John Boste

John Boste ( * ca 1544 in Dufton, † June 24, 1594 in Durham ) was a Roman Catholic priest and martyr. He was the youngest son of Nicholas Boste and his wife, Janet. He attended Queens College in Oxford. He graduated from in 1572.

1580 Boste left England and went along with his protégé Gerard Clibborn at the English College at Rheims. He was ordained a priest in 1581 and sent back to England. There he began his mission in the northern counties and Scotland. Various attempts to capture him failed.

Eventually, he was betrayed in September 1593 by a breakaway Catholics and arrested in Durham. From there he was sent to Windsor, and later transferred to the Tower of London and studied his case before the Privy Council. In the summer of 1594 on his return journey in Durham he managed to escape along with another priest, John Ingram, and a Catholic layman, George Swallowfield, which lasted, however, only briefly. On July 24, 1594, he was accused of unauthorized exit and entry into the country and executed on the same day in Durham. His two companions were put to death two days later.

Boste was instituted by Pope Paul VI. canonized in 1970. That He is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. The common feast day is October 25.