Thomas Aufield

Thomas Aufield (1552 – 6 July 1585), also called Thomas Alfield, was an English Roman Catholic martyr.

He was born in Gloucestershire and educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge. He then converted to Roman Catholicism and in September 1576 went to the English College at Douai, France, but suspecting danger returned to England in November.

In September 1580 Aufield returned to the English College, by then at Rheims. He was ordained a priest on 4 March 1581 at Châlons-sur-Marne and later that month set out for the English Mission. He seems to have mostly operated in the North, where he was arrested on 2 May 1582. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he apostatized under torture, returning to Protestantism. Released on bond, he then returned to Gloucester. He was beatified in 1929. His feast day is 6 July, the date of his martyrdom.

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