Feastday: May 4
Death: 1535
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.
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.
Life
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 Priory, 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 King Henry VIII to be Supreme Head of the Church of England. Lawrence went with 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 hanged, 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.
