Saint Thomas Moore
By Aline Laferriere
Thomas Moore was born on
February 7, 1478 in London to John Moore and Agnes Nei Graunger. They wanted
Thomas to be educated at St. Anthony’s School, which was considered one of the
finest in London at that time. He served as a page from 1490 to 1492 in the
home of John Morton, the Archbishop and Lord Chancellor of Canterbury. He began
his studies to become a lawyer in 1502. He at one time had considered leaving
Law to become a monk. In 1503 he lived near a Carthusian Monastery where he
joined the monk’s spiritual exercises. Though he admired their piety, he discerned
marriage as his vocation and was later elected to Parliament. Even though he
was married he continued living the monk’s ascetical practices for the rest of
his life.
In 1505 he married Jane
Colt who was 10 years younger, quiet, good-natured. Together with Jane, Thomas
raised four children: Margaret, Elizabeth, Cicely and John. Jane died in 1511, and
Moore remarried to his 2nd wife, Alice. He helped raise her daughter,
Anne, from her previous marriage. He served in Parliament and on many seats of
power. He later served as Advisor and Lord Chancellor to King Henry VIII. Thomas
wrote many scholarly and literary books; one was called, “Utopia.” Soon King
Henry VIII began to challenge the authority of the Pope because he wanted an annulment
from Catherine so that he could marry Anne Boleyn. Moore refused an oath and
refused to attend the coronation and wedding; it was taken as an insult. He was
arrested, charged with treason, and put in the Tower of London as a prisoner.
In court he was sentenced to death by decapitation by jury only after fifteen
minutes of trial.
I admire Thomas Moore because
he exemplifies how we should live our faith: courageously and with
steadfastness. His martyrdom took place on July 6, 1535 where he said bravely,
“I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.”
Saint Thomas Moore, pray
for us!
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