canonized_by beatified_place death_date death_place canonized_date birth_place feast_day venerated_in birth_date titles major_shrine canonized_place article_title name beatified_date beatified_by
pope paul vi rome 22 august 1679 worcester , england 25 october 1970 preston , lancashire , england 12 july roman catholicism 1620 forty martyrs of england and wales douai , france rome john wall -lrb- priest -rrb-
 saint john wall , o.f.m. 1929 pope pius xi
john wall -lrb- priest -rrb-

saint john wall , o.f.m. , -lrb- 1620 -- 22 august 1679 -rrb- was an english catholic franciscan friar , who is honored as a martyr .
he was born in preston , lancashire .
when of age , he entered the english college , douai -lrb- in modern-day northern france -rrb- in 1641 , and was ordained a catholic priest in 1645 .
he returned to his homeland for several years , saying mass for the catholics who stayed loyal to the papacy .
he returned to douai and there he entered the order of friars minor , taking the name friar joachim of st. ann .
he was soon named master of novices , serving in that office until 1656 , when he returned to england , settling in worcestershire .
there he became a governor -lrb- six master -rrb- of the royal grammar school worcester .
in 1678 , after 22 years of ministry to the catholics of the nation , he was apprehended under suspicion of being a party to the titus oates plot and sent to the worcester jail .
his trial was on 25 april .
after being sent to london he was brought back to worcester and executed for being a catholic priest and exercising as such .
he was a much respected local figure and the crowd 's reaction showed that their sympathies were entirely with him .
many of the onlookers , who were mostly protestants , wept , and the sheriff reportedly cried out `` end popery ?
this is the way to make us all papists ! ''
his remains were buried in the cemetery adjoining the church of st. oswald of worcester , while the head was taken to the franciscan friary of douai , to which the martyr belonged , where it is still preserved and venerated .
previously , his feast day was observed within the franciscan order on the date of his death , 22 august .
it has been moved and is currently observed on 12 july , a date he shares with his brother friar and fellow martyr , st. john jones , o.f.m. .
in the roman catholic archdiocese of birmingham his feast day is celebrated on 23 august .
he was an outstanding academic , perhaps the most intellectually distinguished english catholic priest of his generation .
