Our History
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St. John Fisher was born in 1459 in Beverly, Yorkshire, England. In 1483, at the age of 14, he entered Cambridge and received his Master of Arts degree in 1491. Ten years later, a Doctor of Divinity, he became Vice Chancellor and 12 years later became Cambridge's Chancellor for life. At the age of 22, John Fisher was ordained a priest and later became the Bishop of Rochester, Kent.
John Fisher, and his friend Thomas Moore, had been friends and counselors of Henry VIII who executed them both for high treason. Both Fisher and Moore could not in conscience accept the king's novel claim to be Supreme Head of the Church in England. |
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John Fisher was beheaded by Henry VIII on June 22, 1535, only a month after becoming a cardinal and fourteen days before his friend Thomas Moore suffered the same barbaric fate. At a time when many saw learning and belonging to the Church as ways to get money and power, John Fisher stood for different values. For him, learning was valuable not as a tool to further ambition but as a way to come close to God and to other human beings. A half hour before his execution, John Fisher opened his New Testament and read the following from John's Gospel: "Eternal life is this: to know You, the only true God, and Him whom You have sent, Jesus Christ. I have given You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave me to do. Do You now, Father, give me glory at Your side." Closing the book, John Fisher said: "There is enough learning in that to last me the rest of my life." |
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