Saint
John Stone, circa 1584,oeuvre commandée au Collège anglais par le pape
Grégoire XIII
Saint Jean Stone
Martyr en
Angleterre (+ 1539)
Martyr augustin, un
des quarante
martyrs d'Angleterre et du Pays de Galles . Il refusa de prêter
allégeance à Henri VIII, fut arrêté et pendu à Canterbury en Angleterre.
Site augustinien en
anglais Saint
John Stone.
À Cantorbéry, en 1539,
saint Jean Stone, prêtre augustin et martyr. Docteur en théologie, seul de sa
communauté, il refusa de reconnaître le roi Henri VIII comme chef de l’Église
d’Angleterre et fut pour cela condamné à mort, pendu, éventré et écartelé.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/11306/Saint-Jean-Stone.html
formerly 12 May
formerly 4 February
25 October
as one of the Forty
Martyrs of England and Wales; Augustinians
23 May (English
Menology)
Profile
Augustinian
friar at Canterbury,
England.
Doctor of Divinity. Professor
and prior at
Droitwich. Martyred
for denying royal supremacy of the Church.
hanged,
drawn, and quartered December 1538 or
December 1539
(sources vary) at Dane-John, Canterbury,
England
29 December
1886
by Pope
Leo XIII
(cultus
confirmation)
4 May 1970 by Pope Paul VI
(decree on martyrdom)
25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI
Catholic
Society of the University of Kent
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks
of Ramsgate
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Catholic Martyrs of
England and Wales 1535-1680, by the Catholic Truth Society
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001
edición
sites
en français
fonti
in italiano
Associazione Storico-Culturale S. Agostino
Dicastero delle Cause dei Santi
Martirologio Romano, 2005
edition
MLA
Citation
‘Saint John Stone‘. CatholicSaints.Info.
14 December 2025. Web. 24 September 2026. <https://catholicsaints.info/saint-john-stone/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-john-stone/
Article
(Blessed) Martyr (May 23)
(16th century) The English Menology commemorates this Holy Martyr on May 23,
though neither the day nor the year of his death have so far been ascertained.
He was an Augustinian Friar, and is believed to have won his Crown at the
outset of the persecution, about A.D. 1538. He has always been venerated as one
of the victims of the Anti-Catholic policy of Henry VIII. His place of
martyrdom was Canterbury.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate. “John
Stone”. Book of Saints, 1921.
CatholicSaints.Info. 27 October 2013. Web. 24 September 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-john-stone/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-john-stone/
St. John Stone
Feastday: February 4
Death: 1539
John Stone - Augustinian
martyr, one of the Forty Martyrs
of England and Wales. He was a friar at Canterbury
who denied the Supremacy Act of King Henry VIII
(r. 1509-1547) and was arrested and executed by being hanged, drawn, and
quartered at Canterbury.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=4050
John Stone, OSA Priest M (RM)
Born in Canterbury, England; died there 1538-1539; canonized by Pope Paul VI in
1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales; feast day formerly May
12. John was an Augustinian friar of the Canterbury community. He held a
doctorate in Divinity and was highly respected for his erudition. He served as
a professor and prior at Droitwich for a time but was back at Canterbury when
Henry VIII began his divorce proceedings. John denounced the claims of Henry to
ecclesiastical supremacy from the pulpit, was arrested in December 1538,
imprisoned at Westgate, and when he reiterated his condemnation of the Act of
Supremacy, was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Canterbury before December 1539
(Benedictines, Delaney).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1227.shtml
Saint John Stone
John Stone (died 1539)
was martyred for refusing to accept King Henry VIII's claim to be supreme head
of the Church in England.
Almost nothing is known
of John's early years or of his life and activities as an Augustinian.
The Parliament of England
in 1534 approved a law known as the Act of Supremacy. This Act proclaimed
King Henry VIII the supreme head of the Church in England.
