King Henry VIII declared the Church of England separate from Rome, taking supreme authority in the ecclesiastical sphere and full and absolute dominion over the whole country.
Newsroom (02/06/2025 20:11, Gaudium Press) In the 16th century, King Henry VIII rebelled against the Church, leading a nation that was once called the ‘Isle of Saints’ into schism.
English feudalism
Regarding this terrible event, Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira made comments that we summarize below:
In the Middle Ages, there was an organic monarchy based on the principle of subsidiarity, according to which each social body had to find a solution to its own problems, being supported by the superior body only to the extent that it was unable to resolve its difficulties.
The great only intervened in the existence of the small to remedy violations of God’s Law and the principles of Christian Civilization, or to support them when they were unable to do so on their own.
At the top of this chain was the king, who exercised the same principle in relation to all his minors. He was the maintainer of all autonomies and freedoms, as well as the coordinator and stimulator of all the general activities of his kingdom.
Among these autonomies, the greatest and most notable was that of the Church. And when it comes to the Mystical Bride of Christ, one cannot speak of autonomy, but of sovereignty. The Church is as sovereign an entity as the State and, in its own sphere, absolutely cannot be governed by the king.
However, with the decline of the Middle Ages, kings began to become absolute, eliminating all lower autonomies, and particularly attacking the sovereignty of the Church, transforming it into an instrument for governing the nation.
Following this trend, Henry VIII declared the Church of England separate from Rome, calling for supreme authority in the ecclesiastical sphere as well, acquiring full and absolute dominion over the entire country.
This was the tragic event that happened in England in the 16th century.
Before Henry VIII, England was one of the bastions of the Catholic Church. In all intellectual, artistic, political and social life, the influence of Catholic principles was profound. The number of saints born on English territory was so great that England came to be called the ‘Isle of Saints’.
‘English feudalism, an admirable model of administrative intelligence, was perhaps the most perfect political regime in medieval Europe.’
Sensuality and pride
Henry VIII became king in 1509 at the age of 19. He had married Catherine of Aragon, widow of his brother Arthur Tudor, and the daughter of the Catholic King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile, and aunt of Emperor Charles V.
They had five children, but only Mary Tudor survived, who became Queen of England in 1553 and married the King of Spain, Philip II.
Interpreting the Catholic sentiment of the English people, Henry wrote a work refuting Protestantism, and Pope Leo X awarded him the honourable title of ‘Defender of the Faith’.
However, driven by sensuality, he wanted to annul his marriage and unite with another woman. Through large ‘donations’, he obtained support from bishops and universities to realize his goal. In 1531, he expelled Catherine of Aragon from court and the chambers she occupied were given to her maid of honour, Anne Boleyn.
Having failed to obtain Rome’s approval for his infamous project, Henry VIII, driven by pride, founded a Church independent of Rome, of which he was the supreme head.
Decline of the clergy
Excommunicated by Paul III in 1534, he ordered violent persecution against those who resisted him. Catholics who did not recognize him as head of the Church were hanged and quartered.
Among the great personalities he had killed were St. John Fisher, the Bishop of Rochester who was made a cardinal, and St. Thomas More, who had been chancellor of the realm.
He suppressed 645 monasteries, 90 colleges, 2,374 chapels and 110 hospitals. He seized land and other Church property.
He even had the relics of St Thomas Becket (1118-1170) removed from his tomb, where he was much venerated, saying that he had committed high treason by opposing his king.
‘The Revolution carried out by Henry VIII was the establishment among the Christian peoples of the most monstrous tyranny.’
The decadence of the clergy was great. In 1530, of the country’s 21 bishops, only four resided in their dioceses, the others at court…. The abbots were appointed by the king.
Leo X gave Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, archbishop of York and chancellor of the realm, the post of papal legate in England. Totally submissive to Henry VIII, he led a worldly life and kept a concubine in his palace.
Condemned by the king, on his way to prison he said: ‘If I had served God as diligently as I served the king, he would not have abandoned me in my old age.’
Inhabitants in misery and begging
In 1536, Catherine of Aragon died, and Boleyn was made Queen of England. Three months later she was beheaded on three charges of treason, adultery and incest.
Henry VIII had four more ‘wives’: Jane of Seymour, Anne of Cleves, repudiated a few weeks later, Catherine Howard, killed for being an adulteress, and the widow Catherine Parr, who survived the bloodthirsty monarch.
In the last years of his life, Henry VIII became so obese that he could only walk with the help of another person. A painting by Holbein depicts him as fat, displaying ‘a cold cruelty, commanded by pride and sensuality’.
Stricken with a cancerous ulcer, he became bedridden, and nobody dared warn him about the risk of losing his life because he could be punished …
Leaving a huge number of death sentences that he did not have time to sign, he died in January 1547, aged 56.
He was “the most unjust, the vilest, and the most bloodthirsty of the tyrants who have afflicted England. This country, which at the beginning of his rule was peaceful, united and happy, he left torn by factions and schisms; its inhabitants were plunged into misery and beggary.”
By Paulo Francisco Martos
With Files From: Notions of Church History
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
Related Images:
