Church of England Weighs Proposal to Place St. Thomas More’s Skull in Shrine for Veneration

The Many Hidden Saints of Kent: Holy Men and Women Who Remain ‘Powerful Intercessors’

John Sheldon Wall painting of the murder of St. Thomas Becket at Bayeux Cathedral. The Catholic history of the English county that’s slightly smaller than Rhode Island has had an enormous impact on the world, thanks in large part to its close links with possibly as many as 80 saints and blesseds.

Church of England weighs proposal to place St. Thomas More’s skull in shrine for veneration

LIVERPOOL, England (OSV News) — The Church of England is weighing plans to exhume and enshrine the head of St. Thomas More , the patron saint of statesmen and politicians, in time for the 500th anniversary of his 1535 martyrdom. Years after his beheading, the saint’s head was buried in a vault with the body of his daughter, Margaret Roper, at St. Dunstan’s Anglican Church in the city of Canterbury in the southeast of England.  The parochial chur…

Deteriorating head of St Thomas More should be exhumed and conserved, PCC agrees

HAVING the head of St Thomas More head deteriorating in a vault is not good enough for the multitudes worldwide who venerate him. This is the conclusion of the PCC of St Dunstan’s, Canterbury, in a statement read out to congregations last week on ...

The surprising plan to exhume St. Thomas More's head

LIVERPOOL, England (OSV News) — Nearly half a century after St. Thomas More was killed for refusing to accept King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England, an Anglican parish is weighing plans to exhume and enshrine his skull in time for the 500th anniversary of his 1535 martyrdom. Years after his beheading, the saint’s head was buried in a vault with the body of his daughter, Margaret Roper, at St. Dunstan’s Anglican Church in the city of C…

Church of England weighs plans to exhume St. Thomas More in time for the 500th anniversary of his martyrdom - The Dialog

LIVERPOOL, England — The Church of England is weighing plans to exhume and enshrine the head of St. Thomas More , the patron saint of statesmen and politicians, in time for the 500th anniversary of his 1535 martyrdom. Years after his beheading, the saint’s head was buried in a vault with the body of his daughter, Margaret Roper, at St. Dunstan’s Anglican Church in the city of Canterbury in the southeast of England. The parochial church council, …

Church of England weighs proposal to place St Thomas More’s skull in shrine for veneration

A statue of St. Thomas More, patron of statesmen, politicians and members of the legal profession, is seen at St. Thomas More Church in Hauppauge, N.Y. Lord chancellor of England under King Henry VIII, St. Thomas More was beheaded in 1535 on charges of treason after refusing to recognize the king as the supreme head of the Church of England. Under a proposal announced July 6, 2025, the Church of England is weighing a plan to disinter St. Thomas …