Robert Lawrence (martyr)

Robert Lawrence
Martyrdom of the priors of the Carthusians of London, Nottingham and Axholme by Vicente Carducho
Born	c.1485
Died	4 May 1535
Beatified	1886
Canonized	25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI
Feast	4 May

St. Robert Lawrence (died 4 May 1535) was one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn for declining to sign the Oath of Supremacy. His feast day is 4 May.

Born about 1485, Robert Lawrence was a graduate of Cambridge. After joining the Carthusians, in 1531, he succeeded John Houghton as Prior of the Beauvale Charterhouse, Nottinghamshire, when Houghton was appointed Prior of the London Charterhouse.

By February 1535 Parliament declared that everyone had to take the Oath of Supremacy, declaring Henry to be Supreme head of the Church of England. Robert went with 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 hung, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, making them among the first Carthusian martyrs in England.

Beatified in 1886, Robert was canonized by Pope Paul VI with thirty-nine other martyrs on 25 October 1970.

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