Four years later, an
official of the King arrived in Canterbury to close all the monasteries and to
obtain the written assent of every single Friar to the provisions of the Act of
Supremacy. The official first went to the monasteries of several other Orders.
Then they went to Austin Friars, the Augustinian house where John was a member.
All the other Augustinian Friars signed the document, but John refused.
John was arrested and
thrown into prison in the Tower of London. He remained firm in his refusal to
accept the King as head of the Church. While in jail, he spent many hours in
prayer. One day, God spoke to him, encouraging him to be of good heart and to
remain steadfast in his belief, even if it meant death. From this point
on, John felt great strength.
John was tried and
convicted of treason in 1539. Right after Christmas of that year, a slow
procession passed through the streets of Canterbury. The prisoner John was
being taken through the city to a hill outside the city walls. There he was
hanged, drawn and quartered. Because he was considered a traitor, his head and
body were put on display at the entrance to the city.
In the account books of
Canterbury, there appears an expense of two shillings and six pence “Paid for a
half-ton of wood to build the gallows on which Friar Stone was brought to
justice.”
Pope Leo XIII beatified
John Stone in 1886. Pope Paul VI canonized him in 1970, along with 39 other
English martyrs of the same period.
SOURCE : https://www.midwestaugustinians.org/st-john-stone
New
Catholic Dictionary – Blessed John Stone
Article
Martyr,
died
at the Dane-John, Canterbury, England,
1539. He was an Austin Friar of Canterbury and a doctor of divinity, and was
executed for denying the royal supremacy. Beatified, 1888.
MLA
Citation
“Blessed John Stone”. New Catholic Dictionary. CatholicSaints.Info. 7
October 2012.
Web. 24 September 2026.
<http://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-blessed-john-stone/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-blessed-john-stone/
Bl. John Stone
English
martyr, executed at the Dane-John, Canterbury,
probably in December, 1539, for denying the royal supremacy. He was an Austin
Friar of Canterbury,
and a doctor of
divinity. He is probably the Austin Friar of whom Bishop Ingworth complained on
14 December, 1538, that "at all times he still held and still desired to
die for it, that the king may not be head of the Church ofEngland".
When in prison before
his martyrdom "after
an uninterrupted fast of
three days, he heard a voice,
but without seeing the presence of anyone, calling him by name and exhorting
him to be of good courage and
not to hesitate to suffer with constancy for the truth of
the opinion which he had professed".
Sources
Camm, Lives of the
English Martyrs, I (London, 1904-5), 269; Gasquet, Henry VIII and the
English Monasteries (London, 1906); Stanton, Menology of England and
Wales (London and New York, 1887), 228, 647.
Wainewright,
John. "Bl. John Stone." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.
8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910.27 Dec.
2017 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08485a.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.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin
Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08485a.htm
Saint John Stone
October 25
John Stone (died 1539)
was martyred for refusing to accept King Henry VIII's claim to be supreme head
of the Church in England.
Almost nothing is known
of John's early years or of his life and activities as an Augustinian.
The Parliament of England
in 1534 approved a law known as the Act of Supremacy. This Act proclaimed
King Henry VIII the supreme head of the Church in England.
Four years later, an
official of the King arrived in Canterbury to close all the monasteries and to
obtain the written assent of every single Friar to the provisions of the Act of
Supremacy. The official first went to the monasteries of several other Orders.
Then they went to Austin Friars, the Augustinian house where John was a member.
All the other Augustinian Friars signed the document, but John refused.
John was arrested and
thrown into prison in the Tower of London. He remained firm in his refusal to
accept the King as head of the Church. While in jail, he spent many hours in
prayer. One day, God spoke to him, encouraging him to be of good heart and to
remain steadfast in his belief, even if it meant death. From this point on,
John felt great strength.
