Laurence Saunders

Laurence Saunders (1500s - February 8, 1555, was the son of Thomas Saunders and Margaret Cave of Harrington, North Hamptonshire, England.

He was educated at Eton and at King's College, Cambridge. After his graduation he engaged in trade, but when the Reformation in the reign of King Edward IV began, he resigned his mercantile pursuits, obtained a license and began to preach. Being a man of much ability he was very popular, and was appointed by the authorities as lecturer in the College at Fotheringham[?] and later to a position in the Cathedral of Litchfield. After that he went to an important parish in London.

On Sunday, October 15th, 1553, he delivered a sermon from his parish pulpit, which created so much excitement that he was arrested on the afternoon of the same day, by the order of the Bishop of London.

He was led barefoot to his execution (burned at the stake) on February 8, 1555. Before being executed he was know to have said, "Welcome the cross of Christ, welcome everlasting life!"

Reference

• This entry includes public domain text originally from the 1890 Pronouncing Edition of the Holy Bible (Biographical Sketches of the Translators and Reformers and other eminent biblical scholars).