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Thomas Whitbread
English missionary
Feast: 20 June (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Thomas Whitbread of Essex joined the Jesuits in 1635 and worked for over thirty years in the eastern counties, becoming provincial in 1678. He refused to admit Titus Oates into the Society.
Soon after, Oates's plot was fabricated. Arrested while ill, he was convicted with four fellow Jesuits on the perjured evidence of Oates and others, and executed at Tyburn on 30 June 1679.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
A Jesuit provincial condemned on false witness.
The cause
Thomas Whitbread has been beatified; the cause continues. Favours received, and offers of help, go to the postulation, the office that carries the cause forward: Jesuits: Blessed Thomas Whitbread.
Connected on this site
- Anthony Turner Blessed“Anthony Turner was a Jesuit who was put to death at Tyburn on 20 June 1679, at the time of the Oates Plot, together with his fellow Jesuits Thomas Whitbread, William Harcourt, John Fenwick and John Gavin.” — this site's research
- John Fenwick Blessed“John Fenwick was a Jesuit who was put to death at Tyburn on 20 June 1679, at the time of the Oates Plot, together with his fellow Jesuits Thomas Whitbread, William Harcourt, John Gavin and Anthony Turner.” — this site's research
- John Gavan Blessed“At London, Blessed martyrs Thomas Whitbread and his companions William Harcourt, John Fenwick, John Gavan and Anthony Turner, priests of the Society of Jesus, who, under the false accusation of having plotted the death of King Charles II, suffered martyrdom at Tyburn for the kingdom of heaven.” — this site's research
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Thomas Whitbread
- Wikidata Q7795043 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Thomas Whitbread (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.