Saint Thomas More
English lawyer and Lord Chancellor beheaded in 1535 for refusing the oath of succession
- Rank
- Saint
- Kind
- Martyr, Layperson
- Life
- 1478 – 1535
- Era
- 16th century
- Feast
- 22 June
- Countries
- United Kingdom
Life story
Thomas More was born in London in 1478, the son of a judge. He studied law, practised as a lawyer and gradually entered public life. He married, had four children, and was admired by friends such as Erasmus of Rotterdam for his learning and wit. In 1516 he published Utopia, a Latin work describing an imaginary island.
Under King Henry VIII More held several offices: member of the Privy Council, Speaker of the House of Commons in 1523, and in 1529 successor to Cardinal Wolsey as Lord Chancellor of England. When the king sought to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and to place the English Church outside the Pope's authority, More disagreed, and in May 1532 he resigned as chancellor.
In 1534 Parliament passed the Act of Succession, requiring all subjects to swear to the king's new marriage. More was willing to accept the succession of the king's children but refused an oath that also contained a declaration against the Pope's authority. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London for more than a year.
More was tried for treason and beheaded on Tower Hill on 6 July 1535. He was beatified in 1886 and canonised, together with St John Fisher, by Pius XI in 1935. In 2000 Pope John Paul II declared him patron of statesmen and politicians. The trial records and the letters he wrote from the Tower, including those to his daughter Margaret, have survived, and they allow historians to follow his last months in unusual detail.
Works and witness
- Published Utopia in 1516
- Speaker of the House of Commons in 1523
- Lord Chancellor of England from 1529 to 1532
- Refused the Oath of Succession in 1534
- Beheaded on 6 July 1535, canonised in 1935
Patron of
Statesmen and politicians
Saints from the same country
References
- Martyrologium Romanum
- Thomas More, Utopia
- William Roper, The Life of Sir Thomas More
Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.