ST DAVID LEWIS AND THE POT AND PINEAPPLE (PART 2)

 

 This is Part 2 of a two part post about 'The Pot and Pineapple', the Gunters and St David Lewis. Please click here to read Part 1.

 

RENOVATIONS AND DISCOVERY      

The Adoration of the Magi, found in the Gunter Chapel and now on display in Abergavenny Museum

Over the years, the Gunter Mansion was divided into four smaller houses. The location of Thomas Gunter’s Chapel faded from memory.  In 1908 Mr and Mrs Foster, the owners of the end house, were carrying out alterations when an amazing discovery was made.  When the workmen began to demolish the partitions dividing the rooms in the attic, they discovered a secret room behind another room.  On the steeply sloping ceiling was a beautiful fresco depicting the “Adoration of the Magi”.   Mrs Foster had the good sense to realize that they had stumbled upon something of importance.  After consultation with several local historians, it was confirmed that they had found Thomas Gunter’s seventeenth century chapel.  As well as the “Adoration of the Magi”, believed to be the altar piece under which the altar was positioned, other paintings and markings were discovered.  Above the window overlooking Cross St, there was the “mark of the Jesuits”, the letters I H S within rays and surmounted by a cross.   On another wall, a strange drawing of a man and a woman with a heart placed at the feet of the woman and the inscription “T G his mark” were clearly visible.  Mrs Foster engaged the services of the Photographer, Mr Bailey of High St, Abergavenny, to take pictures of the ceiling and other paintings and drawings which adorned the walls of the little room.  In an attempt to preserve the fresco of the Magi, Mrs Foster had the painting carefully removed and placed under glass in an oak frame.  For many years this treasure was in private hands but, fortunately, it is now on display at Abergavenny Museum where it can be viewed and appreciated by all. 

 

The remains of the entrance to
Thomas Gunter's  attic chapel

At the time of the renovations, the remains of an outside staircase leading from the garden to the chapel were also discovered.  The addition of an adjoining cottage had blocked this entrance.  From the back of the house, it is still possible to see in the pine end of “The Pot and Pineapple” part of the lintel of the door to the attic chapel.

 

HISTORY COLLIDES

Thomas Gunter's Chapel as it is today

Today history collides at 37 Cross Street!  Downstairs, “The Pot and Pineapple” caters for the discerning sweet tooth while upstairs Thomas Gunter’s chapel languishes almost forgotten.  Previous occupiers of the shop probably used it as a storeroom so now it bears little resemblance to a chapel.   However, one can still see the wall on which Thomas Gunter left his initials.  I said “almost” forgotten because Amanda, the young proprietor of “The Pot and Pineapple”, although not the owner of the building, is very aware of its place in Abergavenny's long history.

The wall on which Thomas Gunter wrote his initials

Amanda kindly allowed us access to the former chapel.  It was an amazing experience just to stand quietly in that room and remember Thomas Gunter, St David Lewis, St Philip Evans, and the brave and faithful people who so long ago risked all for their Catholic Faith. Many words could describe my feelings. Humbled, overawed and overjoyed are just three of them. 

 

Cautiously we descended the narrow stairway that brought us back to the twenty-first century where Amanda and her son were tending to some customers.  Amanda chatted with us for a short while and, as well as a pleasure, it was enlightening because she is very knowledgeable about the historic location her shop occupies.   

THANK YOU AMANDA



The Pot and Pineapple, 37 Cross St.
Thomas Gunter's Chapel was located
behind the little window in the gable.

We are extremely grateful to Amanda for her kindness to us in the midst of her busy day.  We came away with some interesting facts about the Gunters.  Oh yes, and with some very tasty Liquorice Allsorts and Liquorice Torpedoes!  On my next visit to “The Pot and Pineapple” I think I will try Chocolate, or perhaps Chewing Nuts, or Pontefract Cakes, or Humbugs, or ?????

ST DAVID LEWIS AND ‘THE POT AND PINEAPPLE’ (PART 1)

This is Part 1 of a two part post about  'The Pot and Pineapple',  the Gunters and St  David Lewis. 



