Francis Taylor (martyr)

Francis Taylor (Irish: Proinnsias Táiliúr; Beannaithe, Swords, c. 1550 – Dublin, 29 January 1621) was a Mayor of Dublin, Ireland, who was incarcerated because of his Catholicism. He has been declared a martyr for his faith and beatified by the Catholic Church.

Born in Swords, County Dublin, Taylor moved to the City of Dublin and married the daughter of a prominent family, being the granddaughter of a Lord Mayor of Dublin. He himself was elected Dublin's mayor in 1595. Taylor was imprisoned for his Catholic faith in 1613, and died there on 29 January 1621, after seven years of refusing to accept his freedom by giving up his religion.

Pope John Paul II beatified Taylor on 27 September 1992, as part of a group of 17 victims of the repression of the Catholic Church by the Irish government during that era.

A statue of Taylor and of his wife's grandmother, the Blessed Margaret Ball, who had died in that same prison for her faith in 1584, stands outside St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Dublin.