Friday, April 29, 2022

Biography on the Life of St. Thomas More

 


    Thomas More was born in London to a wealthy family in the year 1478. With his father being a successful lawyer, Thomas gained a great respect for law while still a youth. When he came of age, he followed in his father’s footsteps and made his profession in law as well. Young Thomas portrayed all the quality aspects of a fine lawyer: precise, shrewd, skillful, cautious, theatrical, persuasive, and practical.[1] In addition, Thomas was also cheerful and humorous, quality traits that acquired numerous friends in his social life. Around the year 1504, Thomas came into contact with a Carthusian monastery, which influenced Thomas’ way of life in such a way that Thomas was left with a desire to live a simple life of piety instead of the wealthy, privileged life of a lawyer.[2] At age twenty-six, Thomas married and soon became the father of four children. Six years after his marriage however, his wife died. Within a short time, Thomas re-married to a woman who had also experienced the loss of a spouse. Together, Thomas and his wife, Alice continued raising Thomas’ children in a household of devotion and discipline, with a strict routine of morning and evening prayers, as well as Scripture reading at dinnertime.[3] As time went on, Thomas' reputation of his law profession grew, and it was no secret that Thomas had by this time also become well acquainted with the King, Henry VIII. At the court of the King, Thomas served as the King’s personal secretary and eventually as chancellor of England –the highest political office in England (with the exception of the King). However, their friendship was not to last forever. During the time that Henry sought to part ways with the Catholic Church in order to serve his own selfish tastes, Thomas was driven apart from him and even imprisoned with the accusation of speaking against the King, even though all Thomas did was stand by the truths and doctrines of the Catholic Church –the Church of Jesus Christ. Thomas remained in prison for about fifteen months, where he “prayed, meditated, and wrote about hope and about the strength and humility of Jesus before his own suffering.”[4] In the end, Thomas was executed by decapitation, but before he breathed his last, he spoke the words, “I die the king’s good servant, but God’s first.”[5] St. Thomas More, Pray for us!

 

 



[1] https://wau.org/resources/article/the_hidden_life_of_st_thomas_more/

[2] https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=324

[3] https://wau.org/resources/article/the_hidden_life_of_st_thomas_more/

[4] Ibid.

[5] https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=324

 

No comments:

Post a Comment