Today is the Memorial of the two patron saints of the Diocese of Rochester: St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More. Often the former, the only Catholic prelate in England under Henry VIII to refuse to recognize Henry as head of the Church of England and thus be martyred, gets more attention than the family man who was martyred for the same reasons as Fisher. It was Sir Thomas More, knighted, who was also martyred and shares today’s remembrance.
From the Tower of London, where St. Thomas More was imprisoned, he wrote with charcoal his famous words of finding forgiveness for even the most heinous crimes. Here are his memorable words, reprinted in his book “The Sadness of Christ”:
