Profile of St. Thomas More e-Booklet

The day was Tuesday, July 6. The year, 1535. Sir Thomas More, ex-chancellor of England, was in his cell in the Tower of London. The following day would see the transfer of the relics of St. Thomas of Canterbury. Very early in the morning, a third Thomas, of the great English family with the name of Pope, and a good friend of the prisoner, was visiting him, with a message from King Henry VIII and the King’s Council: his execution was to take place before 9 o’clock that morning...

The year 1976 marked the 500th anniversary of the birth of St. Thomas More. The following brief sketch shows why he has sometimes been referred to as “a man of today who lived five centuries ago.”