Writes Paul Woodruff in "My death is close at hand. But I do not think of myself as dying" (WaPo).
April 27, 2023
"Unless I am in unbearable pain, I should be able to live right up to the last moments."
"Here is an inspiring (although slightly gruesome) example: Under bloody Queen Mary, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the author of the lovely Anglican prayer book, was burned at the stake for his protestant views despite signing false confessions of faith in Catholic doctrine. Even as the flames licked up around him, and his death was moments away, he was very much living (not dying) when he put his right hand into the heart of the fire to punish it for signing false confessions.
I know I will die soon. But must I be miserable about it? Why not find a cause for joy in each day?... There’s nothing wrong with dying. All the best people in history have done it. Let foolish philosophers see themselves as dying every day. Thinking of death, I choose life."
Writes Paul Woodruff in "My death is close at hand. But I do not think of myself as dying" (WaPo).
Writes Paul Woodruff in "My death is close at hand. But I do not think of myself as dying" (WaPo).
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13 comments:
I'm more inspired by my grandfather that died of a stroke sitting in his favorite chair moments after seeing both his adult children and while his wife was in the kitchen baking a pie.
Even as the flames licked up around him, and his death was moments away, he was very much living... "Thinking of death, I Choose Life."
You send my soul sky-high
When your burnin' starts
Cranmer had, as I recall, a significant role in the murder of Thomas Moore.
And now I know how Joan of Arc felt
Now I know how Joan of Arc felt
As the flames rose to her Roman nose
And her Walkman started to melt (Oh)
Big Mouth Strikes Again
@Michael K —
Cranmer and More were certainly antagonists, but to his credit Cranmer tried strenuously to save More from the gallows.
Still alive, viable, and vibrant. Rumors of my sequestration are greatly exaggerated.
My father is three months shy of his 100th birthday, and every day is a painful struggle. He still manages to have his two bottles of Peroni beer and an ice cream in the late afternoon. That makes him smile. He's not close to being ready to die.
Well, More didn't stand on the gallows; he was beheaded. Which still beats the standard punishment for high treason (IIRC. hanging, drawing and quartering -- the hanging is just a warmup, you understand, not itself intended to kill). Don't know whether I'd choose even that over being burned alive.
Blogger Mike Petrik said...
@Michael K —
Cranmer and More were certainly antagonists, but to his credit Cranmer tried strenuously to save More from the gallows.
Educate me on how Cranmer "saved" More from the gallows. He certainly did not save him from the headsman.
"Live Every Day As Though It's Your Last
One Day You'll Be Right"
Benny Hill
Having read many Catholic Lives of the Saints, I'm a sceptic about stories like Cranmer's final acts of philosophical repudiations. Screaming and writhing is much more likely when tied to a burning pyre. Want to accept that a good biographer wrote him a nice obituary moment?
I've been in urgent but nonpainful moments of decision-making and I've been doubled over on the floor in pain with nothing else to do. Pain wins at ass-kicking.
Thomas More died because he wouldn't obey the king in divorcing his first wife
And Cramer supported this because "bible" (/s). But when Henry decided to get rid of Ann by fake charges, crickets.
True, he wrote a letter defending Ann, but did not defend her publically when she was killed.
So yes, he wrote pretty. But at the cost of these innocent women.
Do we need endless boomer navel gazing about their impending demises ?
Spare me.
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