English and Welsh Catholics are proud of their martyrs, and their churches often house their relics and commemorate them in sculptures, paintings and stained glass

The small piece of slate displayed in front of the altar of St Joseph’s, Pickering, is easily missed. It is, in fact, a precious relic, being the altar stone used by Blessed Nicholas Postgate to celebrate Mass. Though pitted and worn, it is possible to make out an inscription that ends “Martyred 1679”. Postgate secretly ministered to Catholics for more than 30 years, roaming the North York Moors disguised as a pedlar. He was accused in connection with the fictitious Popish Plot, and put to death at York. He was 80 years old.

Martyrdom is an important theme in most Catholic churches but there are some that have special links with local men and women who gave their lives for the faith. They often house their relics and commemorate them in sculptures, paintings and stained glass. A number of North Yorkshire churches have associations with Postgate, the so-called Priest of the Moors: St Hedda, Egton Bridge, near Whitby, is close to his birthplace and St Anne’s is in the village of Ugthorpe, where he lived during his ministry.

The builder of St Joseph’s, Pickering, a gem on the edge of the North York Moors, took his inspiration from Bl. Nicholas. Fr Edward Bryan was a former Anglican from Tasmania, who arrived in 1901 determined to revive the Catholic faith in the area, where Catholics were very thinly scattered. Within a year, he had founded a school and opened a temporary chapel in a cottage. Though he lived very humbly, he must have been knowledgeable about art and architecture. He commissioned Leonard Stokes – then president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and a Catholic – to build the present church.