Crusade Magazine, Vol. 195, May/June, 2025 - The Legacy of Saint John Fisher |
Ironically, one of the reasons for Saint John Cardinal Fisher’s relative obscurity is confusion with his contemporary, Saint Thomas More. They were convicted of the same crime and executed in the same manner. Holy Mother Church canonized them in the same ceremony 400 years after their deaths.
First, we need to place John Fisher into his historical context. Without that context, his life leaves more questions than answers.
Before Henry VIII’s apostasy, the Church was far wealthier than the Crown. Indeed, it was said that no one at any point in England could walk more than an hour without encountering a parish church, monastery, convent, hospital or school. However, that wealth and power masked a deep and widespread impiety.
England was emerging from the War of the Roses. For thirty-two years, two branches of the Royal House of Plantagenet–Lancastrians and Yorkists–battled each other. The civil government was rent by discord whil
