• July 22nd - SS. Philip Evans and John Lloyd, Martyrs

    From rich@1:396/4 to All on Tue Jul 21 10:05:00 2020
    From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

    July 22nd - SS. Philip Evans and John Lloyd, Martyrs

    Died at Cardiff, Wales, on July 22, 1679; beatified in 1929; canonized
    by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as two of the Forty Martyrs of England and
    Wales.

    Philip Evans was born in Monmouthshire, Wales, in 1645, and educated
    at Saint-Omer. He joined the Society of Jesus when he was 20 and was
    ordained at Li=C3=A8ge, Belgium, in 1675. Father Philip was sent back to
    Wales to minister to the Catholics in the southern part of the
    country. For several years he zealously ministered to his flock
    unmolested, but the civil authorities turned a blind eye until
    November 1678. Although John Arnold, a justice of the peace and hunter
    of priests, offered a 200 pound bounty for his arrest, Father Evans
    refused to leave his flock untended.

    Meanwhile, John Lloyd, a native of Breconshire (Brecknockshire),
    Wales, was educated at Ghent, Belgium, and Valladolid, Spain, where he
    was ordained in 1653. The following year he returned to Wales and
    ministered to his fellow countrymen for 24 years.

    In December 1678, Father Evans was arrested at the home of Christopher Turberville at Sker, Glamorgan. When he refused to take the Oath of
    Supremacy, he was imprisoned alone in Cardiff Castle, until he was
    joined several weeks later by John Lloyd, who was arrested at Penllyn, Glamorgan. They had both been arrested in the hysteria of the Titus
    Oates plot to kill King Charles II.

    After five months, the two priests were brought to trial, but when no
    evidence of their complicity could be produced, they were charged with
    being priests, which was illegal in the realm. Few were willing to
    serve as witnesses against them. Finally, they were convicted on the
    evidence of two poor women who were suborned to say that they had seen
    Father Evans celebrating Mass.

    Following the trial they were returned to prison, where they were
    allowed a great deal of liberty=E2=80=94so much liberty that when an offici=
    al
    came to tell them they were be executed the following day, Father
    Evans was playing tennis and would not return to his cell until he had
    finished it. Father Evans spent his remaining hours playing the harp
    and talking to his well-wishers who came to visit them. It almost
    seems as though the local people were reluctant to have treated them
    in such an uncharitable manner.

    They were executed on Gallows Field (at the northeastern end of what
    is now Richmond Road). Father Evans addressed the onlookers in Welsh
    and English and, turning to his fellow martyr, said: "Adieu, Mr.
    Lloyd, though for a little time, for we shall shortly meet again."
    After Evans death, Father Lloyd made only a brief speech because, as
    he said, "I never was a good speaker in my life" (Benedictines,
    Delaney, Walsh).


    Saint Quote:
    You say in your book that while we live we are able to pray for each
    other, but afterwards when we have died, the prayer of no person for
    another can be heard.... But if the apostles and martyrs while still
    in the body can pray for others, at a time when they ought still be
    solicitous about themselves, how much more will they do so after their
    crowns, victories, and triumphs?
    --Saint Jerome from Against Vigilantius, 406AD

    Bible Quote:
    I will give glory to Thee, O Lord, O King, and I will praise Thee, O
    God my Saviour. I will give glory to Thy name: for thou hast been a
    helper and protector to me.=C2 (Ecclesiasticus 51:1-2)


    <><><><>
    Our Catholic Act of Charity

    O my God, I love you above all things with my whole heart and soul
    because you are all good=C2 and worthy of all my love.

    I love my neighbor as myself for the love of you.

    I forgive all who have injured me and ask pardon of all whom I have
    injured. Amen.

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