John Southworth came from a Lancashire family who lived at
Samlesbury Hall. They chose to pay heavy fines rather than give up the Catholic faith. He studied at the
English College in
Douai, in northern France. (The college later relocated to
St Edmund's College, Ware in Hertfordshire.) In 1585, a law had been passed branding as treasonable any priest who dared to come back to England. The law was later extended to all who assisted such priests. Southworth was ordained priest before he returned to England 13 October 1619, where he remained until 1624, After about a year, he returned to Lancashire, where he was arrested in 1627 and imprisoned in
Lancaster Castle along with
Edmund Arrowsmith. Arrowsmith was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Lancaster on 28 August 1628. Southworth was later moved to
The Clink in London. He was sentenced to death for professing the Catholic faith, but in 1630, at the insistence of
Queen Henrietta Maria, he and seventeen others were delivered to the French ambassador and deported to France. and raised money for the families of victims. Southworth was arrested again in November 1637 and sent to the
Gatehouse Prison and again transferred to
The Clink, where he remained for three years. His corpse was sewn together and parboiled, to preserve it. Following the
French Revolution, his body was buried in an unmarked grave for its protection. The grave was discovered in 1927 and his remains were returned to England. They are now kept in the Chapel of St George and the English Martyrs in
Westminster Cathedral in London. ==Veneration==