Richard Gwyn, of Montgomeryshire

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch

Saint Richard Gwyn was martyred by being hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason on 15th October 1584. He was canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Richard Gwyn was born c. 1537 in Montgomeryshire and studied at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Douai, before returning to Wales as a teacher.

Gwyn was a staunch Catholic and this was at the time following The Protestant Reformation, that it was highly dangerous to be Catholic, however, Gwyn refused to convert to the Anglian faith and often had to change his home to avoid fines and imprisonment. He was arrested by the Vicar of Wrexham, an Anglican convert in 1579 and spent the next five years in and out of prison.

On one occasion Gwyn was fined £280 for refusing to attend Anglican church services, and another £140 for "brawling" when they took him there. Then in the spring of 1582 where, instead of being tried for an offence, he was given a sermon by an Anglican minister. However, he started to heckle him to the extent that the exercise had to be abandoned.

Richard Gwyn was indicted for high treason in 1583 and despite his defence and objections to the dubious practices of the court, Gwyn was executed by hanging, drawing and quartering, at the Beast Market in Wrexham on 15 October 1584. His last words, in Welsh, were reportedly "Iesu, trugarha wrthyf" ("Jesus, have mercy on me").