Why did it take so long for St. Thomas More to be canonized?
We can only speculate, but here are three possible reasons: • He was a layman. Priests and religious usually are canonized much faster than laypeople because they have dioceses and religious orders that take special interest in having them canonized and the access to Rome to influence timely proceedings. Those laypeople who are canonized more quickly are usually affiliated with a religious order in some way (e.g., member of a third order). Thomas More was a secular Franciscan, but he had two additional obstacles: • He was a lawyer. Because of his work as a public official in the government of King Henry VIII, scholars had to sift through all of Mores known writings and actions as a public official to be certain that they did not contradict Catholic doctrine and morals. • He was a martyr from a country in painful schism from the Church and which the Church hoped for a number of centuries could be reunited with the Holy See. To have canonized Thomas More and the other Catholic Tudor mart
