John Almond (c.1509 – 18 April 1585) was a

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

monk. He is commemorated as a

Confessor of the Faith Confessor of the Faith is a title given by some Christian traditions. In Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, Christians who professed their faith in times of Christian persecution and therefore had to suffer persecution, exile, torture, mu ...

in the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, and his name has been included in the supplementary process of the English Martyrs. He came from

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, and was a monk in the time of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

, but neither his abbey nor his fate during and after its suppression have been identified. In 1579 he was imprisoned at

Hull Castle Hull Castle was an artillery fort in Kingston upon Hull in England. Together with two supporting blockhouses, it defended the eastern side of the River Hull, and was constructed by King Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII to protect against attac ...

. The ground-floor of the South Blockhouse was often used for this purpose. Conditions were particularly poor, with contemporary accounts noting that the quarters "have been overflowed with water at high tide..." He died in prison on 18 April 1585; he was about 76 years old.Gasquet, Francis Aidan. ''Henry VIII and the English Monasteries'', J. C. Nimmo, 1899, p. 458
/ref> According to John Hungerford Pollen, the old priest "...after many sufferings in prison, was left in extreme age to pine away under a neglect that was revolting."

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Almond, John 1537 births 1585 deaths People from Cheshire English people who died in prison custody 16th-century Roman Catholics Year of birth unknown English Cistercians 16th-century English clergy