English Catholic priest and martyr
John Larke (fl. c. 1500 - died 7 March 1544) was an English Catholic priest and martyr , who was executed during the reign of Henry VIII . Larke was a notable personal friend of Thomas More , Lord High Chancellor of England . Larke was beatified in 1886 by Pope Leo XIII .
Life
Larke studied at Cambridge University , before serving for twenty six years as rector of St. Ethelburga's Bishopsgate in the City of London .[1] He transferred to a prosperous living as rector of Woodford, Essex , before returning to London four years later, in 1530, when Sir Thomas More appointed him vicar of Chelsea .[2]
Larke allegedly swore the Oath of Supremacy in 1534 but, as Cresacre More puts it: "the example of St. Thomas More's death so wrought on his mind that afterwards he followed his own sheep and suffered a famous martyrdom."[3]
He was indicted on 15 February 1544, with John Ireland , vicar of Eltham ,[4] German Gardiner , and Thomas Heywood. All were condemned, but Heywood recanted on the hurdle and lived to give testimony against Cranmer . The other three, along with another priest from Lancashire , Robert Singleton , whose arrest was never explained, were executed on 7 March 1544.
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