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The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales are a group of Catholic, lay and religious, men and women, executed between 1535 and 1679 for treason and related offences under various laws enacted by Parliament during the English Reformation. The individuals listed range from Carthusian monks who in 1535 declined to accept Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy, to seminary priests who were caught up in the alleged Popish Plot against Charles II in 1679. Many were sentenced to death at show trials, or with no trial at all.
Edmund Arrowsmith, SJ, is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales of the Catholic Church. The main source of information on Arrowsmith is a contemporary account written by an eyewitness and published a short time after his death. This document, conforming to the ancient style of the "Acts of martyrs" includes the story of the execution of another 17th-century Recusant martyr, Richard Herst.
John Roberts was a Welsh Benedictine monk and priest, and was the first Prior of St. Gregory's, Douai, France. Returning to England as a missionary priest during the period of recusancy, he was martyred at Tyburn. He is venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic church.
George Nichols was an English Catholic martyr.
John Jones, also known as John Buckley, John Griffith, Godfrey Maurice, or Griffith Jones was a Franciscan friar, Roman Catholic priest, and martyr. He was born at Clynnog Fawr, Caernarfonshire (Gwynedd), Wales, and was executed 12 July 1598 at Southwark, England. He is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
John Kemble was an English Roman Catholic martyr. He was one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
John Southworth was an English Catholic martyr. He is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
John Rigby was an English Roman Catholic layman who was executed during the reign of Elizabeth I. He is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
Nicholas Garlick was an English Catholic priest, martyred in Derby in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
William Lacy was an English Catholic priest and martyr. He and fellow priest Richard Kirkman were executed at York on 22 August 1582.
Maurus Scott, born William Scott, was an English lawyer who became a Benedictine monk and priest, serving as a missionary in England during the period of recusancy. He was executed at Tyburn, and is a Catholic martyr.
Irish Catholic Martyrs were dozens of people who have been sanctified in varying degrees for dying for their Roman Catholic faith between 1537 and 1714 in Ireland. The canonisation of Oliver Plunkett in 1975 brought an awareness of the other men and women who died for the Catholic faith in the 16th and 17th centuries. On 22 September 1992 Pope John Paul II proclaimed a representative group from Ireland as martyrs and beatified them. "Martyr" was originally a Greek word meaning "witness". In the Acts of the Apostles, Peter, speaking to those in Jerusalem at Pentecost, claimed he and all the apostles were "martyrs", that is, witnesses, in this case to Jesus's resurrection. Later the word came to mean a person who followed the example of Christ and gave up their lives rather than deny their faith.
Swithun Wells was an English Roman Catholic martyr who was executed during the reign of Elizabeth I. Wells was a country gentleman and one time schoolmaster whose family sheltered hunted priests. He himself often arranged passage from one safehouse to another. His home in Gray's Inn Lane was known to welcome recusants.
Richard Simpson was an English priest, martyred in the reign of Elizabeth I. He was born in Well, in Yorkshire. Little is known of his early life, but according to Challoner's Memoirs of Missionary Priests, he became an Anglican priest, but later converted to Catholicism. He was imprisoned in York as a Catholic recusant; on being released, he went to Douai College, where he was admitted on 19 May 1577. The date of his ordination is unknown; the College, at this time, was preparing for its move to Rheims, and record keeping was affected. But it is known that the ordination took place in Brussels within four months of his admission to the seminary, and that on 17 September, Simpson set out for England to work as a missionary priest. He carried out his ministry in Lancashire and Derbyshire.
Charles Mahoney, O.F.M., was an Irish Friar Minor, who is honoured as a Catholic martyr, one of the Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987. His feast day, together with that of the other martyrs, is celebrated on 4 May.
Thomas Palasor was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.
William Dean or Deane was an English Roman Catholic priest. He is one of the Catholic martyrs, beatified in 1929.
Sir John Talbot of Grafton, Worcestershire was a prominent recusant English Catholic layman of the reigns of Elizabeth I of England and James I of England. He was connected by marriage to one of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators, and by acquaintance or family ties to other important Catholic figures. He fell often under suspicion from the English government.
During the English reformation a number of men were executed at Lancaster in England as a consequence of their Catholic faith. They are commonly referred to as the Lancaster Martyrs and are commemorated locally by the Lancaster Martyrs Memorial Stone which may be found close to the centre of Lancaster city.