Thomas Pickering
Benedictine lay brother in England, a Catholic martyr of the Popish Plot allegations
Feast: 9 May (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Thomas Pickering was a Benedictine who was put to death at Tyburn on 9 May 1679, at the time of the Oates Plot.
In 1913 the Catholic Encyclopedia counted him among the English martyrs whose cause had been admitted at Rome, who were then styled Venerable.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
One of the English martyrs who died for the Catholic faith at the time of the Oates Plot.
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 - English Confessors and Martyrs (1534-1729)
- Roman Martyrology, 9 May (Italian Bishops' Conference, Santo del giorno)
- Wikidata Q7793159 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Thomas Pickering (martyr) (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.