Picture: Llywelyn2000 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Richard Gwyn
Welsh Catholic martyr and bard
SaintResearchedWalesPre-congregation
Feast: 17 October (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Born
1537
verified
Died
15 October 1584
verified
Beatified
—
not needed: before formal processes
Canonised
By tradition
recognised before formal processes began
Who they were
Richard Gwyn, a Welsh schoolmaster and scholar with six children, conformed for a time but was reconciled to the Church when the seminary priests came to Wales.
Arrested for recusancy, he was imprisoned for years, forcibly carried to Protestant services and tortured. He was condemned for treason and executed at Wrexham on 15 October 1584.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
A Welsh schoolmaster who died for the Faith.
Connected on this site
- Margaret Clitherow Saint“Margaret Clitherow, Gwyn is the co-patron of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales.” — Wikipedia
Sources
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Richard White
- Wikidata Q3397314 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Richard Gwyn (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.