John Fisher | |
|---|---|
| Cardinal Bishop of Rochester | |
 Depicted by a follower ofHans Holbein the Younger | |
| Church | Catholic Church in England and Wales |
| Metropolis | Canterbury |
| Diocese | Rochester |
| See | Rochester |
| Appointed | 14 October 1504 |
| Installed | 24 April 1505 |
| Term ended | 2 January 1535 |
| Predecessor | Richard FitzJames |
| Successor | Nicholas Heath |
| Other post | Cardinal-Priest of San Vitale |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 17 December 1491 by Thomas Rotherham |
| Consecration | 24 November 1504 by William Warham |
| Created cardinal | 21 May 1535 byPope Paul III |
| Rank | Bishop,Cardinal-Priest |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 19 October 1469[1] |
| Died | 22 June 1535(1535-06-22) (aged 65) Tower Hill,London, Kingdom of England |
| Motto | faciam vos fieri piscatores hominum ("I shall make you fishers of men") |
| Coat of arms |  |
| Sainthood | |
| Feast day |
|
| Venerated in | Catholic Church,Anglicanism |
| Title as Saint | Bishop and martyr, Bishop of Rochester |
| Beatified | 29 December 1886 Rome,Kingdom of Italy, by Pope Leo XIII |
| Canonized | 19 May 1935 Vatican City, by Pope Pius XI |
| Patronage | Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester;Rochester, New York |
| Styles of John Fisher | |
|---|---|
| |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
John Fisher (c. 19 October 1469 – 22 June 1535) was an English Catholic prelate who served asBishop of Rochester from 1504 to 1535 and as chancellor of theUniversity of Cambridge. He is honoured as amartyr and saint by the Catholic Church.
Fisher was executed by order ofHenry VIII during theEnglish Reformation for refusing to accept him asSupreme Head of the Church of England and for upholding theCatholic Church's doctrine ofpapal supremacy and the independence of the Church from control by the State. He was named acardinal shortly before his death.
In answer to a popular petition of English Catholics,Pope Pius XI canonized John Fisher andThomas More on 19 May 1935 as representatives of the many Catholic martyrs of England. The two martyrs share a commonfeast day on 22 June in the currentGeneral Roman Calendar of the Catholic Church. His name also appears in someAnglicancalendars of saints.
John Fisher was born atBeverley,Yorkshire in 1469,[2] the son of Robert Fisher, a prosperousmercer of Beverley, and Agnes, his wife, with whom he had four children. Robert Fisher died in 1477, and was buried in St. Mary's, the parish church; in his will, he made bequests to his children and various poorhouses, churches, and priests, as well as providing Mass stipends.[3]
John was then eight years old. His widowed mother subsequently married a man named White, to whom she bore four further children.[4]
Fisher's early education was probably at the school attached to the collegiate church in his home town. He seems to have had close contacts with his extended family all his life.
Acknowledging Fisher's aptitude for learning, and being financially comfortable, his mother assented to his admission to the University of Cambridge, in 1482, at the age of twelve or thirteen.
The University of Cambridge had regressed and stagnated academically. In an oration delivered beforeHenry VII in 1506, Fisher recalled:
"At the time when your majesty first showed your concern for us, learning had begun to decline among us—this may have been the result of constant litigation with the town, or of the frequent plagues that beset us so that we lost many of our leading scholars, or of the lack of patrons of learning.[5] Whatever the cause, we should indeed have been reduced to despair had not your majesty shone down upon us like the rising sun itself."[6]
Fisher studied at theUniversity of Cambridge from 1484, where atMichaelhouse he came under the influence ofWilliam Melton, a pastorally-minded theologian open to the new current of reform in studies arising from theRenaissance. Fisher received theBachelor of Arts degree in 1487. In 1491 he proceeded to aMaster of Arts degree and was elected afellow of his college.[7]
Also in 1491 Fisher received a papal dispensation to be ordained to the priesthood despite being under the canonical age.[8] On 17 December 1491 he was ordained into the priesthood, and appointed (nominal) Vicar ofNorthallerton, Yorkshire.[9]
In 1494 he resigned thisbenefice to becomeproctor of the University and three years later was appointed master debater and about the same time he was also appointed chaplain and confessor toMargaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, mother ofKing Henry VII.