THE POT AND PINEAPPLE,
37 CROSS STREET, ABERGAVENNY



Abergavenny is as pretty as it is historic.  It is indeed a happy pastime to meander along its streets and enjoy the intermingling of old and new – modern shops housed in ancient buildings.  One such shop is the delightful little sweetshop, ‘The Pot and Pineapple’, on Cross Street.

This recently opened establishment, located at 37 Cross Street, is a traditional sweetshop with rows and rows of jars, stuffed with glorious sweets, lining its shelves.  It has the power to make one feel like a child again, clutching a few pence and wondering which treat to purchase!  Well, that is how I felt anyway. 

‘The Pot and Pineapple’ is located in one of the oldest buildings in Abergavenny, the ancient Gunter Mansion.  It is very pleasing to note that the young proprietor has maintained the Gunter connection in her choice of name, thereby keeping alive an important part of Abergavenny history. 

Several shops, numbers 37-40 Cross St, now occupy the Gunter Mansion.   This historic building was originally constructed in the early years of the seventeenth century and it was home to generations of the Gunter Family.  Walter Gunter, who was born around 1717, was the last of the Gunters to reside there.

 

JAMES GUNTER

THE SIGN OUTSIDE
THE POT AND PINEAPPLE

James Gunter, Walter’s son, left Abergavenny and went to London.  In 1777 James became a partner in a food business named “The Pot and Pineapple” at 7-8 Berkeley Square.  “The Pot and Pineapple” had been established twenty years earlier as a confectioner’s shop by Domenico Negri.  By 1799 James Gunter was sole proprietor and the shop had become a chic Mayfair gathering place where the smart set would stop to eat ices and sorbets.  It must have been quite a sight as the shop’s waiters raced back and forth across the street delivering orders to ladies, who remained in their carriages, while the gentlemen lounged nearby enjoying their confections.  As well as ices and confections, Gunter’s was known for its beautifully decorated cakes.  James Gunter’s son, Robert, took over the business on the death of his father in 1819.  In the mid 1930s, the east side of Berkeley Square was demolished and Gunter’s moved to Curzon Street.  Gunter’s continued to delight its customers until its closure in 1956.

 

THOMAS GUNTER

It is now necessary to go back several generations of Gunters to James Gunter’s ancestor, Thomas Gunter.  Thomas Gunter was born about 1627 into the Catholic branch of the Gunter Family.  Thomas, an attorney at law, lived in the mansion on Cross St which now houses “The Pot and Pineapple” and other shops.  He was a Catholic at a time in the history of this country when Catholicism was outlawed.  Those who tenaciously clung to “Yr Hen Ffydd”, “The Old Faith”, were known as “recusants”.  Recusants were subjected to harsh fines, imprisonment and, sometimes, even death.  Thomas Gunter was a staunch Catholic and a fearless man.  He is known to have said, “I kept a priest during Oliver’s time of severity, and I shall keep one now”.  He made good his promise! 

 

Thomas had an attic room in his house furnished as a Catholic Chapel and here the Catholics of Abergavenny would assemble for Mass and to receive the Sacraments.  Thomas kept two Jesuits, Fr Philip Evans and Fr David Lewis, who celebrated Mass and conducted weddings, baptisms and funerals in the chapel.  A report referring to this chapel said there was at Abergavenny “a public chapel for Papists adorned with the marks of the Jesuits on the outside, and such numbers flocked there that a hundred were seen to come out of it when not above forty attended the parish (Established) church”.  In his deposition to the House of Commons in 1678, the vicious priest hunter, John Arnold, stated that he had seen the “mark of the Jesuits” on the outside of Gunter’s property.  Mr Greenhaugh, the Vicar of Abergavenny, said “there is a publick mark of the Jesuits on the outside of the building, which is directly towards the Parish Church”. 

