Thomas Bullaker

Thomas Bullaker (also John Baptist) (born at Chichester about the year 1604; executed at Tyburn, 12 October1642) was an English Franciscan Catholic priest. He is a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1987.

Life

He was the only son of a pious aand well-to-do physician of Chichester; his parents were both fervent Catholics. At an early age he was sent to the English College at St-Omer, and from there he went to Valladolid in Spain to complete his studies.

Convinced of his vocation to the Franciscan Order, after much anxious deliberation, he received the habit at Abrojo, and a few years later, in 1628, was ordained priest. Having left Spain for the English mission, he landed at Plymouth, but was immediately seized and imprisoned. Released after two weeks, Bullaker by order of Father Thomas of St. Francis, then Provincial in England, worked for nearly 12 years among the poor Catholics of London.

On 11 September, 1642, Bullaker was seized while celebrating Mass in the house of a pious benefactress. He was condemned to be drawn on a hurdle to Tyburn and there hanged, drawn, and quartered, and beheaded.