Thomas Tunstall
English Catholic martyr
Who they were
Thomas Tunstall, of an old northern family, was ordained at Douai and left for England in 1610, where he was almost immediately arrested and spent four or five years in various prisons.
He escaped from Wisbech Castle, was recaptured near King's Lynn, and was condemned and executed at Norwich on 13 July 1616. The holiness of his bearing on the scaffold deeply moved the people.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
A priest whose holiness on the scaffold moved all who saw it.
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 - Thomas Tunstall
- Wikidata Q7794592 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Thomas Tunstall (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.