Saturday, June 28, 2008

Happy belated St. Thomas More Day


Yeah, I'm a week off with this, but even with my tardiness, I can't just let the feast day of one of my best friends slip by without recognition. As a lawyer, it's always good to see that some of us do make it into heaven. There's actually a lot of lawyer saints out there, but Thomas is our patron, and God knows we need his intervention these days, when the entire legal profession is mostly populated with scumbags.

As King Henry VIII's good servant, he acted as Chancellor of England, disposing of complicated legal matters and much of the realm's administration, including the suppression of heresy. As God's servant, he defended the primacy of the Pope and refused to acknowledge Henry's lust-driven quest to put away the saintly Catherine of Aragon in favor of Anne Boleyn. As was Henry's custom with those who opposed him, Thomas was beheaded.

As far as writings go, most folks will remember him for Utopia. This is a shame. His best work by far is The Sadness of Christ which he wrote during his imprisonment in the Tower of London.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the marvelous movie Man for All Seasons starring Paul Scofield and Robert Shaw. It won Scofield an Oscar and is one of the best Catholic movies ever.

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