Robert Lawrence (martyr)

St. Robert Lawrence (died 4 May 1535) was one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn for declining to sign the Oath of Supremacy. His feast day is 4 May.

Robert Lawrence
Martyrdom of the Priors of the Charterhouses of London, Nottingham and Axholme by Vicente Carducho
Bornc.1485
Died4 May 1535
Beatified1886
Canonized25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI
Feast4 May

Life

Born about 1485, Robert Lawrence was a graduate of Cambridge. After joining the Carthusians, in 1531, he succeeded John Houghton as Prior of the Beauvale Priory, Nottinghamshire, when Houghton was appointed Prior of the London Charterhouse.[1][2]

By February 1535 Parliament declared that everyone had to take the Oath of Supremacy, declaring King Henry VIII to be Supreme Head of the Church of England.[3] Lawrence went with Houghton to see Thomas Cromwell, who had them arrested and placed in the Tower of London. When they refused to sign the Oath of Supremacy, they were hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, making them among the first Carthusian martyrs in England.[4]

Beatified in 1886, Robert was canonized by Pope Paul VI with thirty-nine other martyrs on 25 October 1970.[3]

See also

References
  1. "Saint Robert Lawrence", English Martyrs Parish
  2. Monks of Ramsgate. "Carthusian Martyrs". Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 29 September 2012 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. "History of Beauvale", The Beauvale Society
  4. Cranmer, Thomas (1833). The Remains of Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury. Oxford University Press.
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