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Thomas More: A Portrait of Courage
One of history's most admired figures, Thomas More stands as a model of courage, integrity, fortitude, and other virtues. As a highly successful lawyer, diplomat, and father of a large family, he sacrificed everything that the world holds dear for what his conscience dictated was a principle that could not be sacrificed. The Catholic Church recognized his heroic virtue and holiness by making him a saint along with Bishop John Fisher on the 400th anniversary of their martyrdoms in 1935. This new biography details the hidden spiritual life of More. What motivated his spiritual struggle? How did his writings open a window into his inner life?
307 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 7, 2022
Beautiful, thorough look at Saint Thomas More, a man of incredible character, integrity, wit, but most of all, steadfast conscience and courage. It does get a little challenging to follow and stay engaged when the book describes the political scene that led to More’s fall from Henry VIII’s favor. And admittedly, it also did not clear up some confusions I had as to the Act of Succession (I would ask for more explanation on that, and on why, as the author states, More would have been willing to accept Parliament’s change of succession when this would mean affirming Henry VIII’s 2nd marriage … 🤔) However, one of my largest takeaways from this read is an impression of More’s skillful and well-applied rhetorical abilities. This book covers well the extensive list of works he authored and the depth of mind and soul that they reveal. St. Thomas More, pray for us.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 24, 2020
(2020)
DNF... written like a philosophy textbook. Honestly, I also feel like it doesn’t portray St. Thomas More, any of his family nor the Catholic Church in a good light. Gives very little background of his youth & espouses contrary information about his life than anything I have read in other books about him. Author says Master More was “forced” to consider the priesthood when he was young. Everything else I’ve read says just the opposite. That he was convinced he had a vocation and pursued it despite the disapproval of his father and many of his scholarly friends. In the end he did realize he was called to the married life, but he had to be humbled before he could see it. He had a happy marriage to Jane and he was distraught with sorrow when she died... though one would be surprised to hear that if you read this book. He also never enjoyed being a lawyer even though he was quite gifted in the profession! I stopped reading because I kept finding myself angry at the author. I feel like he is deceiving readers. One wants to read the life of a saint and feel inspired not combative. Do yourself a favor and skip this book. Instead, I highly recommend John E. Beahn’s book: "A Man Born Again- A Novel of the Life of St. Thomas More". Or if you'd like to stick to the scholarly writing approach read: "Characters of the Reformation" by: Hilaire Belloc.
DNF... written like a philosophy textbook. Honestly, I also feel like it doesn’t portray St. Thomas More, any of his family nor the Catholic Church in a good light. Gives very little background of his youth & espouses contrary information about his life than anything I have read in other books about him. Author says Master More was “forced” to consider the priesthood when he was young. Everything else I’ve read says just the opposite. That he was convinced he had a vocation and pursued it despite the disapproval of his father and many of his scholarly friends. In the end he did realize he was called to the married life, but he had to be humbled before he could see it. He had a happy marriage to Jane and he was distraught with sorrow when she died... though one would be surprised to hear that if you read this book. He also never enjoyed being a lawyer even though he was quite gifted in the profession! I stopped reading because I kept finding myself angry at the author. I feel like he is deceiving readers. One wants to read the life of a saint and feel inspired not combative. Do yourself a favor and skip this book. Instead, I highly recommend John E. Beahn’s book: "A Man Born Again- A Novel of the Life of St. Thomas More". Or if you'd like to stick to the scholarly writing approach read: "Characters of the Reformation" by: Hilaire Belloc.
January 4, 2022
Well-written and well-sourced, but deviates from biography to hagiography in many cases. To read Wegemer tell it, More was basically a flawless paragon. Although More was indeed a remarkable person, he had his flaws as well and a more accurate telling of his story would have been better.
July 23, 2023
4.6/5
St. Thomas More was a bad dude - this is a surprisingly relevant life.
St. Thomas More was a bad dude - this is a surprisingly relevant life.
July 16, 2025
I am not typically a huge fan of biographies BUT I loved this one! If you don’t know much about Thomas More I would highly suggest this read. It is interesting and engaging throughout and he is such an amazing Saint I think everyone should know his story.
March 23, 2016
This birth-to-death biography of Saint Thomas More has an interesting twist. As it goes through the personal history of More, it stops to review his various writings when he wrote them. Thomas More was the first great Christian humanist to write in English. He was close friends with Desiderius Erasmus, a Dutchman who was also a scholar and committed Christian. They studied and translated the Greek classics and both agreed that humor was a more persuasive weapon in the literary arsenal than dry logic or harsh rhetoric. More wrote poetic and literary works (the most famous being Utopia) as well as theological reflections (like his commentary on the Christ's Passion). As author Wegemer describes More's family life and career, he throws in chapters reviewing the contents and significance of works written by More. Having the literary output interwoven with the biographical history gives the reader a deeper understanding of More's character.
The book is a little bit repetitive. Sometimes the life story gets ahead of itself and is repeated later on. Favorite little anecdotes show up multiple times, such as More's desire "to think my greatest enemies my best friends: For the brethren of Joseph could never have done him so much good with their love and favor as they did him with their malice and hatred." [p. 192, also p. 219] This is a reference the Book of Genesis. Jacob's son Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and taken off to Egypt where he eventually became a high official and was able to save his family from famine. The repetition is only a minor distraction and makes me wonder if some chapters were written as separate essays before the whole book was written.