 

ST DAVID LEWIS

Fr David Lewis S J was either Thomas Gunter’s uncle or his cousin.  Most historians come down in favour of uncle.   The youngest of nine children, David Henry Lewis was born in Abergavenny in 1616.  David’s mother, Margaret Pritchard, was a Catholic and she raised eight of her children as Catholics.  His father, Morgan Lewis, was a Protestant and head of Abergavenny Grammar School.  Morgan Lewis had his youngest son, David, raised in the Established religion.  As a young man, David visited Paris and while there he was received into the Catholic Church.  In 1638 David entered the English College in Rome to study for the priesthood.  Several years after his ordination, he joined the Jesuits.  Fr David Lewis S J was sent back to his homeland but, after a short time, he was recalled to Rome.  About a year later Fr Lewis was sent again to the English Mission.  He returned to Wales and for more than thirty years he tended to the needs of the beleaguered Catholics in the border areas of Monmouthshire and Herefordshire.   Based at Thomas Gunter’s, he ministered to the Catholics of Abergavenny and the surrounding countryside. 

THE PLAQUE ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE GUNTER MANSION, CROSS ST,  ABERGAVENNY

 

For a time, Fr David Lewis stayed with his relatives, the Morgans, at Llantarnam.  It was at a cottage in Llantarnam, during the mayhem generated by the Oates’ Plot, that the Jesuit was arrested.   On Sunday morning, 17^th November 1678, Fr Lewis was preparing to celebrate Holy Mass when a group of armed dragoons burst in.  Fr Lewis was held first in Monmouth Gaol, then in Usk Gaol.  Convicted of being a Catholic priest and saying Mass (which was considered High Treason), Fr Lewis was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.  The good priest met his fate at Usk on 27^th August 1679.  St David Lewis was beatified in 1929 and canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE PART 2.

A BENEDICTINE CONNECTION

 

Recently Belmont Abbey held several open days, one of which we attended.  It was on a lovely autumn day that we wended our way to Hereford and the welcoming Benedictine Abbey. 

It was our good fortune to be guided around the Abbey by the inimitable Brother Bernard.  Brother Bernard’s grasp of the Benedictine history and of the history of Belmont is second to none and he imparted much of interest to his attentive hearers.

The Monastery of St Michael and All Angels at Belmont was begun in 1854 as a common novitiate to train young monks for the Abbeys of Downside, Douai and Ampleforth.  Until the foundation of the Cardiff Archdiocese Belmont Abbey served as the Cathedral for the Diocese of Newport and Menevia.  The professed monks were the Canons of the Chapter, making Belmont the only monastic Cathedral in post-Reformation England.  In pre-Reformation times, monastic cathedrals were a special feature of ecclesiastical life in the country.  Many of the great cathedrals, including Canterbury itself, were Benedictine Cathedrals.

BELMONT ABBEY, HEREFORD

 Although St David Lewis, the Last Welsh Martyr, was a Jesuit, he has a strong connection to the Benedictines.   The famous Benedictine writer and mystic, Dom Augustine Baker, was a great uncle of his.

David Baker was born in Abergavenny on 9^th December 1575.  He was the nephew and godson of Dr David Lewis, the first principal of Jesus College, Oxford.  In 1596 David went to London’s Inner Temple to study law where he excelled in his studies.  Upon the death of his elder brother, Richard, David was called home to assist his father and David became the Recorder of Abergavenny.  David’s parents may have been Church papists but, by his mid-twenties, David had completely abandoned religion and was an atheist.  After his return to Abergavenny, David had a near death experience which profoundly changed his life and, in 1603, he was received into the Catholic Church.

 

At the age of thirty David Baker was clothed with the Benedictine Habit at the Abbey of St Justina in Padua.  He was given the name of Augustine.  In 1613 he was ordained priest by Dr Gifford, the Archbishop of Rheims.  Dom Augustine Baker returned to London and took up residence in the lawyers’ district, Grays Inn Lane, where he assisted Catholics in matters of law.  He also undertook research into the English Benedictines.  It had been claimed by some that an English Benedictine Congregation did not exist before the Reformation.  David’s research cost him two years and £200 of his own funds, but it proved the critics wrong.  About 1625 the results of his research were published in the book, “Apostolatus Benedictinorum in Anglia”.   Augustine Baker is probably best remembered for his treatise on the prayer of contemplation, “Sancta Sophia” or “Holy Wisdom”.




