Henry Heath
English Franciscan martyr
Who they were
Henry Heath, christened at Peterborough on 16 December 1599, was librarian of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Received into the Church in 1622, he became a Franciscan at Douai in 1625, taking the name Paul of St Magdalen.
In 1643 he came to England disguised as a sailor, refused money in the spirit of St Francis and begged his way from Dover to London. Arrested the very night he arrived, he confessed he was a priest and was executed at Tyburn on 17 April 1643, reconciling a condemned criminal in the cart.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
A poor Franciscan who walked to his martyrdom.
The cause
The cause continues. No postulation address is published here yet. Favours received through this person’s intercession, and offers of help, are best sent to the religious order or congregation they belonged to, or to the diocese where the cause was opened; either will pass them to the postulation.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Henry Heath
- Wikidata Q15070122 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Henry Heath (martyr) (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.