More, Thomas, St

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More, Thomas, St (1478–1535). Chancellor of England and martyr. Born in London, he went to Oxford University but was called home and sent to Lincoln's Inn in 1496, being called to the bar in 1501. He was a man of notable learning, and a friend of scholars such as Fisher and Erasmus. He wrote what is perhaps his best-known book, Utopia, in 1516. He strongly opposed the rise of Protestantism in England, and Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon. He was Lord Chancellor from 1529, but resigned in 1532 over the king's opposition to the papacy. Like Fisher he refused to take the oath attached to the Act of Succession, though ready to accept the succession itself, and was imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he wrote his best spiritual work, Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation. He was put on trial in 1535 for opposing the Act of Supremacy, and was executed on 6 July. He was canonized in May 1935. Feast day, 22 June.

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