St John Fisher

"I will make you fishers of men" - this is the motto of our dear cardinal saint, St John Fisher, who died a horrible death at the hands of his tutee - Henry VIII, for loving the Holy Mother Church and the supremacy of the Holy Father. 

My neighbouring parish's patron saint is St John Fisher and the feast day is transferred from Monday 22 June to 21 June Sunday, this year 2015, and there will be a big celebration and the Cardinal - as in the current living cardinal - is to preside at the celebration of Mass at this neighbouring parish. The parish priest, Fr Agustin, has commissioned me to make a special cake to celebrate our dear cardinal saint's feast day. 

The effigy on the cake is St John Fisher, and he is wearing red because he is a cardinal.  Cardinals wear red because they are willing to give up their life for our faith. 

The effigy of St John Fisher was made by my friend, Mrs Caroline Jones.  The Headteacher of her children's school, St John Fisher Primary School Oxford, saw the effigy and was so taken by it and commissioned Carrie [Mrs Jones] to make an effigy for the school. So thank you, Carrie, for making the joyful St John Fisher.

The saint has his hands together because he is constantly praying for us, so we do not turn our backs on the Church or do things against the teachings of the Holy Mother Church. 

The rest of the red on the cake - ribbons and flowers - is to signify our dear St John Fisher was martyred for our faith. 

On his feet is a golden palm of martyrdom. This is the symbol given to this holy saint by the Church. 

The flowers are modified Tudor roses.  Tudor roses normally have two layers and these flowers have three layers to signify the Trinity.  The three tiered cake also points to our Trinitarian God. The flowers are arranged in three also to signify this.

There is a dove just above the name "Fisher" to signify the Holy Spirit assisting St John Fisher to defend the Holy Mother Church until the end, on the top tier.

The vine leaves in between the cakes signify our dear saint having laboured in the vineyard of our Lord.

The cake is resting on golden drums and plinth as a sign of the saint living in heaven with our Lord and the cake is round to signify eternity, which is the saint in heaven with our God for all eternity.  

Now, you can have a look at pictures of the cake, so you can understand all the symbols on it. 

Besides thanking Carrie for making the effigy, I must also thank our Lord for helping me throughout the making of this cake and of course of our dear saint to be there for me - praying and helping me through the process.   

St John Fisher - Pray for us.

The Cardinal and the Cake