Thomas More
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Saint Thomas More | |
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| Martyr | |
| Born | 7 February 1478, London, England |
| Died | 6 July 1535 (aged 57), London, England |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion |
| Beatified | 1886, Rome by Pope Leo XIII |
| Canonized | 19 May 1935, Rome by Pope Pius XI |
| Feast | 22 June (Roman Catholic Church) 6 July (on some local calendars and in the Anglican Communion) |
| Attributes | dressed in the robe of the Chancellor and wearing the Collar of Esses; axe |
| Patronage | Adopted children; Ateneo de Manila Law School; civil servants; Diocese of Arlington; Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee; University of Malta; University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Arts and Letters; court clerks; lawyers, politicians, and statesmen; stepparents; widowers; difficult marriages; large families |
Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), also known as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, scholar, author and statesman. He is also recognised as being a saint within the Catholic Church. During his life he gained a reputation as a leading Renaissance humanist, an opponent of the Protestant Reformation of Martin Luther and wrote long treatises opposing William Tyndale and others who wished to see the Bible translated into the English language. For three years toward the end of his life he was Lord Chancellor.
More coined the word “utopia” – a name he gave to the ideal, imaginary island nation whose political system he described in Utopia, published in 1516. An important counsellor to Henry VIII of England, he was imprisoned and executed by beheading in 1535 after he had fallen out of favour with the king over his refusal to sign the Act of Supremacy 1534, which declared the king to be the Supreme Head of the Church of England, effecting a final split with the Catholic Church in Rome. More was beatified by the Catholic Church in 1886 and canonised, with John Fisher, in 1935. In 1980, he was added to the Church of England calendar of saints.