DOM AUGUSTINE BAKER, FROM A WINDOW
IN ABERGAVENNY CATHOLIC CHURCH
 

Due to the anti-Catholic feelings in England at that time, many priests left for the continent.  Fr Baker went to Douai, in Flanders.  He was appointed Spiritual Director of the English Benedictine Nuns at the Abbey of Our Ladye of Consolation in Douai, (the Nuns of Stanbrook Abbey).  He remained in that post for nine years then returned to London.

Fr Baker maintained at Douai two young men.  One was Philip Morgan, alias Powell, who was martyred in 1646.  The other was his nephew, John Pritchard, who later became a Jesuit.  John Pritchard’s sister, Margaret, married Morgan Lewis, headmaster of Abergavenny Grammar School.  They were the parents of David Lewis, who also became a Jesuit.  During the furore stirred up by the fabricated Oates’ Plot, David Lewis was martyred at Usk in 1679.  In 1620, on his last visit to Abergavenny, Dom Augustine Baker stayed with his sister who was the grandmother of David Lewis.  It was inevitable that he would have met his four year old great nephew. We can only wonder at such a momentous meeting as the great Benedictine, whose motto was “I am nothing.  I have nothing.  I crave nothing, save Jesus” met the future martyr, Saint David Lewis!

David Augustine Baker O S B, whose health was never good, was stricken with the plague and died in London on 9^th August 1641.  He was 65 years old.    

PILGRIMAGE IN HONOUR OF ST DAVID LEWIS, 2012

Portrait of St David Lewis in the Church of St Francis Xavier and St David Lewis, Usk

Two days ago, Sunday 26th August, the Annual Pilgrimage in honour of St David Lewis took place at Usk.  Despite the very wet summer we have experienced, the sun came out in all its splendour for the procession from Usk's Catholic Church to St Mary's Priory Church where the Martyr's remains are interred.  Below is a short video of the procession.

 

 

Mary in Monmouth has a good post about  Sunday's pilgrimage.  Click here to see it.

ST DAVID LEWIS, SUPERIOR OF THE CWM

 

 

Three hundred and thirty-three years ago today a Welsh Jesuit priest, Fr David Lewis, was executed at Usk.  His crime was to be a Catholic priest in a time when it was deemed High Treason to be a Catholic priest and to celebrate Mass in England. 

 

Plaque marking site of execution of St David Lewis

David Henry Lewis was a Monmouthshire man, born in Abergavenny in 1616.  He was the youngest of the nine children of Morgan Lewis and Margaret Pritchard.  Although David's Catholic mother brought up eight of the children in the Catholic Faith, David's Protestant father had David brought up in the Established Religion.

 

David attended the local grammar school of which his father was headmaster.   Later he went to London to study law.  He travelled to Paris as tutor to a young nobleman and while in Paris David converted to Catholicism.

 

After the deaths of his parents in 1638 David entered the English College in Rome to study for the priesthood.  He was ordained there in 1642.  Later, following in the footsteps of his Jesuit uncle, David entered the Jesuit Novitiate of Sant Andrea in Rome.  

 

After profession as a Jesuit, Fr Lewis was sent on the English Mission.  After only a year he was recalled to Rome to take up a position in his old college.  However, he soon returned to Wales and here he laboured among his own people for the remainder of his life.

 

He was twice Superior of the Jesuit College of St Francis Xavier at the Cwm, on the Monmouthshire-Herefordshire border.  According to a pamphlet published in London in 1679, the Cwm consisted of spacious houses with several entrances and secret passages between some of the rooms.  Underneath the buildings there were extensive cellars, accessible both from inside and outside the houses - useful strongrooms where valuables could be hidden.  From one room a tunnel ran out into the neighbouring woods, in which there were many caves.  Remote and secluded, the Cwm was an ideal meeting place for Catholics on both sides of the Anglo-Welsh border.

 

 

 

The site of the Jesuit College, The Cwm

The Cwm had been known to the government authorities since as early as 1660 and possibly earlier.  However it was not until December 1678 that the Lords ordered an investigation by the Bishop of Hereford, Herbert Croft.  Croft had the enthusiastic support and assistance of John Arnold, John Scudamore and Charles Price. 

