Picture: unknown artist · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Adrian Fortescue
English Roman Catholic martyr and blessed (ca. 1476 - 1539)
BlessedResearchedKingdom of EnglandKnights Hospitaller
Feast: 9 July (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Born
1476
verified
Died
10 July 1539
verified
Beatified
—
not needed: before formal processes
Canonised
—
not yet
Who they were
Sir Adrian Fortescue, born about 1476, was a Devonshire country gentleman, knighted, who served the king in the wars with France, attended the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520 and in 1532 became a Knight of St John. His mother was a great-aunt of Anne Boleyn.
A serious, careful, God-fearing man, he was executed on 10 July 1539 under Henry VIII, and is honoured as a martyr.
The miracles
As a martyr he was beatified without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
An English knight who died a martyr for his Catholic faith under Henry VIII.
Sources
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Blessed Adrian Fortescue
- Wikidata Q372929 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Adrian Fortescue (martyr) (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.