Background
He was born in Gloucestershire and educated at Eton College and King"s College, Cambridge.
He was born in Gloucestershire and educated at Eton College and King"s College, Cambridge.
Eton College.
In September 1580 Aufield returned to the English College, by then at Rheims. He was ordained a priest on March 4, 1581 at Châlons-sur-Marne and later that month set out for the English Mission. He seems to have mostly operated in the North, where he was arrested on 2 May 1582.
Released on bond, he then returned to Gloucester.
Around this time he was approached by Captain John Davis requesting an introduction to William Allen. Davis proposed that the ships he had been given by the government for piracy against Spain be crewed by Catholics to serve the Pope or the King of Spain against the Turks or other enemies.
Aufield met Davis at Rouen and brought him to Rheims to meet Williams. Davis"s plan was conveyed to the Pope, who referred Davis to the King of Spain.
On the failure of the negotiations, Aufield returned to England and was arrested for circulating Catholic texts and sent to the Tower, and again put to torture.
Aufield was charged under 23 Eliz. c.2 s.4 which prohibited publication of any book against the queen. He was then transferred to Newgate. He was then tried, convicted and hanged at Tyburn alongside his assistant Thomas Webley, a reprieve arriving too late to save him.
He was beatified in 1929.
His feast day is 6 July, the date of his martyrdom.