Robert Anderton
English Roman Catholic priest and martyr
Feast: 25 April (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Robert Anderton, of the Isle of Wight and Brasenose College, Oxford, was converted abroad and studied at Reims with William Marsden, his inseparable companion.
Sailing for England, they were caught in a storm and prayed to die on land rather than at sea. Cast ashore, they were seized; though they acknowledged the queen in temporal matters, they would not deny the Pope's spiritual authority. They were executed near the place where they had landed on 25 April 1586.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
A priest whose prayer to die on land for Christ was granted.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Robert Anderton
- Wikidata Q7341520 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Robert Anderton (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.