JOHN FISHER, 1469-1535 An Address, by Cardinal Basil Hume 3 A Letter from the College to Fisher in the Tower Fisher and St John's in 1534-1535, by Malcolm Underwood 8 An Opportunity Missed? The Torrigiano 'Fisher' and St John's, by Peter Linehan 13 HABITAT Photographs by Liz Miller, Franny Moyle and ]eremy Podger 19 JOHNIANS ABROAD In the Steps of G6sta Berling, by Charles Bourne 22 Along the Paraguay, by Sophie Waterhouse 30 ABSTRACTIONS Photographs by Toby Walsh and Franny Moyle 32 ARTS Society Reports 35 The Wright Darwin, by George Watson 37 An Interview with Jeffrey Wainwright 39 Poems by David Houston and Chris Hurford 42 SAMUEL BUTLER 1835-1902 Cuckoo in the Nest, by George Watson 45 Our Tour, by 'Cellarius' 46 JOHNIAN BUSINESS The Endowment in the Twentieth Century by Christopher ]ohnson 53 Use and Occupancy of Rooms in St John's College, a Review by Peter ]ohnstone 58 Johniana 60 One Hundred Years Ago 61 FACES Photographs by ]eremy Podger and Franny Moyle 62 OBITUARIES 65 J.-B.M. Barrere P.A.M. Dirac R.C. Fuller W.A. McKean SPORTS 84 COLLEGE NOTES 91 Fellowships Awards Appointments Marriages Deaths Gifts to the College Announcements Illustrations not credited in the text by courtesy of: Or M .A. Clarke (p.78); Franny Moyle (p.47); Charles Bourne (p.23); College Archives (p.1 0); College Library (pp.66, 69, 82); from collection of Or Peter Goddard (p.76). -1535 HER, 1469 JOHN FIS JOHN FISHER 1459-1535 An Address College Chapel at a service of thanksgiving to mark the life and G' v in the ohn Fisher, 8 June 1985, by Cardinal Basil Hume, Archbishop of wor� �� St J Westminster. College in Rome, where some of our Church students go to 1 the English a corridor along which are hung the portraits of English Cardinals. t y there is to time in front of the portrait of Cardinal Wolsey, and a�v stood from time � dangers of worldliness in a churchman, on the insidious nature �efl � ected on the temptation to ambition. I have, however, not failed to f power, on the much good; he has, perhaps, been more severely re� member that Wolsey did about such things I recalled the judged than he merits. When I was thinking words of the Duke of Suffolk when the Papal Legate, Cardinal Campeggio, thwarted Henry Vlll's insistence on an annulment of his marriage to Catherine. The Duke had said - and, I detect, with some feeling- 'lt was never merry in England whilst we had Cardinals among us.' That was in July 1529. Experience of Cardinals has not always been good. I have then moved to the next portrait, that of John Fisher, appointed Cardinal by Paul Ill when Fisher was already a prisoner in the Tower. I thought of those chilling words spoken by that same King Henry VIII: 'He shall wear it' (that is, the Cardinal's hat) 'on his shoulders for head he shall have none to set it on.' That was in May 1535. Wolsey and Fisher were contemporaries, very different in character, not unlike in death. Fisher was executed, Wolsey shamed and humiliated. Both were reviled by contemporaries, de prived of honour and respect, unrewarded for their services to Church and State. These are narrow gates indeed through which to pass to another and better life. I must now leave that corridor in Rome and my meditation, and remember where I am today, and why. You will readily appreciate how touched and happy I was to have been invited to be here in St John's College to celebrate the four hu� dred and fiftieth anniversary of the death of John Fisher and the golden JU bde e of his canonisation. Let me say at once that I was able to quote the Duke 0 f Suffolk and _ Henry VIII only because we live now in different times, when ano n f t wounds, first inflicted in Wolsey and Fisher's time, are now slowly but re Y he � . aling. I am very aware too of the courtesy you are showing to me, a entl eth-centuryCardinal, in inviting me to speak on this lovely occasion. I am tr u l Y grateful. John's, 5� more than any other College in Cambridge, claims St John Fisher for its 1 'Fisher' by Pietro Torrigiano (c.1511) Wel �· say, '':lore than any other college' for others will wish to honour him as s e he evett ln 1s part of their history too. Fisher's own College, Michaelhouse, � ua �Y becam Mar e Trinity College; Christ's owes its foundation to the Lady garet an d in part to Fisher; Queens' can claim him as a former President; and 3 King's can be grateful to him for persuading Henry VII to complete their Chap ovelty and, as a loyal