St. John Fisher

Patron Saint of the Diocese of Rochester

St. John Fisher was born in 1469 and became a noted theologian as well as Bishop of Rochester, England and Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. During the English Reformation, Fisher refused to accept King Henry VIII as the head of the Church of England. A month before his execution in June 1535, Pope Pius III named Fisher a Cardinal. Fisher was executed on June 22, 1535, mere weeks before Thomas More. They were canonized together in 1935 and share June 22 as a feast day in remembrance of their steadfast loyalty to Catholicism in England.