Fr. Ronald Knox: Hymn for SS. John Fisher and Thomas More
When Herod, for an impious bride,
His eager lust would fain fulfill,
John in that hour a martyr died,
Unschooled to serve a tyrant's will:
Nor less resolved, when Norman rage
The rights of holy Church gainsaid,
That wonton fury to assuage
Thomas his glorious blood must shed.
So, when a tyrant fiercer yet
His wedlock and his faith forswore,
A second John his sentence met,
A second Thomas witness bore.
Time-serving priests their aid might lend,
Smooth courtiers tremble at his sway;
Two loyal hearts no force could bend
Their God, their conscience to betray.
O love that burned when love grew cold,
O faith that shone when faith was dim,
The Cross your Master bore of old
You bore to Calvary with him.
Twin beacon- lights, serenely set
At God’s right hand for all the earth,
Look down on England, nor forget
The thankless home that gave you birth;
To freedom and to wisdom friends,
Look on a world unwisely free;
To bear the Cross our Master sends
How slow, how frail, how faint are we;
To God, who crowns
his saints above,
Be praise henceforth as heretofore,
Who throned in perfect truth and love
Liveth and reigneth evermore. Amen.
--R.A. Knox
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