St. John Lloyd

Welsh priest and martyr, executed at Cardiff, 22 July, 1679. He took the missionary oath at Valladolid, 16 October, 1649, and was arrested at Mr. Turberville's house at Penllyne, Glamorganshire, 20 November, 1678, and thrown into Cardiff gaol. There he was joined by Father Philip Evans, S.J. This venerable martyr was born in Monmouthshire, 1645, was educated at St-Omer, joined the Society of Jesus, 7 Sept., 1665, and was ordained at Liège and sent on the mission in 1675. He was arrested at Mr. Christopher Turberville's house at Sker, Glamorganshire, 4 December, 1678. Both priests were brought to the bar on Monday, 5 May (not 3 May), 1679, and charged with being priests and coming into the principality contrary to the provisions of 27 Eliz., c. 2. The chief witness against Father Evans was an apostate named Mayne Trott. He was deformed, and had been a dwarf at the Spanish and British Courts, but was at this time in the service of John Arnold of Abergavenny, an indefatigable priest-hunter, who had offered £200 for Father Evans's arrest. Both were found guilty and put to death.

[ Note: In 1970, both John Lloyd and Philip Evans, S.J., were canonized by Pope Paul VI among the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, whose joint feast day is kept on 25 October.]

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