Thomas More grew up learning about God and the Catholic faith. When he grew up he studied and became a lawyer and began to work for the Government. He married Jane Colt and they had 4 children. He was a very smart man and he even wrote a book called “Utopia” which became very famous. King Henry VIII noticed how smart and wise Thomas More was and he hired him to do a lot of very important jobs for the King. Thomas was happy to serve the King, until the King tried to force him to change his mind about what marriage should be and how we should always follow the Pope’s teachings. So Thomas More quit his job, even though it was a very important and powerful job. Thomas then got into more trouble with the King. The King had decided that he was going to be the head of the Church in England and Thomas refused to follow him. Thomas was thrown into the King’s prison tower and was taken to court for treason (going against the King). Thomas told the judges that he would never go against what he believed in and that he hoped one day he would meet them all in heaven. Right before he died, he declared that he would always be the “King’s good servant”, but he would always be God’s servant first.
St. Thomas More, you never turned away from the truth, even when you faced death. Pray for us, that we would have courage to always follow the truth.