Saint Thomas More and France

Extract

Perhaps this article had best begin with an apology. One need not be very conversant with the biography of St. Thomas to know that the points of contact between him and France were comparatively few and that he never was particularly attracted towards a country long the enemy of his own. And still, even before the points of contact did exist, very little experience could not fail to teach him that France was no negligible factor in the affairs of the world and that whether he liked it or not, he could not ignore her thought or her politics. As years passed by, he had opportunities to pay the neighboring nation occasional visits, he made the personal acquaintance of some of her more or less eminent representatives, and a time came when he had to discuss State matters for his country with a few of them. That was not all, and almost on his last day, at the solemn hour of his trial, the name of France was on his lips. These few facts seem sufficient proof to the present writer that his country cannot have left his favorite saint indifferent (Ch. I), and he feels the more drawn towards an inquiry into the matter as he is sure that his favorite saint, in turn, is far from having left some at least of his compatriots indifferent in the course of the last four centuries (Ch. II).