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Spiritual

St. Thomas More is an independent Catholic school that upholds the traditions of the Church, however we are proud of our diversity and students of many different faiths attend our school. Our Lady's Chapel is located on the campus and Mass is held daily. Christian students are required to attend one service on either Saturday or Sunday. Our resident priest, Reverend Richard Gross, S.J., is on hand to assist in spiritual development and to teach the students about the traditions, rituals and values of the Catholic Church. He holds evening classes to prepare students for Confirmation in the spring and works with students periodically throughout the year so if they choose to, they can receive the sacrament of Reconciliation. In addition, he has initiated individual dorm Masses in an effort to gather together smaller groups of students to promote bonding and spiritual growth. He strives to foster the students with a sense of responsibility to the STM community and the world around them.

Saint Thomas More

was born in London on February 7, circa 1477. The son of Sir John More, a barrister and judge, Thomas More attended Oxford University and began training for a legal career in 1494. While studying law he found himself drawn to the monastic life and even entered a Carthusian monastery. The habits of prayer, fasting and penance would stay with him the rest of his life, but his desire to serve his country became too strong. He returned to his law studies and entered the bar in 1501. After serving in Parliament, he became an under-sheriff of London in 1510. As under-sheriff he built a reputation for fairness and support of the poor. In 1515 he rose in reputation as a member of a delegation to Flanders sent by the king to settle disputes in the wool trade. By 1518 he had entered the service of King Henry VIII as royal councilor and ambassador. He was knighted and made under-treasurer in 1521. Henry VIII sought More's assistance in writing Defence of the Seven Sacraments, a repudiation of Martin Luther. When Luther replied, it was More who wrote the response under a pseudonym. In 1523 he was made Speaker of the House of Commons and later was named Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster serving from 1525 to 1529.

Despite More's refusal to endorse the king's petition to the Pope for annulment of his marriage to Katherine of Aragon in 1527, he became Lord Chancellor after Cardinal Wolsey was dismissed late in 1529. He was the first layman to hold the title. Each year since 1527, Henry VIII's dispute with the Roman Catholic Church had become more antagonistic and in 1532 More resigned claiming to be of ill health. It is more likely that he was unable to support the king's desire to break with the Church. In June 1533, Henry VIII noted that More refused to attend the coronation of his new wife Anne Boleyn, and soon he found himself listed among the king's Catholic enemies. In April 1534, More was imprisoned for refusing to swear to the Oath of Supremacy, the preamble to a law called the Act of Succession. The oath stated that Henry VIII ranked above all foreign rulers, including the pope. More was convicted of high treason on perjured evidence and was beheaded outside the Tower of London on July 6, 1535. His final words were, "The King's good servant, but God's First."

Thomas More has since become an example of the individual who placed conscience above the claims of secular authority. It was because of these strong beliefs and his martyrdom that the Catholic Church declared him a saint in 1935.

More's personality combined intense concern for the problems of his day and spiritual detachment from worldly affairs. He was a devoted family man, and lived a plain and simple private life. He was famed for his merry wit. Yet to the people of his day, More was a contradictory figure - merriest when he seemed saddest and saddest when he appeared most happy. He was also a patron of the arts. His friends included the humanist Erasmus and the artist Han Hoblein.

More's sympathetic philosophy is best reflected in his book Utopia (written in Latin in 1516) an account of an ideal society with justice and equality for all citizens.