John Fisher

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John Fisher, drawing by Hans Holbein the Younger (between 1497 and 1543)
Coat of arms of John Cardinal Fisher with his motto Faciam vos fieri piscatores hominum ("I will make you fishers of men")

John Cardinal Fisher (* 1469 in Beverley ( Yorkshire ), † June 22, 1535 in London ) was Bishop of the Diocese of Rochester in England and Cardinal . He is venerated as a martyr and saint in the Roman Catholic Church .

Life

Fisher entered Michaelhouse College, Cambridge in 1483 . In 1491 he became a Magister Artium. In 1495 he was ordained a priest . From 1497 he was court chaplain and confessor Margaret Beauforts , the mother of King Henry VII. In 1501 Fisher earned a doctorate in theology and became vice chancellor. In 1502 he was offered a chair in theology, which he held in 1503. In 1504 he became Chancellor of the University of Cambridge . He was re-elected to this office year after year for the next ten years until he was appointed chancellor for life in 1514.

On October 14, 1504, John Fisher was elected Bishop of Rochester on the proposal of King Henry VII . He was ordained episcopal on November 24, 1504 at Lambeth Palace in Canterbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Warham ; Co-consecrators were the Bishop of Norwich Richard Nykke , and the Bishop of Lincoln . William Smith .

Fisher was the tutor to the prince who later ascended the English throne as Henry VIII . In 1505, Bishop Fisher moved Margaret Beaufort to found Christ's College and St John's College in Cambridge. Because of his high reputation, Fisher gave the funeral oration of King Henry VII in 1509, after which he was Henry VIII's court chaplain. He was supposed to attend the fifth Lateran Council as one of the English representatives in 1512 , but his departure was postponed and he ultimately did not attend the council. On May 12, 1521, he preached in St. Paul's Cross in London at the burning of Protestant writings that had come to England, which at that time had hardly been affected by the Reformation.

Acts of Supremacy, Cardinal Dignity and Martyrdom

In the dispute with Henry VIII., The marriage to Catherine of Aragon for void wanted to explain bishop took Fisher, who is also the confessor of the queen, was the teaching of the Catholic Church, which he presented in several publications. In 1534 he was imprisoned in the Tower for not taking the oath on the Supreme Act, the law by which King Henry declared himself head of the English Church. Pope Paul III raised Bishop Fisher during his captivity on May 21, 1535 to cardinal priest with the titular church of San Vitale . Fisher was charged with high treason , sentenced to death, and beheaded on June 22, 1535, a few days before Thomas More .

John Fisher was beatified in 1886 and beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1935 . canonized . His feast day in the liturgy of the Catholic Church is June 22nd (together with St. Thomas More). Meanwhile, he is also commemorated in the Anglican Church of England (Memorial Day: July 6th).

theology

Fisher was a scholar, a connoisseur of humanism and Catholic tradition. He was friends with other humanists (including Erasmus of Rotterdam , who visited him in June 1516, and Stephen Gardiner ). After all, he was a reformer in the Catholic Church of England (clergy reform). Fisher took a clear position on the theological issues of his day: he turned against the anti-clerical stance of the English House of Commons and against Protestant aspirations. He wrote important works, including pamphlets against the then burgeoning Protestantism and especially against Luther :

  • Assertionis Lutheranae , Antwerp 1523
  • Contra captivitatem Babylonicam Lutheri , 1525
  • Sacri sacerdotii defensio contra Lutherum , Cologne 1525
  • De veritate corporis et sanguinis Christi in Eucharistia , Cologne 1527

literature

Web links

Commons : John Fisher  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Calendar of Saints of the Church of England, July 6th
predecessor Office successor
Richard Fitz-James St John Fisher Arms.svg Bishop of Rochester
1507–1535 		John Hilsey
personal data
SURNAME Fisher, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fisher, John Cardinal (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Catholic clergyman in England
DATE OF BIRTH 1469
PLACE OF BIRTH Beverley ( Yorkshire )
DATE OF DEATH June 22, 1535
Place of death London