Return To England and Martyrdom
In October 1607, Roberts returned to England. In December he was again arrested and placed in the Gatehouse at Westminster, from which he escaped after some months. After his escape, he lived for about a year in London, but in May 1609 was taken to Newgate Prison. He might have been executed, but Antonie de la Broderie, the French ambassador, interceded on his behalf, and his sentence was reduced to banishment.
Roberts again visited Spain and Douai, but returned to England within a year. He was captured again on 2 December 1610; the arresting men arrived just as he was concluding Mass, and took him to Newgate in his vestments. On 5 December he was tried and found guilty under the Act forbidding priests to minister in England, and on 10 December was hanged, drawn, and quartered, along with Thomas Somers, at Tyburn, London.
The body of Roberts was recovered by a group that included Maurus Scott and taken to St. Gregory's, Douai, but disappeared during the French Revolution. Two fingers were preserved as relics, and came to Downside Abbey and Erdington Abbey. At Erdington Abbey there was a contemporary engraving of Roberts's execution.
Read more about this topic: John Roberts (martyr)
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