John Fisher (c. 19 October 1469 – 22 June 1535) was an English Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Rochester from 1504 to 1535 and as chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He is honoured as a martyr and saint by the Catholic Church.
Fisher was executed by order of Henry VIII during the English Reformation for refusing to accept him as Supreme Head of the Church of England and for upholding the Catholic Church's doctrine of papal supremacy and the independence of the Church from control by the State. He was named a cardinal shortly before his death.
In answer to a popular petition of English Catholics, Pope Pius XI canonized John Fisher and Thomas More on 19 May 1935 as representatives of the many Catholic martyrs of England. The two martyrs share a common feast day on 22 June in the current General Roman Calendar of the Catholic Church. His name also appears in some Anglican calendars of saints.
John Fisher was born at Beverley, Yorkshire in 1469, the son of Robert Fisher, a prosperous mercer of Beverley, and Agnes, his wife, with whom he had four children. Robert Fisher died in 1477, and was buried in St. Mary's, the parish church; in his will, he made bequests to his children and various poorhouses, churches, and priests, as well as providing Mass stipends.
John was then eight years old. His widowed mother subsequently married a man named White, to whom she bore four further children.
Fisher's early education was probably at the school attached to the collegiate church in his home town. He seems to have had close contacts with his extended family all his life.
Acknowledging Fisher's aptitude for learning, and being financially comfortable, his mother assented to his admission to the University of Cambridge, in 1482, at the age of twelve or thirteen.
The University of Cambridge had regressed and stagnated academically. In an oration delivered before Henry VII in 1506, Fisher recalled:
"At the time when your majesty first showed your concern for us, learning had begun to decline among us—this may have been the result of constant litigation with the town, or of the frequent plagues that beset us so that we lost many of our leading scholars, or of the lack of patrons of learning. Whatever the cause, we should indeed have been reduced to despair had not your majesty shone down upon us like the rising sun itself."
Fisher studied at the University of Cambridge from 1484, where at Michaelhouse he came under the influence of William Melton, a pastorally-minded theologian open to the new current of reform in studies arising from the Renaissance. Fisher received the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1487. In 1491 he proceeded to a Master of Arts degree and was elected a fellow of his college.
Also in 1491 Fisher received a papal dispensation to be ordained to the priesthood despite being under the canonical age. On 17 December 1491 he was ordained into the priesthood, and appointed (nominal) Vicar of Northallerton, Yorkshire.
In 1494 he resigned this benefice to become proctor of the University and three years later was appointed master debater and about the same time he was also appointed chaplain and confessor to Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, mother of King Henry VII.
On 5 July 1501, he received the degree of doctor of sacred theology and 10 days later was elected Vice-Chancellor of the university. Under Fisher's guidance, his patroness Lady Margaret founded St John's and Christ's Colleges at Cambridge, and a Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity at each of the two universities at Oxford and Cambridge. Fisher himself became the first occupant of the Cambridge chair. From 1505 to 1508 he was also the President of Queens' College. At the end of July 1516 he was at Cambridge for the opening of St John's College and consecrated the chapel.
Fisher's strategy was to assemble funds and attract to Cambridge leading scholars from Europe, promoting the study not only of Classical Latin and Greek authors, but of Hebrew. He placed great weight upon pastoral commitment, above all popular preaching, on the part of the endowed fellows. Fisher had a vision to which he dedicated all his personal resources and energies. Despite occasional opposition, he managed to administer the entire university, one of only two in England, conceiving and seeing through long-term projects.
Fisher's foundations were also dedicated to prayer for the dead, especially through chantry foundations. A stern and austere man, Fisher was known to place a human skull on the altar during Mass and on the table during meals.
Erasmus said of John Fisher: "He is the one man at this time who is incomparable for uprightness of life, for learning and for greatness of soul."
By papal bull dated 14 October 1504, Fisher was appointed bishop of Rochester, at the personal insistence of Henry VII. Rochester was then the poorest diocese in England and usually seen as a first step on an episcopal career. Nonetheless, Fisher stayed there, presumably by his own choice, for the remaining 31 years of his life.
At the same time, like any English bishop of his day, Fisher had certain state duties. These included in particular, his role regarding the University of Cambridge, in which he maintained a passionate interest. In 1504 he was elected the university's chancellor. Re-elected annually for 10 years, Fisher ultimately received a lifetime appointment. At this date he is also said to have acted as tutor to the future king, Henry VIII. As a preacher, his reputation was so great that he was appointed to preach the funeral oration for King Henry VII and the Lady Margaret, both of whom died in 1509, the texts being extant. Besides the part he played in the Lady Margaret's foundations, Fisher gave further proof of his zeal for learning by inducing Erasmus to visit Cambridge. The latter attributes it ("Epistulae" 6:2) to Fisher's protection that the study of Greek was allowed to proceed at Cambridge without the active molestation that it encountered at Oxford.