{{Short description|English Benedictine and martyr}} {{about||the Bible Christian minister|John Hicks Eynon}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Infobox saint | honorific_prefix= Blessed | name = John Eynon | image = | imagesize = | alt = | caption =Stained glass windows from Belmont Abbey, showing Saint John Eynon (at the left) together with Saint John Rugg | titles = Martyr | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = 15 November 1539 | death_place = Reading Abbey, Berkshire, England | venerated_in = Catholic Church | beatified_date = 13 May 1895 | beatified_place = Rome | beatified_by = Pope Leo XIII | canonized_date = | canonized_place = | canonized_by = | major_shrine = | feast_day = 15 November<ref>[http://www.stjosephderby.org.uk/a-liturgical-calendar-of-english-saints/ ''A liturgical calendar of English Saints'', St. Joseph's Catholic church, Derby]</ref> | attributes =chalice, martyr's palm | patronage = | issues = | suppressed_date = | suppressed_by = | influences = |honorific-suffix=OSB}}
'''John Eynon''', OSB († 1539) was a monk of the Order of Saint Benedict who acted as the pastor of the parish of St Giles in Reading, England. Copies of Robert Aske's proclamation setting forth the reasons behind the Pilgrimage of Grace had circulated at Reading. Eynon was one of those who had made a copy.<ref name=Camm>[https://books.google.com/books?id=mlX8aCewPS8C&dq=blessed+john+eynon&pg=PA387 Camm OSB, Bede. "The Blessed Hugh Faringdon", ''Lives of the English Martyrs'', Longmans, Green and Co., 1914, p. 369]{{PD-notice}}</ref>
At the dissolution of the monasteries under King Henry VIII, Eynon refused to surrender the parish to the King's authorities and was accused of high treason. He was executed on 15 November 1539 at the gateway to Reading Abbey, along with Hugh Faringdon and John Rugg. Rugg was a prebendary at Chichester, but had retired to live at Reading Abbey.<ref name=Camm/> All three men were declared to be martyrs and beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1895.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=3976 |title=Bl. John Eynon |work=catholic.org |accessdate=24 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Blessed John Eynon |work=CatholicSaints.Info |date=13 November 2015 |url=https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-john-eynon/ |accessdate=24 October 2017}}</ref>
John Eynon is commemorated by a carved wooden plaque in St Giles' Church, now a Church of England parish church, and by a stained glass window in St James' Church, the Roman Catholic parish church that occupies part of the footprint of the now ruined Reading Abbey. He is also depicted on ''The Martyrdom of Hugh Faringdon, last Abbot of Reading'', painted by Harry Morley in 1917, and now in the collection of the Museum of Reading.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sgilesreading.org.uk/history.html |title=History of S Giles-in-Reading |publisher=St Giles' Church |accessdate=25 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020112108/http://www.sgilesreading.org.uk/history.html|archive-date=20 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jameswilliam-reading.org.uk/the-north-aisle.html |title=The North Aisle |publisher=Roman Catholic Parish of St James and St William of York Reading |accessdate=25 October 2017 |archive-date=25 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025190029/http://www.jameswilliam-reading.org.uk/the-north-aisle.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.readingmuseum.org.uk/GetAsset.aspx?id=fAA2ADUAfAB8AFQAcgB1AGUAfAB8ADAAfAA1 |title=The Martyrdom of Hugh Faringdon, last Abbot of Reading |publisher=Museum of Reading |accessdate=25 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025190413/http://www2.readingmuseum.org.uk/GetAsset.aspx?id=fAA2ADUAfAB8AFQAcgB1AGUAfAB8ADAAfAA1 |archive-date=25 October 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
{{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= England}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eynon, John}} Category:1539 deaths Category:English beatified people Category:People associated with the Dissolution of the Monasteries Category:People executed under the Tudors for treason against England Category:16th-century English clergy Category:Benedictine martyrs Category:Benedictine saints Category:Martyred Roman Catholic priests Category:16th-century Roman Catholic martyrs Category:Year of birth unknown Category:People executed under Henry VIII Category:Clergy from Reading, Berkshire Category:Nine Martyrs of England and Wales