churchman, he could not sympathise with the new Now it might be a little tactless on my part el to speak to this partic arning when that seemed to lead in directions which were in contradiction to congregation about the foundation ula e of St John's, save perhaps in so � e had learne and himself taught. appropriat far as it is� what h e to recall and honour the memory of John Fisher. You � will, 1 know readily agree that we cannot speak of St John's and Fisher without remembe There is so much more to say .about what Fisher did for Cambridge, and at the same time the Lady Margaret rin Beaufort. it was in 1495 when Fisher, then g ridge for him. But time, alas, is short. We must now leave Cambridge and young a Camb Proctor of the University, first met Henry Vll's Mother. He became her move to Rochester. I wonder how Fisher felt when he had to leave this spiritual director, and her friend. This spiritual friendship was important for University. He had, after all, arrived from Beverley as a youth of fourteen in Cambridge, for the University benefited much from their share He had filled many posts, both in the University and at College level. He concerning d ideals 1483. learning and its importance for the life of the Church. When Lady had risen to becoming Vice-Chancellor in 1501, and eventually Chancellor in Margaret died, Fisher, preaching the pan egyric, said of her that 'all she did 1504, and was so till his death. Fisher was, through and through, a Cambridge became her, all who met her loved her'. That was the tribute paid by must have been with a heavy · a Saint to a man. So it heart that he left the University to start very good woman. his new life. it had been Henry Vll's idea to make Fisher a bishop. He wrote to his mother, 'I have in my days promoted many a man inadvisedly and I would it was a codicil in the Lady Margaret's will which provided for the foundation now make some recompense to promote some good and virtuous men which I of St John's. The realisation of the project was by no means straightforward. The doubt not should best please Cod ... 'The King clearly recognised in Fisher a will was contested, the Bishop of Ely was reluctant to approve of the dissolution person of great distinction and a man of Cod - a powerful combination indeed. of the ancient hospital of St John, and there were other problems. Only Fisher, Thus on the 24th November 1504, John Fisher was consecrated Bishop of from among the executors of her will, was interested in the foundation and Rochester at Lambeth by the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Wareham. sought to realise it. it took all his characteristic tenacity and determinatio n to At Cambridge, Fisher had always been priestly ensure that the College came into being. But (he had been ordained in it made him weary nonetheless: 'Forsooth, it was sore 1491), and pastoral considerations had determined much of his academic laborious and painful unto me', he said - and we can practice; at Rochester, as almost hear him sighing -'that many times a pastor, he did not cease to be a student and an I was right sorry that I ever took that business upon me.' Fisher succeeded. academic (he was frequently in Cambridge). Fisher entered whole-heartedly The Charter was given in April 1511 and the opening - a magnificent affair into the pastoral work demanded of a bishop, visiting the parishes of his - took place in July 15 16 in the presence of new Master, Alan a diocese with exemplary regularity. He preached frequently, correcting abuses Percy, and thirty-one Fellows. The task of the Master and and Fellows was clear: they had to realise encouraging virtue. Even when offered the possibility of moving to a more the aims of the College as codified in the statutes of 1516, namely prestigious diocese, Fisher preferred to stay with his 'poor wife' rather than seek 'Dei cultus, morum probitas et Christianae fidei corroboratio'. I make no apology out some 'rich widow' elsewhere. for giving those aims in Latin, for those same statutes laid down: 'let them use no other langu age than Latin, Creek or Hebrew My reflections on the life of John Fisher have led me to conclude that even if as long as "they are in the precincts of the college" ...' You will be he had not been martyred he would still have been honoured as a saint. He relieved to know that you has would be permitted to use the vernacular been compared to Charles Borromeo and rooms.