I was recently invited to attend the Red Mass in our diocese and to the luncheon which followed where a very good friend was presented with The St. Thomas More Award for his outstanding commitment to the legal profession coupled with his Catholic faith. The Principal Celebrant of the Mass was Cardinal Sean O’Malley, OFM, recently retired leader of the Boston diocese. The priests wore red vestments honoring the Holy Spirit and local judges wore red stoles commemorating the Twelve Judges of the High Court in Medieval England and Europe.
The Red Mass began in Paris in 1245 and in England in 1310 under Edward I marking the judicial year for the courts. It was first celebrated in the U.S. in 1928 at Old St. Andrew’s on New York City. A prominent Mass, it is held by the John Carroll Society at the cathedral of St. Matthew in Washington, D. C. typically to coincide with the annual opening of the U.S. Supreme Court term. The celebration of this Mass is not a pompous parade of the influential power of law. It is, rather, a reminder that our symbols in a ceremony, from the opening procession to the offertory of gifts, are meant to give us, the witnesses in the pews who rely on the law, the hope and the promise of service the servants in the law provide.
That is why the patron of the Catholic Lawyers Guild, which sponsors the Red Mass is St. Thomas More, the English martyr who chose his faith over the demands of King Henry VIII. More (1478-1535) was a lawyer, scholar, statesman, humanist, and Lord Chancellor of England from 1529 to 1532 under Henry. He was also a member of Parliament, the Speaker of the House of Commons, and an author. He was a loving husband and father.
Perhaps you have seen the drama, A Man for All Seasons, which became an Oscar-winning movie in 1966. It projects masterfully the intense struggle More endured in coming to a peaceful decision, something that many professional people have to do costing them their reputations and careers, and in rare but magnanimous cases, their lives. More opposed King Henry’s divorce of Catherine of Aragon and his marriage to Anne Boleyn and he resigned as Lord Chancellor over this. But his greatest challenge came when the Pope refused to grant Henry an annulment of his marriage to Catherine. Henry then declared himself as Head of the Catholic Church in England and demanded his Court all take the Oath of Supremacy to him in that role. That was a step too far for More who publicly opposed the effort for an annulment and the Oath of Supremacy. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London and beheaded 14 months later on July 6, 1535.
Reflection
I cannot help but think of St. Thomas More as I wade through the morass of this past election cycle. More would not have tolerated vicious ads against opponents; he would have spoken against exaggeration and lies; he would not have been loyal to a leader in place of the people he was to serve. Thomas More would never have amassed wealth from his position. He had courage and a steel rod for a backbone. He was not a sycophant to the King.
I was proud to know my friend as that kind of lawyer. He noted appropriately in his acceptance speech that committed lawyers need time for prayer, reflection, and relationship-building in order to see with objective eyes and the guidance of the law. He was my board chair when I was executive director of our Jesuit Retreat Center, not always agreeing with each other but always respecting each other’s insights. How happy we would be as citizens if the lawyers in our Congress were that way. It is alleged that Thomas More’s last words were: “I am the king’s good servant, but God’s first.”
Let’s renew our appreciation of civil and church law. Let’s challenge it when we think we need to and respect it when we should. The following prayer of St. Thomas More is touching and meaningful for all of us:
Lord, grant that I may be able in argument,
accurate in analysis, strict in study, candid with clients,
and honest with adversaries. Sit with me at my desk
and listen with me to my client’s plaints. Read with
me in the library, and stand beside me in the court, so that
today I shall not, in order to win a point, lose my soul. Amen
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