by
Then there is the name similarity, Thomas
(through Tames to) James.
And the similarity of surname/epithet, More
and Greater.
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
