John Houghton

John Houghton, OCart (c. 1486 – 4 May 1535) was a Catholic priest of the Carthusian order and the first martyr to die as a result of the Act of Supremacy by King Henry VIII of England. He was also the first of the Carthusians to die as a martyr. As one of the Carthusian Martyrs of London he is among the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

Early life Born around 1487, Houghton was (according to one of his fellow Carthusians) educated at Cambridge, but cannot be identified among surviving records. Similarly, no certain records can be found of his ordination.

It is said that he escaped an arranged marriage as soon as he completed his education and took refuge with a devout priest.

Monastic life He entered the London Charterhouse in 1516, was appointed sacristan in 1523, and in 1528 procurator, the monastery's business manager. In addition, the following spring he was named Provincial Visitor, at the head of the English Carthusians.

The three priors were taken to Tyburn in their religious habits and were not previously laicised from the priesthood and religious state as was the custom of the day. From his prison cell in the Tower, Thomas More saw the three Carthusian priors being dragged to Tyburn on hurdles and exclaimed to his daughter: "Look, Meg! These blessed Fathers be now as cheerfully going to their deaths as bridegrooms to their marriage!" John Houghton was the first to be executed. After he was hanged, he was taken down alive, and the process of quartering him began.

Catholic tradition relates that when Houghton was about to be quartered, as the executioner tore open his chest to remove his heart, he prayed, "O Jesus, what wouldst thou do with my heart?". His companions were butchered next. After his death, his body was chopped to pieces and hung in different parts of London.

Legacy He was beatified on 29 December 1886 by Pope Leo XIII and canonized on 25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI.

There is a mosaic of Houghton in the Holy Name of Jesus Roman Catholic Church, Oxford Road, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester.

A painting of the Carthusian protomartyr by the noted painter Francisco Zurbarán, depicts him with his heart in his hand and a noose around his neck.

In the chapter house of St. Hugh's Charterhouse in England, there is a painting depicting the martyrdom of the three priors.

There are stained glass windows of Saint John Houghton in the following churches:

St. Dominic's Priory Church in London Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Cambridge Belmont Abbey outside Hereford St. Mark's Church in Mansfield Shrewsbury Cathedral, he is next to Thomas More in the fifth window.

St John Houghton Catholic Voluntary Academy is named in his honor.