St. John Southworth

On 25 June, Brother Arthur and Brother Luis Miguel of the Heralds of the Gospel, attended a very interesting presentation on the life of Saint John Southworth given by Fr Michael Archer at Westminster Cathedral. They were photographed next to the Saint's coffin.


St John Southworth was one of the forty English Martyrs canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

Born in Lancashire in 1592, he was martyred at Tyburn, 28 June, 1654. He was ordained a priest at the English College, Douai, and was sent on the mission to England in October 1619. He was arrested and condemned to death in Lancashire in 1627, and imprisoned first in Lancaster Castle, and afterwards in London, from where he and fifteen other priests were, on 11 April, 1630, delivered to the French Ambassador for transportation abroad.

He returned to England and in 1636 he was living at Clerkenwell, but frequently visiting the plague-stricken dwellings of Westminster to convert the dying. In 1637 he was arrested and again imprisoned. Once again he was liberated, but refused to cease ministering to English Catholics who were struggling to retain their faith under persecution.

Recaptured soon after, he was tried at the Old Bailey where he pleaded guilty to exercising the priesthood and was executed at Tyburn.

The Spanish ambassador returned his corpse to The English College at Douai for burial. However, during the French Revolution his body had to be buried in a leaden coffin, in an unmarked grave, for security, and later the site was forgotten.

In 1927, the grave was discovered during road works, and the Saint’s body was very well preserved in the lead coffin. Finally he was brought back to his Parish in Westminster where he rests in glory.