John was tried and
convicted of treason in 1539. Right after Christmas of that year, a slow
procession passed through the streets of Canterbury. The prisoner John was
being taken through the city to a hill outside the city walls. There he was
hanged, drawn and quartered. Because he was considered a traitor, his head and
body were put on display at the entrance to the city.
In the account books of
Canterbury, there appears an expense of two shillings and six pence “Paid for a
half-ton of wood to build the gallows on which Friar Stone was brought to
justice.”
Pope Leo XIII beatified
John Stone in 1886. Pope Paul VI canonized him in 1970, along with 39 other
English martyrs of the same period.
SOURCE : https://www.midwestaugustinians.org/st-john-stone
The Execution Bill of a
Supremacy Martyr: St. John Stone of Canterbury
St. John Stone was an Augustinian Canon, who refused
to acknowledge Henry VIII's title as the Supreme Head and Governor of the
Church in England, and thus I call him a "Supremacy" martyr:
Almost nothing is known of John's early years or of his life and activities as
an Augustinian.
The Parliament of England in 1534 approved a law known as the Act of Supremacy.
This Act proclaimed King Henry VIII the supreme head of the Church in England.
Four years later, an official of the King arrived in Canterbury to close all
the monasteries and to obtain the written assent of every single Friar to the
provisions of the Act of Supremacy. The official first went to the monasteries
of several other Orders. Then they went to Austin Friars, the Augustinian house
where John was a member. All the other Augustinian Friars signed the document,
but John refused.
John was arrested and thrown into prison in the Tower of London. He remained
firm in his refusal to accept the King as head of the Church. While in jail, he
spent many hours in prayer. One day, God spoke to him, encouraging him to be of
good heart and to remain steadfast in his belief, even if it meant death. From
this point on, John felt great strength.
John was tried and convicted of treason in 1539. Right after Christmas of that year,
a slow procession passed through the streets of Cangerbury. The prisoner John
was being taken through the city to a hill outside the city walls. There he was
hanged, drawn and quartered. Because he was considered a traitor, his head and
body were put on display at the entrance to the city.
In 1886, Pope Leo XIII beatified him and he is among the 40 Martyrs of England
and Wales canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970. The Catholic Society at the
University of Kent has chosen St. John Stone as their patron.
It's sad to note that the official of the king who visited the Austin Friars
was actually the Bishop of Dover, Richard Ingworth, a former Dominican prior who
had been promoted by Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell after the suppression
of the Langley priory, according
to the British History on-line site:
The bishop of Dover, who came to Canterbury on 13 December, 1538, to negotiate
the surrender of the friaries, found the Austin Friars specially in great
poverty. (fn. 37) Their debts were £40, and their implements not
worth £6, except a little plate weighing 126 oz. He reports to Cromwell that at
the Austin Friars on 14 December, 'one friar very rudely and traitorously used
himself,' and declared he was ready to die for it that the king might not be
the head of the Church, but it must be a spiritual father appointed by God.
This was probably Friar Stone . . .
St. John Stone had long opposed Henry; he had spoken against Henry's effort to
have his first marriage nullified to remarry--it is no surprise that he refused
to take the Oath of Supremacy! His last words were: "Behold I close my
apostolate in my blood, In my death I shall find life, for I die for a holy cause,
the defence of the Church of God, infallible and immaculate." He alone of
his friary stood up against Henry VIII; the rest of them would
be pensioned off a few years later when the friary was
suppressed.
According to that the British History site entry
on the Austin Friars of Canterbury, the city records contain these details
for what it cost to execute Friar John Stone:
"Paid for half a ton of timber to make a pair of gallows to hang Friar
Stone, 2s. 6d.; to a labourer that digged the holes, 3d.; to four men that
helped set up the gallows for drink to them, for carriage of the timber from
Stablegate to Dongeon (i.e. Dane John), 1s.; for a hurdle, 6d.; for a load of
wood and for a horse to draw him to the Dongeon, 2s. 3d.; paid two men that set
the kettle and parboiled him, 1s.; to two men that carried his quarters to the
gates and set them up, 1s.; for halters to hang him and Sandwich cord and for
straw, 1s.; to a woman that scoured the kettle, 2d.; to him that did the
execution, 3s. 8d."
