Thomas More
Saint Thomas More is the patron of lawyers, statesmen, and civil servants because he was the very model of all three and died for the integrity they demand. A brilliant barrister and judge famed for incorruptibility, he rose to be Lord Chancellor of England — the highest legal office in the realm — yet resigned and went to the scaffold rather than swear an oath against his conscience, refusing to acknowledge Henry VIII as head of the Church. “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first,” he said upon the block. In him the law-officer and the politician find a patron who held public office at the highest level and proved that conscience may not be sold for power; Pope John Paul II named him patron of statesmen and politicians in the year 2000. Court clerks and civil servants claim him as one of their own great servants of the crown.
Saint Thomas More was an English lawyer, statesman, and Lord Chancellor who was executed in 1535 for refusing to acknowledge King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England. A man of deep faith, brilliant intellect, and witty humor, he chose death over compromising his conscience. He is the patron saint of lawyers and politicians.
