Sts. John Fisher and Thomas More
Patron of lawyers, statesmen, politicians, civil servants, adopted children
Saint John Fisher (1469–1535), Bishop of Rochester, and Saint Thomas More (1478–1535), Lord Chancellor of England, were the conscience of the realm against Henry VIII's break with Rome. Fisher, a quiet theologian, was the only English bishop who refused to recognize the king as supreme head of the Church and was beheaded on Tower Hill on 22 June. More, the wit and humanist beloved of Erasmus, lost the chancellorship for the same reason and was executed two weeks later, his last words being that he died 'the King's good servant, but God's first.' They were canonized together by Pius XI in 1935.