The Saints - Part 1 - Thomas More

Monday, October 5, 2026

Happy Monday, my friends! Growing up Catholic, the saints and the concept of saints was embedded into our everyday life. I was baptized at St. Timothy Parish, I received First Communion and was confirmed at St. Benedict Parish, and attended grade school at St. Benedict School, which was served by the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity. By a certain age you could ask any of us for our favorite saint and we could rattle off a name and some basic biographical information. The saints were a great cloud of witnesses selected by God and recognized by the Church for their virtues who could intercede for people on earth and in purgatory. Some saints were selected to represent certain vocations, countries, fields, and types of people. Their relationship to those particular areas could be direct—St. Joan of Arc is one of the patron saints of France—while others took some imagination—St. Joseph of Cupertino was the patron saint of aviators despite having been born approximately 300 years before the invention of powered human flight.

While the saints have not been missing in my life, they have taken a bit of a backseat in my spirituality and devotion. Recently, though, they came back to me while listening to the stories and testimonies of my TFAM siblings, many of whom have very different ideas about the saints and who are saints than I ever have held.

When, in the seventh grade, it was time for confirmation, we each had to pick a saint to be our personal model and guardian of a sort. At age 13, I was certain that I was going to be a lawyer. Naturally, I selected St. Thomas More, the patron saint of lawyers. You might already see the humor and irony in that choice, but let’s just say my life has taken a path that intersected with More’s in ways other than the practice of law. More was a lawyer, philosopher, and government minister of great renown in the English court during the King Henry VIII. In fact, More became a close friend and confidante of the king. Yet, when Henry broke from the Roman Church and declared himself the head of the Church of England, More refused to assent and ultimately lost his head by Henry’s order. The English Church is the spiritual origin of the tradition called Anglican, including The Episcopal Church. When I became Episcopalian years later a professor asked me who my confirmation saint had been. “Thomas More,” I said. With a concerned look, the professor responded, “That’s awkward.”

What is your background with saints? Do you have a favorite or patron saint?

Let us pray: Gracious God, you lift up holy people from every generation to be models of faith for us. Continue to send people to show us the paths of faith and help us recognize them in our lives. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Blessings on your weeks, my friends! Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Faithfully,

Ben +

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