St. Thomas More

St. Thomas More was the sole surviving son of Sir John More and his wife Agnes. He was born in London on February 7, 1478. During his childhood, he rigorously studied religion and the classics. He then went to Oxford around 1492, where he studied law. After leaving Oxford, he spent some time debating the life of a priest. In the end, he decided he could not deny the married state and wished to be a chaste husband rather than an impure priest.

He then began his legal career, and in 1501 was elected to Parliament. Four years later he met and married his first wife Jane Colt. Together they had three daughters, Margaret, Elizabeth, and Cecilia, and one son, John. In 1511, Jane died an early death. Very soon afterwards, More married a widow, Alice Middleton, to be a mother to his young children.

More spent the next several years as members of embassies, being away from England for many months. It was during this time he wrote the famous Utopia. He befriended Henry VIII who knighted More and eventually made him Lord Chancellor in 1529. More resigned in 1532 after opposing Henry on the matter of royal divorce and refusing to swear the Oath of Supremacy (declaring that Henry VIII had supremacy over the Church of England rather than the Pope). He was imprisoned in the Tower of London where he continued to write, defending the Church of England.

On July 1, 1535, More was indicted for high treason before a special commission of twenty members. He was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged, but was later changed to beheading. On July 6, the execution took place. The body was buried in the Church of St. Peter ad Vincula in London. It is said his head lays in the Roper Vault at Saint Dunstan's church in Canterbury, England.

Feast Day: June 22

Canonized: 1935 by Pope Pius XI

Patron of Lawyers

"I die the king's good servant, but God's first" ~ St. Thomas More