Thomas More

== Spiritual life ==
According to his friend, the theologian [[Desiderius Erasmus]] of [[Rotterdam]], More once seriously contemplated abandoning his legal career to become a [[monk]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Erasmus|first=Desiderius|author-link=Desiderius Erasmus|contribution=Letter to Ulrich von Hutten|editor-last=Adams|editor-first=Robert M.|title=Utopia|year=1991|url=https://archive.org/details/utopiarevisedtra00more|url-access=registration|location=New York|publisher=WW Norton & Co|page=[https://archive.org/details/utopiarevisedtra00more/page/125 125]|isbn=9780393961454}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Erasmus to Ulrich von Hutten|work=The Center for Thomas More Studies. Biographical Accounts: Erasmus' Letters about More|url=https://thomasmorestudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Erasmus-to-Ulrich-von-Hutten.pdf}}</ref> Between 1503 and 1504 More lived near the [[London Charterhouse|Carthusian monastery]] outside the walls of London and joined in the monks' spiritual exercises. Although he deeply admired their piety, More ultimately decided to remain a layman, standing for election to Parliament in 1504 and marrying the following year.<ref name="Rebhorn" />{{rp |xxi}}

More continued ascetic practices for the rest of his life, such as wearing a [[cilice|hair shirt]] next to his skin and occasionally engaging in [[self-flagellation]].<ref name="Rebhorn" />{{rp |xxi}} A tradition of the [[Third Order of Saint Francis]] honours More as a member of that Order on their [[calendar of saints]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://taucrossregion.org/calendarfranciscansaints.htm|work=Tau Cross Region of the Secular Franciscan Order|title=Franciscan Calendar|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130505201117/http://www.taucrossregion.org/calendarfranciscansaints.htm|archive-date=5 May 2013}}</ref>