Thomas Pilchard (Pilcher) (born at

Battle, Sussex Battle is a town and civil parish in the district of Rother in East Sussex, England. It lies south-east of London, east of Brighton and east of Lewes. Hastings is to the south-east and Bexhill-on-Sea to the south. Battle is in the designated ...

, 1557; executed at Dorchester, 21 March 1587) was an English

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest. He is a Catholic martyr,

beatified Beatification (from Latin , "blessed" and , "to make") is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. ''Beati'' is the ...

in 1987 as one of the

Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales The Eighty-five Martyrs of England and Wales, also known as George Haydock and Eighty-four Companion Martyrs, are a group of men who were executed on charges of treason and related offences in the Kingdom of England between 1584 and 1679. Of the e ...

, with whom he is commemorated on 4 May.

Life

Born into a family of five, as the son of David Pylcher of Battle, and Joane Haye of Robertsbridge, he was educated at Battle Abbey, where Battle was still a hotbed of Catholic

recusancy Recusancy (from ) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign of Elizabeth I, and temporarily repea ...

. He became a Fellow of

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, in 1576, and took the degree of M.A., in 1579, resigning his fellowship the following year. He arrived at

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

20 November 1581, and was ordained priest at

Laon Laon () is a city in the Aisne Departments of France, department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History Early history The Ancient Diocese of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held s ...

, March 1583.Whitfield, Joseph L., "Venerable Thomas Pilchard", ''Lives of the English Martyrs''
(Edwin H. Burton and J. H. Pollen eds.), London. Longmans, Green and Co., 1914 He set out for the English mission on 4 May 1583, and worked in the area of Winchester. He was arrested soon after, and banished. Many of the missionaries were eager to return lest their absence be attributed to some compromise with the government. On 20 January 1586 Pilchard returned to England, and worked for almost a year. In London on business, he was recognised by someone who knew him from Oxford and was arrested early in March 1587, and imprisoned in Dorchester Gaol. Numerous conversions are attributed to him while in prison. Executions for treason being rare in that part of the county, there was some difficulty finding anyone to carry out the sentence. At length a butcher was persuaded to undertake it for a considerable sum. The rope broke and Pilchard fell to his feet below the gallows. Compelled by the sheriff's men, the hired executioner then stabbed Pilchard, who turned to the sheriff and asked, "Is this then your justice, Mr. Sheriff?" Thomas Pilchard is commemorated with the Dorset Martyrs memorial on Gallows Hill, Dorchester.Dorset Martyrs Memorial, Gallows Hill, Dorchester
/ref>

References

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pilchard, Thomas 1557 births 1587 deaths English beatified people 16th-century venerated Christians Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales People from Battle, East Sussex 16th-century English Roman Catholic priests

Life

See also

References