 

By this time, all the priests had been evacuated from the Cwm.  In fact, the Superior, Fr David Lewis, was a prisoner in Monmouth Gaol and had been since his arrest at Llantarnam on 17th November 1678.  Some priests found shelter with recusant families, others, including Fr Philip Evans were imprisoned, and others, hunted like wild beasts, sheltered in caves or woods.

 

While the raid did not turn up any hidden priests, it did yield a store of church plate, vestments and books.  Bishop Croft added many of the stolen books to his Cathedral Library. 

 

 

Viewing some of the Cwm books in Hereford Cathedral Library

Recently we had the very great privilege of being permitted to view some of the confiscated books from the Cwm Library.   Dr Rosemary Firman, librarian of Hereford Cathedral, showed us several books which are known to have come from the Jesuit Library at the Cwm.  One of the books was inscribed with the name of Thomas Gunter.  Thomas Gunter had a secret chapel in his mansion on Cross St in Abergavenny where Frs David Lewis and Philip Evans said Mass and administered the Sacraments to the Catholics who crowded into the attic chapel.  Dr Firman imparted many interesting facts about the books and, quite honestly, we were more than a little awed to be looking at books which had very likely been held, consulted or  read by St David Lewis over three hundred years ago.

 

For some very interesting information about the Jesuit Library at the Cwm visit Hannah's excellent blog here

 

Fr David Lewis was executed at Usk on 27 August 1679.  He was beatified in 1929 and Canonised as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales in 1970.

ST JOHN KEMBLE

THE EXECUTION OF ST JOHN KEMBLE

John Kemble, alias Holland, was born at Rhydicar Farm, St Weonard’s, Herefordshire in 1599. He was the son of John Kemble and Anne Morgan. He and St David Lewis were cousins. John Kemble’s mother, Anne Morgan, was a relative of David Lewis’s father, Morgan Lewis. John was ordained a priest at Douai on 23rd February 1625 and, on 4th June, was sent upon the English Mission. He spent the next 54 years labouring for the people of Herefordshire and Monmouthshire. He was greatly loved by his own people and respected throughout the area because, it was said, “he gave offence to none”.

In 1678, Fr John Kemble became another innocent victim of the non-existent Popish Plot. A lapsed Catholic, Captain John Scudamore of Kentchurch, was sent to arrest Fr Kemble at Pembridge Castle, where the aged priest was staying with his relatives. When urged to flee, the 80-year-old priest said, “According to the course of nature I have but a few years to live. It will be an advantage to suffer for my religion and therefore I will not abscond.” After three months in Hereford Gaol, he endured an agonizing journey to London where he and Fr David Lewis were lodged in Newgate Prison. They were interrogated by Oates and his fellow plotters but, since no evidence of involvement in any plot could be found, he was sent back to Hereford. In accordance with Statute 27 of Elizabeth I, he was tried for treason, i.e., for being a Catholic priest and saying Mass. He was found guilty and condemned to be hanged, drawn and quartered.

On the morning of his execution, Fr Kemble made his devotions as usual. He then drank a cup of sack and smoked a pipe of tobacco with the undersheriff, Mr Digges, and the prison governor. (This is the origin of the Herefordshire custom of calling a parting drink or smoke a “Kemble Cup” or a “Kemble Pipe”.) Before his execution on Widemarsh Common, the good priest forgave those who had conspired against him and asked forgiveness of any whom he may have offended. He consoled the distraught hangman thus, “Honest Anthony, my friend Anthony, be not afraid; do thy office. I forgive thee with all my heart. Thou wilt do me a greater kindness than discourtesy.” He prayed silently for a few minutes then commended himself to God. The cart was drawn away and he was hanged. Such was the affection for Fr Kemble that he was allowed to die upon the gallows before being beheaded. He was also spared the grisly ritual of drawing and quartering. It was said, even by his persecutors, that they never saw one die so like a gentleman and so like a Christian. 

When the Martyr’s body was cut down from the scaffold, he fell with his hand beneath his head.  When he was beheaded, the hand was also cut off.  A devout woman in the crowd picked up the hand and carried it home in her apron.  For many years the hand was preserved in a small red wood box.  Eventually, it was given to the Catholic Church of St Francis Xavier, Hereford.    Near the end of the nineteenth century, a Mr Monteith of Carstairs presented the parish with a magnificent jewel- studded silver reliquary in which the hand now lies.  It can be seen today to the right of the High Altar.     

