Profile
John graduated from Cambridge with degrees in civil and canon law. He ordained in 1501 and served as a parish priest for four years. John was a Carthusian monk, doing his noviate in the London Charterhouse, and making his final vows in 1516. He was a prior of the Beauvale Carthusian Charterhouse in Northampton, England and of the London Charterhouse.
In 1534, John was the first person to oppose King Henry VIII’s Act of Supremacy. He was imprisoned with Blessed Humphrey Middlemore. When the oath was modified to include the phrase “in so far as the law of God permits”, John felt he could be loyal to Church and Crown; he and several of his monks signed the oath, though with misgivings. Father John was released, and a few days later, troops arrived at the chapter house and forced the remaining monks to sign the modified oath.
On 1 February 1535, Parliament required that the original, unmodified oath be signed by all. Following three days of prayer, Father John, with Saint Robert Lawrence and Saint Augustine Webster, contacted Thomas Cromwell to seek an exemption for themselves and their monks. The group was immediately arrested and thrown in the Tower of London. True to his Carthusian vow of silence, John would not defend himself in court, but refused to cooperate or sign anything. The jury could find no malice to the king, but when threatened with prosecution themselves, they found John and his co-defendants guilty of treason.
John Houghton became the first person martyred under the Tudor persecutions, dying with Blessed John Haile and three others. One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
Born
- 1487 at Essex, England
Died
- hanged, drawn, and quartered on 4 May 1535 at Tyburn, London, England
- body was chopped to pieces and put on display around London as an example to others
Canonized
- 25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI
Representation
- Carthusian monk carrying a noose
- Carthusian with a rope around his neck and holding his heart in his hand
Source: http://catholicsaints.mobi/calendar/4-may.htm
