06/22/2026
Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Thomas More (June 22), husband, father, statesman, and martyr. St. Thomas More, pray for us.
Here is a portion of the prayer of St. Thomas More from his cell in the Tower of London shortly before he died a martyr’s death by beheading by order of King Henry VIII (1535):
“Good Lord, give me the grace to set my mind firmly on You. To be content to be solitary. Not to long for worldly pleasures. Little by little utterly to cast off the world and rid my mind of all its business. To lean into the comfort of God. To humble myself under His mighty hand. To bewail my sins and, for the purging of them, patiently to suffer adversity. Gladly to bear my purgatory here. To be joyful in tribulations. To walk the narrow way that leads to life. To have ever before my eyes my death that is ever at hand. To pray for pardon before the judge comes. To have continually in mind the passion that Christ suffered for me. To give Him thanks unceasingly for all His benefits. These are more to be desired than all the treasures of princes and kings, were it gathered and laid together all in one heap. Amen”
