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Echoes Through The Centuries
Echoes Through The Centuries
Devotion to the blood of Christ is the fount from which all other devotions spring. No devotion is more fundamental. And we find this truth echoing through the Centuries. There are some remarkable echoes we see in the life of St. Gaspar when reading the story of St. John Fisher. John Fisher was a martyr in 1535, a contemporary of St. Thomas More. Their feast is celebrated together on June 22.
an oath to the whole arrangement. On April 13, 1534, Fisher was summoned to appear in London to take the required oath. He refused the oath and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Sir Thomas More and a number of other priests were summoned and imprisoned on the same dates. Throughout their imprisonment, Fisher and More were quite specific in their resistance to the oath. Pope Paul III, created John Fisher a cardinal on May 20, 1535. Henry flew into a rage when he received the news and demanded that Fisher and More's jailers quit stalling. John Fisher was brought to trial on June 17th. There was no doubt that Fisher was guilty as charged. On June 22, 1535, John Fisher was beheaded on Tower Hill, outside the city gates. His head was stuck on a pike on London Bridge, reminiscent of the actions Gaspar complained about when the papal armies worked against the bandits of Sonnino in his own time.
Gaspar's Second Circular Letter also recommends the crucifix as the book for the missionaries to read. Also in his preaching, Fisher was devoted to the seven blood sheddings of Jesus, drawing on the same font of spirituality that would touch the life of Francesco Albertini and St. Gaspar centuries later. Every age, every generation, is called to know the riches of Gods mercy found in the Precious Blood of Jesus. Now in our Family of Saints we have a friend from England who is witness for us of this devotion. May we be as fearless as this noted scholar and preacher in defending the faith in our own day.
Sources
Companion to the Calendar Mary Ellen Hynes, Liturgy Training Publications, 1993 Saint John Fisher, E. E. Reynolds. The University of Glasgow Press, revised edition, 1972. The Works and Days of John Fisher, Edward Sturz, S.J. Harvard University Press, 1967. Humanism, Reform and the Reformation: The Career of Bishop John Fisher, edited by Brendon Hanshaw and Eamon Duffy, Cambridge University Press, 1989. Precious Blood Companion Maureen Lahiff served as research assistant on this article