St. Dunstan's Church (Relics of St. Thomas More)
A church holding relics of St. Thomas More.
St. Thomas More → Plan a trip hereThe Story
St. Dunstan's Church in Canterbury, England, an eleventh-century parish church on the old pilgrim road into the city, is honored as the resting place of the head of St. Thomas More, the martyred Lord Chancellor of England. The relic lies sealed in the Roper family vault beneath the church's Nicholas (Roper) Chapel. Thomas More, celebrated lawyer, scholar, and author of Utopia, served King Henry VIII as Lord Chancellor. When he refused to swear the oath acknowledging the king's supremacy over the Church in England, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and beheaded on July 6, 1535, declaring himself, in the words tradition records, "the King's good servant, but God's first." His head was displayed on London Bridge, as was customary for traitors, until his devoted daughter Margaret Roper recovered it. It was later placed in the burial vault of her husband's family, the Ropers, whose home stood near St. Dunstan's; a ledger stone and memorials in the chapel mark the site. The church has long welcomed pilgrims in More's memory, and a window commemorates Pope St. John Paul II's 1982 visit to Canterbury. St. Dunstan's has been an Anglican parish church since the Reformation, and the vault remains sealed, but Catholics and other admirers of More continue to visit and pray at the chapel. The church is also remembered as the place where King Henry II put on penitential garb in 1174 before walking barefoot to the tomb of St. Thomas Becket.
Church Recognition
Thomas More was beatified in 1886, canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1935, and declared patron of statesmen and politicians by Pope St. John Paul II in 2000; St. Dunstan's itself is an Anglican parish church, and the relic of his head rests sealed in its Roper vault.
Catholic Teaching
St. Thomas More's martyrdom witnesses to the primacy of conscience formed in the truth and to fidelity to Christ above earthly power (CCC 1776-1782, 2473); the honoring of his relic reflects the Church's tradition of venerating the remains of the martyrs (CCC 1674).
Plan Your Visit
Practical
Additional Information
Visitors can pray in the Roper Chapel, where memorials, stained glass, and a ledger stone mark the sealed vault containing the relic of St. Thomas More's head; the church lies on the historic pilgrim route into Canterbury, and More is especially remembered around his feast on June 22.
Go Deeper
Readers may explore Thomas More's own writings, especially his Tower works such as A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation, the Catechism on conscience and martyrdom (CCC 1776-1782, 2473-2474), and resources of the Thomas More studies community; the church is part of the Canterbury city-centre Anglican parish.
Location
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In the Area
Other sacred sites within 40 miles.