AN UNLIKELY SAINT – JOHN ROBERTS, TRAWSFYNNYDD FARMER'S SON

John Roberts was made a saint by Pope Paul VI on 25 October, 1970.  Born in Trawsfynnydd in 1577, John Roberts was raised a Protestant, but on subsequent travels in Europe he converted to Catholicism.  After his ordination as a Roman Catholic priest in 1602 he secretly returned to Britain, and worked tirelessly among the poor in London during the Black Death.  Arrested in the hunt for the Guy Fawkes plotters, he was found not guilty and deported.  However, he returned home again, and was arrested by the Protestant authorities and on the 10th December 1610 he was hung, drawn and quartered for treason at the age of only 33.  On 10 December a bi-annual mass is held in his memory at Gellilydan Catholic Church. The 2009 service saw the start of a year-long calendar of events to celebrate his life, 400 years after his death.  His body was returned by faithful monks to the Benedictine monastery he founded at Douai in France.

A special celebration service for his life will be held in Westminster Cathedral on 17th July, which will be attended by all the Bishops of the Church in Wales as well as the Roman Catholic Bishops.   The Bishop of Bangor, the Rt. Reverend Andrew John said, 'This is the first joint Anglican and Roman catholic celebration of a martyr.  It is important that Christians come together to own their history and, sometimes, to say sorry.  People of real faith, saints of old, need to be remembered because of what their lives can tell us and what they can teach us for the future.''
 

For further information please contact Press Officer:

Rev. Canon Madalaine Brady on 01407 810412   email dmbrady@btinternet.com