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St. Thomas More Society of Georgia, Inc.

Welcome

Our Mission -- Consistent with the canon law and official teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, the mission and goal of St. Thomas More Society of Georgia are:

    To foster in its members and in lawyers generally the high standards of ethics and professional responsibility exemplified by its patron, St. Thomas More, who as a servant of God, family man, lawyer, statesmen, and public servant showed lawyers and lay people how rightly to order their lives;

    To encourage attentiveness among lawyers to the weightier matters of the law -- justice, mercy, and faith -- that our competence in our secular disciplines may serve to promote human dignity and the common good, to the glory of God;

    To promote the study and application of theology, philosophy, and jurisprudence to that end that our system of law may better apply eternal truths to the solution of everyday legal problems;

    To foster spiritual growth and fellowship among the members of the organization.

Biography -- More was a literary scholar, eminent lawyer, diplomat, counselor, gentlemen, father of four children, and statesman. He refused to compromise his own moral values in order to please a misguided king. He refused to acknowledge Henry VIII as supreme head of the Church in England, the king’s break with Rome and denying the pope as the head of the church.

Thomas More was born in London on February 7^th, 1478. He was the son of Sir John More, a prominent judge. He was educated at St. Anothony’s School in London, and later at Oxford where he studied Greek and Latin. In 1494, More began the study of law and was admitted to Lincoln’s Inn in 1496. He became a barrister in 1501. More was torn between a monastic life and that of service to his country. He entered the field of politics by entering Parliament in 1504. He married shortly thereafter in 1505.

Upon entering Parliament, one of More’s first acts was to support a reduction in King Henry VII’s proposed appropriation. The King imprisoned More’s father until a fine was paid and More withdrew from public life. Upon the death of the King, More returned to public life. In 1510, he was appointed undersheriff of London. He maintained a reputation as being fair, honest, and impartial.

More gained the attention of King Henry VIII by helping to resolve problems in the wool trade. More also help to quiet the 1517 uprisings against foreigners in London. In 1518, More became a member of the Privy Council, and in 1521, he was knighted.

More was made Speaker of the House of Commons in 1523, later serving as High Steward for Oxford and Cambridge universities and was made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1525. More was instrumental in establishing the concept of parliamentary privilege of free speech. More openly refused to support the King in his quest to divorce his first wife, Katherine of Aragon in 1527. Nevertheless, More became Lord Chancellor in 1529.

More resigned his position in 1532, citing ill health. Most scholars agree that the real reason was his disapproval of Henry’s stance toward the Catholic Church. More refused to attend the coronation of Anne Boleyn in June of 1533. He was accused of complicity with Elizabeth Barton, who opposed Henry’s break with Rome.

In April of 1534, More refused to swear to the Act of Succession and the Oath of Supremacy, and was committed to the tower of London on April 17^th. More was found guilty of treason and beheaded on July 6^th, 1535. More believed that no ruler had jurisdiction over the Church of Christ. He refused the establishment of the Church of England. More declared that he had all the councils of Christendom and not just the council of one realm to support him in the decision of his conscience. He wished his judges that “we may yet hereafter in heaven merrily all meet together to everlasting salvation.” More’s last words were from the scaffold: “The King’s good servant, but God’s first.”

More was beatified in 1886 by Pope Leo XIII and canonized by the Catholic Church as a saint by Pope Pius XI in 1935. He was declared Patron Saint of politicians and statesman by Pope John Paul II in 2000. More, interestingly enough, was added to the Church of England’s calendar of saints, More’s day being July 6^th. His feast day is June 22^nd.

"St. Thomas More, Pray for Us!"

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