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John Roberts
Benedictine monk and priest
Feast: 25 October (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
John Roberts, from Merionethshire, studied at Oxford and law in London, and was converted in Paris in 1598. He became a Benedictine at Compostela, was ordained and set out for England in 1602.
Banished, he returned again and again to work among the people, and became first prior of St Gregory's at Douai, now Downside Abbey. He was martyred on 10 December 1610.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle. Canonised among the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
Why that counted as sanctity
A Welsh Benedictine who kept returning to England to serve its Catholics.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - John Roberts
- Wikidata Q3399552 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — John Roberts (martyr) (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.