Today, June 22, is the memorial of Saint Thomas More and Saint John Fisher.
Thomas More was a humanist and chancellor of England. He was a close friend of Erasmus. Thomas wrote the masterpiece “Utopia”. He refused to support Henry VII’s divorce of Queen Catherine and his Act of Supremacy, saying that one cannot violate God’s law. He was beheaded July 6, 1535.
John Fisher was the bishop of Rochester and chancellor of Cambridge University. He was a dedicated pastor of souls. He was renowned for his preaching and educational reforms. He was a fierce defender of Church tradition against Luther, and of the Roman primacy against Henry VIII. He by was beheaded June 22, 1535.
Both were beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1886. They were both canonized in 1935 by Pope Pius XI.