Margaret Clitherow

A butcher's wife from York, Margaret was brought up in the new Protestant religion, but was reconciled to the Catholic Church in 1574. Twelve years later she suffered brutal execution following years of apostolic activity, including harbouring Catholic priests. She had refused to plead at her trial in order to spare her children and servants from testifying against her. Her husband never returned to the Catholic faith, though a daughter of hers became a nun at Louvain. One of the Forty Martyrs, she was canonised in 1970.