Roman Catholic prelate who boldly resisted Henry VIII's effort to abolish papal jurisdiction over the English Church, and was eventually condemned to death for treason against the king. He was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1935.
A distinguished biblical scholar, preacher and administrator, Fisher helped founded a professorship of divinity at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, as well as Christ's College and St John's at Cambridge. He was appointed chancellor of Cambridge and bishop of Rochester, Kent, in 1504.
Fisher first became more publicly visible when he spoke out against Lutheranism as a heresy, as well as in resisting Henry VIII's attempt in the reformation of the church. He first incurred the wrath of the king when, in 1529, he was consulted by the king and Cardinal Thomas Wolsey on the validity of the king's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, he defended the queen. He further earned the king's displeasure when, two years later, he opposed the Act of Supremacy, which when passed in 1534, granted Henry VIII the title of "Supreme Head of the Church and Clergy of England." Fisher, together with Sir Thomas More, broke the camel's back when they refused to take the oath required by the 1534 Act of Succession which declared that Henry's marriage to Catherine was void and that to Anne Boleyn valid.
All hopes for John Fisher were destroyed when, on 20 May 1535, news arrived in England that Pope Paul III had made Fisher a cardinal. Tricked into confiding in Sir Richard Rich, the solicitor-general, he confessed that the king was not and could not be the head of the supreme head of the Church of England. Fisher was charged and found guilty of treason. On 22 June 1535, just a few days before the same fate befell Thomas More, Fisher was executed on Tower Hill, and his head displayed on London Bridge.
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