JUNE 22D, SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
Month in honor of the Most Sacred Heart of OLJC.
Among the Saint recalled today in the Roman Martyrology, we find —
Saint Thomas More, Confessor
Born on February 7th, AD 1478 at London, England, he studied at London and Oxford, England, and served as a page for the Archbishop of Canterbury. He studied first at Oxford and afterward chose to study Law at Lincoln's Inn, where he passed the bar. After the untimely death of his first wife, leaving him the father of one son and three daughters, he married again and is known to have been a devoted family man. He was also renowned as a writer, most famously of the novel which coined the word and bore the title Utopia. He translated in English works of the Latin writer Lucian, and was known during his own day for his scholarship and the depth of his knowledge. His good friendship with King Henry VIII led to him being named Lord Chancellor of England from 1529 to 1532, a position of political power second only to the king. He was diligent in that role in fighting any form of heresy in England, especially the incursion of Protestantism. On the other hand, he opposed the king on the matter of the royal divorce, and he refused to swear the Oath of Supremacy that had asserted that the king is the head of the Church in England. For this reason, he resigned the Chancellorship and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Ultimately, he martyred by beheading on July 6th, AD 1535 on Tower Hill, London, England, for his refusal to bend his religious beliefs to the king's political needs.
His body was taken to the church of Saint Peter ad Vincula, located inside the Tower of London. His head, on the other hand, was parboiled and then exposed on London Bridge for a month as a warning to other "traitors"; More's daughter, Margaret Roper, bribed the man who was supposed to throw it into the river to give it to her instead. In 1824, a lead box was found in the Roper vault at Saint Dunstan's Church Canterbury, England; it contained the head of Saint Thomas More.
More was beatified in 1886 by Pope Leo XIII, and canonized on May 19th, AD 1935, by Pope Pius XI. Canonized with him was his fellow martyr, Saint John Fisher, Bishop. On the occasion of their canonization, Pope Pius XI said, "They were, so to speak, the leaders and chieftains of that illustrious band of men who, from all classes of the people and from every part of Great Britain, resisted the new errors with unflinching spirit, and in shedding their blood, testified their loyal devotedness to the Holy See."
A prayer by Saint Thomas More:
"Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest. Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humor to maintain it. Grant me a simple soul that knows to treasure all that is good and that doesn't frighten easily at the sight of evil, but rather finds the means to put things back in their place. Give me a soul that knows not boredom, grumblings, sighs and laments, nor excess of stress, because of that obstructing thing called "I". Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humor. Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke to discover in life a bit of joy, and to be able to share it with others. Amen."