St. Thomas More was a layman who, in his youth, spent a few years living and praying with the Carthusians in London. During this period of discernment, he did not take formal vows; yet he did try to live the monastic life to the extent that he could, while continuing his legal career. He was noted for living in a humble cell, wearing a hair shirt, taking the same sparse meals as the monks, and praying the Divine Office with them. Eventually, however, he discerned a vocation to marriage.

Perhaps it was there that he acquired the habit of praying the Liturgy of the Hours, a practice he continued throughout his life. He prayed the Hours regularly and also encouraged his household to do so.

At the House of Prayer, we have a facsimile copy of his personal prayerbook, the one that he prayed while imprisoned in the Tower before his martyrdom. There are even marginal notes in his own handwriting.

It is these two features about St. Thomas More, the fact that he was a lay person as well as that he prayed the Liturgy of the Hours, that convinced us to take him to be our model and chief intercessor.