Apostle James Maior and Sir Thomas More

 

 

by

Damien F. Mackey

 

  

Then there is the name similarity, Thomas (through Tames to) James.

And the similarity of surname/epithet, More and Greater.

 I can enlarge upon this epithet now.

 James the Greater (as opposed to another Apostle, James the Lesser) is rendered

in Latin as Jacobus Maior. Now, Maior is uncannily like More – Thomas is More, but he is also close to being, like Saint James, a Greater.

  

By no means am I the first to have noticed the uncanny likenesses between King Herod and King Henry VIII. Thomas McGovern, for one, has, as well - as I noted at the start of my article:

Chewing over the House of Tudor

 

(1) Chewing over the House of Tudor

 

Talk about parallel lives!

Herod Antipas and Henry VIII. John the Baptist and Bishop John Fisher.

This is astutely picked up by Thomas McGovern, in his article for Catholic Culture.org, “Bishop John Fisher: Defender of the Faith and Pastor of Souls”

https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=7604

….

 

Apart from this article, I have written others according to which ‘Tudor’ may be a somewhat problematical concept, or reality. For instance:

 

Term ‘Tudor’ has become grossly distorting

 

(3) Term ‘Tudor’ has become grossly distorting

 

Horrible Histories: Turpitudinous Tudors

 

(4) Horrible Histories: Turpitudinous Tudors

 

Henry VIII’s palaces [are] missing

 

(4) Henry VIII's palaces missing

 

Anne Boleyn ‘a Jezebel and harlot’

 

(3) Anne Boleyn 'a Jezebel and harlot'

 

Some Herodian-Tudor parallels I had previously referred to are in the following piece, according to which Saint John Fisher was “the new John the Baptist”:

 

And I have just found something similar here from Dr. Taylor Marshall, Dean of Fisher More College in Fort Worth, Texas:

The Parallel between St John Fisher and St John the Baptist - Taylor Marshall

 

Saint John Fisher was born in Beverley, Yorkshire, England in 1469, the eldest son of Robert Fisher, a modestly prosperous merchant of Beverley, and Agnes Fisher. He was named after Saint John the Baptist.

He was the only bishop in England who faithfully defended the Pope against the adulterous tyranny of King Henry VIII. All the other English bishops apostatized. John Fisher, even more valiantly than Thomas More, defended the valid marriage of Henry to Catherine of Aragon and vehemently opposed Henry VIII’s assumption of the title “Supreme Head” of the English Church.

As early as 1530 Saint John Fisher began to preach that he was willing to die like Saint John the Baptist in defense of the sacrament of matrimony. You’ll remember that John the Baptist received martyrdom for protesting King Herod Antipas’ adulterous marriage to Herodias.

Henry VIII was the new Herod

Ann Boleyn was the new Herodias

John Fisher was the new John the Baptist

….

 

Can further parallels be adduced?

 

What about Saint Thomas More, the “Man For All Seasons”?

 

I already made a start on this in an additional article:

 

John Fisher and John Baptist parallels

 

(2) John Fisher and John Baptist parallels

 

The most obvious similarity between Thomas More and James the Greater

is the death by beheading (Acts 12:2) – that, at least, is how the Apostle James

is generally considered to have been killed.

 

And under the Herod-like Henry VIII.

 

Saint Thomas More

 

If John Fisher smacks of a new John the Baptist, then, to a lesser, not More, extent, but with reference to a Greater, Thomas More has some things in common with the Apostle, James the Greater.

 

The most obvious similarity between Thomas More and James the Greater is the death by beheading (Acts 12:2) – that, at least, is how the Apostle James is generally considered to have been killed.

 

And under the Herod-like Henry VIII (ref. to Dr. Taylor Marshall’s comparison above, “Henry VIII was the new Herod”).

 

Then there is the name similarity, Thomas (through Tames to) James.

And the similarity of surname/epithet, More and Greater.

 

I can enlarge upon this epithet now.

 

James the Greater (as opposed to another Apostle, James the Lesser) is rendered in Latin as Jacobus Maior. Now, Maior is uncannily like More – Thomas is More, but he is also close to being, like Saint James, a Greater. 

 

Thomas More was famous for his silence.

In “A Man for all seasons”, Cromwell remarks: “Now, Sir Thomas, you stand on your silence”.

Ironically, James 3:1-12 is all about taming the dangerous tongue.

 

For more on Sir Thomas More, see my article:

 

Parallel Lives - Thomas Becket and Thomas More

 

(3) Parallel Lives - Thomas Becket and Thomas More