Blessed John Davy († 1537)
John Davy, a Carthusian choir monk and deacon was one of ten religious of the order’s London monastery, the Charterhouse, who on May 18, 1537 refused to join twenty of their fellow Carthusians in taking King Henry VIII’s odious anti-papal oath of supremacy. Eleven days later, the ten were brought to a London prison, where they were chained in a standing position with their hands behind their backs, left thus to starve to death. After learning of their fate, Margaret (Gigs) Clement, an adopted daughter of the martyr Saint Thomas More, bribed the jailer to let her enter the prison. Disguised as a milkmaid, she placed bits of meat into the mouths of the starving monks and cleaned their cell. When after some time the king expressed surprise that the prisoners were still alive, the jailer, fearing the king’s wrath, refused to allow Margaret to continue her missions of mercy. All but one of the men soon perished from hunger. John Davy died on June 8, 1537. Years later, on her deathbed, Margaret saw in a vision the martyred Carthusians she had fed standing round her, inviting her to come with them to eternal life.
