This week in Christian history: SBC elects first black president, Billy Graham’s last crusade

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, June 19, 2022

Bishop John Fisher beheaded – June 22, 1535

This week marks the anniversary of when Bishop John Fisher was beheaded by King Henry VIII for, among other things, refusing to accept the monarch as head of the Church of England.

Fisher, alongside his contemporary Sir Thomas More, was imprisoned in the Tower of London for several months after he refused to recognize Henry VIII’s claim of being head of the Church.

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Fisher also garnered backlash over his refusal to declare Henry VIII’s first marriage invalid, thus making his second marriage, the one to Anne Boleyn, inherently invalid.

“The king, further angered that the pope had made John Fisher a cardinal, had him brought to trial on the charge of high treason,” according to Franciscan Media.

“He was condemned and executed, his body left to lie all day on the scaffold and his head hung on London Bridge. More was executed two weeks later.”