Thomas More--A portrait of Courage.

Gerard B. Wegemer (Princeton: Scepter Publishers, Third printing, 1998) IX + 307 pp. ISBN 0-933932-84-7 (hardback), ISBN 1-889334-12-X (paperback); ISBN 1-85182-425-1 (Four Courts Press edition); no prices given.

Millions know, through Robert Bolt's play and film, A Man for All Seasons, that Thomas More gave up a magnificent career and, abandoned even by his loving family, had his head cut off because he would not bow to the dictates of a tyrant. In his Thomas More, A portrait of Courage, Gerard B. Wegemer answers our common question: "What gave More the courage to exercise a love of God that knew no bounds and to remain loyal to the truth even to death?" In examining More's biography, he found that answer in More's spiritual life.

Wegemer shows that, like Saint Paul, Saint Thomas practised the constant self-denial and mortification necessary for victory in spiritual combat. He wore a hair shirt, fasted, and spent time daily in solitary prayer. Of more importance, the author identifies the essential source of More's courage, his constant meditation on the sufferings of Christ and on the necessity of following Christ. By uniting his sufferings to the sufferings of Our Lord for the glory of God and the satisfaction for his sins, this most balanced, friendly, and merry of men increased his ardent love of God.

More's first handbook on spiritual combat, The life of John Picus, shows that the love of God directed all his actions and was "the ultimate foundation of More's legendary courage." The culmination of that courage found its expression in The Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation and De Tristitia Christi, More's two Tower works, the second of which reveals the depth of the fear he had to overcome.

Wegemer cites Thomas More's earliest biographers to show how he used his intellectual and spiritual gifts to develop his courage. More's clear reason exercised in his legal work and public service led him to the practice of courageous decisions, even dangerous ones (e.g., his decision on May 16, 1532-the day after the Submission of the Clergy-to resign the Lord Chancellorship). His pointed yet diplomatic sense of comedy allowed his courageous insistence on the truth in persuading obstinate or simple opponents. He told a humorous story to the bishops before Anne Boleyn's coronation in an unsuccessful attempt to save them from the disaster their presence at the ceremony ensured. His integrity let him speak boldly for the necessary reform of the Church and against the heresies of Luther, Tyndale, and Cranmer. He protected his integrity on his tombstone which he composed some years before his death, that integrity which Henry attested even after More had resigned the Lord Chancellorship. While he was Lord Chance llor, his unassailable and steadfast defence of the Church in The Confutation of Tyndale's Answer blocked the hostile Cromwell and Cranmer, Henry's henchmen.

His insistence on the inestimable value of education evinced his wisdom and his true humanism. He explained in a letter to his children's tutor the whole purpose of education: "The whole fruit of their [his children's] endeavours should consist in the testimony of God and a good conscience. Thus they will be inwardly calm and at peace and neither stirred by praise of flatterers nor stung by the follies of unlearned mockers of learning." As Wegemer explains, "More's fundamental principle in education was crystal-clear: 'Put virtue in the first place..., learning in the second.'"

He showed his family "the power and attractiveness of virtue. He saw to it that theirs was a bright and attractive home, filled with music, stories, good conversation, a constant flow of friends, hard and meaningful work, care for each other, and care for the poor."

More composed his Tower work A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation in the full awareness that he was facing possible torture and almost certain death. In it, he traces the final steps on the steep path to Courage (Comfort) which will overcome suffering (Tribulation). Anthony shows his nephew Vincent how to overcome his fear of the "Great Turk" on the eve of the invasion of Hungary. Anthony's instruction convinces his nephew that suffering is medicinal and that fear arises because we don't see things as they are. We make ourselves the victims of our own fantasies. Vincent comes to see in Christ's passion the ultimate example of courageous love. He, then, will find courage to follow Christ and to suffer for the sake of Christ. Despite the ominous shadow over its composition, the work is full of "merry tales", witty rejoinders, and crisp, humorous dialogue.

With the exception of one or two brief letters, De Tristitia Christi was Thomas More's last work. He advised his family to pray, and to reflect on Christ's praying in the Garden of Gethsemane and on His patient suffering at the hands of Judas. Their ultimate reliance on Our Lord to sustain them will give them the courage to overcome fear as He overcame the terrible fear which caused Him to sweat blood.

In the Tower, More achieved a detachment from the world "for the winning of Christ." On May 7, 1535, he told the commissioners who were examining him,"... my whole study should be upon the Passion of Christ and mine own passage out of this world."

In one of his last letters to his daughter Meg, he quotes Saint Paul, "And so Saint Paul said, 'All is possible in Him who strengthens me"' to assure her that he goes willingly and merrily to his martyrdom.

An associate professor of English at the University of Dallas and a More scholar, Gerard Wegemer achieves an easy and precise style. His narrative is excellent, especially in the trialand martyrdom. He makes More's English easy for the modern reader by editing sentences to conform somewhat to contemporary usage. All quotations are fully referenced, however, and there is a good bibliography. Illustrations and appendices detail places in More's London.

Hugh Loughran is a member of Amici Thomae Mori. He is a retired high school English teacher who lives in Mississauga, Ontario.