Nicholas Garlick

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Venerable Nicholas Garlick (c. 1555 – July 24, 1588) was an English Catholic priest and martyr from Dinting, Derbyshire. He was executed during the reign of Elizabeth I.

Entering Gloucester Hall at Oxford in 1575, Garlick did not receive a degree. This was most likely because he would have had to take the Oath of Supremacy to receive it. He then became a schoolmaster at Tideswell in the Peak District, where his influence led to three of his students becoming priests at Rheims. One of these, Christopher Buxton, was eventually martyred in England. In 1581, Garlick left for Rheims, where he was ordained a priest.

He returned to England in January 1583, where he worked in the Midlands. After around a year there, he was arrested and sent into exile in 1585 with the knowledge that if he returned, he would receive no mercy. Nevertheless, Garlick was soon back at work in the same neighborhood, where he was arrested by Richard Topcliffe at Padley, the home of John Fitzherbert, a member of an old recusant family. He was betrayed by one of the Fitzherbert boys' teachers. Topcliffe obtained the house and lived there till he died in 1604.

Garlick was arrested with Robert Ludlam, another priest, who like Garlick had attended Oxford and taught school before he was ordained in May 1581. In Derby Gaol, where they were imprisoned, they met a third priest, Robert Sympson. Like Garlick and Ludlam, he too had attended Oxford; however, he had taken Protestant orders before joining the Catholic church. Because of his conversion, he had suffered a long imprisonment in York Castle. He was wavering in his faith, but with the support of his two fellow priests did not recant. All three were tried and executed together in 1588.

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.