Richard Bere
Feast: 9 August (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Richard Bere was a choir monk and priest of the London Charterhouse. On 18 May 1537 the monks and lay brothers left in the London Charterhouse were ordered to take the Oath of Supremacy, acknowledging the king as head of the Church. Ten refused. On 29 May they were sent to Newgate prison, chained standing to posts with their hands tied behind them, and left to starve. Margaret Clement, who had grown up in St. Thomas More's household, bribed the gaoler and, dressed as a milkmaid, brought them food, until the gaoler grew afraid and stopped her.
While most of his brethren died in June, Bere lived on, probably because food was then allowed so that the survivors might be kept for execution; he died on 9 August 1537. All ten Carthusians were beatified by Leo XIII in December 1886.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
A London Carthusian priest who died in Newgate for refusing the Oath of Supremacy.
The cause
The cause continues. No postulation address is published here yet. Favours received through this person’s intercession, and offers of help, are best sent to the religious order or congregation they belonged to, or to the diocese where the cause was opened; either will pass them to the postulation.
Connected on this site
- Thomas More Saint“Thomas More's household, bribed the gaoler and, dressed as a milkmaid, brought them food, until the gaoler grew afraid and stopped her.” — this site's research
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Bl. Thomas Johnson
- Roman Martyrology, 9 August (Italian Bishops' Conference, Santo del giorno)
- Wikidata Q131295127 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.