അനുദിന വിശുദ്ധർ (Saint of the Day) May 4th – St. John Houghton, Augustine Webster & Robert Lawrence
St. John Houghton
Protomartyr of the English Reformation. A native of Essex, he served as a parish priest after graduating from Cambridge. He then became a Carthusian and the prior of the Carthusian Charterhouse of London. As an opponent of King Henry Viii’s Acts of Succession and Supremacy, he was arrested with other Carthusians but was released temporarily. He then refused to swear to the Oath of Supremacy, the first man to make this refusal. Dragged through the streets, he was executed at Tyburn with four companions by being hanged, drawn, and quartered. Parts of his remains were put on display in assorted spots throughout London. Pope Paul VI canonized him in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
St. Augustine Webster
One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, canonized in 1970. Augustine was a Carthusian prior of the Charterhouse at Axholme, England. He was arrested in London and martyred at Tyburn.
St. Robert Lawrence
One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. After joining the Carthusians, he served as prior of the Charterhouse at Beauvale, Nottinghamshire, at the time when King Henry VIII of England broke with Rome and launched the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Robert went with St. John Houghton to see Thomas Cromwell, who had them arrested and placed in the Tower of London. When they refused to sign the Oath of Supremacy, they were cruelly tortured and executed at Tyburn, making them among the first martyrs from the order in England. Beatified in 1886, Robert was canonized by Pope Paul VI with the other martyrs in 1970.
Nelson MCBS 