SERMON FOR THE 6th BLESSED DAVID GUNSON PILGRIMAGE

 

We are, as previously noted, extremely grateful to Father Gary Dench, of Brentwood Cathedral, for celebrating Holy Mass and preaching this year's annual Sermon for this Pilgrimage, the sixth consecutive year.

A good number of Pilgrims attended at the church of Our Lady of la Salette, Bermondsey, with several then walking along the Old Kent Road to the site of the Martyrdom at St Thomas Waterings, for the customary prayers. We were joined, by happy circumstance, by Father Gwilym Evans FSSP, an old friend of the Order ordained in Bavaria a month ago, who served the Mass and gave First Blessings afterwards.  The evening concluded with an informal supper in the Borough. 

Here then is the text of Fr Dench's sermon, which places our beloved Martyr in the wider context of the numerous other martyrs who came from the Venerable English College to serve the Faith in these shores.

Just off the Piazza Farnese is a road called the Via di Monserrato. In 1362, two rosary sellers set up a small establishment offering hospitality to English pilgrims. Apparently there had long been a problem with foreign visitors being over-charged by locals (dare I say that say that some things have not changed in 650 years) and this was an attempt to provide decent accommodation at a fair price for the English pilgrim.

Like much of the work of Providence throughout history, it is those things with humble beginnings which God tends and nurtures, and allows to flourish. By the sixteenth century, with English Reformation in full swing, the site was considered large enough to house a community of young men who would be trained, formed, and ordained as priests to be sent back to the English mission. They were sent back to their homeland in order that the dying embers of faith in our land could be fanned and tended. The Venerable English College was founded in 1579 for that very purpose and still it stands, a community which has withstood Reformation, Enlightenment, Revolution and war. 

High above in the top level of the College Church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity and St Thomas of Canterbury is the history of the British Isles portrayed in a series of images. But this is no ordinary history of our islands. These images tell the story of our faith and all that it has suffered through the centuries. 

FEAST OF BLESSED DAVID GUNSON, MARTYR IN SOUTHWARK

Today is the Feast of our third Martyr in the scourge of Henry VIII. Blessed David Gunson (Gonson, or Gunston) was this day dragged from the Kings Bench Gaol in the Borough, along the start of the Pilgrim Way to Canterbury, to be hanged, drawn and quartered at Saint Thomas Waterings, for his defence of the Pope's supremacy. Two years earlier his friends Adrian Fortescue and Thomas Dingley has suffered likewise at Tower Hill. May they pray for us, and for all who persecute the Church in our own day. May their example enlighten those engaged in the reforms of our beloved Order.

Holy Mass will be celebrated for the Order at the Church of Our Lady of La Salette, Bermondsey, (14 Melior Street, SE1 3QP), at 6pm this evening (Tuesday 12th July), followed by a silent walk to the site of the Martyrdom. The preacher and celebrant will be Fr Gary Dench of Brentwood Cathedral.

Blessed David Gunson, pray for us.

HOMILY FOR BLESSED ADRIAN FORTESCUE FOR THE 50th JUBILEE OF HIS PATRONAGE

We are deeply indebted to our Chaplain Fr Stephen Morrison, O Praem, for this exposition on the devotion to Blessed Adrain Fortescue, which forms a sequel to last year's sermon on this holy feast, which may be read HERE.

This year Father Stephen was himself celebrant of the Mass, at the Assumption Warwick Street, assisted in very monastic 'half-High Mass' by Fr Gerard Skinner, and glorious choir. The Order's rarely seen 'Fort Augustus' vestments were worn. Veneration of the Relic followed the Mass, which was itself followed by a reception in the Grand Priory Library.

Dear Fathers, Dear Confreres, Dear Faithful,

We celebrate the feast of the patron of the Grand Priory of England, fifty years after he was first chosen as such, with grateful hearts. We are grateful for so many graces received through his intercession, and for the inspiration his witness has given over the years to so many who would take up the Cross of the Order of Malta, calling on him to pray – as we have done countless times – that we may “forget ourselves and love God more.” The line which strikes me most in our prayer to Bd Adrian, however, and upon which I wish to speak this evening, is the last phrase: “Pray also that like you I may risk all for Christ and His Holy Catholic Church.”

Risk all. 

THE SHIELD OF TRUTH

Reading for 8th July from "Mementoes of the Martyrs", Burns and Oates 1961, which every anglophone Catholic gentleman should have by his bed or board.

ADRIAN FORTESCUE (fort escu - strong shield) was born of an old Devon family in 1476. He served in the French campaign of 1513 with the young King Henry VIII, and became attached to Henry's court. He served again in France in 1523, and assisted at the coronation of Anne Boleyn, his first cousin, for the pope had not yet declared Katherine's marriage valid. But the oath of supremacy in 1535 opened his eyes to Henry's pretensions. Adrian had always been true to his faith (he was a knight of St John of Jerusalem and a Dominican tertiary), and early in 1539 he was sent to the Tower. He was then attainted by Parliament, and on July 9 of the same year beheaded on Tower Hill. The knights of his order have always revered him as a martyr, and his picture is in the church of St John at Valletta in Malta, with the martyr's palm.

Blessed Adrian, pray for us