Converted by One Blood Drop of a Martyr: Saint Henry Walpole

Today the Church commemorates the English martyr Saint Henry Walpole (1558 – 1595). On 1 December 1581 Henry was present in London for Queen Elizabeth’s execution of Saint Edmund Campion. When Campion was drawn and quartered, a drop of Campion’s blood fell upon the lapel of Henry Walpole.

Thereafter, Henry converted to Catholicism, and left England to become a priest and a Jesuit in Europe. He was sent back to England with the Jesuit mission of 1590, but was arrested on his arrival. He was imprisoned at York, then sent to London, where he was severely tortured in the Tower of London. Eventually, in 1595, he was sent back to York for trial and was executed there on 7 April 1595. He joined Saint Edmund Campion in the Church’s army of martyrs.

Saint Edmund Campion and Saint Henry Walpole: pray for us.