Thomas Bosgrave
Feast: 4 July (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Thomas Bosgrave was an educated man related to the Arundell family. When the priest John Cornelius was dragged bareheaded from Chideock Castle in April 1594, Bosgrave offered him his own hat and was arrested for it.
Condemned at Dorchester for helping a priest, though promised his life if he would become a Protestant, he gave a stirring speech on the truth of his faith before he was executed there on 4 July 1594.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
A Dorset gentleman put to death in 1594 for helping the priest John Cornelius.
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
- John Carey Blessed“John (or Terence) Carey was an Irish layman, born in Dublin, and servant of Thomas Bosgrave and was put to death with Thomas Bosgrave, John Cornelius (a priest, born of Irish parents in Bodmin in Cornwall), and Patrick Salmon, another lay helper also of Dublin birth, at Dorchester in Dorset in 1594.” — Wikipedia
- John Cornelius Blessed“When the priest John Cornelius was dragged bareheaded from Chideock Castle in April 1594, Bosgrave offered him his own hat and was arrested for it.” — this site's research
- Patryk Salmon Blessed“He was put to death for his faith at Dorchester, England, on 4 July 1594, on the same day as the Jesuit John Cornelius and the laymen Thomas Bosgrave and John Carey.” — this site's research
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Ven. John Cornelius and Companions
- Roman Martyrology, 4 July (Italian Bishops' Conference, Santo del giorno)
- Wikidata Q24953438 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.