On 5 July 1501, he received the degree ofdoctor of sacred theology and 10 days later was electedVice-Chancellor of the university. Under Fisher's guidance, his patroness Lady Margaret foundedSt John's andChrist's Colleges at Cambridge, and a Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity at each of the two universities atOxford andCambridge. Fisher himself becoming the first occupant of the Cambridge chair. From 1505 to 1508 he was also the President ofQueens' College. At the end of July 1516 he was at Cambridge for the opening of St John's College and consecrated the chapel.
Fisher's strategy was to assemble funds and attract to Cambridge leading scholars from Europe, promoting the study not only ofClassical Latin andGreek authors, but ofHebrew. He placed great weight upon pastoral commitment, above all popular preaching, on the part of the endowed fellows. Fisher had a vision to which he dedicated all his personal resources and energies. Despite occasional opposition, he managed to administer the entire university, one of only two in England, conceiving and seeing through long-term projects.
Fisher's foundations were also dedicated to prayer for the dead, especially throughchantry foundations. A stern and austere man, Fisher was known to place a human skull on the altar during Mass and on the table during meals.[10]
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."[11]
Bypapal bull dated 14 October 1504, Fisher was appointedbishop of Rochester, at the personal insistence of Henry VII.[12] Rochester was then the poorest diocese in England and usually seen as a first step on an episcopal career. Nonetheless, Fisher stayed there, presumably by his own choice, for the remaining 31 years of his life.
At the same time, like any English bishop of his day, Fisher had certain state duties. These included in particular, his role regarding the University of Cambridge, in which he maintained a passionate interest. In 1504 he was elected the university's chancellor. Re-elected annually for 10 years, Fisher ultimately received a lifetime appointment. At this date he is also said to have acted as tutor to the future king,Henry VIII. As a preacher, his reputation was so great that he was appointed to preach the funeral oration for King Henry VII and the Lady Margaret, both of whom died in 1509, the texts being extant. Besides the part he played in the Lady Margaret's foundations, Fisher gave further proof of his zeal for learning by inducingErasmus to visit Cambridge. The latter attributes it ("Epistulae" 6:2) to Fisher's protection that the study of Greek was allowed to proceed at Cambridge without the active molestation that it encountered at Oxford.[2]
Despite his fame and eloquence, it was not long before Fisher came into conflict with the new King, his former pupil. The dispute arose over funds left by the Lady Margaret, the King's grandmother, for financing foundations at Cambridge.
In 1512 Fisher was nominated as one of the English representatives at theFifth Council of the Lateran, then sitting, but his journey to Rome was postponed, and finally abandoned.[2]
John Fisher was "the first theologian to diagnose justification through faith alone as the founding dogma of the Protestant Reformation."[13]
Fisher has also been named, though without any convincing proof, as the true author of the royal treatise againstMartin Luther entitled"Assertio septem sacramentorum" (Defence of the Seven Sacraments), published in 1521, which won for King Henry VIII the title"Fidei Defensor" (Defender of the Faith). Prior to this date Fisher had denounced variousabuses in the Church, urging the need for disciplinary reforms.
In 1523, Fisher published a 200,000 word response to Martin Luther'sLatin:Assertio Omnium Articulor (Assertions):Latin:Assertionis Lutheranae Confutatio (Confutation of the Lutheran Assertions). Luther omitted some of the more provocative material from his German version, allowing the view that Fisher (and, the next year,Erasmus) had misunderstood Luther.[14] Luther did not respond to Fisher.
