August 27th in History
August 27th
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Fr David Lewis was hanged on this day 1679 for High Treason and canonised a saint in 1970 by Pope Paul VI.
Lewis was born in Abergavenny in 1616, where his father, Morgan Lewis was the headmaster of Abergavenny Grammar School. He was raised as a Protestant but as a young man he spent some time in Paris, and while there, he converted to Catholicism.
Subsequently, he went to study at the English College in Rome, where he was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1642. Three years later he became an evangelising Jesuit and returned to Monmouthshire, where he was greatly loved and was known as ‘Tad y Tlodion’ - ‘Father of the Poor’.
In 1678 he became a victim of Titus Oates's Popish Plot (false claims that there was a vast Jesuit conspiracy to assassinate Charles II and bring his Catholic brother, the future James II to the throne).
Oates was given the authority to round up the suspects and David Lewis was arrested at Llantarnam and brought for trial at the Lenten Assizes in Monmouth on 16th March 1679. His charge was High Treason for becoming a Catholic priest and remaining in the country. He pleaded not guilty, but several witnesses claimed they had seen him perform priestly duties and he was found guilty and sentenced to death. Lewis was brought to Newgate Prison in London and questioned about the “plot” by Oates and his henchmen but, they were unable to get him to confess.
He was taken to Usk Gaol to await his execution and on 27th August 1679, he was taken from his cell and carried on a hurdle to a place known as the Coniger and there he was hanged. His body was taken in procession to the churchyard of the Priory Church and there it was buried in the grave closest to the main door of the church. Every year on the Sunday nearest to 27th August there is a pilgrimage to this holy site. In October 1970, Fr David Lewis was canonised by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
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1715 Earl of Mar raises the Jacobite standard at Braemar, Aberdeenshire, starting the Jacobite uprising in Scotland.
1776 The British defeat the Americans in the Battle of Long Island.
1784 The first balloon ascent was made in Britain, by James Tytler at Edinburgh.
1802 West India Quay officially opens as London’s first purpose-built dock, featuring the largest brick building in the world.
1883 Krakatoa volcano, located west of Java in Indonesia, erupts with a force of 200 megatons of TNT, killing approximately 36,000 people.
@Yulianna
1913Pyotr Nesterov becomes the first pilot to fly a loop-the-loop in an airplane in Kyiv, Ukraine.
1918 Spanish flu arrives in Boston, beginning the second and deadliest wave in the US.
1950 First transmission of a TV program from continental Europe airs on the BBC.
1965 The Beatles spend an evening with Elvis Presley at his Los Angeles, California, home.
….
Fr David Lewis was hanged on this day 1679 for High Treason and canonised a saint in 1970 by Pope Paul VI.
Lewis was born in Abergavenny in 1616, where his father, Morgan Lewis was the headmaster of Abergavenny Grammar School. He was raised as a Protestant but as a young man he spent some time in Paris, and while there, he converted to Catholicism.
Subsequently, he went to study at the English College in Rome, where he was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1642. Three years later he became an evangelising Jesuit and returned to Monmouthshire, where he was greatly loved and was known as ‘Tad y Tlodion’ - ‘Father of the Poor’.
In 1678 he became a victim of Titus Oates's Popish Plot (false claims that there was a vast Jesuit conspiracy to assassinate Charles II and bring his Catholic brother, the future James II to the throne).
Oates was given the authority to round up the suspects and David Lewis was arrested at Llantarnam and brought for trial at the Lenten Assizes in Monmouth on 16th March 1679. His charge was High Treason for becoming a Catholic priest and remaining in the country. He pleaded not guilty, but several witnesses claimed they had seen him perform priestly duties and he was found guilty and sentenced to death. Lewis was brought to Newgate Prison in London and questioned about the “plot” by Oates and his henchmen but, they were unable to get him to confess.
He was taken to Usk Gaol to await his execution and on 27th August 1679, he was taken from his cell and carried on a hurdle to a place known as the Coniger and there he was hanged. His body was taken in procession to the churchyard of the Priory Church and there it was buried in the grave closest to the main door of the church. Every year on the Sunday nearest to 27th August there is a pilgrimage to this holy site. In October 1970, Fr David Lewis was canonised by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
….
1715 Earl of Mar raises the Jacobite standard at Braemar, Aberdeenshire, starting the Jacobite uprising in Scotland.
1776 The British defeat the Americans in the Battle of Long Island.
1784 The first balloon ascent was made in Britain, by James Tytler at Edinburgh.
1802 West India Quay officially opens as London’s first purpose-built dock, featuring the largest brick building in the world.
1883 Krakatoa volcano, located west of Java in Indonesia, erupts with a force of 200 megatons of TNT, killing approximately 36,000 people.
@Yulianna
1913Pyotr Nesterov becomes the first pilot to fly a loop-the-loop in an airplane in Kyiv, Ukraine.
1918 Spanish flu arrives in Boston, beginning the second and deadliest wave in the US.
1950 First transmission of a TV program from continental Europe airs on the BBC.
1965 The Beatles spend an evening with Elvis Presley at his Los Angeles, California, home.
61-69, M
