Today’s Leader of Faith
JOHN HULLIER, MARTYR
Home Call : 16 April 1556
A Courageous preacher, Scholar, Choister, Clergyman.
John Hullier, (1520 – 1556) was an English clergyman during the volatile period of English religious history and a Protestant martyr under Mary I of England. His martyrdom is a poignant chapter in the history of the English Reformation. His sacrifice is remembered as a powerful testimony to the courage and conviction of those who upheld the Protestant faith during one of the darkest periods of English religious history.
Hullier was born in the early 16th century. He was educated at Eton College and served as a chorister in the Choir of King’s College as an undergraduate. He later became a scholar at King’s College, Cambridge. Known for his preaching and scriptural knowledge, Hullier became vicar of Babraham in Cambridgeshire in 1549, during the reign of Edward VI, when Protestant reforms were taking root in England. However, during the reign of Queen Mary I, also known as “Bloody Mary” for her severe persecution of Protestants, Hullier was deprived of his position in February 1556 for his steadfast preaching, particularly in King’s Lynn, which drew the ire of church authorities. He was arrested and examined by Bishop Thomas Thirlby of Ely and was later tried by a group of theologians and lawyers, with Nicholas Shaxton (himself a former reformer turned Catholic) presiding. Despite pressure to recant, Hullier stood firm in his faith. On Maundy Thursday, April 16, 1556, he was burned at the stake on Jesus Green in Cambridge, joining the ranks of Marian martyrs who refused to renounce his faith as a protestant. Hullier is remembered as one of the faithful Protestants who stood firm under threat of death, refusing to abandon the truths he believed were taught in the Word of God.
— John Michael, Rajahmundry