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Four Last Things / The Supplication of Souls / A Dialogue on Conscience
The Four Last Things develops More's advice to his daughter Margaret to meditate on Death, Judgment, Pain and Joy as medicinal herbs in the battle against the spiritual sicknesses of pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy and sloth. More created The Supplication of Souls in response to a defamatory political tract against the Roman Catholic Church. In it he swiftly reduces to absurdities the charges set forth on the "greed and corruption" of the English clergy and the controversial topic of Purgatory. He sets the record straight in a clear, precise and humorous style. A Dialogue on Conscience is a collection of letters and dialogues between More and his stepdaughter Alice Alington, and daughter Margaret. Written while imprisoned in the Tower of London by King Henry VIII, More adheres to his course while the others struggle to understand why he refuses to take the oath which ultimately costs him his life.
218 pages, Paperback
First published January 2, 2002
About the author
Thomas More
459 books1,220 followersSir Thomas More (1477-1535), venerated by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He was a councillor to Henry VIII and also served as Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to 16 May 1532.
More opposed the Protestant Reformation, in particular the theology of Martin Luther and William Tyndale. He also wrote Utopia, published in 1516, about the political system of an imaginary ideal island nation. More opposed the King's separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was convicted of treason and beheaded.
Pope Pius XI canonised More in 1935 as a martyr. Pope John Paul II in 2000 declared him the "heavenly Patron of Statesmen and Politicians." Since 1980, the Church of England has remembered More liturgically as a Reformation martyr. The Soviet Union honoured him for the Communistic attitude toward property rights expressed in Utopia.
More opposed the Protestant Reformation, in particular the theology of Martin Luther and William Tyndale. He also wrote Utopia, published in 1516, about the political system of an imaginary ideal island nation. More opposed the King's separation from the Catholic Church, refusing to acknowledge Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England and the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. After refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was convicted of treason and beheaded.
Pope Pius XI canonised More in 1935 as a martyr. Pope John Paul II in 2000 declared him the "heavenly Patron of Statesmen and Politicians." Since 1980, the Church of England has remembered More liturgically as a Reformation martyr. The Soviet Union honoured him for the Communistic attitude toward property rights expressed in Utopia.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 19, 2012
A very well-written a poignant book. The Four Last Things is a very good eschatological essay sure to place "first thing s first." A Supplication of Souls is surprisingly direct; More had a very prescient understanding of the direction certain fallacies and philosophies would entail. His arguments are as applicable today as they were in the 16th C. Lastly, his Dialogue is a heartwarming classic back-and-forth between More and his daughter Meg. All his letters to his children reveal the heart of a true father.
December 15, 2013
I may be a little biased as I just read this and presented it in a seminar for my course.
I kind of loved it.
It was macabre and didn't shy away from the graphic, but it also included a lot on the seven deadly sins (well, not lechery as More never finished it)
I thought it was great anyway
I kind of loved it.
It was macabre and didn't shy away from the graphic, but it also included a lot on the seven deadly sins (well, not lechery as More never finished it)
I thought it was great anyway
December 6, 2019
Great read. Deep thoughts on matters faith.
May 13, 2021
St. Thomas More is one of my favorite saints; I wore his medal ages before the thought of becoming a Catholic ever entered my mind and we gave his name to our son. Utopia, fascinating as it is, cannot be understood apart from the sainthood of this Saint. As is, his other books are rarely read, and that is a great shame. The Four Last Things was not completed, and so I admit to skipping over that, but the other two works published in this volume are witty, charitable, and wise.
A Dialogue of Conscience was not actually written by More, but rather is an account of a conversation with his daughter Meg while he was imprisoned by King Henry VIII. Only a Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Crito are comparable prison works. But whereas the former is strenuously pleaing with the nation to reject the evil of racism and the latter argues that disobeying bad laws is bad for the state, St. Thomas largely leaves the well-being of the commonwealth out of his discussion. He cannot, will not, do wrong, say wrong, support wrong; he gives no command to anyone else, not even his daughter. This letter is intensely personal. St. Thomas More felt keenly the injustice of his fate and more so the grievous overthrow of the Faith in England, but he keeps his joyful nature. The former Lord Chancellor of England did not make the future of England his concern; there is wisdom in this. How many are made miserable today by the direction of society, of the state, of our own inability to change those things? Mind your own soul and pray for the rest might be St. Thomas' advice (which would probably only be offered if asked for). Not to avoid suffering, but to bear it patiently is the goal. He reminded me of Solzhenitsyn by calling his imprisonment a blessing. And he prays for his enemies, hoping that they may yet be together joyfully in God's kingdom.