The Martyr's severed hand

 The martyr’s nephew, Captain Richard Kemble, who had saved the life of King Charles II at the Battle of Worcester, took the mutilated body to the church at Welsh Newton and buried it beside the churchyard cross. The gravestone is inscribed “J K Dyed the 22 of August Anno Do 1679”. There is a pilgrimage to the Saint’s grave every year on the Sunday nearest to 22nd August.

On 25th October 1970, St John Kemble and thirty-nine others were canonised by Pope Paul VI as the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE IN HONOUR OF ST DAVID LEWIS

St David Lewis depicted in a stained glass window in the Catholic Church, Porth-y-Carne St, Usk

The Annual Pilgrimage in honour of St David Lewis will take place on Sunday 26th August 2012.  The programme is as follows:

3:00 p m:  Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at the Catholic Church of SS Francis Xavier and St David Lewis, Porth-y-Carne St, Usk.

Ss Francis Xavier  & David Lewis Church, Porth-y-Carne St, Usk

Immediately Following Benediction, there will be a procession to the Martyr's grave at the Priory Church of St Mary, Usk.

The grave of St David Lewis, Priory Church, Usk

After a short service at the graveside, refreshments will be served in the Parish Hall, Porth-y-Carne St.

PILGRIMAGE TO THE GRAVE OF ST JOHN KEMBLE

THE GRAVE OF ST JOHN KEMBLE AT WELSH NEWTON

The Annual Pilgrimage to the grave of St John Kemble at Welsh Newton will take place on Sunday 19th August 2012. His Grace Archbishop George Stack will be in attendance. The programme is as follows:

10 a m: MONMOUTH
The walk begins from St Mary’s Church, Monmouth. Pilgrims are advised to bring a packed lunch.

3 p m: WELSH NEWTON
Rosary, Readings and prayers at the grave of St John Kemble in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, Welsh Newton, Herefordshire.

4:15 p m: MONMOUTH
Benediction at St Mary's Church, Monmouth. Following Benediction, tea will be served in the garden. 

OUR LADY OF BRITANNIA

I found this beautiful poem on Richard's blog, "STABAT MATER".  The poem was written by Pearl of Tyburn and Richard found it on her blog, "LONGBOWS AND ROSARY BEADS".   I was just bowled over by the beauty of this poem and I want to give you the opportunity of enjoying it too.  Thank you Pearl and thank you Richard.

OUR LADY OF THE TAPER/OUR LADY OF CARDIGAN

 

 "OUR LADY OF BRITANNIA

Thou stood on Newgate Arch and graced Pendragon’s shield,

Cardigan bore thy taper, and Walsingham thy seal,

Humbly we now beseech thee as that thy feet we kneel,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

Thy beads hung from the sword-belts of Locksley’s Merry Men,

Thy hymns were sung by choirs, O Mother Free from Sin,

This land was once thy Dowry; pray make it so again,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

When Alfred lead his warriors in battle for the land,

Thou were his source of courage, the strength that made him stand,

Seven Swords were pierced through thy heart, and one

was in thy hand,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

Thy hands are in the Highlands to show us how to pray,

Thy footprints are in Cornwall to guide us in Christ’s ways,

Direct us, Holy Virgin, if God forbid we stray,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

Thou art the Dove of Peace for Ulster’s troubled sons,

The Queen of Thorns and Blossoms, whose seat was Avalon,

Look down on us from Heaven, Most Highly Favored One,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

From Scotia’s misty moors, to Albion’s fertile plains,

From Cambria’s mountain climes, to Northern Erin’s glens,

We offer thee this land to be thy own again,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

Thy name was oft times chanted by peasants and bold knights,

Preparing for the harvest, or arming for the fight,

Though centuries have elapsed, thou’st kept us in thy sight,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

Though stormy skies did threaten, thou still remained the same,

A constant source of succor to those who called thy name,

Thou art the Gilded Lamp that held the Burning Flame,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

 

Recall the martyrs’ deaths in Christ’s own imitation,

Come rack and then come rope, they braved the tribulation,

The ruby blood they shed cries out in supplication,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

Remember this, our country, amidst the stormy sea,

O may she stand united, a stronghold for the free

But foremost make her faithful to Jesus Christ and thee,

Our Lady of Britannia, Ora pro nobis!

ST JOHN LLOYD

St Philip Evans and St John Lloyd were two Welsh priests who shared a cell in Cardiff Castle in 1678/79.  They were executed on the same day, 22^nd July 1679, at Gallows Field, Cardiff.  Most accounts of St Philip Evans and St John Lloyd are joint accounts but, although they shared so much, I think that each man’s story deserves a separate telling.  On this 333^rd anniversary of their martyrdom I will endeavour to do just that.  Of course there will be similarities and crossovers but I will do my best to give a brief account of their individual stories.  (LINK HERE)

St John Lloyd

ST JOHN LLOYD, a secular priest, was one of the many itinerant priests of South Wales who was caught up in the horror of the fabricated Popish Plot.  I say “fabricated” because today historians agree that the plot existed only in the warped psyche of Titus Oates and his perverted fellows. 

John Lloyd was the son of Walter Lloyd.  He was born into a devout Catholic family in Brecon around 1630.  John entered the Royal College of St Alban at Valladolid in 1649 and took the customary oath to return to the English Mission.  He was ordained on 7^th June 1653.  The following April he left for his homeland.  Fr Lloyd spent the next twenty-four years labouring among the Catholics of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. 

He was known to frequent the home of John Turberville at Penllyn.  He also stayed at the home of Walter James at Trivor near St Maughans.  At Trivor one can still see the room once used as a chapel.  There is a niche in the wall where a statue or crucifix would have been placed, probably above the altar.  Finding shelter at these and other Catholic recusant homes, the intrepid priest did not spare himself in celebrating Mass, administering the sacraments and caring for the needs of his oppressed flock.  At this very dangerous time, John Lloyd’s brother, Fr William Lloyd, was also working among the Catholics of South Wales.  Fr William Lloyd was head of the secular clergy in South Wales.

The niche in the wall of the secret chapel at Trivor

In 1678 the first rumblings of the Oates Plot/Popish Plot crept across the country.  It was a time when fear and suspicion lurked in the hearts of ordinary decent people for the safety of every man depended on who was in power at any given time.  Protestants had suffered much under Catholic Queen Mary.  There had been Catholic plots and rumours of Catholic plots so it was easy for Titus Oates and his iniquitous ilk to foment the horror that was unleashed by the Oates Plot.

On 20^th November 1678 Fr John Lloyd was arrested at the home of John Turberville at Penllyn.  He was taken to Cardiff Castle Gaol where he was imprisoned, possibly in the Black Tower.  For a time he was kept in solitary confinement. Eventually he and Fr Philip Evans S J, who was arrested on 4^th December, were permitted to share a cell.  Coincidentally, both Fr Lloyd and Fr Evans had sisters who were Blue Nuns in Paris.  Fr Lloyd’s sister, Mother Margaret Bruno, had died four years earlier, in 1674.

On 9^th May 1679 the Assizes opened in the Shire Hall within the Castle grounds.  Fr Lloyd was indicted as a Catholic priest and therefore a traitor.  He was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. 

At the height of the Plot, Fr William Lloyd was arrested and imprisoned in Brecon Gaol.  He too was found guilty of being a Catholic priest and performing the functions of a priest.  Like his brother, he was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.  However, Fr William Lloyd was treated so harshly in prison that he died in Brecon Gaol just days before his scheduled execution.

The day of Martyrdom arrived for Fr John Lloyd on 22^nd July 1679.  He and Fr Philip Evans were dragged on a hurdle to Gallows Field (often referred to today as ‘Death Junction’).  Fr Lloyd had to stand and watch as the young Jesuit who had been his cellmate and friend was butchered before his eyes.  Then he was subjected to the same barbaric death.  Fr John Lloyd was forty-nine years old.

Plaque in St David's Cathedral, Cardiff

There was great rejoicing in Rome and in Britain on Sunday 25^th October 1970.  On that day, Pope Paul VI canonised forty Catholics who had died for their faith during the sad years of religious persecution in England.  After years of investigation and scrutiny, the forty had been chosen from the hundreds who had given their lives for the Old Faith.  On that happy day Fr John Lloyd became known as St John Lloyd, one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.      

