Bienheureux Jean Rochester et Jacques Walworth
Chartreux martyrs
en Angleterre (✝ 1537)
John Rochester
originaire de Terling dans l'Essex et James Walworth étaient moines de la
Chartreuse de Londres, ils refusèrent de prêter allégeance au serment de
suprématie du roi Henri VIII et furent martyrisés à York. Béatifiés en 1886.
À York en Angleterre, l’an 1537, les bienheureux martyrs Jean
Rochester et Jacques Walworth, prêtres et moines de la chartreuse de Londres.
Pour avoir refusé de reconnaître la suprématie du roi Henri VIII dans le
domaine spirituel, ils furent pendus par des chaînes à des pins de la ville et
leurs corps demeurèrent en place jusqu’à ce que les membres se détachent.
Martyrologe
romain
SOURCE :
http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/11673/Bienheureux-Jean-Rochester-et-Jacques-Walworth.html
Blessed James Walworth &
John Rochester, O. Cart. MM (AC)
Died York, England, 1537; beatified in 1886. James Walworth and John Rochester
were Carthusian monks of the London Charterhouse. Together they were hanged in
chains at York at the command of King Henry VIII. Rochester was
born at Terling, Essex (Benedictines).
Carthusian Martyrs in York, 1537
On May 11, 1537, two of the Carthusians of the Charterhouse of London
began their agonizing and slow death by being hung in chains from the York city
battlements: Blessed John Rochester and Blessed James Walworth. They were
beatified by Pope Leo XIII on the 29th of December in 1886 (December 29 is the
feast of St. Thomas a Becket so the Pope chose an appropriate date).
After the first three Carthusian priors were executed on May 4, 1535, the next
three leaders in line, Humphrey Middlemore, William Exmew and Sebastian
Newdigate, were executed on June 19 that same year and these two monks were
taken from London to the Charterhouse of St. Michael in Hull. In the wake of
the Pilgrimage of Grace, Rochester and Walworth were tried in York by Thomas
Howard, the Duke of Norfolk and found guilty of treason.
Priest and martyr, born probably at Terling, Essex, England,
about 1498; died at York, 11 May, 1537. He was the third son of John Rochester,
of Terling, and Grisold, daughter of Walter Writtle, of Bobbingworth. He joined
the Carthusians, was a choir monk of the Charterhouse in London, and
strenuously opposed the new doctrine of the royal supremacy. He was arrested
and sent a prisoner to the Carthusian convent at Hull. From there he was
removed to York, where he was hung in chains. With him there suffered one James
Walworth (?Wannert; Walwerke), Carthusian priest and martyr, concerning whom
little or nothing is known. He may have been the "Jacobus Walwerke"
who signed the Oath of Succession of 1534.
So if he had taken the Oath of Succession in 1534, Blessed James
Walworth must have recanted his oath or refused the Oath of Supremacy in 1535.
It must have been an agonizing death--hanging until death by exposure
and dehydration--left like their brother Carthusians in Newgate Prison in
London as this site notes:
Ten continued to refuse, and on 1st June 1537 were
imprisoned in Newgate. There they were left, and all but one died of starvation
and ill-usage. They were: Richard Bere, Thomas Johnson and Thomas Green,
priests; John Davy, deacon; and Brothers William Greenwood, Thomas Scryven,
Robert Salt, Walter Pierson, Thomas Redyng and William Horn. The last-named
lingered in Newgate for nearly three years, and was finally executed on 4th
August 1540.
The image above does not depict the Carthusians hanging from the
battlements; it is from the Wikipedia entry for Blessed John Rochester. It is
by Vicente Carducho and is part of a series of paintings in the Charterhouse of
El Paular near Madrid. The article on John Rochester includes these details about their
trial and execution:
The two London monks were brought from Hull to York and brought
before the Lord President of the North, the Duke of Norfolk, on trumped up
treason charges. Condemned to death, they provided the desired menacing
spectacle for the city when on 11 May 1537 both were hanged in chains from the
city battlements[2] until their bodies fell to pieces.[3]
Blessed martyrs of the
Carthusians, pray for us!
Bl.
John Rochester
Priest and martyr, born probably at Terling,
Essex, England, about 1498; died at York, 11 May, 1537. He was the third son of John Rochester,
of Terling, and Grisold,
daughter of Walter Writtle, of Bobbingworth. He joined the Carthusians, was a choir
monk of the Charterhouse in London, and strenuously opposed the new doctrine of the royal supremacy. He was arrested and
sent a prisoner to the Carthusian convent at Hull. From there he was removed to York, where he was hung in chains. With him there
suffered one James Walworth
(?Wannert; Walwerke), Carthusian priest and martyr, concerning whom little or nothing is known. He may have been the "Jacobus
Walwerke" who signed the Oath of Succession of 1534. John
Rochester was beatified in 1888 by Leo XIII.
