Fisher Mass 2012 Address – Fisher House http://fisherhouse.org.

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Fisher Mass 2012 Address – Fisher House

This address was given by Dr Richard Rex at the Fisher Mass in Great St Mary’s
Church on on Monday 7th May 2012.

John Fisher was a Cambridge man, who came here from grammar school in Beverley
in the 1480s. He was a student at the same time as a future Carthusian brother called
John Bouge, an old schoolfriend from Beverley, who recalled, after Fisher’s death,
how ”˜we were scholars together in Cambridge, of one form and of one parish; and
for a little pastime I might speak to him out of my chamber window into his
chamber window‘. An early biographical account tells us that ”˜In Cambridge he was
in Michaelhouse under Doctor Melton, and continued his whole study there, as
appeared by the study which he dressed there, which was the fairest in Cambridge.‘

And Fisher himself recalled in later years how: ”˜My tutor, William Melton, now
Chancellor of York … when I was a youngster and studying Euclid, used to say that
if I thought the slightest little letter in a geometrical figure was superfluous, I had
not yet thoroughly grasped Euclid’s meaning.‘

This was written many years later, in the preface to one of his books against the
Protestant Reformers, and it looks as though Fisher loyally sent copies of all his books
to his old tutor, for they are all listed in Melton’s library left at his death in 1528.
Then, as now, Cambridge was a place of friendships.

Fisher, as you know, had a stellar career at Cambridge. BA, MA – socially the
equivalent of a PhD today – and Fellow of Michaelhouse, Proctor, DD, Vice-
Chancellor, Chancellor, and eventually Chancellor for Life. It’s not surprising he loved
the place. In the course of that astonishing rise, he met and instantly won the favour
of the mother of King Henry VII, Lady Margaret Beaufort, by a combination of
address, ability, and attractiveness:

”˜He was tall and comely, exceeding the common or middle sort of men … six foot in
height … very slender and lean, straight backed, big jointed, and strongly sinewed.
His hair by nature black … his eyes … neither full black nor full grey, but of a mixed
colour…; his forehead smooth and large … Not only of his equals, but even of his
superiors, he was both honoured and feared’.

Lady Margaret, that thrice-married power-dresser, was instantly smitten, and later
wrote to tell Fisher that it was to him that she had been ”˜since the first time I saw
you admitted, verily determined … to owe mine obedience in all things concerning
the weal and profit of my soul‘. He became her spiritual director, and thanks to his
influence, her munificent patronage was diverted almost entirely towards this
university, where she founded the Lady Margaret Professorship, the Lady Margaret
Preachership, and two colleges – Christ’s and St John’s. Throughout his life, Fisher
was a ruthless and relentless development officer for his alma mater. On top of Lady
Margaret’s billionaire-level endowments and legacies, he lobbied wealthy friends and
acquaintances to such good effect that he brought in endowments for over 50
fellowships and scholarships at St John’s. In today’s terms, that would mean a

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staggering £100 million. And he led from the front, founding four fellowships and
scholarships himself (perhaps around £10 million today). He persuaded King Henry
VIII to finance lectureships in Greek and Hebrew at the university – the equivalent of
at least £50,000 a year each in our prices. It has often occurred to me that if we
wanted to identify St John Fisher with a specific trade oroccupation, we should
declare him the patron saint of fundraisers.

When Fisher was about my age, in his early 50s, the world suddenly began to change
around him rather fast. (That may just be something that happens when you find
yourself in your early 50s.) The Protestant Reformation broke out, under the initial
inspiration of the German friar Martin Luther. This spurred Fisher to a humbling
burst of intellectual energy, as he published five major books in as many years in
defence of the Catholic Faith against heretical innovations, books packed with
learning and insight. He would have had nothing to fear from such modern
inquisitions as the Research Excellence Framework, nor even from the bugbear of
”˜Impact’ (sorry students – that one’s for the dons).

