Sir Thomas More was a distinguished lawyer, philosopher and statesmen who served King Henry VIII of England as Lord Chancellor in the early 16th century. It was his opposition to the Henry’s attempt to sever England from the Catholic Church, however, that cost Sir Thomas his life. He was found guilty of treason and executed at London’s Tower Hill in 1532. In his final words he explained to those assembled how he died “the King’s good servant but God’s first.”
“To me this feast day is an occasion to return to the font of the law which in the divine law and to the example of St. Thomas More - to the integrity with which he served the administration of justice,” said Cardinal Burke whose job involves the administration of the Church’s internal system of justice.
“In those final words of his he so clearly explains how he serves his King best, and serves the law best, by serving God.”
“So that’s the mediation for me today - I pray for all those who have responsibility for the administration of justice, whether in the Church or in the state, that they will find in St. Thomas More an inspiration and an example for them.”
St. Thomas More was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1935 along with his fellow English Reformation martyr, Cardinal John Fisher. St. Thomas’s life was famously re-enacted in the 1966 Oscar-winning film, ‘A Man for All Seasons.’
Cardinal Burke noted that the “primary lesson” for lawyers today is “to see the need for an absolute coherence between one’s own personal faith and life and one’s service of society as a minister of justice.”