John Felton
English Catholic martyr
Feast: 8 August (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
John Felton, a wealthy gentleman of Bermondsey, fixed a copy of Pope St Pius V's bull excommunicating Queen Elizabeth to the gates of the Bishop of London's palace on the night of 24 May 1570.
Racked three times in the Tower, he confessed and gloried in the deed from the first. He was executed in St Paul's Churchyard on 8 August 1570, calling on the name of Jesus to the end.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
A layman who died for the authority of the Pope.
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 - John Felton
- Wikidata Q11155191 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — John Felton (martyr) (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.