Bl. John Beche, Benedictine abbot, took the Oath of Supremacy. But his reverence for SS. John Fisher and Thomas More and for the three martyred Carthusian priors of 1535 gained the resentment of Henry VIII's spies. When Bl. John refused to grant that the king had any authority to confiscate St. John's Abbey, Colchester, he was thrown in the Tower on charges of treason. Though weak, he gained the crown of martyrdom in 1539.

Short biography of Bl. John Beche.