Saint John Fisher

John Fisher (c. 19 October 1469 – 22 June 1535) was an English Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Rochester from 1504 to 1535 and as chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He is honoured as a martyr and saint by the Catholic Church. Fisher was executed by order of Henry VIII during the English Reformation for refusing to accept him as Supreme Head of the Church of England and for upholding the Catholic Church's doctrine of papal supremacy and the independence of the Church from control by the State. He was named a cardinal shortly before his death. In answer to a popular petition of English Catholics, Pope Pius XI canonized John Fisher and Thomas More on 19 May 1935 as representatives of the many Catholic martyrs of England. The two martyrs share a common feast day on 22 June in the current General Roman Calendar of the Catholic Church. His name also appears in some Anglican calendars of saints. John Fisher was born at Beverley, Yorkshire in 1469, the son of Robert Fisher, a prosperous mercer 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. John was then eight years old. His widowed mother subsequently married a man named White, to whom she bore four further children. 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.