WOODCOCK, JOHN, BL.

Franciscan priest, martyr; alias John Faringdon or Thompson; in religion, Martin of St. Felix; b. 1603 at Clayton-le-Woods (near Preston), Lancashire, England; hanged, drawn, and quartered Aug. 7, 1646 at Lancaster under Charles I. He was born into a middle class family headed by his Protestant father, Thomas, and his Catholic mother, Dorothy. He himself confessed Catholicism ca.1622. Thereafter he studied for a year at St. Omer, then entered the English College at Rome (Oct. 1629). In May 1630, he entered the Capuchin friary in Paris, but the following year he joined the exiled English Franciscans at St. Bonaventure, Douai. There he received the habit from Bl. Henry heath (1631), was professed by Bl. Arthur bell (1632), and was ordained (1634). He served as chaplain at Arras, Flanders, until he was sent to England in 1640. After working zealously for two years, he retired to a friary on the Continent. Late in 1643 or early 1644, he returned to England via Newcastle-on-Tyne and was arrested his first night in Lancashire. After a two-year imprisonment, he was tried with BB. Edward bamber and Thomas whitaker. All confessed to their priesthood and were therefore condemned. The Franciscan nuns at Taunton possess an arm-bone of the martyr, who was beatified by Pope John Paul II on Nov. 22, 1987 with George Haydock and Companions.

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), II, no. 185. j. h. pollen, Acts of English Martyrs (London 1891). m. stanton, Menology of England and Wales (London, 1887) 383–84. j. thaddeus, The Franciscans in England 1600–1859, 15 v. (London, 1898).

[k. i. rabenstein]