[2] Woodcock converted to Catholicism about 1623, which displeased his father to the extent that John went to live with his maternal grandfather at Clayton.
An attempt to join the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in Paris was interrupted by poor health and he wandered around Europe for a time before approaching the English Franciscans at Douai.
He received the habit from Henry Heath in 1631, and was given the name Martin of St. Felix, and was professed by Arthur Bell a year later.
[5] Upon learning of the execution in April 1643 of Henry Heath, who had received him into the order, Woodcock applied for permission to return to England.
He was almost arrested while preparing to say Mass at nearby Woodend, but managed to hide in a priest hole and later escape and return to Woodcock Hall.
After two years' imprisonment in Lancaster Castle, he was condemned on 6 August 1646, on his own confession, for being a priest, together with two others, Edward Bamber and Thomas Whittaker.