This laminated holy card features St. Thomas More, patron saint of lawyers on the front and the following text on the back:
Prayer For St. Thomas More
Dear scholar and martyr, it was not the king of England but you who
were the true defender of the faith.
Like Christ unjustly condemned,
neither promises nor threats could
make you accept a civil ruler as
head of the Christian Church.
Perfect in your honesty and love
of truth, grant that lawyers and
judges may imitate you and achieve
true justice for all people.
Lawyer's Prayer
Give me the grace good Lord, to set
the world at naught; to set my mind
fast upon thee and not to hang upon
the blast of men's mouths. To be
content to be solitary. Not to long
for worldy company but utterly to
cast off the world and rid my mind
of the business thereof.
Profile Studied at London and Oxford. Page for the Archbishop of Canterbury. Lawyer. Twice married, father of one son and three daughters, and a devoted family man. Writer. Friend of King Henry VIII. Lord Chancellor of England, a position of power second only to the king. Opposed the king on the matter of royal divorce, and refused to swear the Oath of Supremacy which declared the king the head of the Church in England. Resigned the Chancellorship, and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Martyred for his refusal to bend his religious beliefs to the king's political needs.
Born 1478 at London, England
Died beheaded in 1535; head kept in the Roper Vault, Saint Dunstan's church, Canterbury, England; body at Saint Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London, England