ARRESTED AT LLANTARNAM

Abergavenny born Jesuit, Fr David Lewis, had been staying with his relatives, the Morgans of Llantarnam, but was concerned that they would suffer because of him should he become  implicated in the anti Catholic hysteria that was then sweeping the country. The warped minds of the despicable Titus Oates and Israel Tonge had concocted a vile story of a Catholic plot to kill the King, Charles II, and place his Catholic brother, James, on the throne.  Of course, the leaders of this fabricated plot were supposed to be the Jesuits.  Therefore, the priest moved into a rented cottage opposite the Morgan estate.

St David Lewis, window in Catholic Church, Usk

The Oates/Popish Plot was an opportunity for some politicians to further their own interests.  Although the King did not believe the snivelling little miscreant, Oates, he nevertheless had to bow to pressure from his ministers. Hence, harsh laws and punishments were enacted against all Catholics, particularly priests!

King Charles II

Early on the Sunday morning of  17 November, 1678, the good priest was preparing to celebrate Holy Mass.  Suddenly a troop of armed dragoons burst into the little house, arrested Fr Lewis, and dragged him away.  We have, in his own words, a description of that terrifying event.  Fr Lewis described his arrest: “After my full thirty years poor missionary labours in South Wales, on Sunday morning, a little before day, being the 17^th November 1678, I was taken by six armed men sent by Mr John Arnold and Mr Charles Price, until then my two very good friends and acquaintances.  I was taken in a little house in the parish of St Michael-Llantarnam in the County of Monmouth.  From thence by the soldiers, together with such church stuff of mine they there found, carried I was to the house of Mr Charles Price in Llanfoist”.

Though innocent of any wrong doing (for there was no plot!) the Jesuit was found guilty of High Treason and sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered.  After nearly a year of incarceration, first at Monmouth Gaol then at Usk Gaol, the barbaric sentence was carried out.  Fr David Lewis S J was martyred at Usk on 29 August 1679.  His crime?  He was a Catholic priest and he celebrated Holy Mass! 

Site of the arrest of St David Lewis, 

Fr David Lewis was canonised on 25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI. Today, 17 November, is the anniversary of his arrest so we remember and give thanks for the life and legacy of one of our brave and faithful priests.

For more on the arrest of St David Lewis, just click HERE, and HERE.

St David Lewis, pray for us.

 Mary, Queen of Martyrs, pray for us.

THE PERJURER TITUS OATES AND EIGHT JESUITS (PART 1)

Titus Oates was born in Oakham, Rutland, in 1649. Perhaps it is easy to see how he developed into the squalid little man he became when one looks at his father, Samuel. Samuel appears to have been a man of weak character with no true commitment to religion of any kind. He preferred to follow whichever was to his best material advantage. At one time Samuel was Anglican rector of Marsham; in Cromwell’s time he was a Baptist minister; at the Restoration he became an Anglican again and, eventually, reverted to the Baptist faith.

The young Titus was reputed to be of a dubious character and not a very able student who was expelled from several colleges. Nonetheless, he became an Anglican vicar. While he was serving as vicar in a parish in Kent, he was imprisoned for perjury, having accused a schoolmaster in Hastings of a serious crime. Oates escaped and fled to London. He then managed to secure an appointment as chaplain of an English Navy ship. He again fell foul of the law and was accused of a capital offence.

On Ash Wednesday 1677, Titus Oates was received into the Catholic Church. He was later to claim that he had done this only to infiltrate the Jesuits and learn their secrets. Convinced of his sincerity, the Jesuit Provincial, Richard Strange, helped him to gain admittance to the Jesuit colleges, first at Valladolid and then at St Omer. The new Provincial, Thomas Whitbread, was decidedly unimpressed with Oates and, in June 1678, had him expelled from the college.

Oates returned to London where he revived his friendship with Israel Tonge, a clergyman whom he had met through his indecisive father, Samuel. Titus Oates told Tonge that while he was at the college he had learned of a planned meeting of Jesuits in London. The two scoundrels concocted a fearsome tale of murder and sedition. Supposedly there was a Catholic inspired plot to murder the King, Charles II, and to rid the country of Protestantism by placing the King’s Catholic brother, James Duke of York, on the throne. According to them, the masterminds of this imagined plot were the Jesuits in England who were to carry out the regicide.

Oates and Tonge wrote a numbered 43 paragraph manuscript detailing the fictional plot. The pair then arranged for an intermediary, Christopher Kirkby, to present it to the King. On 13th August 1678, as the King was walking in St James’s Park, Kirkby presented him with the manuscript. Though Charles was a Protestant, his wife was a Catholic and he was a man who tried to rule with tolerance. The King’s life had once been saved by Catholics and he dismissed the plot as so much nonsense. However, he handed the matter over to his minister, the Earl of Danby. Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey was appointed to investigate the plot and Titus Oates gave a deposition before him. It was a boon for Oates when, shortly after, the magistrate was found dead. Of course, Catholics were blamed for the murder (if murder it was) and with Oates fanning the flames, the whole country was soon ablaze with fear and hatred of Catholics. In the frenzy that swept the country, many innocent Catholics were executed. Among them were eight Jesuit priests: William Ireland, John Gavan, William Harcourt, Anthony Turner, Thomas Whitbread, John Fenwick, Philip Evans and David Lewis.

ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE IN HONOUR OF ST DAVID LEWIS
SUNDAY, 29th AUGUST 2010
3:00 p m - MASS AT SS FRANCIS XAVIER AND DAVID LEWIS CHURCH, PORTH-Y-CARNE STREET, USK
PROCESSION TO THE MARTYR'S GRAVE
REFRESHMENTS IN THE PARISH HALL