VEN THOSE FAMILIAR with the lives of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher will enjoy this 2016 talk by Dr. Scott Hahn:
In the traditional Roman rite, today is the feast of the Eight Jesuit Martyrs of North America—our patrons at CCW. But we honor and appreciate all saints, especially the English Martyrs.
Saint John Fisher was known as the most learnèd and holy man in all of Europe, which is remarkable because the absolute greatest centers of learning were on the continent. 1
Saint Fisher met death with a calm dignified courage which profoundly impressed those present. His body was treated with particular rancor—apparently on King Henry’s orders—being stripped and left on the scaffold until the evening, when it was taken on pikes and thrown naked into a rough grave in the churchyard of All Hallows’ Barking. Fisher’s head was stuck upon a pole on London Bridge, but its rosy and lifelike appearance excited so much attention that, after two weeks, it was thrown into the Thames—its place being taken by that of Sir Thomas More, whose execution (also at Tower Hill) occurred on 6 July.
In the early 16th century, it was said that St. John Fisher was the only bishop in all of England who did not have a concubine. Therefore, our current century is not the first to contain bishops who betray Christ. Indeed, the first “collegial act” undertaken by the Catholic bishops is described in the Matthew 26:56—They all fled.
NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:
1 Of course, the University of Cambridge was no dump, either!
