Saint David Lewis
![[Saint David Lewis]](saintl2p.jpg "9kb jpg illustration of David Lewis; please do not write to ask about the image")
- Also known as
- Charles Baker (alias used to hide from anti-Catholic authorities in Wales)
- Memorial
- 27 August
- Profile
- His mother, Margaret Prichard, was Catholic, but his father, Morgan Lewis, was a Protestant school headmaster; David, the youngest of nine children, was raised Protestant.
Reconciled to Catholicism in Paris, France at age 16.
Studied at the English College in Rome, Italy from 1638.
Ordained in 1642.
Joined the Jesuits in 1645.
Spiritual director of the English College in Rome.
He returned to Wales in 1648 and spent over 30 years ministering to persecuted Catholics from the village of Cym, living in a farmhouse that served as a base for missionary work.
During the increased persecutions triggered by the Titus Oates Plot, David was betrayed by a servant, and arrested in November 1678 at Llantarnan, Wales.
Condemned in March 1679 for the crimes of being a priest and saying Mass.
Imprisoned and interrogated in London, then returned to Usk.
One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
- Born
- 1616 in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales
- Died
-
hanged, drawn and quartered on 22 August 1679 in Usk, Monmouthshire, Wales
buried in Usk
his grave has become a pilgrimage destination
- Venerated
- 8 December 1929
- Beatified
- 15 December 1929
- Canonized
- 25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI
- Additional Information
-
Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
Catholic Encyclopedia
David Spiritual Links
For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
The Jesuits, Singapore
Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, and Stephen Bunson
Saints Alive, by Father Robert F. McNamara
- Translate
-
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- Readings
- Sweet Jesus, receive my soul.
- Saint David's last words