A graffiti artist who says he is a descendant of seven Catholic saints has described St Thomas More as an “absolute hero”.
Charles Uzzell-Edwards, who is known professionally as Pure Evil and claims he descends from St Thomas More and six other Catholic saints, praised the Tudor martyr for his courage, he told The Catholic Herald.
He said: “I’ve done a lot of reading about Sir Thomas More I think he’s an absolute hero. Obviously he’s not so clean cut a hero as we’d like to imagine, but I think he’s a fascinating character. He knew that by sticking to his actions he was doomed.
“I did a painting of him recently where he had this expression where you’re standing up for your rights but you know standing up for your rights is probably going to mean that you’re going to get beheaded. And the story of how he was actually beheaded and then his daughter had to bribe the keeper of the bridge to get his head back pretty horrific.”
Although Mr Uzzell-Edwards no longer describes himself as a practising Catholic he says Catholicism has an influence on him and his artistic work. He said: “I’ve studied the religion quite bit. Growing up and going to church every weekend and sort of studying the Bible there are interesting ideas it’s part of my DNA really.”
The other saints to whom Mr Uzzell-Edwards says he is related are Vladimir the Great, St Anna of Russia, the Holy Martyrs St Boris and Gleb, St Margaret of Scotland and St Matilda.
This article first appeared in the print edition of The Catholic Herald (20/6/14)
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