Our Patron Saint - St. Thomas More
Born in London in 1476. After a thorough grounding in religion and the classics, he entered Oxford University to study Law and landed a legal career in the parliament after leaving the University. In 1505, he married his beloved Jane Colt, who bore him four children and when she died at a young age, he married a widow, Alice Middleton.
By 1516, he wrote his world-famous book Utopia, which attracted King Henry VIII’s attention, who appointed him to a succession of high posts, and missions, and made him Lord Chancellor in 1529. In 1532, he resigned at the height of his career and reputation when Henry VIII persisted in holding his own opinion regarding marriage and the supremacy of the Pope.
The rest of his life was spent writing mostly in defense of the Church, thus he was tried and convicted of treason. He told the court he could not go against his conscience. He was beheaded on July 6, 1535. His feast day is June 22nd. On the scaffold, he told the crowd of spectators that he was dying as “the King’s good servant but God’s first.” Became the patron saint of lawyers and statesmen.
