Miles Gerard
English marytr
Who they were
Miles Gerard of Wigan was a tutor to a Lancashire family before going to Douai and Reims, where he was ordained in 1583 and stayed as a professor.
Setting out for England in 1589, he was driven into Dover and arrested. After many tortures under Topcliffe, he was condemned as a traitor and executed at Rochester in April 1590.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
A teacher who left his college to die a priest in England.
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.
Connected on this site
- Francis Dickenson Blessed“At Rochester in England, Blesseds Francis Dickenson and Miles Gerard, priests and martyrs, who, having returned to their own country from the English College at Reims to carry out the priestly ministry there in secret, were hanged on the gallows under Queen Elizabeth I and subjected to other dreadful tortures.” — this site's research
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Miles Gerard
- Wikidata Q6851390 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Miles Gerard (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.