever may be said of the possible role of Oxford in initiating Thomas’ fascination with the Church Fathers, we can say with considerable greater confidence that John Colet would certainly have fostered such a devotion in More, for Colet crusaded for a return in theology to the works of Saint Jerome, Saint Augustine, and Saint Ambrose. Similarly we find Erasmus preoccupied with publishing accurate texts of the works of the Church Fathers in order to make their writings more widely available … also exerted an influence on More.

It was this same William Grocyn (a lecturer and cleric) who invited More, only 23, to lecture upon St. Augustine’s City of God at Grocyn’s parish in London. We are told that More’s talks focused upon the historical and philosophical aspects of St. Augustine’s book rather than upon its theological dimensions, but unfortunately we have no further details concerning his presentations.

As for the oratorical skills that More would have brought to occasions such as this, Erasmus further testifies:

“ It would be difficult to find any one more successful in speaking ex tempore, the happiest thoughts being attended by the happiest language; while a mind that catches and anticipate all that passes, and a ready memory, having everything as it were in stock, promptly supply whatever the time, or the occasion, demands. In disputations nothing can be imagined more acute, so that the most eminent theologians often find their match, when he meets them on their own ground.”

Already versed in Latin, the young More was at this time studying the other great language of ancient Western civilization – Greek. Thomas’ interest in Greek was yet another manifestation of his preoccupation with the sacred sciences, for Greek was the language of ancient texts of the New Testament and of the Eastern Church Fathers such as St. John Chrysostom and St. Cyril of Jerusalem.
There were other forces at work in his soul, as we are told by Stapleton”

“… He was far more zealous to become a saint than a scholar. For, even as a youth, he wore a hair shirt, and slept on the ground or on bare boards with perhaps a log of wood as his pillow. At the most he took 4 or 5 hours’ sleep, and he was frequent in watchings and fastings. Although he was practicing such austerities, yet he hid them so carefully that no sign of them could be perceived.”

It also appears that in 1499, when More was about 21, he suffered what would have been a most painful reminder of the shortness of human life: the death of his own mother.

George H. Kubeck