St. John Fisher
Bishop of Rochester and Cardinal,
Martyr ( 1535)
A Short Biography
John
Fisher is usually associated with Erasmus, Thomas
More and other Renaissance
humanists. His
life, therefore, did not have
the external simplicity found
in the lives of some saints. Rather, he
was a man of learning, associated with the intellectuals
and political men of his day. He was interested
in the contemporary culture and eventually became
Chancellor at Cambridge. He had been made a
bishop at 35, and one of his specific interests was
in raising the standards of preaching in England. Fisher
himself was an accomplished preacher and writer. His
sermons on the penitential psalms were reprinted
seven times before his death. With the coming
of Lutheranism, he was drawn into controversy. His
eight books against heresy gave him a leading
position among European theologians.
In
1527 he was asked to study the problem of Henry
VIII's marriage. He incurred Henry's anger by defending
the validity of his marriage with Catherine, and, later,
by rejecting Henry's claim to being the supreme Church
of England.
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In
an attempt to be rid of him, Henry first had him accused of not reporting all the "revelations" of
nun of Kent, Elizabeth Barton. He was summoned,
in feeble health, to take the oath to the new Act of
Succession. He and Thomas More refused because
the other presumed the legality of Henry's divorce and
his claim to be head of the English church. They
were sent to the Tower, where Fisher remained 14 months
without trial. They were finally sentenced
to life imprisonment and loss of goods.
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When the two were called to further interrogations,
they remained silent. Fisher was tricked, on the supposition
he was speaking privately as a priest, and declared again that the
king was not supreme head. The king, further angered that the
Pope had made John Fisher a cardinal, had him brought to trial on
the charge of high treason. He was condemned and executed,
his body left to lie all day on the scaffold, and his head hung on
London Bridge. More was execute two weeks later.
QUOTE: Erasmus
said of John Fisher: "He is the one man at this time who
is incomparable for uprightness of life, for learning and for greatness
of soul."
Foley,
Leonard, O.F.M. "Saint of the Day," ©1974,
1975
St.
Anthony Messenger Press. |