On about 11 February 1526, at the King's command, he preached a famous sermon against Luther atSt Paul's Cross, the open-air pulpit outsideSt Paul's Cathedral in London, as part of a spectacle where some Lutherans would publicly abjure and confiscated Lutheran books would be burnt. In the preface to the printed English version of the sermon, Fisher offered to meet secretly with any Lutheran to "to hear the bottom of his mind, and he shall hear mine again, if it so please him: and I trustin our lord, that finally we shall so agree, that either he shall make me a Lutheran, or else I shall induce him to be a Catholic, and to follow the doctrine of Christ'schurch."[15] The battle against heterodox teachings increasingly occupied Fisher's later years.
In 1529 Fisher was called to confirm withThomas Hitton, a follower ofWilliam Tyndale arrested for suspected heresy, that the records of his interviews and forthright admissions to ArchbishopWilliam Warham were correct and to convince Hitton to abjure.[16]: 1149–1151 Failing this, Hitton was handed to the secular authorities and executed at the stake for heresy.William Tyndale, then living overseas, claimed that Hitton had beentortured by the archbishops,[17] however Protestant historianJohn Foxe who was diligent in passing on this kind of claim, does not claim this.[16]
When Henry tried to annul his marriage toCatherine of Aragon, Fisher became the Queen's chief supporter.[18] As such, he appeared on the Queen's behalf in the legates' court, where he startled the audience by the directness of his language and by declaring that, like StJohn the Baptist, he was ready to die on behalf of the indissolubility of marriage.[19] Henry VIII, upon hearing this, grew so enraged by it that he composed a long Latin address to the legates in answer to the bishop's speech. Fisher's copy of this still exists, with his manuscript annotations in the margin which show how little he feared the royal anger.[20] The removal of the cause to Rome brought Fisher's personal involvement to an end, but the King never forgave him for what he had done.
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In November 1529, the "Long Parliament" of Henry's reign began encroaching on the Catholic Church's prerogatives. Fisher, as a member of the upper house, theHouse of Lords, at once warnedParliament that such acts could only end in the utter destruction of the Catholic Church in England. TheCommons, through their speaker, complained to the King that Fisher had disparagedParliament, presumably with Henry prompting them behind the scenes.[21]: 433 Henry summoned Fisher before him, demanding an explanation. This being given, Henry declared himself satisfied, leaving it to the Commons to declare that the explanation was inadequate, so that he appeared as a magnanimous sovereign, instead of Fisher's enemy.[citation needed]
A year later, in 1530, the continued encroachments on the Church moved Fisher, as bishop of Rochester, along with thebishops of Bath andEly, to appeal to the Holy See. This gave the King his opportunity and an edict forbidding such appeals was immediately issued, and the three bishops were arrested. Their imprisonment, however, must have lasted only a few months for in February 1531,Convocation met, and Fisher was present. This was the occasion when the clergy were forced, at a cost of 100,000 pounds, to purchase the King's pardon for having recognizedCardinal Wolsey's authority as legate of the pope; and at the same time to acknowledge Henry as supreme head of the Church in England, to which phrase the addition of the clause "so far as God's law permits" was made through Fisher's efforts.
This yere was a coke boylyd in a cauderne inSmythfeld for he wolde a powsyned the bishop of Rochester Fycher with dyvers of hys servanttes, and he was lockyd in a chayne and pullyd up and downe with agybbyt at dyvers tymes tyll he was dede.
A few days later, several of Fisher's household were taken ill after eating some porridge served to the household and two died: however Fisher was fasting that day.Henry VIII had parliament enact a retroactive bill that allowed the cook,Richard Roose, without a public trial, to be executed by the state bybeing boiled alive for the crime of poisoning.
On another occasion in 1530, a cannonball fired from across the Thames hit Fisher's house, narrowly missing his study.[22]: 218 This was rumoured to be a warning or assassination attempt from theBoleyn family.[23]
Fisher also engaged in secret activities to overthrow Henry. As early as 1531 he began secretly communicating with foreign diplomats. In September 1533 communicating secretly through the imperial ambassadorEustace Chapuys he encouragedHoly Roman EmperorCharles V to invade England and depose Henry in combination with a domestic uprising.[24]
Matters now moved rapidly. In May 1532, SirThomas More resigned the chancellorship and, in June, Fisher preached publicly against the annulment. In August,William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, died andThomas Cranmer was at once proposed by Henry to the Pope as his successor. In January of the next year, Henry secretly went through a form of marriage withAnne Boleyn. Cranmer's consecration as a bishop took place in March 1533, and, a week later, Fisher was arrested. It seems that the purpose of this arrest was to prevent him from opposing the annulment which Cranmer pronounced in May, or the coronation of Anne Boleyn which followed on 1 June, for Fisher was set at liberty again within a fortnight of the latter event, no charge being made against him.
In the autumn of 1533, various arrests were made in connection with the so-called revelations of the Holy Maid of Kent,Elizabeth Barton, but as Fisher was taken seriously ill in December, proceedings against him were postponed for a time. However, in March 1534, a specialBill of Attainder against Fisher and others for complicity in the matter of the Maid of Kent was introduced inParliament and passed. By this, Fisher was condemned to forfeit all his personal estate and to be imprisoned during the King's pleasure. Subsequently, a pardon was granted him on payment of a fine of 300 pounds.
The same session of Parliament passed theFirst Succession Act, by which all who should be called upon to do so were compelled to take an oath of succession, acknowledging the issue of Henry and Anne as legitimate heirs to the throne, under pain of being guilty ofmisprision of treason. Fisher refused the oath and was imprisoned in theTower of London on 26 April 1534.[12] Several efforts were made to induce him to submit, but without effect, and in November he was attained of misprision of treason a second time, his goods being forfeited as from the previous 1 March, and the See of Rochester being declared vacant as of 2 June following. He was to remain in the Tower for over a year, and while he was allowed food and drink sent by friends, and a servant, he was not allowed a priest, even to the very end. A long letter exists, written from the Tower by Fisher toThomas Cromwell, speaking of the severity of his conditions of imprisonment.
Like Thomas More, Bishop Fisher believed that, because the statute condemned only those speaking maliciously against the King's new title, there was safety in silence. However, on 7 May he fell into a trap laid for him byRichard Rich, who was to perjure himself to obtain Thomas More's conviction. Rich told Fisher that for his own conscience's sake the King wished to know, in strict secrecy, Fisher's real opinion. Fisher, once again, declared that the King was not Supreme Head of the Church of England.[11]
In May 1535, the newly electedPope Paul III created FisherCardinal Priest ofSan Vitale, apparently in the hope of inducing Henry to ease Fisher's treatment. The effect was precisely the reverse:[11] Henry forbade the cardinal's hat to be brought into England, declaring that he would send the head to Rome instead.
In June a special commission for Fisher's trial was issued, and on Thursday, 17 June, he was arraigned inWestminster Hall before a court of seventeen, includingThomas Cromwell,Anne Boleyn'sfather, and ten justices. The charge wastreason, in that he denied that the King was the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Since he had been deprived of his position ofBishop of Rochester by theAct of Attainder, he was treated as a commoner, and tried by jury. The only testimony was that of Richard Rich. John Fisher was found guilty and condemned to behanged, drawn and quartered atTyburn.
However, a public outcry was brewing among the London populace who saw a sinister irony in the parallels between the conviction of Fisher and that of his patronal namesake,Saint John the Baptist, who was executed by KingHerod Antipas for challenging the validity of Herod's marriage to his brother's divorcéeHerodias. For fear of John Fisher's living through his patronalfeast day, that of theNativity of St. John the Baptist on 24 June, and of attracting too much public sympathy, the king commuted the sentence to that ofbeheading, to be accomplished before 23 June, the Vigil of the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.
He was executed onTower Hill on 22 June 1535.[25] The execution had the opposite effect from that which Henry VIII intended, as it created yet another parallel with that of the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, who was also beheaded; his death also happened on the feast day ofSaint Alban, the first martyr of Britain.[25]
Fisher met death with a calm dignified courage which profoundly impressed those present. His body was treated with particular rancour, apparently on Henry's orders, being stripped and left on the scaffold until the evening,[11] when it was taken on pikes and thrown naked into a rough grave in the churchyard of All Hallows' Barking, also known asAll Hallows-by-the-Tower. There was no funeral prayer. A fortnight later, his body was laid beside that of SirThomas More in the chapel ofSt Peter ad Vincula within theTower of London. Fisher's head wasstuck upon a pole onLondon Bridge but its ruddy and lifelike appearance excited so much attention that, after a fortnight, it was thrown into theThames, its place being taken by that of Sir Thomas More, whose execution, also at Tower Hill, occurred on 6 July.[2]
"Catholic piety conventionally explains the scarlet robes that Cardinals wear as a sign of their readiness to shed their blood for the sake of the Christian gospel. This is an edifying thought: but as a matter of fact, in the whole millenium-long history of the cardinalate, only one member of the Sacred College has actually ever suffered martyrdom. That man was John Fisher. (...)
— Eamon Duffy[26]: 150
A list of John Fisher's writings is found inJoseph Gillow'sBibliographical Dictionary of the English Catholics (London, s.d.), II, 262–270. There are twenty-six works in all, printed and manuscript, mostly ascetical or controversial treatises, several of which have been reprinted many times. The original editions are very rare and valuable. The principal are:
John Fisher | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Bishop and Martyr | |
| Born | 19 October 1469 Beverley,Yorkshire,Kingdom of England |
| Died | 22 June 1535 (aged 65) Tower Hill,Tower of London,London, Kingdom of England |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 29 December 1886,Rome byLeo XIII |
| Canonized | 19 May 1935,Vatican City byPius XI |
| Feast | 22 June |
John Fisher wasbeatified byPope Leo XIII withThomas More and52 other English Martyrs on 29 December 1886. In the Decree of Beatification, the greatest place was given to Fisher.
He wascanonised, withThomas More, on 19 May 1935 byPope Pius XI,after the presentation of a petition by English Catholics.[27] His feast day, for celebration jointly withSt Thomas More, is on 22 June (the date of Fisher's execution). In 1980, despite being an opponent of theEnglish Reformation, Fisher was added to theChurch of England'scalendar of Saints and Heroes of the Christian Church, jointly with Thomas More, to becommemorated every6 July[28] (the date of More's execution) as "Thomas More, Scholar, and John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, Reformation Martyrs, 1535".[29] He is also listed along withThomas More in thecalendar of saints of some of the other Churches of theAnglican Communion, such asThe Anglican Church of Australia.[30]
Several portraits of John Fisher exist, the most prominent being byHans Holbein the Younger in the Royal Collection; and a fewsecondary relics are extant.
Fisher's walking-staff is in the possession of the Eyston family ofEast Hendred, inOxfordshire (formerlyBerkshire).[61]
John Fisher was portrayed by veteran actorJoseph O'Conor in the filmAnne of the Thousand Days (1969), byBosco Hogan in the seriesThe Tudors, byGeoffrey Lewis in the 1971 miniseriesThe Six Wives of Henry VIII and byRichard Durden in the 2015 miniseriesWolf Hall.
JULY 2 Visitation of theBlessed Virgin Mary 6 John Fisher, bishop (1468-1535) and Thomas More (1478-1535), scholars and martyrs for conscience' sake
Texts on Wikisource:| Catholic Church titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Bishop of Rochester 1504–1535 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge 1501 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President ofQueens' College, Cambridge 1505–1508 | Succeeded by |
