| John Roberts | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1575/1576 |
| Died | 10 December 1610 Tyburn, London, England |
| Honored in | Roman Catholicism |
| Major shrine | Downside and Erdington Abbeys |
| Feast | 25 October |
Saint John Roberts (1575/1576 - 10 December 1610) was a Benedictine monk and priest, and was the first Prior of St. Gregory's, Douai, France (now Downside Abbey). Returning to England as a missionary priest during the period of recusancy, he was martyred at Tyburn.
Contents |
He was the son of John and Anna Roberts of Trawsfynydd, Merionethshire, in Northern Wales. He matriculated at St. John's College, Oxford, in February, 1595–96, but left after two years without taking a degree and entered as a law student at one of the Inns of Court. In 1598 he travelled on the continent and in Paris. Through the influence of a Catholic fellow- countryman he was converted. By the advice of John Cecil, an English priest who afterwards became a Government spy, he decided to enter the English College, Douai, then located at Valladolid, where he was admitted on 18 October 1598.[1]
The following year Roberts left the college for the Abbey of St. Benedict, Valladolid, and from there he was sent to make his novitiate at San Martín Pinario, Santiago de Compostela, where he made his profession towards the end of 1600. Having completed his studies he was ordained, and set out for England on 26 December 1602. Although observed by a Government spy, Roberts and his companions succeeded in entering the country in April 1603; but he was arrested and banished on 13 May.[1]
He reached Douai on 24 May. Soon he managed to return to England; he worked among the plague victim people in London. In 1604, while embarking for Spain with four postulants, including William Scott (later known as Maurus Scott) he was again arrested. Not recognized as a priest, he was released and again banished, but he returned to England at once.[1]
On 5 November 1605, while Justice Grange was searching the house of Mrs. Percy, first wife of Thomas Percy, who was involved in the Gunpowder Plot, he found Roberts there and arrested him. Though acquitted of any complicity in the plot itself, Roberts was imprisoned in the Gatehouse Prison at Westminster for seven months and then exiled again in July, 1606.[1]
This time he was absent for some fourteen months, nearly all of which he spent at Douai where he founded and became the first prior of a house for the English Benedictine monks who had entered various Spanish monasteries. This was the beginning of the monastery of St. Gregory at Douai. The community of St. Gregory's is continuous with Downside Abbey, near Bath, England, having settled in England in the 19th century.[1]
In October 1607, Roberts returned to England. In December he was again arrested and placed in the Gatehouse at Westminster, from which he escaped after some months. After his escape, he lived for about a year in London, but in May 1609 was taken to Newgate Prison. He might have been executed, but Antonie de la Broderie, the French ambassador, interceded on his behalf, and his sentence was reduced to banishment.[1]
Roberts again visited Spain and Douai, but returned to England within a year. He was captured again on 2 December 1610; the arresting men arrived just as he was concluding Mass, and took him to Newgate in his vestments. On 5 December he was tried and found guilty under the Act forbidding priests to minister in England, and on 10 December was hanged, drawn, and quartered, along with Thomas Somers, at Tyburn, London.[1]
The body of Roberts was recovered by a group that included Maurus Scott and taken to St. Gregory's, Douai, but disappeared during the French Revolution. Two fingers were preserved as relics, and came to Downside Abbey and Erdington Abbey. At Erdington Abbey there was a contemporary engraving of Roberts's execution.[1]
The introduction of the cause of beatification was approved by Pope Leo XIII in his Decree of 4 December 1886. On 25 October 1970, he was canonised by Pope Paul VI as one of the representative Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). "St. John Roberts". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.