ST PHILIP EVANS S J

St Philip Evans and St John Lloyd were two Welsh priests who shared a cell in Cardiff Castle in 1678/79.  They were executed on the same day, 22^nd July 1679, at Gallows Field, Cardiff.  Most accounts of St Philip Evans and St John Lloyd are joint accounts but, although they shared so much, I think that each man’s story deserves a separate telling.  As the 333^rd anniversary of their martyrdom approaches I will endeavour to do just that.  Of course there will be similarities and cross overs but I will do my best to give a brief account of their individual stories.  (LINK HERE)

The Parish Church at Llangattock Vibon Avel which contains monuments
to members of the Evans family

PHILIP EVANS was born at Monmouthshire in 1645.  He was the son of Winifred Morgan of Llanvihangel Crucorney and William Evans of Llangattock Vibon Avel, near Monmouth.  Philip was educated at St Omer and he entered the Jesuit Novitiate at Watten on 7^th September 1665.  When he completed his training he was ordained at Liege in 1675 and sent upon the English Mission.

17th century chalice believed to have 
belonged to St Philip Evans

Back in Wales, Fr Philip Evans S J worked diligently for four years, saying Mass, administering the Sacraments and preaching in Welsh and English.  It is known that the young Jesuit, along with Fr David Lewis, regularly stayed at the home of Thomas Gunter of Cross Street in Abergavenny.  Here he celebrated Mass and tended to the needs of the Catholics of the area.  The Catholic Church at Abergavenny has in its possession a small travelling chalice which is thought to have been owned by Fr Evans.  He also stayed at the homes of Charles Prodger of Wernddu and of Christopher Turberville of Sker House and cared for the Catholics in these locations.

During the wave of persecution generated by the Popish Plot, friends advised Fr Evans to go into hiding.  However, he refused and bravely continued his work.  On 4^th December 1678, the priest was arrested at Sker House, betrayed by the owner’s younger brother, Edward Turberville, a lapsed Catholic.  Philip Evans was imprisoned in Cardiff Castle Gaol and kept in solitary confinement in the dungeon.  After several weeks he and another Welsh priest, Fr John Lloyd, were permitted to share a cell. Fr Lloyd, a secular priest, had been arrested in November.

The following May, Fr Philip Evans was tried at Cardiff Assizes, found guilty of the treasonable offence of being a Catholic priest, and sentenced to death.  The execution was delayed for some time and Fr Evans was even allowed out of prison for recreation!  Eventually, on 21^st July 1679, orders arrived that his execution was to take place the following day.  At that time he was playing tennis on the court near St John’s Church.  When the gaoler went to the tennis court to tell the priest the news and to return him to prison, Fr Evans remarked, “What haste is there?  Let me first play out my game.”   This he did!

St Philip Evans S J,
with his harp

Fr Evans had a sister, Sister Barbara Catherine, who was a Blue Nun in Paris.  When he returned to his cell after his game of tennis, he wrote to her. He told her of his approaching death and insisted that she should not mourn for him but be joyful.  He asked her to pray for him and promised that he would pray for her. 

Philip was a skilled harpist and when the officials came the next morning to lead him to his execution they found the priest joyfully playing the harp.  His legs had been bound with heavy chains.  They were so tight that the struggle to remove them lasted more than an hour and caused the poor priest indescribable agony.

Fr Philip Evans was then taken to the place of martyrdom.   When he mounted the scaffold Fr Evans said; “This is the best pulpit a man can have to preach in, therefore, I cannot forbear to tell you again that I die for God and for Religion’s sake.”  He addressed the crowd in English and in Welsh, then turning to Fr Lloyd, who stood waiting his own turn, he said, “Adieu, Mr Lloyd!  Though only for a little time, for we shall soon meet again.”

On 22^nd July 1679, thirty-four year old Fr Philip Evans S J was hanged, drawn and quartered at Gallows Field (the northern end of Richmond Road) Cardiff.   He was beatified in 1929 and canonised in 1970.  St Philip Evans is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.