His elder brother,
Sir Robert Rochester, K.G. (b. about 1494; d. 28 Nov., 1557), was a zealous Catholic. Before 1551 he had received the appointment
of comptroller of the household to Princess Mary Tudor. In that year the Privy Council ordered him to
prevent any priest saying Mass in the princess's household, but he refused to
interfere in any way with her private devotions, and was accordingly sent to the Tower. The
next year he was allowed to retire to the country on account of his health, and
was soon permitted to take up the post of comptroller once more. When the
princess ascended the throne as Mary
I, she remembered Rochester's faithful service. He was made chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster; and he entered the inner circle of the Privy Council. He
was one of the parliamentary representatives of Essex, 1553-5. He was buried at the Charterhouse
at Sheen.
Sources
Gillow, Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath., s.v. Rochester, John; Chauncy, Hist.
aliquot Martyrum Anglorum . . . Cartusianorum (Montreuil and London, 1888);
Morris, The Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers (1st series, London,
1872); Pollard, in Dict. Nat. Biog.., s.v. Rochester, Sir Robert.
Brown, C.F. Wemyss. "Bl. John Rochester." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 11 May 2017
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08483b.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Richard E. Cullen.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur.
+John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Blessed James Walworth
- 11
May
- 4
May (as one of the Carthusian Martyrs)
Profile
Carthusian
priest and choir
monk at the London Charterhouse. Exiled by the government to the Charterhouse of Saint Michael at
Hull, Yorkshire. Martyred with Blessed
John Rochester.
Born
hanged in chains on 11 May
1537 from the battlements of York, England
Beati Giovanni Rochester e Giacomo
Walworth Sacerdoti certosini, martiri
† York, Inghilterra, 11
maggio 1537
Martirologio Romano: A York in Inghilterra, beati martiri Giovanni
Rochester e Giacomo Walworth, sacerdoti e monaci della Certosa di Londra, che
sotto il re Enrico VIII per la loro fedeltà alla Chiesa furono appesi con delle
catene ai merli delle mura della città fino alla morte.
Oggi in
occasione della ricorrenza dell’11 maggio voglio ricordare altre due figure
dell’Ordine certosino che pagarono con la vita, la loro fedeltà al pontefice di
Roma. Giovanni Rochester e Giacomo Walworth, erano entrambi monaci coristi
della certosa di Londra, che furono prelevati e trasferiti a Hull, nello
Yorkshire nella certosa di San Michele. La comunità monastica certosina di Hull
aveva firmato nel 1535, contrariamente ai confratelli londinesi, l’Atto di
Supremazia e pertanto gli era stato concesso di continuare a svolgere
regolarmente l’attività monastica. Gli eventi succedutisi tra l’autunno del
1536 e la primavera del 1537, a seguito della dissoluzione dei monasteri voluta
da Thomas Cromwell, coinvolgeranno indirettamente i protagonisti della nostra
triste vicenda. A seguito di una tumultuosa rivolta dei cattolici contro le
imposizioni del re, che ebbe il suo acme il 13 ottobre 1536, ed è nota sotto il
nome di Pellegrinaggio di Grazia (Pilgrimage of Grace), Enrico VIII rimase
scosso, e di fronte ad una ribellione che vide coinvolte circa quarantamila
persone, dovette reagire. Essendo stata York, la città dove vi era stato il
focolaio più acceso dei rivoltosi, ritenne di dare una severa lezione in quella
area geografica. Giovanni Rochester e Giacomo Walworth, furono
perciò artatamente trasferiti ad Hull, forse con l’intento di farli conformare
nell’abiura al papa, i due invece continuarono ad opporsi, e per tal motivo
furono condannati di tradimento dal duca di Norfolk emissario del re. L’11
maggio del 1537, i due martiri certosini furono impiccati con catene, sui merli
delle mura della città di York, e lasciati morire in una lenta agonia, i loro
corpi furono lasciati alle intemperie ed alla voracità dei rapaci per diversi
giorni. Il loro sacrificio estremo, doveva avere lo scopo di scoraggiare ogni
altro tentativo di sommossa popolare. Entrambi i due martiri certosini, furono
beatificati da papa Leone XIII il 9 dicembre del 1886, e vengono ricordati come
tutti gli altri martiri inglesi il 4 maggio, mentre la Chiesa di York li
ricorda specificamente oggi 11 maggio.
Giovanni Rochester, nacque probabilmente intorno al 1498 a Terling, nella contea di Essex
in Inghilterra. Egli fu il terzo figlio di Giovanni Rochester e Grisold Writtle
di Bobbingworth, da giovane decise di entrare nella certosa di Londra,
diventendone monaco corista. Come abbiamo appreso, per la sua strenua
opposizione alla supremazia del monarca Enrico VIII, fu costretto a spostarsi
da Londra ad Hull, ed a subire un processo che lo condannò ad una morte
straziante.
Giacomo Walworth, delle
sue origini e della sua giovinezza si conosce ben poco, purtroppo risalta alla
cronaca per aver condiviso con il confratello Giovanni Rochester, gli ultimi
anni della sua vita, terminata come abbiamo visto in maniera brutale.
Fonte:
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