Feastday: July 22
Birth: 1645
Death: 1679
PHILIP EVANS was born at Monmouth in 1645, was educated at Saint-Omer, and joined the Society of Jesus at the age of twenty. In 1675 he was ordained at Liege and sent to South Wales. He was soon well known for his zeal, but no active notice was taken by the authorities until the scare of Oates plot, when in the November of 1678 John Arnold, of Llanvihangel Court near Abergavenny, a justice of the peace and hunter of priests, offered a reward of Ł200 for his arrest. Father Evans refused to leave his flock, and early in December was caught at the house of Christopher Turberville at Sker in Glamorgan. He refused the oath and was confined alone in an underground dungeon in Cardiff Castle. Two or three weeks afterwards he was joined by Mr John Lloyd, a secular priest, who had been taken at Penlline in Glamorgan. He was a Breconshire man, who had taken the missionary oath at Valladolid in 1649 and been sent to minister in his own country. After five months the two prisoners were brought up for trial at the shire-hall in Cardiff, charged not with complicity in the plot but as priests who had come unlawfully into the realm. It had been difficult to collect witnesses against them, and they were condemned and sentenced by Mr Justice Owen Wynne principally on the evidence of two poor women who were suborned to say that they had seen Father Evans celebrating Mass. On their return to prison they were better treated and allowed a good deal of liberty, so that when the under-sheriff came on July 21 to announce that their execution was fixed for the morrow, Father Evans was playing a game of tennis and would not return to his cell till he had finished it. Part of his few remaining hours of life he spent playing on the harp and talking to the numerous people who came to say farewell to himself and Mr Lloyd when the news got around. The execution took place on Gallows Field (at the north-eastern end of what is now Richmond Road, Cardiff). St Philip died first, after having addressed the people in Welsh and English, and saying ‘Adieu, Mr Lloyd, though for a little time, for we shall shortly meet again , to St John, who made only a very brief speech because, as he said, ‘I never was a good speaker in my life .
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For other people named Philip Evans, see Philip Evans (disambiguation).
For other people named John Lloyd, see John Lloyd (disambiguation).
Philip Evans and John Lloyd were Welsh Roman Catholic priests. They are among the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
Philip Evans
Saint Philip Evans
Philip Evans was born in Monmouth in 1645, was educated at Jesuit College of St. Omer (now in France), 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, and despite the official anti-Catholic policy no action was taken against him. When the Oates' scare swept the country both Lloyd and Evans were caught up in the aftermath. In November 1678 John Arnold, of Llanvihangel Court near Abergavenny, a justice of the peace and hunter of priests, offered a reward of £200 (equivalent to £30,000 in 2019) 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-taker 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 in Ghent (now in Belgium), and from 1649 at the English College, Valladolid, Spain. 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
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
Plaque marking the execution site
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. The executions took place in Pwllhalog, near Cardiff, on 22 July 1679. Two plaques mark the site at what is now the junction of Crwys Road and Richmond Road 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 saying, ‘I never was a good speaker in my life'.
Canonisation and Feast Day
On 25 October 1970, both John Lloyd and Philip Evans were canonised by Pope Paul VI. Although they died on 22 July, this date is kept by the Catholic Church as the feast day of Mary Magdalen, so their joint feast day was assigned to 23 July. The same date is the assigned day of Bridget of Sweden, who was later designated one of six patron saints of Europe by Pope John Paul II. This means that while churches dedicated to John Lloyd or Philip Evans can keep their feast on 23 July, other churches must commemorate Bridget on that date. A voluntary celebration for John Lloyd and Philip Evans may be kept on a nearby date at the discretion of local communities.
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".
Dedications
St Philip Evans Church, Cwmafan
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
