Member of the English Parliment in 1547. Opposed anti-Catholic laws enacted by King Edward VI. Imprisoned 1548-1550 for opposed the Bill of Uniformity.
On his release, he and his family moved to Louvain, Belgium, but returned to England in August 1553 when Catholic Queen Mary ascended to the throne. Chancellor to Bishop Edmund Bonner. Member of Parliment again from 1553 to 1560. In 1560 he opposed the Bill of Supremacy, and incurred the ire of Queen Elizabeth. Imprisoned in Fleet Prison on 20 May 1560, he escaped, was captured at Marshalsea, and re-imprisoned.
Escaping again, he fled the country to Antwerp, Belgium. There he renounced his English citizenship, and became a subject of the Catholic Spanish crown. Customs official in Flanders.
Kidnapped at Bergen-op-Zoon by agents of Queen Elizabeth in August 1570. Returned to England, he was locked in the Tower of London and repeatedly tortured. Indicted on 26 May 1571 for conspiring against the Queen's life. Throughout his misery, John claimed his innocence, and the court's lack of jurisdiction over him, a Spanish subject. Condemned on 27 May 1571.
Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia For All The Saints New Catholic Dictionary Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, and Stephen Bunson