![[Saint John Houghton]](saintj5v.jpg "11kb jpg detail of a portrait of Saint John Houghton; please do not write to ask about the image")
20 September 4 May (as one of the Carthusian Martyrs) 25 October as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
In 1534 he was the first person to oppose King Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy. 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, Parliment 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, he would not defend himself in court, but refused to cooperate or sign. 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.
First person martyred under the Tudor persections, dying with Blessed John Haile and three others. One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
Carthusian monk carrying a noose Carthusian with a rope around his neck and holding his heart in his hand
Kirken i Norge New Catholic Dictionary The Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Brunson
- Saint John's dying words as he was being disembowelled