But what most hurt him, I suspect, about the Protestant Reformation was its impact
at Cambridge. In June 1521 they had a bonfire of Luther’s books outside this church
in the Market Square, and nailed on the west door, which served as a university
noticeboard, thepapal bull condemning Luther’s errors. But overnight, predictably
enough, a mysterious hand scrawled some Latin antipapal graffiti on the bull. Fisher
was aghast, and came to Cambridge three Sundays in a row to preach in this very
church against Luther and his followers. With tears in his eyes he called upon the
unknown culprit to own up and repent. Needless to say, no evidence was
forthcoming. Students, then as now, protected their own. We happen to know from a
later sourcee that the miscreant was one Pierre de Valence, a refugee from Normandy
who was studying at Gonville Hall, and went on to become chaplain to the first
Protestant Bishop of Ely, Thomas Goodrich.

A few years later, on Christmas Eve 1524, the Prior of the Cambridge Austin Friars,
which occupied a site on Benet Street, not far from our Fisher House, preached a
cautiously Lutheran sermon in the little church of St Edward’s just behind King’s
Parade. They still have the pulpit from which he preached, while busy and spiteful
dons sat beneath taking notes to use later in evidence against him. Fisher was part of
the tribunal that sat in judgement on Barnes, and he preached at the ceremony in
London where Barnes did public penance for his temerity a year or so later. Barnes
would eventually die for his beliefs, burned as a Protestant at Smithfield in July 1540.
Fisher had gone to his death on Tower Hill, five years before. Fisher defended the
execution of obstinate or relapsed heretics, while Barnes applauded the execution of
the so-called traitors who, like Fisher, refused to renounce the papacy and to
acknowledge Henry VIII’s grandiose claim to be Supreme Head on earth of the
Church of England. We can all agree that, on those two points, they were both wrong.

Fisher and Barnes both died for ”˜conscience’. That is, they accepted execution rather
than act against their consciences: Fisher refused to deny papal supremacy; Barnes
refused to deny justification by faith alone. That Fisher would find himself, in 1535,
called upon to solemnly deny a doctrine that had been taught by the Church of
England all his life, and for centuries before, was something he could hardly have
imagined back in his days as a student at Michaelhouse. More surprising though, and

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more disturbing, is how few others, even among the bishops and the clergy, were
prepared to follow his lead and act in accordance with their conscience rather than
swear an oath in despite of it. The reason was partly fear, but more the spirit of the
age. Monarchy was the rising tide in politics and philosophy. The ”˜divine right of
kings’ was the ”˜human rights’ of its day, the dominant ideology. Even Fisher and
More reckoned Christian kings a special kind of men, divinely called and divinely
favoured, almost priestly. ”˜It is on the vigilance of kings and priests,’ wrote Fisher,
”˜that the safety or peril of … Christendom chiefly depends’. How easy it was to go
with the flow, to embrace the consensus, rather than risk death or even mere
disadvantage.

We shall not be called upon to make that ultimate sacrifice. But look out for the
dominant ideology. Check out the consensus. Today it is just straws in the wind.
Rocco Buttiglione in effect disqualified from the European Commission because, in
response to a question, he affirmed his adherence to Catholic teaching on sexual
morality. The closure of Catholic Adoption Agencies in England because of their
refusal to place children with same-sex couples. The lobbying that has already begun
for doctors and nurses to be disqualified from service in the NHS unless they affirm
their commitment to take part in abortions. How long will it be before a formal
affirmation of so-called ”˜liberal’ principles becomes a prerequisite for employment
in the public sector, or in any institution which receives public money? How long
before it becomes a prerequisite for appearance in the public sphere?

The consensus is strong and, like all consensuses, it is increasingly determined to

have its way. For now we are rightly content to let them have their consciences if we
can keep our own. Perhaps we should pray to St John Fisher that if – when – they
come for our consciences, we have the grace and strength to keep them for God.

Dr Richard Rex
7th May 2012

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