How did Thomas More continue monastic practices after choosing a lay life?

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Portrait of Sir Thomas More by Hans Holbein the Younger, showing More in dark robes and a black hat, wearing a gold chain of office, seated against a green and yellow draped background. — Thomas More *Sir Thomas More*, oil on panel by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1527; in the Frick Collection, New York City.

Although Thomas More chose to serve God as a lay Christian rather than as a priest, he maintained several rigorous monastic habits throughout his life. Even while pursuing a career in law and government, he continued to practice early rising, prolonged prayer, and fasting. Additionally, he practiced the ascetic discipline of wearing a hair shirt.1

These personal devotions remained central to his life, reflecting the influence of the time he spent residing in a Carthusian monastery while testing his vocation. Later, when he built his home in Chelsea, he designed it with a chapel and a library specifically intended to facilitate a life of studious and prayerful seclusion.12