Sts. John Fisher and Thomas More

Their story

John Fisher and Thomas More were two of the most respected men in England in the early 1500s. Fisher, born in 1469, was the bishop of Rochester, a brilliant scholar and chancellor of Cambridge University, known for his holiness and care for the poor. More, born in 1478, was a lawyer, writer and statesman, author of the famous book Utopia, a devoted husband and father who filled his home with learning, prayer and laughter. King Henry VIII made More his Lord Chancellor, the highest official in the land. Henry wanted his marriage to Queen Catherine annulled so he could marry Anne Boleyn. When the pope refused, Henry broke with Rome and declared himself head of the Church in England. Parliament demanded that leading men swear an oath accepting the new marriage and rejecting the pope's authority. Fisher and More both refused. They were imprisoned in the Tower of London. While Fisher was there, the pope named him a cardinal, which only enraged the king. John Fisher was beheaded on June 22, 1535. Thomas More followed on July 6. On the scaffold More declared that he died "the king's good servant, but God's first." Both were canonized in 1935. They are remembered as men who loved their country but would not betray their conscience or the Church. St. Thomas More is the patron of lawyers and of politicians.