The Supplication of Souls is a response to Simon Fish's Supplication of Beggars. The gist of Fish's work is that the Church is corrupt and has so much wealth that they are impoverishing the rest of the nation; they use indulgences for the souls in Purgatory especially to enrich themselves. St. Thomas, again the former Lord Chancellor and a pretty sharp lawyer, makes very short work of Fish's argument. The impact of dissolving the monasteries bears out the truth of St. Thomas' argument; in any event, Fish himself was convinced and died a Catholic. While that first part contains many humorous zingers and is a masterclass of dismantling a silly argument, the second part contains a worthy defense of the doctrine concerning Purgatory. We Catholics ignore this at our own peril, but the existence of Purgatory helped my conversion considerably. It is not a pleasant place to be, and I am not a masochist, but there is a certain justice to it. There is also a great deal of potential charity attached to that doctrine. Being able to pray for those souls is a great joy to me, just as having the saints pray for me is a great relief. I would urge Protestants to consider what St. More has to say on this issue; far more than Purgatory is at stake for you. And again, while our saint is much more expressive of his horror at the Protestant heresy, his charity for those poor souls is always evident. This is a man who would "own" nobody and convert everybody, for their good rather than his own, and that true charity flows off of the pages.
A Dialogue of Conscience was not actually written by More, but rather is an account of a conversation with his daughter Meg while he was imprisoned by King Henry VIII. Only a Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Crito are comparable prison works. But whereas the former is strenuously pleaing with the nation to reject the evil of racism and the latter argues that disobeying bad laws is bad for the state, St. Thomas largely leaves the well-being of the commonwealth out of his discussion. He cannot, will not, do wrong, say wrong, support wrong; he gives no command to anyone else, not even his daughter. This letter is intensely personal. St. Thomas More felt keenly the injustice of his fate and more so the grievous overthrow of the Faith in England, but he keeps his joyful nature. The former Lord Chancellor of England did not make the future of England his concern; there is wisdom in this. How many are made miserable today by the direction of society, of the state, of our own inability to change those things? Mind your own soul and pray for the rest might be St. Thomas' advice (which would probably only be offered if asked for). Not to avoid suffering, but to bear it patiently is the goal. He reminded me of Solzhenitsyn by calling his imprisonment a blessing. And he prays for his enemies, hoping that they may yet be together joyfully in God's kingdom.
The Supplication of Souls is a response to Simon Fish's Supplication of Beggars. The gist of Fish's work is that the Church is corrupt and has so much wealth that they are impoverishing the rest of the nation; they use indulgences for the souls in Purgatory especially to enrich themselves. St. Thomas, again the former Lord Chancellor and a pretty sharp lawyer, makes very short work of Fish's argument. The impact of dissolving the monasteries bears out the truth of St. Thomas' argument; in any event, Fish himself was convinced and died a Catholic. While that first part contains many humorous zingers and is a masterclass of dismantling a silly argument, the second part contains a worthy defense of the doctrine concerning Purgatory. We Catholics ignore this at our own peril, but the existence of Purgatory helped my conversion considerably. It is not a pleasant place to be, and I am not a masochist, but there is a certain justice to it. There is also a great deal of potential charity attached to that doctrine. Being able to pray for those souls is a great joy to me, just as having the saints pray for me is a great relief. I would urge Protestants to consider what St. More has to say on this issue; far more than Purgatory is at stake for you. And again, while our saint is much more expressive of his horror at the Protestant heresy, his charity for those poor souls is always evident. This is a man who would "own" nobody and convert everybody, for their good rather than his own, and that true charity flows off of the pages.
April 30, 2010
This book is thin but dont let it fool you. It is very wordy and philsophical. You need to read a bit at a time to take it all in. I must add a lot of what More has to say in this book can be applied to my own life in current times.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews