Welsh martyr to be honoured at new heritage centre

Saint John Roberts, a Welsh priest who was executed as a traitor during the Reformation is to be honoured at a new heritage centre in Gwynedd, North Wales, which is being opened on Saturday. The Llys Ednowian Heritage Centre in Trawsfynydd will have a display on the saint as part of an exhibition celebrating the village's history. There will also be some ancient Celtic artefacts, and a multi-media show on the life of the poet Ellis Humphrey Evans. St John Roberts was descended from Welsh princes. Although he was raised a Protestant, he became interested in the Catholic faith as a student at Oxford. He was received into the Church while on holiday in Paris in 1598. He entered the English College at Valladolid in Spain and then joined the Abbey of Saint Benedict, Valladolid. After his ordination in 1602 he came to England as a missionary and was arrested and imprisoned six or seven times. During the plague he worked with the sick and dying in London. He also helped Dom Augustine Bradshaw establish St Gregory's at Douai, (now Downside). He was captured for the last time while celebrating Mass on 2 December 1610. After being convicted of the crime of priesthood, he was hung drawn and quartered on 10 December. He was canonised in 1970.