Those are rather horrible details: sharing 1s. for parboiling the quarters of a
friar; sharing 1s. for hanging his quarters to the gates of Canterbury! He
was drawn to the hill of Dane John overlooking
Canterbury and would have seen his suppressed friary below before he
died the death of a traitor. The date of his execution is not certain, but
I chose today's date as it is also the Feast of St. John the Beloved Apostle in
the Octave of Christmas.
This Augustinian Friar website supports my choice of the date because Anne of
Cleves, Henry VIII's fourth wife, visited Canterbury on Saturday, December 27,
1539, 475 years ago today:
Usually such a sentence was carried out without delay but in this instance an
extraordinary event complicated matters. Anne of Cleves, who was coming to
England to be the fourth wife of King Henry VIII, was due to arrive on Sunday,
7th December 1539, and would be stopping at Canterbury overnight on her way to
London.
Her arrival, however, was delayed by bad weather. Her visit and John Stone’s
execution probably happened on Saturday, 27th December 1539. As bizarre as it
sounds, John Stone's execution was timed to be part of the reception
festivities arranged for Anne of Cleves, despite the shortness of her stay.
This conclusion is deduced from the extraordinary expenses for the execution
and from the fact that the paraphernalia needed for it were removed only after
her departure. Even so, the historian, Rev Dr Michael Benedict Hackett O.S.A.,
who was an expert on John Stone and died in April 2005, questioned whether the
execution occurred during Anne of Cleves' time in Canterbury.
The bill for the execution amounted to £15.9.11d (fifteen pounds, nine
shillings and eleven pence). This was a great sum when compared to a previous
execution which had cost only six pence.
Coming from overseas in Anne's company was also the apostate English
Augustinian, Dr Robert Barnes, then at the height of his power. He
probably witnessed Stone’s execution. In Barnes and Stone the worst and the
best of the Order in England in 1539 confronted each other. Paradoxically, also
by order of Henry VIII Barnes himself was burned to death at the stake in
London just six months later.
St. John Stone, pray for us!
SOURCE : https://supremacyandsurvival.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-execution-bill-of-supremacy-martyr.html
Saint John Stone, priest
and martyr
October 25
Almost everything we know
about John Stone regards his imprisonment and death. Presumably he joined the
Augustinians at Canterbury, England, where the Order was founded in 1318. In
December 1538, a former Dominican, Richard Ingsworth, one of Cromwell’s men,
appeared in Canterbury. He closed both the Franciscan the Dominican houses on
December 13th, and the following day appeared at Austin Friars. Each friar had
to sign an explicit acknowledgement of Henry VIII as head of the English
Church. John refused and made a lengthy attack on Henry’s usurpation of the
Church's rights. He was taken prisoner, brought to London to Cromwell, but
refused to recant. After a year’s detainment, on October 27, 1539, he was sent
to be tried and executed at Canterbury. An eyewitness to his imprisonment
testified, “John Stone was invested with the crown of martyrdom at Canterbury.
But before that, having poured forth prayers in prison to God and having fasted
continuously for three days, he heard a voice, though he saw no one, which
addressed him by name and bade him to be of good heart and not to hesitate to
suffer death with constancy for the belief which he had professed. From which
afterwards he gained such eagerness and strength as never to allow himself by
persuasion or terror to be drawn from his purpose.” The date of the execution
was probably Saturday, December 27, 1539 amid much publicity. The place of
execution was a landmark, called the Dungeon, now renamed Dane John, and from
the scaffold John could look down on his former friary. He was hung, but not to
death. While still conscious his heart was removed; his head and limbs were
severed and parboiled. They were placed over the city gates as a warning to
other rebels. John was beatified on December 9, 1886 by Leo XIII. He was
canonized by Paul VI with 39 other English martyrs on October 25, 1970.
