Philip Evans and John Lloyd

Philip Evans

Philip Evans was born in Monmouth in 1645, and educated at Jesuit College of St. Omer (in Artois, now in France). He joined the Society of Jesus in Watten on 7 September 1665, and was ordained at Liège (now in Belgium) and sent to South Wales as a missionary in 1675.

He worked in Wales for four years, In November 1678 John Arnold, of Llanvihangel Court near Abergavenny, a justice of the peace and hunter of priests, offered a reward of £200 () for his arrest.

Despite the manifest dangers Evans steadfastly refused to leave his flock. He was arrested at the home of Christopher Turberville at Sker, Glamorgan, on 4 December 1678. Ironically the posse which arrested him is said to have been led by Turberville's brother, the notorious priest hunter Edward Turberville.

John Lloyd

John Lloyd, a Welshman and a secular priest (a priest not associated with any religious order), was a Breconshire man. He was educated at St. Omer's He took the 'missionary oath' on 16 October 1649 to participate in the English Mission. Sent to Wales in 1654 to minister to covert Catholics, he lived his vocation while constantly on the run for 24 years. He was arrested at Turberville's house at Penlline, Glamorgan, on 20 November 1678, and imprisoned in Cardiff Gaol. There he was joined by the Jesuit, Philip Evans.

Trial

They waited five months before going to trial on May 3, 1679 because the prosecution could not find witnesses to testify that they were indeed priests. Both priests were brought to trial in Cardiff on Monday, 5 May 1679. Neither was charged with being associated with the plot concocted by Oates. Nonetheless, they were tried for being priests and coming to England and Wales contrary to the provisions of Jesuits, etc. Act 1584, and were declared guilty of treason for exercising their priesthood.

Executions

The executions took so long to be scheduled that it began to appear that they might not take place. The priests were allowed a good deal of liberty, even to leaving the prison for recreation. Two plaques mark the site at what is now the junction where City Road, Crwys Road and Richmond Road meet in Roath, Cardiff, still known as "Death Junction".

Evans was the first to die. He addressed the gathering in both Welsh and English saying, ‘Adieu, Father Lloyd! Though only for a little time, for we shall soon meet again'. Lloyd spoke very briefly. "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."

Canonisation and feast day

On 25 October 1970, both John Lloyd and Philip Evans were canonised by Pope Paul VI.

The collective feast day of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales was formerly kept on 25 October. In England they are now celebrated together with beatified martyrs on 4 May. In Wales, 25 October is the feast of the "Six Welsh Martyrs and their companions".

The pair are commemorated within Cardiff by two stained-glass windows at the St Peters Church, off City Road.

Relics

In 1878 two human skulls were discovered in a wooden box, stored in the attic of a Jesuit priest’s house in Holywell. The box contained a mix of other bones, including various leg bones that were wrapped in a woman's blouse and a coccyx. The Stonyhurst College announced in April 2021 that they believed they had identified that the bones belonged to John Lloyd and Philip Evans. Previously, the same bones were previously believed to be of John Plessington, with the Bishop of Shrewsbury attempting to raise funds to conduct DNA testing.

Dedictions

St Philip Evans

• St Philip Evans Church, Llanedeyrn, Cardiff (Roman Catholic)
• St Philip Evans Catholic Primary School, Llanedyrn, Cardiff
• St Philip Evans Church, Cwmafan, Neath Port Talbot (Roman Catholic)

St John Lloyd

• St John Lloyd Church, Rumney, Cardiff (Roman Catholic)
• St John Lloyd Catholic Comprehensive School, Llanelli
• St John Lloyd R.C. Primary School, Trowbridge, Cardiff

References

Other sources

• Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th Edition, 1992.

References

1. Us, All Of. ".: The Jesuit Singapore Website :.".
2. "Liturgy Office of Wales".
3. Stanton, Richard. (1892). "A menology of England and Wales, or, Brief memorials of the ancient British and English saints arranged according to the calendar, together with the martyrs of the 16th and 17th centuries". London; New York: Burns & Oates.
4. "ST. John LLOYD".
5. ""St. John Lloyd", Royal English College, Valladolid".
6. [https://www.jesuits.global/saint-blessed/saint-philip-evans/ Rochford,SJ, Tom. "Philip Evans", Jesuits Global]
7. (1910). ["[Catholic Encyclopedia". Robert Appleton Company.
8. (10 March 2011). "Spotlight: History of 'death junction'".
9. [https://rcadc.org/remembering-two-of-our-martyrs-and-their-extraordinary-witness/ Campbell, James. "Remembering the witness of two saints of Wales",Archdiocese of Cardiff]
10. [http://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Calendar/National/England1.shtml National Calendar for England], Liturgy Office for England and Wales, accessed 31 July 2011
11. (2011-03-10). "Spotlight: History of 'death junction'". the Guardian.
12. (2025-07-19). "Feast Day of St Philip Evans & St John Lloyd 23rd July".
13. "Holywell bones".
14. CNA. "Catholic martyrs’ bones identified almost 150 years after discovery in an attic".
15. Norbury, David. (2015-10-19). "Bones found near Holywell's St Winefride’s Well belonged to martyred priest".
16. (2015-10-19). "Mystery pile of bones found in a pub could belong to an English saint".
17. "St Philip Evans - Our Patron Saint {{!}} St Philip Evans R.C. Primary School".
18. "St Philip Evans".