Nicholas Owen was a carpenter who joined the Jesuits as a lay brother, and for six whole years, during the Protestant persecution under Elizabeth I and James I, worked tirelessly to save hundreds of priests and lay men from death. He was finally discovered, and because he refused to betray his fellows, was most cruelly torn apart in the Tower of London, and died on March 2, 1606 - 400 years ago. Pius XI beatified him in 1929, and Paul VI canonised him on October 25, 1970.