Saint John Fisher
![[Saint John Fisher]](saintj38.jpg "??kb jpg drawing of Saint John, artist unknown; please do not write to ask about the image")
- Also known as
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John of Rochester
John Fisher of Rochester
- Memorial
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22 June
formerly 13 June
formerly 9 July
- Profile
- Studied theology at Cambridge University, receiving degrees in 1487 and 1491.
Parish priest in Northallerton, England from 1491 to 1494.
Gained a reputation for his teaching abilities.
Proctor of Cambridge University.
Confessor to Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII, in 1497.
Bishop of Rochester, England in 1504; he worked to raise the standard of preaching in his see.
Chancellor of Cambridge.
Tutor of the young King Henry VIII.
Excellent speaker and writer.
When in 1527 he was asked to study the problem of Henry's marriage, he became the target of Henry's wrath by defending the validity of the marriage and rejecting Henry's claim to be head of the Church in England.
Imprisoned in 1534 for his opposition, he spent 14 months in prison without trial.
While in prison he was created cardinal in 1535 by Pope Paul III.
Martyr.
- Born
- 1469 at Beverly, Yorkshire, England
- Died
-
martyred on 22 June 1535 on Tower Hill, Tyburn, England
buried in the churchyard of All Hallows, Barking, without rites or a shroud
head exhibited on London Bridge for two weeks as an example, then thrown into the River Thames
relics in Saint Peter's Church in the Tower of London
- Name Meaning
- God is gracious; gift of God
- Canonized
- 1935 by Pope Pius XI
- Patronage
- diocese of Rochester, New York
- Representation
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cardinal with an axe nearby
cardinal with his hat at his feet
cardinal with worn, haggard features
- Storefront
- Commercial Links related to Saint John
- Additional Information
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Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
Catholic Encyclopedia, by G Roger Huddleston
Christian Biographies, by James Kiefer
Columbia Encyclopedia
For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
Google Directory
New Catholic Dictionary
Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, and Stephen Bunson
The Saints: A Concise Biographical Dictionary, edited by John Coulson
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- Readings
- Had you but tasted one drop of the sweetness which inebriates the souls of those religious from their worship of this Sacrament, you would never have written as you have, nor have apostatized from the faith that you formerly professed.
- Saint John Fisher, writing to the bishop of Winchester
I reckon in this realm no one man, in wisdom, learning, and long approved virtue together, meet to be matched and compared with him.
- Saint Thomas More