View source for Thomas Johnson (monk)

{{Short description|English Carthusian and martyr}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:The London Charterhouse, its monks and its martyrs, with a short account of the English Carthusians after the dissolution (1889) (14777306225).jpg|thumb|The martyrs of the London Charterhouse (the Carthusians left for starvation at the upper left edge)]]
'''Thomas Johnson, [[Carthusians|OCart]]''', (died 20 September 1537) was a [[Carthusians|Carthusian]] who was killed by starvation in [[Tudor England]]. He is venerated in the [[Roman Catholic Church]] as a [[martyr]] and has been [[beatification|beatified]]. His [[feast day]] is on 4 May.

==Biography==
On May 18, 1537, 18 lay brothers and 20 choir monks of the [[London Charterhouse]] were arrested to force them to sign the [[Oath of Supremacy]]. Johnson, six [[lay brother]]s and four choir monks refused.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://nobility.org/2014/05/carthusian-martyrs/ | title=May 4 – They believed in the religious exemption, but only at first | date=May 2014 }}</ref> 

Like his brothers, after his imprisonment in [[Newgate Prison]], he was chained standing up and left to starve. [[Margaret Clement]] was temporarily able to bring him and the other Carthusians some food, by entering in disguise, but after [[King Henry VIII]] became suspicious from their continued survival, this was ended. Johnson took the longest to die of starvation and died on 20 September 1537.<ref>https://www.goodshepherd-arnold.org.uk/pdf/english-carthusian-martyrs.pdf</ref>
 
A [[lay brother]] of the Charterhouse named Horne survived and was not executed until 1540. In that year he was [[Hanged, drawn and quartered|hanged, disembowelled, and quartered]] at [[Tyburn]].

Thomas Johnson and the other [[Carthusian Martyrs]] were [[beatification|beatified]] by [[Pope Leo XIII]] in 1886.<ref>{{CathEncy|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14689b.htm|title=Blessed Thomas Johnson}}</ref>

There are paintings of Johnson along with other Carthusian martyrs in the church of the former [[Certosa di Bologna|Charterhouse of Bologna]].

==See also==
*[[Carthusian Martyrs]]
*[[Forty Martyrs of England and Wales]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= England}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Thomas}}
[[Category:Year of birth missing]]
[[Category:1537 deaths]]
[[Category:English beatified people]]
[[Category:Carthusian Martyrs of London]]
[[Category:Carthusian saints]]
[[Category:People executed by starvation]]
[[Category:16th-century English Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:16th-century venerated Christians]]
[[Category:English people who died in prison custody]]
[[Category:English Christian monks]]
[[Category:People executed under the Tudors for treason against England]]
[[Category:Martyred Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:Executed English people]]
[[Category:People executed under Henry VIII]]
[[Category:Forty-one Martyrs of England and Wales]]