Leigh, Richard, Bl.

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LEIGH, RICHARD, BL.

Priest, martyr; alias Garth or Earth; b. ca. 1561, Cambridgeshire, England; hanged at Tyburn (London), Aug. 30, 1588. Leigh, ordained in Rome (1586), returned to England in 1587 to minister in London, where he was arrested and exiled. Soon after his second arrival he was again captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London (June 1588). He irrefutably betrayed himself as a Catholic by answering questions put to another who was under examination and was condemned for his priesthood. He was executed together with BB. Edward shelley, Richard flower, John Roche, and St. Margaret ward. Leigh was beatified by Pius XI on Dec. 15, 1929.

Feast of the English Martyrs: May 4 (England).

See Also: england, scotland, and wales, martyrs of.

Bibliography: r. challoner, Memoirs of Missionary Priests, ed. j. h. pollen (rev. ed. London 1924; repr. Farnborough 1969). j. h. pollen, Acts of English Martyrs (London 1891).

[k. i. rabenstein]

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