Blessed John Forest
- Memorial
- 22 May
- Profile
- Friar Minor of the Regular Observance at Greenwich while in his late teens.
Studied theology at the Franciscan College at Oxford; known thereafter as "Doctor", though records of his degree have not survived.
Priest and royal chaplain.
Provincial of the order by 1525 when he threatened excommunication to those brothers who opposed Cardinal Wosley's legatine powers.
Confessor to Queen Catherine of Aragon, wife of King Henry VIII.
He thought he had convinced King Henry in 1529 not to suppress his order for their opposition to his divorce, but when Henry did not get his way, he suppressed the order and arrested John.
Records show him preaching in November 1532 against the state pulling down churches, and of the authorities keeping a close watch on him.
Arrested in 1534, he established a correspondence from Newgate to Queen Catherine and Blessed Thomas Abel.
Wrote a treatise against King Henry's ursurpation of power over the spiritual.
Sentenced to death on 8 April 1538 for refusing the oath acknowledging Henry's primacy in spiritual matters.
Martyr.
- Born
- 1471 at Oxford, England
- Died
- hanged and burned to death on 22 May 1538 at Smithfield, England;
a wooden statue of Saint Derfel, taken from a local church, was used in the fire, supposedly fulfilling a local prophecy that the statue's burning would destroy a forest;
John's relics may still be in hiding in Smithfield
- Name Meaning
- God is gracious; gift of God (John)
- Beatified
- 9 December 1886 by Pope Leo XIII
- Canonized
- pending
- Additional Information
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Google Directory
Catholic Encyclopedia
For All The Saints
New Catholic Dictionary
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