St Thomas More

'Thomas More may come to be counted the greatest Englishman, or at least the greatest historical character in English history.'

That was the considered verdict of G.K. Chesterton, and many distinguished historians, jurists, writers, non-Catholics and even atheists would agree.

He is for many Catholics - especially the laity - a unique and most attractive saint, eminently outstanding family man, model father and husband, constantly witty, charming, urbane, brilliant lawyer, writer, historian, most versatile scholar. And though endowed with such genius and profusion of gifts, so humble, so compassionate and generous to the poor. And to crown all these prodigious achievements is the man truly crucified with Christ - a saint.

A most rare and dazzling amalgam of gifts - a unique phenomenon. Holbein's famous portrait, a subtle, penetrating masterpiece, is a true delineation of his character.

Formative years

Thomas More was born in 1477 into a distinguished legal family, the father's interests were limited to law only, married - apparently in every case happily and for the last time when nearly 70 - no less than four times.

At the age of 12, young More was placed as a page for two years in the household of Archbishop Morton, Lord Chancellor and later Cardinal. In this cultured milieu, his mind was stimulated and he learnt a polished finesse he may hitherto have lacked.

The astute Archbishop predicted that More would become a 'notable man'. And More commented of Morton:

'By many and great changes he learnt the experience of the world, which so being learnt, 38 cannot easily be forgotten'. How true of More's later life.

Law at Oxford

When only 14, More began his studies at Oxford, requiring seven years to get his degree. He worked very hard at law and never let himself be bogged down in a legal mire - diversifying his studies in Greek, Latin, philosophy, theology and especially history.


This was to the amazement of his father, who could never appreciate the fact that his son was a genius and would emerge a fully rounded, most cultured man. At 23, Thomas More was a very busy and successful lawyer.

Possible priesthood

Beneath' the front of More's witty, charming, versatile genius, lay a deeply spiritual soul. He nearly became a priest instead of a lawyer.

For four years after graduation he lived in a monastery, pursuing his studies and business affairs but at the same time spending many hours in prayer, sleeping on the ground with a block of wood for a pillow and wearing a hair shirt (a penitential irritant) which he never left. off till the day before his execution in 1535.

Though More finally decided against becoming a monk, he never ceased the ascetic practices he learnt from the Carthusian monks. One biographer has so aptly observed: 'More's piety was of as sweet and sunny a kind as can be imagined, but its gay and beautiful flowers sprang from the harsh and rocky soil of mortification'.

Family life

In 1505, More married a certain Jane Colet, a good but uneducated girl of 17 who bore him four children within five years and died. Within a month he married his second wife, a widow, Alice Middleton, seven years his senior and a formidable woman indeed.

In a recent biography of her, Lady Norrington notes that one of her children (by her first marriage) married into the royal house of Stuart and another into the noble house of Spencer, and that consequently Prince Charles and Princess Diana are direct descendants of Lady Thomas More.

One of More's many biographers (Maynard) has suggested that More may almost be said to have merited canonisation for the perfection of his family life were he not canonised as a martyr. Admirable as was his public life, even more excellent was his private life as lived with his family. Professor R.W. Chambers, perhaps More's most scholarly biographer, described More's household as 'a small patriarchal, monastic utopia'. Monastic - a religious discipline very rare in England at that time.

Spirituality and character

More's subtle, constant, scintillating wit, intellectual distinction, moral integrity and deep piety were the basic elements of his character, even though they must be said to draw a special quality from his most friendly and humorous way of being a great man and at the same time - a saint.

His charity to poor neighbours, the sick and widows was constant and most generous. More spent his entire income maintaining his house- hold and his many charities. He concealed his piety and austerities as far as possible. Every day he heard Mass and whenever any important business was pending or in a crisis, he confessed and received Holy Communion.

He always wore the penitential hair shirt and regularly scourged himself with a discipline. I highlight this secret asceticism because to the outside world, More appeared the most witty, humane, charming and cultured man of his age, universally admired and universally loved.

Lord Chancellor

Of More's elevation to such high office, Professor Chambers, who spent almost 30 years researching More, wrote:

For 12 years More served the King, before his career was crowned in the Chancellorship. To all appearances his life during these years was one of steadily increasing distinction and power. In reality, these years saw the hopes which More cherished for his country and for Christendom one after another overthrown. And as each blow falls, we can see More's own destruction brought one stage nearer. The Chancellorship, which to the world may have looked like the culmination of a successful career, was in reality the last of many successive strokes of doom.

This appointment brought More into direct conflict with Henry VIII because of his divorce problem and the primacy of the pope. Henry had started his reign with much promise but as Professor Chambers concluded: 'He found England a treasure house of art and left it a chaos of fragments'. He is one of the many examples of Lord Acton's dictum: 'Power tends to corrupt - and absolute power corrupts absolutely'.

Henry was one of the most ruthless and unscrupulous tyrants in all history. By reason of his paranoid, debauched character, he loved nobody.

Ironically, it was Henry's earlier and most trenchant defence of the papacy against Luther which convinced and confirmed More in his loyalty to the pope.

As the historian, Reynolds, points out: 'More was not blind to the papal scandals of the time, so his longing for "Popes as befit the Christian cause" came from a sorrowing heart; but that in no way shook his faith in "the authority they have received from God".'

It is the marvel of More's faith that he lived under the worst of the renaissance popes, Alexander VI. He died for a papacy that, as far as people could see, was little else than a small Italian princedom ruled by some of the least reputable of the renaissance princes.

That called for great faith indeed. For such courage, he was removed from his high office and ultimately brought to a mock trial.

Trial and martyrdom

A man's character is tested in the exhilarating joy of success and even more in the humiliation of sorrow and defeat. At all times More bore himself with dignity and strength, sustained by his deep faith and union with Christ.

His trial for treason was a total farce - his brilliant forensic skills were too much for his judges - but he was duly sentenced to death, to be beheaded.

He never lost his serenity and composure, even on the scaffold, and his last words are justly famous and immortal.

'More's words are the most weighty and most haughty ever spoken on the scaffold,' wrote Professor Chambers. 'Dante could not have bettered them: "The King's good servant but God's first".'

Hero and lay apostle
Professor Chambers, a Protestant-historian, does not hesitate to describe More as a hero of whom the whole of England is proud.

The atheist, Bolt, wrote the immensely popular play, The Man For All Seasons, brilliantly portraying More as a spiritual and intellectual genius - a warm, witty, all-rounded personality.

In 1935, the Church declared him a saint. Pius XI did not require any miracles and hastened the process because More defied the totalitarian state of his day - and by implication Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini in our day.

The shortage of priests should compel the Church to realise the immense potential of the lay apostolate, and as a model for this most vital work for the future survival of the Church St Thomas More should be better known and imitated, truly the man who found God in all things, indeed 'the man for all seasons'.