Our Patron
Thomas More was born in 1478 to a well-off London family. From an early age, he excelled in his studies and went on to Canterbury College at Oxford, where he grew in knowledge through scholasticism and Christian humanism which emphasized classical learning.
More is a model of unity of life, in which his professional career, his family life, and his progress in holiness were all integrated. He was a devoted husband and father and oversaw the education of his children.
In addition to being an accomplished lawyer and political philosopher, whose work Utopia is still studied today, he was a personal secretary and advisor of King Henry VIII. This, however, changed when Henry decided to divorce Queen Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn. Refusing to swear an oath to the King against his Catholic faith and loyalty to the Church, Thomas More was put on trial for treason and died a martyr on July 6, 1535. At the scaffold, More declared: “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.”
Pope Leo XIII beatified Thomas More, John Fisher, and fifty-two other English Martyrs on December 29, 1886. Blessed Pope Pius XI canonized More and Fisher on May 19, 1935. Saint Thomas More is the patron of statesmen, politicians, and lawyers. He is also considered by many to be a model of sanctity through marriage, family, and ordinary life.
Prayer of Saint Thomas More
O Lord, give us a mind that is humble, quiet, peaceable, patient and charitable and a taste of your Holy Spirit in all our thoughts, words, and deeds. O Lord, give us a lively faith, a firm hope, a fervent charity, a love of you. Take from us all lukewarmness in meditation and all dullness in prayer. Give us fervor and delight in thinking of you, your grace, and your tender compassion toward us. Give us, good Lord, the grace to work for the things we pray for. Amen.
