In 1535, in London, St. John Fisher, bishop, cardinal and martyr. The son of a draper in Beverley in Yorkshire, he distinguished himself as a student at the University of Cambridge and stayed on there in various capacities. In 1502, he resigned his positions to become chaplain to Lady Margaret Beaufort, a great benefactress of Cambridge. He was made chancellor of the university in 1504, and in the same year was appointed bishop of Rochester. He was a champion of church reform, but an opponent of Luther. When he opposed Henry’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon and the break with Rome which followed, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. After he was beheaded, Henry VIII had his head impaled on London Bridge for two weeks. It was removed to make room for the head of Sir Thomas More.
Also in London, in 1535, St. Thomas More, martyr. While studying at Oxford, he became enthusiastic for Greek and humanist ideas. He then studied law in London, His first wife bore him four children, and when she died, he remarried. His household was a center of learning, prayer and hospitality. Henry VIII liked him and appointed him lord chancellor in 1529. When Henry wanted to marry Ann Boleyn, More resigned his office and his family was reduced to poverty. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London for fifteen months, tried, convicted and four days later, beheaded.
In 431, St. Paulinus of Nola, bishop. He was born in Bordeaux of a very wealthy and prominent family. He married, but when the couple’s only child died, they decided to give away much of their wealth. They settled at Nola, near Naples, and after giving away more of their goods, each became a hermit near the tomb of St. Felix of Nola. He was chosen bishop of Nola in 409. He wrote numerous works of which some poems and letters survive.
Our daily martyrology was written by Fr. Hugh Feiss, OSB. Copyright © 2008 by the Monastery of the Ascension, Jerome, ID 83338.