Though all of us are
called to holiness, the paths we take to get there are very different. Many of
those proclaimed as saints are noted for their exceptionally virtuous lives. In
others, like John, however, many of life’s virtues are hidden and only the
heroism of fidelity shines forth, but to such a degree and to such an end, that
its validity cannot be misinterpreted. Greater love no one has than to lay down
his own life for a Friend!
SOURCE : http://augustinians.net/index.php?page=jstone_en
San Giovanni Stone
Sacerdote agostiniano, martire
Festa: 23 dicembre
>>> Visualizza la
Scheda del Gruppo cui appartiene
† Canterbury,
Inghilterra, 23 dicembre 1539
Nacque in Inghilterra.
Padre Giovanni Stone agostiniano si rifiutò di riconoscere Enrico VIII come
capo della Chiesa inglese. Infatti il religioso Stone affermava che il capo
della Chiesa di Inghilterra non poteva essere il re ma il Padre spirituale
costituito da Dio, cioé il Papa. In questo modo l'agostiniano Stone fece la
scelta più coerente con la sua fede e fu imprigionato il 14 dicembre 1538. Dopo
un anno di carcere fu condannato a morte per le sue posizioni papiste e non
favorevoli allo scisma. Padre Stone fu impiccato a Canterbury il 27 dicembre
1539. Fu canonizzato nel 1970 da Paolo VI assieme a 39 martiri, uccisi per
l'unità della Chiesa. (Avvenire)
Martirologio Romano: A
Canterbury in Inghilterra, commemorazione di san Giovanni Stone, sacerdote
dell’Ordine dei Frati di Sant’Agostino e martire, che, strenuo difensore della
fede cattolica, subì il martirio sul patibolo sotto il re Enrico VIII.
L’ordine agostiniano fra
i suoi santi annovera anche i martiri caduti per la Fede. Tra gli anni 1535 e
1692 centinaia di inglesi furono perseguitati e uccisi a causa della loro
cattolicità. Molti di essi venero beatificati e canonizzati, fra di essi, il 19
maggio 1935, furono elevati agli onori degli altari Giovanni Fisher e Tommaso
More. Nel 1960 i prelati d’Inghilterra e del Galles rivolsero una petizione a
papa Giovanni XXIII per la causa di canonizzazione di 40 martiri. Il beato
Giovanni Stone, agostiniano, faceva parte di questo gruppo. Così, il 18 maggio
1970 il Santo Padre Paolo VI annunciò in Concistoro che nel successivo 25
ottobre avrebbe canonizzato il beato inglese con altri compagni martirizzati.
Singolare rilevare che
l’ultimo membro dell’ordine agostiniano canonizzato era stata santa Rita da
Cascia nel 1900.
La vita di Gioivanni è
assai scarsa di notizie e tutte le testimonianze e le fonti da cui si possono
attingere informazioni si hanno soltanto sul suo martirio.
Possiamo comunque sapere
che la sua vocazione ebbe compimento a Canterbury, dove gli Agostiniani
avevavno una casa dal 1318. Maestro e dottore in teologia, ebbe grande
notorietà come predicatore e fu nominato priore del convento di Droitwich, dove
fu anche professore. Enrico IV, con grande probabilità, avrebbe voluto averlo
complice nella questione del divorzio, questione che creò lo scisma fra la
Chiesa di Roma e quella inglese.La dittatura religiosa di Enrico VII non
tollerò a lungo l’esistenza di ordini di frati mendicanti centralizzati a Roma,
perciò iniziò a perseguitarli. Il suo ministro Cromwell diede una stretta
ortale alla casa agostiniana di Canterbury nell’anno 1538. Il piano si inseriva
in un più ampio progetto di soppressioni monastiche. Perciò il ministro
incaricò Riccardo Ingworth, ai primi di dicembre di quell’anno, di partire alla
volta di Canterbury. Lungo il percorso si fermò a Aylesford e soppresse lo
storico convento dei carmelitani. Venerdì 13 dicembre giunse nella città dove,
oltre a tgrovarsi il convento agostiniano, si trovava anche quello dei
Francescani. Proprio qui, infatti si trovava la prima fondazione francescana in
Inghilterra, dove fratel Agnello da Pisa era giunto nel lontano 1224, dopo aver
ricevuto l’atibto religioso dallo stesso san Francesco. Il girono dopo Ingworth
arrivò alla casa agostiniana.
