"The King’s good servant – but God’s first"
St. Thomas More (born February 6th 1478, martyred July 6th 1535) is the ideal of the Catholic Lawyer. He was a man of scholarship and God; a man of action and contemplative prayer; a devoted husband and public servant. For American lawyers, the life of St. Thomas More has become a model for men and women trained in the heritage of English common law. He showed people how to rightly order their lives, serving God first.
During his lifetime he earned a reputation as a leading humanist scholar and occupied many public offices, including that of Lord Chancellor from 1529 to 1532. In 1935, four hundred years after his death, Thomas More was canonized in the Church by Pope Pius XI, and was later declared the patron saint of statesman and lawyers.
The legal profession is a high calling with corresponding responsibilities to society. The principal objective of every lawyer is to promote and seek justice. The duty of a Catholic lawyer is to remain faithful to God, His Church, and its teachings at all times despite the personal consequences, and to pursue the truth in both one’s spiritual and professional life.
See entry at the Catholic Encyclopedia (1st edition) and at Wikipedia
3 Prayers by St. Thomas More for Catholic Lawyers, St. Peter's List
