Blessed Thomas (John Baptist) Bullaker
Dates: 1604 – 1642
Thomas was born in Midhurst in Sussex in 1604, the son of a Catholic doctor. At 18 he was sent to study with the Jesuits in Saint Omer, Flanders, from where he went on to the English seminary in Valladolid in Spain. He was accepted into the novitiate of the Franciscan Province of the Immaculate Conception in Abrojo and given the name John Baptist. He continued his studies in Valladolid and then went onto Avila and Segovia, where he was ordained in 1628.
He hoped to be sent on a mission in America but was given an obedience to return to his native land. He walked across Spain and France in secular clothes so that he would not be recognised as a priest and took ship in Bordeaux. In early 1631 he landed at Plymouth, but rather than being able to take up his mission, he was immediately arrested, betrayed by the captain of the ship he had taken. He was imprisoned in Exeter but, in a period of relative religious peace, let out on bail. He joined his English Franciscan confreres and was made titular guardian of Oxford, then of Chichester and became the Provincial Secretary. In 1638 persecution began again in earnest and he elected to remain in England, where he served the prisoners and sick in prison and hospital. On Sunday 11th September 1642 he was recognised by the apostate Wadsworth and led to prison and then to trial. After his condemnation he sang a Te Deum in recognition of the great honour he had to give his life for Christ. On 12th October 1642 he was taken from his cell in Newgate prison, tied to a trellis, to be executed at Tyburn. There he spoke to the crowds of the dignity of Christ's priesthood, was absolved by a brother Friar present in the crowd, and then, finally, hanged. [1]
Thomas Bullaker was beatified along with 129 other martyrs of England and Wales on 22nd November 1987 by Pope John Paul II.
[1] Ibid. p. 302-3.
Memorial Day: 12th July