The Archbishop of Cardiff George Stack marked the 50th anniversary of the Canonisation of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales by Pope Paul VI by saying Mass in the grim bare stone cell at Cardiff Castle where two of these Martyrs were held before their execution on 22 July 1679.
The Archbishop and pilgrims then carried statues of Saint Philip Evans and Saint John Lloyd to the site of their execution, then called the Gallows Field, and situated outside the Cardiff walls. It is now a busy road junction but the spot is marked by a plaque on the wall of the Natwest bank.
Recollecting the creation of the Martyrs, Archbishop Stack remembered that he was at St Peter’s for the canonisation. It was, the archbishop recalled, “an awe-inspiring occasion, not least to see and hear that great church filled with English speaking people from all over the world.” The liturgy was “solemn and splendid” and in a departure from the convention of the time, the music was sung not by the Sistine Chapel but by Westminster Cathedral Choir.
All the bishops of England and Wales, led by Cardinal John Carmel Heenan, attended the canonisation.
The Welsh members of the Forty Martyrs are Richard Gwyn, John Jones, John Roberts, Philip Evans, John Lloyd and David Lewis. Archbishop Stack said he had to mention “John Kemble, whose relics are honoured in shrines at our churches in Hereford and Monmouth.”
St David Lewis, for instance, is buried in the Anglican churchyard at Usk, and, Archbishop Stack said, “a beautiful new shrine has just been created in his memory in the Catholic church at Usk.”
The archbishop noted: “There is a particular devotion in Cardiff and the surrounding area to the memory of two ‘local heroes’ who were martyred at Gallows Field, which is now better known as the northern end of Richmond Road in the city.
Philip Evans was the jolliest of all the Welsh martyrs. He was playing tennis when told of his execution the next day. So happy did the news make him that he went on with the game. His Jesuit provincial wrote: ‘He possessed a wonderful frankness of disposition, and a pleasant, unclouded countenance, with a brow ‘always free from furrows’.”
John Lloyd, born in Brecknockshire, was arrested at the same time as Philip Evans during the madness of the Titus Oates plot. They were imprisoned in the same cell in Cardiff Castle and were executed on the same day, July 22 1679. John Lloyd had to watch whilst his friend and fellow martyr was hanged, drawn and quartered, knowing that this would be his own fate too.
Speaking of the witness of Philip Evans, John Lloyd said to the crowd: “My fellow sufferer has declared the cause of our death, therefore I need not repeat it. Besides, I never was a good speaker in my life. I shall only say that I die in the true Catholic and apostolic faith, according to these words in the Creed, I believe in the holy Catholic Church; and with those three virtues: faith, hope and charity.”
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