Nicholas Owen (Jesuit)

Saint Nicholas Owen, S.J., was a Jesuit lay brother who was the principal builder of priest holes during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and James I of England. After his final arrest, he was tortured to death by prison authorities in the Tower of London. He is honoured as a martyr by the Catholic Church and was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

He was born in Oxford, England, around 1562 into a devoutly Catholic family and grew up during the Penal Laws. His father, Walter Owen, was a carpenter and Nicholas was apprenticed as a joiner in February 1577 where he acquired skills that he was to use in building hiding places. Two of his older brothers became priests.

Source: Wikipedia