Saints celebrated on the 12th of July
BLESSED DAVID GONSON, MARTYR
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| Gentleman wearing a medallion with the Order of Malta (first half of the 16th century) |
ONE OF THE MARTYRS OF SOUTHWARK, BLESSED DAVID WAS EXECUTED AT ST THOMAS WATERINGS, SOUTHWARK, JULY 12, 1541
Blessed David Gonson was born around 1510 in Deptford, Kent, the fourth son of William Gonson by his marriage with Bennet Walter, sister and heiress of John Walter. The name Gonson was pronounced as if Goonson, and was sometimes written Gunston. His was a naval family, with his father serving as a Vice-Admiral and well connected with the nobility. His father had been born in Melton Mowbray and his uncle, Bartholomew, served as a priest there. David's eldest brother Benjamin was "Surveyor of all our Shippes" in 1546 and "Treasurer of Marine Causes" in 1549¹. Blessed David was received into the Order of Malta at the English Auberge in Valetta on October 20, 1533.
He served on board ships of the Order in the Mediterranean until 1540 when he returned to England.
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| A 16th century seaport (unknown Dutch artist) |
Before he arrived home, Henry VIII had determined to suppress the Order in England and confiscate its property; it was duly suppressed in England on May 10, 1540. Blessed David refused to recognise the authority of the king in spiritual matters. The writ against him claimed that in Malta "He denied that King Henry was supreme head of the Church of England and that he called the King a heretic" with the accusation being laid by a fellow knight, Sir Philip Babington. For this he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and subsequently at Marshalsea Prison.
In 1541 he was put on trial and convicted of treason for his denial of the king's authority in spiritual matters.
He was executed by being hanged, drawn and quartered at St Thomas of Waterings [St Thomas' Waterings] in Southwark on July 12, 1541. This site was commonly used in the 1500s for the execution of religious dissenters.
Stow, who wrote in his Chronicles under the year 1541, states: The first of July ... Sir David Genson, Knight of Rhodes was drawn through Southwarke to St Thomas of Waterings and there executed for the Supremacy.
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| St Thomas of Waterings, the place of Bl. David's martyrdom, is mentioned in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" |
Stow wrote 40 years after the event. Wrothesley, who was a contemporary of Gonson, has in his Chronicle: 1541. The 12th daie of Julie, one of Mr Gunston's Sonnes which was a Knight of Rodes, was drawen from the Kinges Bench to Sainct Thomas Wateringes and there hanged and quartered for treason.
¹David's brother Benjamin, who had been a clerk in the Church of England had joined his father in the Navy Office (see above), had married shortly afterwards. He succeeded his father who took his own life, in 1544, probably in morbid depression as a result of the ignoble treatment meted out to his high-spirited and noble son David.
David was beatified by Pope Pius XI on December 15, 1929 as one of the Martyrs of England and Wales.
PRAYER:
Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that through the intercession of blessed David Gunson, Thy martyr, that all who are in bondage for conscience sake be delivered from all adversities to the greater glory of Thy name. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Sources: https://www.preciousblood.org.uk/martyrs-of-southwark.html, https://smom-za.org/saints/david.htm, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Gonson
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