St. Thomas More parish opened in June of 1963 and took as its patron Thomas More. He was beatified in 1886, canonized a saint of the Church in 1935, and is respected by attorneys and fathers of families as a good and quiet man whose life and conduct are most worthy of emulation.

West Window represents Spring showing Thomas More's life of academics. The pen and book reflect his scholarship and writings. He valued education and secured the best teachers of his time to teach his children. He was a lawyer by training and profession noted for his fair decisions exemplifying the Christian viewpoint to his death. This is symbolically represented with the Scale of Justice tipped in favor of the Cross.

North Window represents Summer, and Thomas More as a family man completely devoted to his wife and children, who were a source of joy and peace to him. This family invites each of us to become a family united in faith and love. Wheat and Grapes are the natural food from which the bread and wine are produced, the material elements of the Eucharist. Thomas More believed deeply in the reception of the Eucharist and calls us, as a parish family, to believe and practice it strongly.

East Window represents Fall, depicting his public life. The Papal Seal, a symbol of the Church, the purity which meant so much to him, became his strength. He was the Lord Chancellor of England symbolized by the Rose and Chain. The third seal is the Seal of England, symbolizing Thomas More as a man in the middle of the Pope and Henry VIII between Catholicism and the secular desires of the King.

South Window represents Winter, done in blues and grays, depicts his religious convictions and political life - the large Tower of London where he was held prisoner, the double bladed axe, the common execution of his time, and the Bridge of London where his head was displayed after he was beheaded, later removed by a friend and his daughter.

St. Thomas More was indeed a Man for All Seasons. The quotation, "Farewell...and pray for me, and I shall for you and your friends, that we merrily meet in heaven," is the theme of St. Thomas More parish.

Pictures of the windows - click here! (windows only, printer-friendly page)