Reading this after seeing A Man For All Seasons (the 1966 movie) is also fascinating. Many of the speeches in the movie are taken verbatim from the actual recorded words of Thomas. Some details in the movie are left out (like More's other children besides Meg or other charges More had to answer in his final trial), which is both typical and to be expected in a theatrical presentation of More's life. The book gives a fuller, even more inspiring portrait of this saint of great integrity, intelligence, and humor.
Highly recommended!
The book is a little bit repetitive. Sometimes the life story gets ahead of itself and is repeated later on. Favorite little anecdotes show up multiple times, such as More's desire "to think my greatest enemies my best friends: For the brethren of Joseph could never have done him so much good with their love and favor as they did him with their malice and hatred." [p. 192, also p. 219] This is a reference the Book of Genesis. Jacob's son Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and taken off to Egypt where he eventually became a high official and was able to save his family from famine. The repetition is only a minor distraction and makes me wonder if some chapters were written as separate essays before the whole book was written.
Reading this after seeing A Man For All Seasons (the 1966 movie) is also fascinating. Many of the speeches in the movie are taken verbatim from the actual recorded words of Thomas. Some details in the movie are left out (like More's other children besides Meg or other charges More had to answer in his final trial), which is both typical and to be expected in a theatrical presentation of More's life. The book gives a fuller, even more inspiring portrait of this saint of great integrity, intelligence, and humor.
Highly recommended!
August 27, 2023
"The brethren of Joseph could not have done him so much good with their love and favor as they did him with their malice and hatred."
After reading the story of this stouthearted saint, I am in awe. In the end, he stood alone in the face of tyranny, everyone else having capitulated, and he did so with unfailing courage, grace, and even humor. Even at the guillotine!
The chapters are short, so this has been the perfect book to just sit on an end table, ready for me to pick up whenever the opportunity arises. It's hard to put down, and now that it's done, I'm sure at some point I'll want to pick it back up and revisit -- maybe the next time that I'm feeling discouraged about things that amount to a whole lot less than what this man confronted.
After reading the story of this stouthearted saint, I am in awe. In the end, he stood alone in the face of tyranny, everyone else having capitulated, and he did so with unfailing courage, grace, and even humor. Even at the guillotine!
The chapters are short, so this has been the perfect book to just sit on an end table, ready for me to pick up whenever the opportunity arises. It's hard to put down, and now that it's done, I'm sure at some point I'll want to pick it back up and revisit -- maybe the next time that I'm feeling discouraged about things that amount to a whole lot less than what this man confronted.
August 27, 2017
A politician that is an expert on his trade, and sticks to his principles to the extreme, isn't that utopia?
This has an explicit moral, supernatural tone but enjoyed how that pivotal time in english history is the background onto which this formidable renascent and God-trusting figure operates.
Particularly enjoyed his nuggets of British humour and pragmatism; he wanted to marry x, but settled for her sister because she 1) could do the job 2) he gave his word to her father and 3) felt sorry for her being much less attractive (?)
This has an explicit moral, supernatural tone but enjoyed how that pivotal time in english history is the background onto which this formidable renascent and God-trusting figure operates.
Particularly enjoyed his nuggets of British humour and pragmatism; he wanted to marry x, but settled for her sister because she 1) could do the job 2) he gave his word to her father and 3) felt sorry for her being much less attractive (?)
December 16, 2025
Was interested to read a biography of More after reading many of his writings. As other reviewers mentioned, this is a glowing biography of the statesman and saint. Having read the majority of More's written works, though, I can't help but agree with Wegemer's basic assessment. More's fortitude, cheerfulness, integrity, and sparkling wit definitely make him one of my heroes.
September 17, 2022
Like most biographies, the early years are a bit tedious but lay a foundation for the latter years. This one, for me was no different. I enjoyed the second half far more than the first - that's when More's life got interesting and inspirational.
August 28, 2024
wonderful book!
February 12, 2017
Absolutely the most thorough More bio, I've yet to read, going in depth into his personal plans for a good and holy life. However the book is dodged by the author's opinions, some less orthodox than they should be (such as the comparison between married life and holy orders) However, the author does glean pearls of wisdom regarding the married estate and how to live it with impressive perspicacity. For better reading a compendium of works of More as companion would be best particularly of his early works because the author assumes such knowledge at times and at times leaves a thought hanging that would be completed by knowing the thrust of a given work. Nevertheless, the most entertaining More book in my acquaintance if not the most scholarly......
August 8, 2009
I really would give this a 3.5. It got better as I got into it and I would say that Wegemer does a great job of highlighting much original source material. The narrative is not very fluid, but this is chock full of good facts and it is obvious how much love and appreciation Wegemer has for his subject.
February 17, 2021
This is a brilliant, compelling, enthralling biography of one of the greater Catholic saints - someone who I thought I knew about...until I read this book!
Very well written, covering all aspects of St Thomas' life, and providing a very good review of the complicated historical and political factors that had such an impact on his life and witness.
Pretty much couldn't put it down!
Very well written, covering all aspects of St Thomas' life, and providing a very good review of the complicated historical and political factors that had such an impact on his life and witness.
Pretty much couldn't put it down!
Want to read
January 7, 2010Included in the "Holy Men and Women" section of Fr. John McCloskey's 100-book Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan.
May 9, 2015
Nice overview of different aspects and themes of St. Thomas More's life.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews