St. John Fisher

St. John Fisher is the martyred cardinal of England and close friend of St. Thomas More. He was ordained a priest in 1491 and appointed bishop of Rochester in 1504. In 1529 he was named a counselor of Queen Catherine of Aragon, leading the opposition against King Henry VIII in his quest for a divorce. Twice imprisoned for opposing the king, he refused to sign Henry’s Act of Supremacy in 1534. He was placed in the Tower of London, which led to Pope Paul III creating him a cardinal, largely as a gesture of papal support. John faced a trial after ten difficult months in the Tower, and, to no one’s surprise, was condemned and beheaded at Tyburn. He sang the Te Deum as the headman’s axe fell. A gifted theologian and scholar, he was an inspiration to the leaders of the Catholic Reformation, and his writings were used at the Council of Trent. With St. Thomas More, he was the most famous victim of King Henry’s break with the Roman Catholic Church. He was canonized in 1935 by Pope Pius XI. His feast is kept on June 22.