John of Fountains (died 6 May 1225) was a medieval
Bishop of Ely
The Bishop of Ely is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with a section of nort ...
.
Life
John was
abbot of
Fountains Abbey by 13 December 1211, when he was blessed at Melrose
[Smith, et al. ''Heads of Religious Houses II'' p. 279] by the bishop of Down. Nothing is known of his family or background before this event. While abbot, he continued the building of the abbey's church, and Pope
Honorius III named him to a commission with
Stephen Langton the
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
and
William de Cornhill the
Bishop of Coventry to investigate the possible canonization of
Hugh of Lincoln.
[Owen "Fountains, John of" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'']
John was elected to the
see of Ely about 24 January 1220. He was consecrated
bishop on 8 March 1220
[Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 244] at London by Langton.
[ He was enthroned at ]Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
The cathedral has its origins in AD 672 when St Etheldreda built an abbey church. The presen ...
on 25 March 1220.[Greenway ]
Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 2: Monastic Cathedrals (Northern and Southern Provinces): Ely: Bishops
'' He owed his election to the papal legate
300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the pope's legate.
A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title ''legatus'') is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic ...
Pandulf Verraccio.[Vincent ''Peter des Roches'' p. 166] While bishop, the pope once more named him to a canonization commission, this time in 1223 for William of York. He was rarely involved in political matters, but did go to France on a diplomatic mission in 1223.[
John died on 6 May 1225.][ He was buried in Ely Cathedral, at first near the altar of St. Andrew, but after a rebuilding effort by Hugh of Northwold he was reinterred near the high altar.][ His tomb was described as "in the pavement".][Sayers "Once 'Proud Prelate'" ''Journal of the British Archaeological Association'' p. 77]
Citations
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:John Of Fountains
Bishops of Ely
1225 deaths
Year of birth unknown
13th-century English Roman Catholic bishops