Blessed William Davies | |
|---|---|
| Martyr | |
| Born | c. 1555 North Wales, probably Croes yn Eirias, Denbighshire |
| Died | 27 July 1593 (aged 37 - 38) Beaumaris Castle, Beaumaris, Anglesey, Wales |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 22 November 1987 by Pope John Paul II |
| Feast | 27 July, 22 November (with the Martyrs of England and Wales) |
William Davies (died 27 July 1593) was an outlawed Welsh Roman Catholic missionary who worked as an underground schoolmaster in the Creuddyn Peninsula of North Wales. Davies was martyred at Beaumaris Castle in Anglesey during the Elizabethan era, as part of the religious persecution of the Catholic Church in Wales that began under Henry VIII and ended only with Catholic Emancipation in 1829. Davies was beatified by Pope John Paul II as one of the Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales in 1987.[1] There is a chapel in Anglesey built as a memorial to him. He is credited with a Welsh-language devotional work, written during his imprisonment.