ST RICHARD REYNOLDS                      2017 FEAST DAY 

                                                             CELEBRATION

St Richard Reynolds feast day was celebrated

on Friday, 5th May. There was a memorial

Mass at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament,

Heavitree, Exeter (EX1 2QJ) at 9.30am followed

by refreshments in the Richard Reynolds Centre.


St Richard was a Bridgettine monk of Syon

Abbey who, in 1535, was the first man to refuse

to take the Oath of Supremacy making King

Henry VIII the supreme head of the Church in

England.


He was executed at Tyburn on 4th May 1535 by

being hung, drawn and quartered. The quarters

of his body were chopped to pieces and hung in

different parts of London including upon the

gateway of Syon Abbey itself at Twickenham.


The actual ornate section of gateway was

preserved by the monastic community of Syon

and is now in the Martyrs' Chapel at Blessed

Sacrament, Exeter alongside a terracotta plaque

of the saint by sculptor, Geoffrey Preston.

ABOVE: The ornate piece of Syon Abbey's gateway, which bore part of the body of St Richard Reynolds after his martyrdom,

now rests in the Martyrs' Chapel at Blessed Sacrament Church, Heavitree, Exeter

alongside the saint's memorial wall plaque by sculptor, Geoffrey Preston.

Saint Richard, one of the Forty Martyrs of England & Wales, was canonised by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

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       In the Richard Reynolds Centre there were               also copies of the new English edition of The

       Syon Breviary, recently published to

       celebrate the 600th anniversary of the

       foundation of Syon Abbey in 1415 by King

       Henry V. Copies of this lovely prayer book,

       the 'Daily Office of Our Lady', were available

       to buy.


       Parish priest, Fr Jonathan Stewart said, "We

       commemorate the martyrdom of St Richard

       Reynolds not only for his fidelity to the Church

       but also because we believe he was a member of

       the Reynolds family who lived nearby at                   Pinhoe, where he was born in 1492.


      Joy Hanson of St Bridget's Friends and formerly

      the gardener at Syon Abbey, brought along her

      album of photos and memorabilia which people

      were keen to see.


      The hymn to St Richard Reynolds, 'A Song of

      Syon' may be copied or printed from HERE.