Feast Day: December 10
Birth: circa 1577, Trawsfynydd, Merionethshire, Wales
Martyrdom: December 10, 1610, Tyburn, London
Canonized: October 25, 1970 by Pope Paul VI (one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales)
Patronage: Converts, Welsh Catholics, Benedictines in mission lands
Early Life and Conversion
Saint John Roberts was born into a noble and well-placed Welsh family in the late 16th century, during a time of fierce persecution of Catholics under the English Reformation. He was raised in the Protestant faith, as Catholicism had been outlawed in England and Wales, and he studied at Oxford University (St. John’s College). Seeking truth and purpose, he traveled across Europe, eventually arriving in Paris.
There, moved by divine grace and drawn to the ancient Faith, John Roberts converted to Catholicism, a decision which would set him upon the path to martyrdom. Shortly thereafter, he pursued priestly studies at the English College in Valladolid, Spain, a seminary founded to train missionary priests for England’s recusant Catholic population.
Religious Vocation and Mission
Ordained in 1602, Father Roberts felt called to the religious life and entered the Benedictine Order, receiving the habit and monastic formation at the Abbey of San Martín Pinario in Santiago de Compostela. He became the first monk of the English Benedictine Congregation established after the Reformation, and took solemn vows, becoming a monk-missionary in the ancient spirit of the Order.
With the blessing of his superiors and under threat of death, Fr. John Roberts returned to England to minister clandestinely to the persecuted Catholics. For nearly a decade, he labored with tireless zeal in London, administering the sacraments, aiding the poor, and especially caring for victims of the plague, whom many others feared to touch.
His compassion and charity won even the respect of his enemies. Yet he was arrested five times for exercising his priestly ministry, each time facing banishment or imprisonment.
Final Arrest and Martyrdom
In 1609, Fr. Roberts was captured once more while preparing to say Mass. This time, he was brought before King James I and the royal judges. As a Catholic priest found in England, he was guilty of treason under the infamous penal laws. He was condemned to death and sent to Tyburn, the traditional site of execution.
On December 10, 1610, he was led to the gallows. Before a crowd of both mourners and onlookers, he publicly forgave his persecutors and proclaimed his loyalty to the Catholic Church and his priestly mission. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered—a brutal execution reserved for traitors—yet he died with serenity, like the martyrs of old.
A Benedictine companion, Fr. Augustine Baker, wrote of his holy death and reported that some Protestants present were so moved by his courage and sanctity that they converted.
Veneration and Canonization
Though his body was dismembered, relics of St. John Roberts were preserved secretly by the faithful. His reputation for holiness spread, particularly among the Catholics of Wales, who regarded him as a native son and heroic confessor of the Faith.
He was beatified in 1929 by Pope Pius XI and canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI, along with 39 other English and Welsh martyrs, after centuries of local veneration. His feast is celebrated on December 10, and he is remembered as a model of pastoral charity, missionary courage, and Benedictine fidelity.
✠ Reflection for the Faithful
St. John Roberts reminds us that the priesthood is not a profession but a sacred mission, one worth dying for. His love for the sacraments, even when it endangered his life, is a call to reverence and gratitude for what we too easily take for granted: the Mass, the Sacraments, the priesthood, and the Church’s unity in Christ.
He shines especially as an example for Catholic men, showing what it means to live with conviction, charity, and obedience to God above man.