Saint John Fisher

Life story

John Fisher was born around 1469 at Beverley in Yorkshire. He studied at Cambridge, was ordained a priest and gradually took on a number of university offices. He became acquainted with Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, and served as her spiritual adviser. With his help she founded Christ's College and St John's College at Cambridge. In 1504 he was appointed bishop of Rochester, a small diocese he held for the rest of his life, and he also served as chancellor of Cambridge.

He was known as a preacher and a scholar. When Henry VIII sought to end his marriage to Queen Catherine of Aragon, Fisher openly defended its validity. He was one of the very few bishops who refused to accept the king as head of the Church in England. For that reason he was imprisoned in the Tower of London after declining to swear to the Act of Succession, and was later condemned.

In May 1535 Pope Paul III made him a cardinal while he was still in prison. He was beheaded on Tower Hill on 22 June 1535, a few weeks before Thomas More. Pope Pius XI canonised him in 1935 together with Thomas More. The Church keeps his feast on 22 June. He wrote works defending the Catholic faith against Luther and the reformers, and he is remembered as a patron of Greek and Hebrew studies at Cambridge, where he invited Erasmus to lecture.

Works and witness

• Bishop of Rochester from 1504 until his death
• Chancellor of the University of Cambridge
• Helped Margaret Beaufort found Christ's and St John's Colleges
• Publicly defended Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon
• Executed on 22 June 1535 and canonised in 1935

Saints from the same country

Saint Thomas Becket, Saint Thomas More, Saint Carlo Acutis, Saint Bede the Venerable

References

• Martyrologium Romanum
• Dicastery for the Causes of Saints – biographical profile
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 'Fisher, John'

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.