Si presentò al priore e
alla comunità con una copia del formulario del decreto di soppressione e con la
lettra di sottomissione al riconoscimento ufficiale di Enrico VII in qualità di
Capo supremo della Chiesa d’Inghilterra: i documenti dovevano essere
sottoscritti da tutti i religiosi.
Giovanni Ston rifiutò. La
cronaca dei fatti è riscontrabile in una lettra inviata da Ingworth a Cromwell,
scritta il giorno seguente. Il frate agostiniano sferrò un lungo attacco contro
l’usurpazione del re, il quale nel 1521 aveva ricordato a Lutero che la
direzione della Chiesa spettava unicamente ai successori di san Pietro.
Stone si dichiarò
disposto a morire piuttosto di rinnegare la fede cattolica. IL rappresentante
di Cromwell fallì nel suo tentativo intimidatorio, pertanto isolò il religioso
dal resto della comunità e nel suo rapporto Ingworth sottolinea: «Avendo notato
il suo fermo contegno, l’ho segregato perché nessuno possa parlare con lui».
Il caso venne
direttamente gestito da Tommaso Cromwell, l’uomo più temuto d’Inghilterra, che
subito decise di incarcerare il frate recidivo.
Il 27 ottobre 1539 il
ministro, dopo un anno di carcere, mandò di frone ai giudici Giovanni Stone.
Venne così processato e condannato. Fu rinchiuso nel castello di Canterbury.
Leggiamo in una
testimonianza dell’epoca che Giovanni Stone «fu decorato con la corona del
martirio… Ma prima di ciò, in prigione, avendo rivolto molte preghiere a Dio, e
dopo aver digiunato per tre giorni, udì una voce, benché non vedesse alcuno,
che lo chiamava a nome e lo invitava a farsi animo e ad affrontare la morte con
coraggio, per la fede che aveva professato. Questo fatto produsse in lui tale
ardore e tale forza che nessun tentativo di persuasione o nessun terrore
avrebbe potuto rimuoverlo dal suo proposito».
Il condannao fu tradotto
nel sotterraneo del castello, sotto la porta occidentale. Venne giustiziato per
alto tradimento sabato 27 dicembre 1539. Prelevato dalla cella fu legato su un
graticcio. Lo sceriffo Antonio St. Leger, era presente affinché potesse
accertare l’esecuzioone della sentenza capitale.Canterbury aveva deciso che,
come Stone era stato il primo in città ad opporsi alla supremazia del re sulla
Chiesa, fosse anche l’ultimo. L’obiettivo era dunque quello di creare
un’atmosfera degna di ricordo. Fu scelto, come luogo del suplizio, la monagnola
di Dongeon (oggi Dane John) e qui venne eretta la forca.
Fu un vero e proprio
rituale macabro e sanguinario, i cui dettagli li possiamo riscontrare dal
registro delle spese per ogni minuziosa azione. Prima ci fu l’impiccagione,
poi, il boia, mentre il martire er ancora vivo tolse il cuore del santo con un
coltello. Testa e membra furono separate dal resto del corpo e furono bollite.
E più tardi esposte sopra le porte della città come ammonimento per la
popolazione.
