John Roberts

John Roberts, OSB (1577 – 10 December 1610) was a Welsh Benedictine monk and priest, and was the first prior of St. Gregory's, Douai, France (now Downside Abbey). Returning to Britain as a missionary priest during the period of recusancy, he was martyred at Tyburn. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic church.

Early life and conversion to Catholicism

Roberts was born in 1577 in Trawsfynydd, a small village in Snowdonia, north Wales, the son of John and Anna Roberts of Rhiw Goch Farm. His father, a farmer, was a member of the Welsh nobility and was descended from the Welsh Princes. Roberts was baptised into the Anglican faith inside the local parish church of St Madryn but is said to have received his early education from an elderly man who had been a Cistercian monk at Cymer Abbey just outside Dolgellau until its dissolution by Henry VIII in 1537. He attended St. John's College, Oxford in February, 1595 before leaving after two years to study law at Furnival's Inn, London.

During his travels in Europe, he left both the law and his former faith behind, converting to Catholicism on a visit to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. He moved on to Spain and joined St Benedict's Monastery, Valladolid, and became a member of this community in 1598, He was arrested and banished on 13 May.

He reached Douai, in northern France, on 24 May. Soon, he returned to Britain and worked among the plague victims 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 then banished again, but he returned to Britain at once. He was taken to Newgate in his vestments. On 5 December he was tried and found guilty under the Act forbidding priests to minister, and on 10 December was hanged, drawn, and quartered, at the age of thirty-three, Roberts was canonised by Pope Paul VI as one of the representative Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

Roman Catholic Bishop Edwin Regan said: "Although the name St John Roberts isn't as well known today, he is a major figure in our religious history." He was the first monk to return to Britain following the Protestant Reformation; the hostility between the Catholics and Protestants was at its height at this stage, when a Catholic priest could only expect to live for approximately two years in Britain during that period.

On 17 July 2010, Metropolitan Seraphim of Glastonbury of the British Orthodox Church, accompanied by Deacon Theodore de Quincey, attended an Ecumenical Service at Westminster Cathedral in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Martyrdom of John Roberts. Abba Seraphim noted that as a Londoner, he wanted to honour the humanitarian and pastoral ministry of Roberts to Londoners; and that all those who are conscious of the problems of exercising Christian ministry in times of persecution would immediately value Roberts's determination, as well as realise the extraordinary sacrifice he made to fulfil his priestly vocation. Large contingents from Wales were in attendance, and the service was bilingual.

Relics 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. An arm was found in the possession of the Spanish royal family before being returned to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, where he had served as a novice. Fingers preserved as relics went to Downside Abbey, to Erdington Abbey, to the Sacred Cross Church in Gellilydan near Robert's birthplace, to Tyburn convent and to St Joseph's Convent, Taunton.