John Bradburne John Randal Bradburne , O . F . S . , M . C . ( 14 June 1921 , Skirwith , Cumbria , England , U . K . – 5 September 1979 , near Mutoko , Mashonaland South , Rhodesia – now Mashonaland East , Zimbabwe ) , was a lay member of the Order of St Francis , a poet , warden of the Mutemwa leper colony at Mutoko . Killed by guerrillas , he is a candidate for canonization . But he has not yet received from the Vatican the official title of “ Servant of God ” , the first step toward canonization . Background . John Randal Bradburne was born on 14 June 1921 in Skirwith , Cumbria , England . He was baptized there as an Anglican on 31 July 1921 , the son of Thomas William and Erica May Bradburne He had two brothers and two sisters . Their father , an Anglican clergyman , was the Rector of Skirwith at that time . John was also a cousin of the playwright Sir Terence Rattigan and a distant relative of Lord Soames . Education . Bradburne was educated at Gresham ' s , an independent school in Norfolk , England , from 1934 to 1939 . He was planning to continue his studies at a University . But , when World War II began , he went straight to the Army . War Service . Bradburne was assigned to the 9th Gurkha Rifles of the Indian Army in 1940 . He soon found himself with them in Malaya to face the invasion of the Imperial Japanese Army . After the fall of Singapore , Bradburne spent a month in the jungle . With another Gurkha officer , he tried to sail a sampan to Sumatra but they were shipwrecked . A second attempt was successful , and Bradburne was rescued by a Royal Navy destroyer and returned to Dehra Dun . For his escape , he was awarded the Military Cross . He then saw active service with Brigadier Wingate ’ s Chindits in Burma . Career . Bradburne had a religious experience in Malaya , and the adventurer became the pilgrim . When he returned to England after the war , he stayed with the Benedictine s to the Buckfast Abbey , where he became a Roman Catholic in 1947 . He wanted to be a Benedictine monk but the Order would not accept him because he had not been in the Church for two years . After a while , he felt a strong urge to travel . So , for the next sixteen years , Bradburne wandered through England , France , Italy , Greece and the Middle East with only a Gladstone bag as his companion . In England , he stayed with the Carthusian s for seven months . In Israel , he joined the small " Order of Our Lady of Mount Sion " , founded for the conversion of the Jews , and went as a Novice to Louvain , Belgium , for a year . After that , he walked to Rome and lived for a year in the organ loft of the small Church in a mountain village , playing the organ . He then tried to live as a hermit on Dartmoor , then went to the Benedictine Prinknash Abbey , before joining the choir of Westminster Cathedral as a Sacristan . Cardinal Godfrey asked him to be the caretaker of his country house , Hare Street House , in Cambridgeshire , England . Along the way , in 1956 , on Good Friday , he joined the Secular Franciscan Order but he remained a layman . However , he decided he wanted to be buried in the habit of St . Francis of Assisi . Bradburne ' s wanderlust was almost coming to the end in 1962 , when he wrote to a Jesuit friend in Rhodesia ( now Zimbabwe ) . He asked , “ Is there a cave in Africa where I can pray ? ” The answer was the invitation to come to Rhodesia and be a missionary helper . After his arrival , Bradburne told a Franciscan priest that he had three wishes : to help the victims of leprosy , to die a martyr , and to be buried in the Franciscan habit . A few years later , the Jesuit missionaries introduced him to the Mutemwa Leprosy Settlement near Mutoko , 143 kilometers ( 89 miles ) northwest of Salisbury ( now Harare ) . He arrived in 1969 , went on to become its warden , and remained until his death . Death . By July 1979 , the Rhodesian Bush War , then in its 15th and last year , was coming near Mutemwa . Bradburne was urged by his friends to leave but he insisted that he should stay with the lepers . On Sunday , 2 September 1979 , the guerrillas came for him . Accusing him of being an informer , they kidnapped him and then shot him . He died instantly , on 5 September at the age of 58 . He was buried in a Franciscan habit , according to his wishes , at the Chishawasha Mission Cemetery , about 18 kilometers ( 11 miles ) northeast of Salisbury ( now Harare ) . Legacy . Feature articles on John Bradburne and Mutemwa appeared in the print versions of England ' s Sunday Telegraph on 23 April 1989 and on 28 August 1994 and the online version on 14 September 2009 . The last two articles were written by the newspaper ' s editor , Charles Moore , who had visited Mutemwa . In July 2001 , the Franciscan priest Father Paschal Slevin , O . F . M . , presented a petition to Patrick Fani Chakaipa , Archbishop of Harare , for an inquiry into Bradburne ' s canonization . Father Slevin commented : " I have no doubt that John died a martyr in his determination to serve his friends , the lepers . If his martyrdom is accepted , his cause for sainthood could go quite quickly " . A service is held in Bradburne ' s memory at Mutemwa every year , drawing as much as 25 , 000 people each time . In 2009 a Mass commemorating the 30th anniversary of his death was held at Westminster Cathedral in London , England . A poet , he left behind 6 , 000 poems .