Who Was Saint Thomas More?
b.1477 d.1535  Feastday: June 22

Born in 1477 and educated at Oxford, at age 27 he married Jane Colt, the daughter of a legal colleague, who bore him four children,- three daughters and a son. Tragically, she died within six years of marriage just as, More said, she was developing into "an ideal life companion."

Realizing the urgent need for a surrogate mother for his young children, within a few months of Jane's death, he married widow Alice Middleton, a woman older than himself, yet strong willed, stubborn, and an active and vigilant housewife. More described Alice as a woman who excelled in good sense and experience rather than learning. She ran the entire More household which consisted not only of his four children, but several other youths whom the family befriended.

More cherished an affectionate relationship with his family and was ardently concerned for their education. This educational focus, while expected for a son at that time, was an unusual innovation for his daughters. As a father, More was deeply interested in even the most banal aspects of his children's personal lives, and established a deep personal friendship with each. More wisely realized that their bonds of friendship was the most effective means available to him for their formation and education. Although More instilled a deep sense of Divine worship within his family, he did not endeavor to isolate them from the harsh realities of the world around them.
 

While Chancellor in the Court of Henry VIII, More's primary concern was to achieve a proper synthesis between his judicial duties and Christian virtue. More adhered to the classical notion of the sanctity of marriage and, rather than acquiesce and condone the divorce of his King, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and beheaded in the year 1535. His eldest daughter, Margaret, was responsible for rescuing her father's head from the spike on the Tower Bridge where it had been impaled.
 

More's repute for utmost refinement in his dealings was widely recognized and admired by his colleagues at Bar. He adhered to the principle that "loyal and affectionate advice, even if imprudent" always deserved an expression of gratitude. More recognized the essential nexus between the practice of virtue of loyalty, and the exercise of loving fraternal correction. Detached from his wealth, More used it generously. Sympathizing with a careless neighbor whose barns were burned, More said: "... so much good corn is lost, yet since it pleased God to send us this setback, we are bound not only to be content, but also to be glad of His visitation.... Let us never begrudge it, but take it in good part, and heartily thank Him as well for adversity as for prosperity." More then not only reimbursed his neighbor for his losses, but sustained the neighbor's farm laborers, now unemployed by the catastrophe.

In addition to an active daily prayer life, More was a frequent Eucharistic communicant. He often prayed: "That we verily believe that it is, under the form and likeness of bread, the very body, flesh and blood of Our Holy Savior, Christ himself. We must, I say, see that we firmly believe that this Blessed Sacrament is not a bare sign or figure, or a token of that Holy Body of Christ, but that it is the selfsame precious blood of Christ."