Geoffrey Fisher

Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Baron Fisher of Lambeth GCVO, PC ( born May 5, 1887 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, † September 15, 1972 in Sherborne, Dorset ) was from 1945 to 1961 Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of the Church of England.

Origin

Fisher grew up in an Anglican home and studied at Marlborough and at Exeter College. In 1913 he was an assistant at Marlborough College when he decided to get ordained as a priest. At this time the public schools in England had close relations with the Church of England and it was not uncommon that school principals were priests in general.

1914 Fisher Director of Repton School as successor William Temple, who later became Archbishop of Canterbury. Temple was not very successful in his position as headmaster and Fisher would have the general discipline of the school to recover. The children's author Roald Dahl (1916-1990) was at this time students in Repton, describing Fisher's tenure in his autobiography.

In 1932 he was appointed Bishop of Chester, and in 1939 he became Bishop of London.

Appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury

1942 resigned the Archbishop of Canterbury Cosmo Lang and was replaced by William Temple. However, this died in 1944. Some argued that the best choice now George Bell, Bishop of Chichester would be, but it was Fisher, who was appointed.

The appointment of bishops in the Church of England is ultimately in the hands of the Prime Minister. Winston Churchill hated William Temple's policy, but accepted Cosmo Lang's advice. William Temple was an outstanding personality and no one would seriously can exclude his choice. This time, however, the situation was less clear. It was generally assumed that George Kennedy Allen Bell was not appointed because of his criticism in the House of Lords debate on the bombing strategy of the government. While it is likely that this significantly reduced his chance, but William Temple had apparently proposed Fisher as his successor.

Archbishop of Canterbury

Fisher tried successfully, the canon law of the Church of England to revise. The canonical guidelines from 1603 were at that time still in force, although they were largely obsolete.

He trusted on November 20, 1947 in Westminster Abbey, the then Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh. He became world famous by the TV broadcast of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953, which he headed.

In 1960, he visited Pope John XXIII. , The first meeting between the Archbishop of Canterbury and a Pope since the Reformation, and an ecumenical milestone in Rome.

Fisher was a dedicated Freemason, how many bishops of the Church of England of his time. Fisher even went as a " Grand Kaplan " in the United Grand Lodge of England in a very high Masonic degrees.

Successor

Fisher appeared in 1961 in retirement. He advised the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, that he did not believe his former student in Repton Arthur Michael Ramsey is the appropriate successor. Pastor Victor floor later recalled the conversation with the Prime Minister: Fisher said,

"I have come to give you some advices about my successor. Whatever you decide, under no circumstances must it be Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of York. Dr. Ramsey is a theologian, scientist and a man of prayer. Therefore he is totally unsuitable as Archbishop of Canterbury., I know him all my life. I was his schoolmaster in Repton.

Macmillan replied:

" Thank you, Your Honour, for your kind advice. Been Ramsey's headmaster, but you were not mine!

Accordingly, Macmillan disregarded the wishes Fishers and appointed Ramsey, keep the some of the greatest Archbishop of Canterbury of the twentieth century.

Title and Awards

On 27 October 1939 he was appointed to the Privy Counsellor. From 1948 to 1954 he was president of the ecumenical World Council of Churches. In 1949 he received an honor of King George VI. the Royal Victorian Chain. In 1953 he became a Knight Grand Cross investitiert the Royal Victorian Order. On 31 May 1961 he resigned for reasons of age and was on June 2, 1961 ( the eighth anniversary of the coronation ) by Queen Elizabeth II for Baron Fisher of Lambeth, of Lambeth in the County of London, one of the first Life life peers (UK Life peer ) appointed after the peerages Live Act 1958.

He was in a crypt at St. Andrew, Trent, Dorset, buried. His wife is also buried there.

Family

He was married since April 12, 1917 Rosamond Chevallier Forman († after 1970 ), daughter of Reverend Arthur Francis Emilius Forman. They had one son:

Hon Sir Henry Arthur Pears Fisher ( born January 20, 1918 † 10 April 2005).

Bibliography

Primary:

• Fisher Papers, Lambeth Palace Library, London

Secondary:

• David Hein, Geoffrey Fisher: Archbishop of Canterbury, 1945- 1961.Eugene, Ore.: Pickwick Publications / Wipf & Stock, 2008 http://wipfandstock.com/store/Geoffrey_Fisher_Archbishop_of_Canterbury_19451961/.
• Edward Carpenter, Archbishop Fisher: His Life and Times. Norwich: Canterbury Press, 1991.
• William Purcell, Fisher of Lambeth. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1969.