Our Patron Saint - Saint John Fisher

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 Thomas More, had been friends and counsellors of Henry VIII who executed them both for high treason. Both Fisher and More could not in good conscience accept the king's claim to be Supreme Head of the Church in England. John Fisher was beheaded by Henry VIII on June 22, 1535, only a month after becoming a cardinal and fourteen days beforeThomas More suffered the same 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 closer to God and to other people.