More, (St) Thomas (1478–1535)

English politician and author. From 1509 he was favoured by Henry VIII and employed on foreign embassies. He was a member of the privy council from 1518 and Lord Chancellor from 1529 but resigned over Henry's break with the pope. For refusing to accept the king as head of the church, he was executed. The title of his political book Utopia (1516) has come to mean any supposedly perfect society.

Before his execution More was imprisoned in the Tower of London for a year. He was canonized in 1935, and in November 2000, the pope declared him patron saint of politicians.