Giovanni Stone perseverò fino alla fine. Beatificato da Leone XIII il 9 dicembre 1886, Giovanni troverà la sua gloria nella Chiesa nel 1970, considerato l’ annus mirabilis dell’ordine agostiniano in Inghilterra: la canonizzazione di Stone corona la restaurazione della vita agostiniana in Inghilterra e nella Scozia.
Autore: Cristina Siccardi
SOURCE : https://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90160
SAN GIOVANNI STONE
1539
Il 3 novembre 1534 il
parlamento inglese dichiarava che il re era il capo supremo della Chiesa in
Inghilterra. Veniva così ufficializzato, reso esecutivo e obbligatorio per
tutti i sudditi lo scisma dell'Inghilterra dalla Chiesa cattolica. Ai religiosi
non rimaneva che scegliere una di queste tre possibilità: giurare fedeltà al re
e abbandonare la vita religiosa, rifugiarsi all'estero, o affrontare il carcere
e la morte. Padre John Stone, del convento agostiniano di Canterbury, fece la
scelta più coerente con la sua fede, quando un agente del re, il 14 dicembre
1538, si presentò al convento con l'ordine di chiudere la casa religiosa e di
far firmare ai membri della comunità il giuramento di fedeltà. Molti si
sottomisero per paura, P. John no. Fu messo in prigione, fu portato anche al
cospetto del primo ministro Thomas Cromwell, si cercò di convincerlo ad aderire
allo scisma. Ma niente e nessuno riuscì a persuaderlo.
Anzi, nei dodici mesi di
prigione che seguirono alla sua cattura, di sua spontanea volontà volle
aggiungere ulteriori penitenze alle già numerose sofferenze che gli venivano
inflitte, per avere la forza di rimanere fedele a Cristo nel momento della
testimonianza suprema. Infine il processo e la sentenza: il "papista"
è condannato a morte. Il 27 dicembre 1539 una lenta e lugubre processione si
snodava per le vie della città di Canterbury. P. John, adagiato e legato sopra
un graticcio trascinato da un cavallo, attraversò la città e venne portato su
una collina fuori delle mura, ove venne impiccato. Poi, secondo la barbara
usanza del tempo, il suo corpo venne squartato e i resti furono fatti bollire
in una caldaia. Nel libro contabile del ciambellano di Canterbury c'è un elenco
delle spese pagate dal comune per il legname usato per la costruzione del
patibolo e del capestro: "Pagato per mezza tonnellata di legname per una
forca con cui impiccare il frate Stone: 2s 6d.".
Beatificato da Leone X
nel 1886, Paolo VI il 25 ottobre 1970 lo dichiarava santo, insieme ad altri 39
martiri, sacerdoti, religiosi e laici, uomini e donne, uccisi per causa della
verità e dell'unità della Chiesa.
COLANTUONI, R., OSA.,
Martirio del B. G. S., Roma 1887;
FORAN, E. A., OSA., Notes
on the lives of the English Augustinian Martyrs, London 1922;
HACKETT, B., OSA.,
Blessed John S., Austin Friat; Martyr, London 1963;
DEL RE, N., Stone, G.,
beato, martire in Inghilterra, in BS. XII, Roma 1969 (rist. 1990), C. 35-36;
Sacred Congregation of
Rites. Archidiocese of Westminster: Cause of the Canonization of Blessed
Martyrs. Official presentation of documents on Martydrom and Cult, Città del
Vaticano 1968,65-106;
CAMBLOR, L., OSA., San
Juan de S., agustino y mdrtir de la fe, in Religiòn y Cultura 16 (1970) 571-76;
HACKETT, B., OSA., St. John S. Austin Friat; Martyr (1539), Roma 1970 (trad. it. e sp.);
MOLINAR, P., The Forty
Martyrs of England and Wales. The history oltheir cause, in The Clergy Review
55 (1970) 759-770.
SOURCE : https://www.cassiciaco.it/navigazione/monachesimo/agiografia/santi/stone.html
