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.

Maurice Chauncey: A Carthusian Who Took the Oath

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Maurice Chauncey was:

Prior of the English Carthusians at Bruges, date of birth unknown; died at Bruges, 2 July, 1581. He was the eldest son of John Chauncey, Esq. Wood thinks he studied at Oxford, and afterwards went to Gray's Inn for a course of law. Finally he entered the London Charterhouse. In 1535 the majority of the Carthusians refused to take the oath of supremacy, but Chauncy, on his own confession, consented to take it. After the surrender of the monastery in 1537, Chauncy with a few others joined the Carthusians of Sheen who had settled in Bruges. On the accession of Mary they returned to Sheen, and in 1556 Chauncy was elected prior. In 1558 they retired again to Bruges, living with their Flemish brethren until 1569, when they obtained a house on their own in St. Clare Street. The hostility of the Calvinists compelled them to leave Bruges in 1578. Failing to settle at Douai, they retired to Louvain (May, 1578). Chauncy died at the old house in Bruges. In his history of the Carthusians he frequently laments his weakness in taking the oath of supremacy. He wrote: "Historia aliquot nostri saeculi Martyrun in Angliâ", etc. (Mainz, 1550, and Bruges, 1583); "Commentariolus de vitae ratione et martyrio octodecim Cartusianorum qui in Anglia sub rege trucidati sunt" (Ghent, 1608), a portion of which was reprinted; "Vitae Martyrun Cartusianorum aliquot, qui Londini pro Unitate Ecclesiae adversus haereticos", etc. (Milan, 1606). "The Divine Cloud of Unknowing", in manuscript, is ascribed to him by Anthony a Wood.

He died in Bruges on July 23, 1581. According to Philip Hughes in his Rome and the Counter Reformation in England, Chauncey wrote to Father William Allen in 1577 complaining about how the missionary priests wore secular clothing when they returned to England. Allen had to instruct Chauncey about the dangers the priests were already facing--before Parliament had made it a treasonous offense for a priest to be present in England. Alison Plowden provides some quotations from Allen's reply to Chauncey in her Danger to Elizabeth.

August Martyrs: Blessed Richard Bere

Today's August martyr is the Carthusian, Blessed Richard Bere, who also has a connection with Glastonbury Abbey, where Blessed Richard Whiting and companions suffered in 1539. Bere died of dehydration and starvation in Newgate Prison on August 9, 1537. From the Shrine of Our Lady of Glastonbury in Somerset (with their permission) comes this story of one of the last of the Carthusians to die during Henry VIII's reign:

One of the tenants on the Glastonbury estates was a brother of Richard Bere, Abbot of Glastonbury (1494-1525), of the name of Robert. He had a son Richard born about A.D.1508, who was brought up at the Abbey School, and is said to have been a frequent visitor at the Abbey.

From Glastonbury the Abbot sent him to Oxford, and later wanted him to marry Jane Samuel of Mells, an only daughter, of whom the Abbot, on the death of her father, became guardian. But Richard refused, and went to study at the Inns of Court or Chancery in London. He later abandoned his legal studies and became a Carthusian monk in London.

In the Spring of 1535 commissioners were appointed by Thomas Cromwell to visit certain places and people to make them take the Oath of Supremacy, acknowledging King Henry as Head of the Church. Refusal meant death. The Carthusian monastery in London, where Richard Bere lived was one of those places specially ear-marked for a visit.

Aware of the forthcoming ordeal John Houghton, the Prior, with Augustus Webster, Prior of Axholme, and Robert Lawrence, Prior of Beau Vale, was preparing by prayer. After consultation they decided to forestall the commissioners, and asked Cromwell for an exemption from the obligation of the Oath. This was refused, and they were lodged in the Tower. Then they expressed willingness to consent “so far as the law of God might allow”. But when this was roughly brushed aside, they refused absolutely. They were “tried” at Westminster Hall, and an unwilling jury was threatened by Cromwell into pronouncing the verdict of guilty; and they were hanged in their habits on 4^th May at Tyburn.

Two years later Cromwell sent Thomas Bedyll to try to persuade the three senior monks, Humphrey Middlemore, William Exmew and Sebastian Newdigate to submit, but as they remained unmoved they were taken to the Marshalsea where for a fortnight they were chained by the neck and legs to posts. As nothing could shake them, they were “tried” and later executed on 19^th June 1537. The rest of the community, including Richard Bere, deprived of their leaders, were subjected to every form of persecution. Ten monks, including Richard Bere, would not take the Oath of Henry's supremacy over the Church. They were lodged in a filthy ward of Newgate prison, where they were chained standing with their hands tied behind them to posts, and so left to die of starvation. Seven died. It is probable that Cromwell interfered and ordered those still living to be given food in order that they might be preserved for execution. This would account for the fact that Richard Bere and Thomas Johnson lingered so long, though the cruel privations they had already endured brought on death before they could be carried to Tyburn for execution.

Blessed Richard Bere died on 9^th August 1537, Thomas Johnson on 20^th September, and William Horne was the only one whom Cromwell saved for the executioner's knife. They died faithful witnesses to the Catholic teaching that the Pope, the Vicar of Christ, is the Head of His Church on earth.

Glastonbury can surely take pride in having reared one of these heroes and martyrs.

The church has a beautiful tapestry featuring the martyrs from the Glastonbury area, including Blessed Richard Whiting and his companions from Glastonbury Abbey.