The Beginning of the End: St. John Fisher and the Carthusians

Image Credit: Martyrs of the London Charterhouse, Vicente Carducho

On June 17, 1535, St. John Fisher was tried, convicted of treason, and sentenced to death by being hanged, drawn and quartered. Those who had opposed Henry VIII's Supremacy and his putting Katherine of Aragon aside and marrying Anne Boleyn were facing their trials and executions. Bishop Fisher spoke to the Court after being found guilty:

My lords, I am here condemned before you of high treason for denial of the King’s supremacy over the Church of England, but by what order of justice I leave to God, Who is the searcher both of the king his Majesty’s conscience and yours; nevertheless, being found guilty, as it is termed, I am and must be contented with all that God shall send, to whose will I wholly refer and submit myself. And now to tell you plainly my mind, touching this matter of the king’s supremacy, I think indeed, and always have thought, and do now lastly affirm, that His Grace cannot justly claim any such supremacy over the Church of God as he now taketh upon him; neither hath (it) been seen or heard of that any temporal prince before his days hath presumed to that dignity; wherefore, if the king will now adventure himself in proceeding in this strange and unwonted case, so no doubt but he shall deeply incur the grievous displeasure of the Almighty, to the great damage of his own soul, and of many others, and to the utter ruin of this realm committed to his charge, wherefore, I pray God his Grace may remember himself in good time, and harken to good counsel for the preservation of himself and his realm and the quietness of all Christendom.

Two days later, on June 19, 1535, the second group of Carthusians were executed: Blesses Humphrey Middlemore, William Exmew and Sebastian Newdigate. Arrested on May 25, they had been imprisoned in Marshalea for about a fortnight before their trial at Westminster on June 11. The three were taken before the Privy Council before their trial, refused again to swear Henry's oaths and were condemned to death. While in prison, they were chained at the neck and hand and foot against pillars, unable to move. 

Newdigate had been a member of Henry's Privy Chamber and had sworn the Oath of Succession, acknowledging Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn and their heirs--but he could not accept Henry's supremacy over the Church in England. Henry visited him while he was the in the Tower of London after being brought before the Privy Council. Newdigate refused Henry's offers and was brought to trial with the two other priors.

Thomas Bedyll, one of Henry's chaplains and another member of his Privy Chamber had harassed the Carthusians after the execution of their first leaders on May 4, pressing them to take the Oath of Supremacy. He reported them to Thomas Cromwell, noting their obstinacy.

The outcome of the trial on June 11 was certain, of course, and they were found guilty of treason and sentenced to being hung, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. Reports indicate that they went to their deaths as to a feast, with eagerness and joy!

These three Carthusians were beatified by Pope Leo XIII on December 9, 1886, along with Thomas More, John Fisher, the other Carthusians, etc, totaling 54. The decree was issued on December 29, 1886 to coincide with the Feast of St. Thomas a Becket, "whose faith and constancy these Blessed Martyrs so strenuously imitated".

The painting featured above is from an extensive series of works by Vicente Carducho in honor of Carthusian saints and martyrs in the Chartreuse Monasterio de Santa María de El Paular, now a Benedictine monastery. It was confiscated by the Spanish government in 1835 during the reign of Queen Isabella II of Spain, three hundred years after the martyrdoms of the Carthusians of Charterhouse of London. According to the J. Paul Getty Museum of Art:

Florentine by birth, Vicente Carducho arrived in Spain in 1585 with his brother Bartolomé, who participated in decorating King Philip II's Escorial palace. As apprentice to his brother, Carducho was steeped in the classical Italian tradition: his paintings featured careful drawing, smooth surfaces, and classicizing compositions. In 1609 Vicente succeeded his brother as royal painter, a position he kept for life. After Diego Velázquez arrived in 1623, however, Carducho and other court painters often found themselves overshadowed by the young genius.

Carducho primarily painted religious subjects. In 1632 he completed Europe's most extended cycle of monastic paintings: fifty-six influential canvases illustrating the lives of Saint Bruno and other Carthusians for a Carthusian monastery near Segovia. Carducho may be most recognized for his contributions to Spanish art theory. His Diálogos de la Pintura of 1633 championed Michelangelo and the Italian classical tradition while defending painting as a noble pursuit. The artist, wrote Carducho, is a learned humanist, not just a craftsman; painters should uplift people morally. In attacking Caravaggio's new dramatic realism and its "external copying of nature," Carducho called him a "monster of genius and talent," "Anti-Michelangelo" and "Anti-Christ."

More on Carducho here from the Museo del Prado.