Biography of saint john fisher
His family was financially secure so he had access to a good education in preparation for his undergraduate degree at Cambridge University. He joined the student body at Cambridge in at the age of 14 to earn, in rapid succession, his Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees that demonstrated his mastery of philosophy, grammar, literature, geometry, music, and astronomy.
As a resident of Michael House, and later as one of its masters, he found a home to read and study in preparation for his doctoral degree in theology, which he earned in Before earning this degree that crowned his academic studies, John Fisher was ordained a priest at the early age of Fisher desired to provide England with the best of theology and a better educated laity.
At that time, the Sunday sermon was the accepted method to educate the laity in matters of faith and morals. As Chancellor, he sought to provide an educated clergy to preach more effectively and model what they preached. The effect was precisely the reverse. Henry forbade the cardinal's hat to be brought into Englanddeclaring that he would send the head to Rome instead.
In June a special commission for Fisher's trial was issued, and on 17 June he was arraigned in Westminster Hall on a charge of treasonin that he denied the king to be supreme head of the Church. Since he had been deprived of his bishopric by the Act of Attainderhe was treated as a commoner, and tried by jury. He was declared guilty, and condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn, but the mode of execution was changed, and instead he was beheaded on Tower Hill.
The martyr's last moments were thoroughly in keeping with his previous life. He met death with a calm dignified courage which profoundly impressed all present. His headless body was stripped and left on the scaffold till evening, when it was thrown naked into a grave in the churchyard of Allhallows, Barking. Thence it was removed a fortnight later and laid beside that of Sir Thomas More in the church of St.
Peter ad Vincula by the Tower. His head was stuck upon a pole on London Bridge, but its ruddy and lifelike appearance excited so much attention that, after a fortnight, it was thrown into the Thames, its place being taken by that of Sir Thomas Morewhose martyrdom occurred on 6 July next following. Several portraits of Fisher exist, the best being by Holbein in the royal collection; and a few secondary relics are extant.
There are twenty-six works in all, printed and manuscriptmostly ascetical or controversial treatises, several of which have been reprinted many times. The original editions are very rare and valuable. The principal are:. APA citation. Huddleston, G. John Fisher. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. MLA citation. Mediatrix Press.
ISBN Retrieved 26 October A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
Biography of saint john fisher
Saint John Fisher. Anthony Clarke Books. The history and annals of Northallerton, Yorkshire. London: Simpkin and Marshall. OCLC The Wars of the Roses. Constable and Robinson. Retrieved 3 July Franciscan Studies. ISSN JSTOR Lady Anne Clifford. Roger Ascham. The Rev. William Mason. Sir Richard Arkwright. The Tudor Murder Files. Pen and Sword.
CUP Archive. The Church History of Britain, Vol 2. London: Thomas Tegg, Saints, sacrilege and sedition: religion and conflict in the Tudor reformations. London: Bloomsbury. The Church of England. Retrieved 27 March The Church's Year. Church of England. Retrieved 1 March Sydney: Anglican Information Office. Archdiocese of Brisbane. John Fisher Parish, Bramalea".
Retrieved 13 January Archived from the original on 18 October Retrieved 19 December St John's College, Cambridge. Retrieved 22 August St John Fisher Catholic College. John Fisher High School. The John Fisher School. Fisher FC. Archived from the original on 3 August Retrieved 14 June Archived from the original on 25 June John Fisher Chapel University Parish".
Archived from the original on 15 June John Fisher Parish". John Fisher Parish. John Fisher Church". John Fisher Church. Archived from the original on 15 December John Fisher Catholic Church". John Fisher Catholic Church. Archived from the original on 7 June John Fisher Roman Catholic Church". Further reading [ edit ]. External links [ edit ].
Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Fisher. Wikiquote has quotations related to John Fisher. Richard FitzJames. Fisher was in fact already in the Tower, and also tried silence; but was tricked by Richard Rich into giving his opinion that the royal supremacy was illegal and against the laws of the church. In the Tower, Fisher was not treated well.
Fisher was even forced to write to Cromwell:. On 17 th JuneFisher was tried as a commoner by jury in front of Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Boleyn and 10 justices. Richard Rich was the only witness, and it was more than enough; Fisher was convicted of Treason and to be hanged, drawn and quartered, though commuted to beheading. He made a short speech as he was condemned:.
As you would expect from a man of such courage, conviction and with eyes fixed firmly on heaven, Fisher died with dignity. He knelt slowly, laid his head on the block and died for the unity of Christendom its inherited faith and the rights of the Pope to determine the consciences of men and women in England. His body was not treated with much respect — by order of a vindictive king who had probably never liked him, the headless body was left lying around for a while, as you do.
His head was stuck up on a pike on London Bridge as normal, but irritatingly seemed to get fresher with each passing day. Seeing a miracle on its way, some thoroughly earthy bloke booted it into the Thames before he could cause any more trouble. John Fisher was my 12th Great Grandfather. I seem to have a lot of his biographies of saint john fisher.
Thank you for share the history. Thank you Allan. A brave man from whom to be descended. I heard from my mother Ellen Katherine something of her family name Fisher was the John Fisher who defended the Church. Harry was moms dad a Fisher. How did you trace this lineage? My husband too thought that he was descended from St John Fisher, but if St John had no children, how can that be?