28 OCTOBER 1882, Page 3

It is stated in telegrams from POMO that the Pope

is favourably inclined towards a proposal for the beatification and. It is stated in telegrams from POMO that the Pope is favourably inclined towards a proposal for the beatification and. ultimate canonisation of Sir Thomas More, the Chancellor of Henry VIII., who died a martyr for the Catholic faith ; and of Dr. Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, executed by the same Ring, mainly because he accepted a Cardinal's hat without permis- sion. Sir Thomas More, with his learning, his beautiful char- acter, and his martyrdom, would make a splendid Saint for English Catholics ; and Fisher's personal character was one of great dignity and sweetness. But Cardinal Manning, who is said to be promoting the Papal recognition of these worthies, must read More's " Utopia " with care, for the advocatue Dieboli, if he knows his business, may not improbably accuse that work of heresy, in its argument for toleration. We thought, too, that Rome demanded miracles to prove Saintship ; and the 'billy miracle More ever performed, though we admit that is one, was so bearing himself as a sincere Catholic that successive generations of Protestants retained an impression of the sanctity of his character. He is, we think, the only English Catholic martyr who left that tradition behind him.