Saint of the Issue
By: Huey Campbell
This January is an important month for American politics. There is fresh blood in Congress as of January 3, and our new president was inaugurated on January 20. With all of this political activity in our nation, St. Thomas Moore, the patron saint of civil servants and politicians, comes into mind.
St. Thomas More was born in London, England on February 7, 1478. He was the son of lawyer, judge and widower Sir John More and Agnes Graunger, the first of John More’s four wives. As a child, Thomas received an excellent education from one of London’s best schools at the time, St. Anthony’s School. In 1490, Thomas became the household page to Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor of England John Morton who encouraged Thomas to acquire an education. Thomas did so by entering Oxford in 1492 to study Greek and Latin until he moved on to learn to be a lawyer in 1494. Afterwards, Thomas was approved to practice law in 1502.
Although becoming a lawyer, Thomas soon yearned to pursue a spiritual path. Between 1503 and 1504, More neighbored a Carthusian monastery and joined the monks in their spiritual practices and simple piety. In 1504, Thomas More decided to practice politics while maintaining the pious practices he learned from the monks and enrolled for election into Parliament. The same year, he was elected into Parliament to represent the region of Great Yarmouth, beginning his tenure.
Being an honest politician and a man of integrity, More steadily rose to power. In 1510, he represented London in Parliament and became a Privy Counselor four years later. Eventually, King Henry VIII took favor to More and began to promote him. In 1521, Henry VIII knighted More and promoted him to Under-Treasurer of the Exchequer. Then, More became the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, representing the king’s authority in northern England. In 1529, More was promoted to Lord Chancellor and used his position to defend the Catholicism in England. All the while, More married twice, fathered four children with his deceased wife, adopted his second wife’s daughter, provided all of his children with love and an education, and wrote his famous book Utopia, a fictional work describing the perfect society.
St. Thomas More was a good man and politician, but he began to lose favor with King Henry VIII. First, More denied to sign the annulment request of Henry VIII to be sent the Pope, rejecting an order of the king for the first time in 1530. In 1532, Thomas aggravated the king further by resigning from his position as Lord Chancellor. Thomas More claimed the purpose was waning health, but he did not want affiliated with Henry VIII’s upcoming schism from the Church. The straw that broke the camel’s back was More’s absence from the coronation of Anne Boleyn which offended Henry VIII and lead him to bring charges against More. After the charges failed to convict Thomas, Henry VIII forced More to take an oath proclaiming Anne Boleyn as Queen of England, the validity of Henry’s annulment to Catherine of Aragon, and Henry VIII as head of the Anglican Church on April 13, 1534. Thomas More accepted Anne Boleyn as Queen of England, rejected the other two conditions, and was arrested. A partial trial held on July 1 convicted Thomas of treason and sentenced him to be hanged which was reduced by Henry VIII to beheading.
Thomas More was beheaded on July 6, 1535 and canonized a saint by Pope Pius XI on May 19, 1935. Today, he is seen as a martyr and the patron saint of adopted children, lawyers, civil servants, and politicians. His feast day is June 22.