Patron Saint

St. Thomas More – Sir Thomas, 1478–1535, was an English statesman and author of Utopia, and celebrated as a martyr in the Roman Catholic Church. He received a Latin education in the household of Cardinal Morton and at Oxford. Through his contact with the new learning and his friendships with Colet, Lyly and Erasmus, More became an ardent humanist. As a successful London lawyer, he attracted the attention of Henry VIII, served him on diplomatic missions, entered the king’s service in 1518, and was knighted in 1521. More held important government offices and, despite his disapproval of Henry’s divorce from Katharine of Aragón, he was made Lord Chancellor at the fall of Wolsey (1529). He resigned in 1532 because of ill health and probably because of increasing disagreement with Henry’s policies. Because of his refusal to subscribe to the Act of Supremacy, which impugned the Pope’s authority and made Henry the head of the English Church, he was imprisoned (1534) in the Tower and finally beheaded on a charge of treason. A man of noble character and deep, resolute religious conviction, More had great personal charm, unfailing good humor, piercing wit and a fearlessness that enabled him to jest even on the scaffold. His Utopia (published in Latin, 1516; tr. 1551) is a picture of an ideal state founded entirely on reason. More was beatified (1886) by a decree of Pope Leo XIII, canonized (1935) by Pope Pius XI and proclaimed (2000) the patron saint of politicians by Pope John Paul II.

Works:

  • Utopia 1516
  • Translations of John Picus, Earl of Mirandula 1510
  • History of Richard III upon which Shakespeare based his play
  • Polemical Tracts against the Lutherans 1528 to 1533
  • Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation 1534
  • Treaties on the Passion 1534
  • Complete works in 16 volumes 1963-1985

Works on the Saint:

  • Biography by son-in-law, which was the principal source of subsequent biographies
  • R. W. Chambers 1935
  • R. Marius 1985
  • P. Ackroyd 1998
  • Studies by R. Peneas 1968
  • R. Johnson 1969
  • E.E. Reynolds 1965 and 1969
  • G.M. Logan 1983
  • A. Fox 1985
  • James Monti 1997