Saint DAVID LEWIS also known as CHARLES BAKER, Jesuit, 1679
REPROACHED FOR CHRIST
Biography
If you be reproached for the name of Christ you shall be blessed : for that which is the honour of God resteth on you."—1 Pet. iv. 14.
Biography
Born of Protestant parents in Monmouthshire, he was reconciled at the age of nineteen, when a law student in London. Ordained at the English College, Rome, he entered the Society, and was sent on the English Mission in 1648. For thirty-one years he toiled for souls, fearless in dangers, patient in suffering, till his apprehension, November 19, 1678. While in the hands of his captors he was summoned to a dying priest, Father Ignatius Price, who was sinking from hunger and cold and the hardships of a hunted life, but he could only send him his best wishes for eternity, and after three days Father Price died. At Monmouth Father Baker, in spite of a brilliant defence, was condemned and sent up to London, where Lord Shaftesbury suggested to him to save his life and improve his fortune by revealing something of the plot or conforming in religion ; but he refused, for of the plot he knew nothing, and to conform would be against his conscience. On the scaffold he forgave his persecutors, and to the Catholics he said : " Fear God, honour the King. Be firm in your faith ; bear patiently persecutions, always remembering St. Peter's words, that reproach borne not for any evil thing, but for Christ's sake, is a blessing." He suffered at Usk, August 27, 1679."
If you be reproached for the name of Christ you shall be blessed : for that which is the honour of God resteth on you."—1 Pet. iv. 14.
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1 comment:
Hi Gillibrand
Good blog with loads of information. May I respectfully point out a couple of mistakes in this post? "Charles Baker" was the alias of Fr David Lewis. His father, Morgan Lewis, was Protestant but his mother, Margaret Pritchard, was a devout Catholic and the sister of a Jesuit, Fr John Pritchard. St David Lewis was arrested at Llantarnam on 17th November 1678, NOT 19th November. Fr David Lewis (alias Charles Baker) was martyred at Usk on 27th August 1679 and canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1970.
God bless you.
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