Thomas Marshall (the Blessed John Beche), also known as John Beche, (died 1 December 1539) was the last Abbot of

Colchester Abbey St John's Abbey, also called Colchester Abbey,Ashdown-Hill, John (2009) Mediaeval Colchester's Lost Landmarks. Published by The Breedon Books Publishing Company Limited. () was a Benedictine monastic institution in Colchester, Essex, founded in 1 ...

Life

Thomas Marshall, commonly known as John Beche, was a member of the

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

Beche family, who were a dynasty of renowned pewtersmiths in the town. He was educated at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

(probably

Gloucester Hall Gloucester College, Oxford, was a Benedictine institution of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England, from the late 13th century until the Dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century. It was never a typical college of the Universit ...

now

Worcester College Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

) where he took his degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1515. He then became the twenty-sixth Abbot of St. Werburgh's,

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

(now Chester Cathedral) and went on to become Abbot of St. John the Baptist's, Colchester on 10 June 1530. On 30 March 1534, Abbot Beche took his seat in the House of Lords. In that year, the

Act of Supremacy The Acts of Supremacy are two acts passed by the Parliament of England in the 16th century that established the English monarchs as the head of the Church of England; two similar laws were passed by the Parliament of Ireland establishing the Eng ...

was passed by which Henry VIII made himself Head of the Church in England, and on 7 July he, the Prior, and the community of 14, signed their agreement to the Act. Many clergymen considered the break with Rome of a temporary nature, and that it was possible to distinguish between the king as head of the Church in temporal matters, though not in matters spiritual.Fitzpatrick, Maurice P., "Blessed John Beche: a martyr of the Brentwood diocese", p.4, ''Catholic Herald'', 27 November 1959
/ref> The Abbot was a strong opponent of the King's new policy, and a friend and admirer of

Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...

and

John Fisher John Fisher (c. 19 October 1469 – 22 June 1535) was an English Catholic bishop, cardinal, and theologian. Fisher was also an academic and Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He was canonized by Pope Pius XI. Fisher was executed by o ...

.Camm O.S.B.,Dom Bede. "Blessed John Forest". ''Lives of the English Martyrs Declared Blessed by Pope Leo XIII'', Vol. I, p.388, Longmans, Green and Co., London 1914
/ref> Following the execution of three Carthusian priors, Fisher and More during 1535, his expressions of reverence for them was reported to the authorities.
/ref> In November, 1538, Beche denied the legal right of Henry VIII's royal commission to confiscate his abbey. He was then committed to the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...

on a charge of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

; despite being discharged, he was rearrested and taken back to Colchester. The Abbot's servant said that his master denied that the king could suppress the Abbey because it was above the yearly value of 300 marks specified in the statute. Other witnesses testified that Beche had said that God would "take vengeance for the putting down of these houses of religion", that Fisher and More "died like good men and it was pity of their deaths", and he claimed that the king had broken with the Catholic Church because he wanted to marry

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...

. Beche denied these charges but at his trial in Colchester, in November, 1539, he no longer pleaded against the charges. He was convicted and executed. The execution occurred on the Abbot's ''demesne'' lands, probably at the Abbey's gallows at Greenstead.Ashdown-Hill, John (2009) Mediaeval Colchester's Lost Landmarks. Published by The Breedon Books Publishing Company Limited. () His

pectoral cross A pectoral cross or pectorale (from the Latin ''pectoralis'', "of the chest") is a cross that is worn on the chest, usually suspended from the neck by a cord or chain. In ancient and medieval times pectoral crosses were worn by both clergy and ...

was rescued by the Mannock family of Gifford Hall,

Stoke-by-Nayland Stoke-by-Nayland is a village and civil parish in the Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England, close to the border with Essex. The parish includes the village of Withermarsh Green and the hamlets of Thorington Street and Scotland S ...

, who entrusted it to

Buckfast Abbey Buckfast Abbey forms part of an active Benedictine monastery at Buckfast, near Buckfastleigh, Devon, England. Buckfast first became home to an abbey in 1018. The first Benedictine abbey was followed by a Savignac (later Cistercian) abbey cons ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, where it still remains.

Beatification

Pope

Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

decreed the beatification of Abbot John Beche on 13 May 1895. His feast is kept on 1 December in the diocese of Brentwood.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Thomas People from Colchester Alumni of the University of Oxford People associated with the Dissolution of the Monasteries Year of birth missing 1539 deaths 16th-century English people People executed under Henry VIII Nine Martyrs of England and Wales

Life

Beatification

See also

References