John Fenn (born at

Montacute Montacute is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, west of Yeovil. The village has a population of 831 (2011 census). The name Montacute is thought by some to derive from the Latin "Mons Acutus", referring to the conically acute St ...

near

Yeovil Yeovil () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England. It is close to Somerset's southern border with Dorset, west of London, south of Bristol, west of Sherborne and east of Taunton. The population of the bui ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

; d. 27 December 1615) was an English

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest and writer, in exile under

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

. He was the elder brother of

James Fenn James Fenn ( 1540 – 12 February 1584) was an English Catholic priest and martyr who was beatified on 15 December 1929, by Pope Pius XI. James Fenn was the brother of the Catholic priest and writer John Fenn and of Robert Fenn. All three brother ...

, the Catholic martyr, and Robert Fenn.

Life

After being a

chorister A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

Wells Cathedral Wells Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Bath and Wells and the mother church of the diocese of Bath and Wells. There are daily Church of England services in ...

, he went to

Winchester School Winchester College is an English public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 as ...

in 1547, and in 1550 to

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

, of which he was elected Fellow in 1552. Next year he became head master of the Bury St Edmunds Grammar School, but was deprived of this office and also of his fellowship for refusing to take the

oath of supremacy The Oath of Supremacy required any person taking public or church office in the Kingdom of England, or in its subordinate Kingdom of Ireland, to swear allegiance to the monarch as Supreme Governor of the Church. Failure to do so was to be trea ...

under Elizabeth. He went to Rome where after four years' study he was ordained priest about 1566. Having for a time been chaplain to William Stanley's regiment in

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

, he settled at

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

, where he lived for forty years. In 1609, when the English Augustinian Canonnesses founded St. Monica's Priory in Leuven, he became their first chaplain, until in 1611 when his sight failed. He continued to live in the priory, until his death.

Works

He contributed to the publication, in 1583, by

John Gibbons John Michael Gibbons (born June 8, 1962) is an American professional baseball coach, manager and former player. Gibbons played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a catcher with the New York Mets in 1984 and 1986. Gibbons became a coach for the ...

, of various accounts of persecution of English Catholics, under the title . This was the groundwork of the larger collection published by Bridgewater under the same name in 1588. Besides his , included in the , he translated into Latin

John Fisher John Fisher (c. 19 October 1469 – 22 June 1535) was an English Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Rochester from 1504 to 1535 and as chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He is honoured as a martyr and saint by the Catholic Chu ...

's "Treatise on the penitential Psalms" (1597) and two of his sermons; he also published English versions of the Catechism of the

Council of Trent The Council of Trent (), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation at the time, it has been described as the "most ...

, Jerome Osorio de Fonseca's reply to

Walter Haddon Walter Haddon LL.D. (1515–1572) was an English civil lawyer, much involved in church and university affairs under Edward VI, Queen Mary, and Elizabeth I. He was a University of Cambridge humanist and reformer, and was highly reputed in his tim ...

's attack on his letter to Queen Elizabeth (1568),

Guerra Guerra is a Portuguese, Spanish and Italian term meaning "war". Notable people with the surname Guerra include: People Arts * Aaron Guerra, American guitarist * Adam Daniel Guerra, American drag queen also known as Venus D-Lite * Ana Clara Guerr ...

's "Treatise of Tribulation", an Italian life of Catherine of Sienna (1609; 1867), and the "Instructions How to Meditate the Misteries of the Rosarie" of . He also collected from old English sources some spiritual treatises for the Brigettine nuns of

Syon House Syon House is the west London residence of the Duke of Northumberland. A Grade I listed building, it lies within the 200-acre (80 hectare) Syon Park, in the London Borough of Hounslow. The family's traditional central London residence had b ...

External links

*
Arduino, Fabio. "Tommaso Hemerford et al, sacerdoti e martiri", Santi e Beati
;Attribution * The entry, written by Edwin Burton, cites: **

John Pits John Pitts (also Pits, Pitseus; 1560 – 17 October 1616) was an English Roman Catholic scholar and writer. Life Pitts was born in Alton, Hampshire in 1560 and attended Winchester College. From 1578 to 1580 he studied at New College, Oxford. In ...

, ''De Illustribus Angliae Scriptoribus'' (Paris, 1623); **

Charles Dodd Hugh Tootell (1671/72 – 27 February 1743) was an English Catholic historian. He is commonly known under his pseudonym Charles Dodd. Life Tootell was born in Lancashire. He was tutored by his uncle, Christopher Tootle, before studying wi ...

, ''Church History'' (Brussels, 1737–42), I, 510; **

Anthony à Wood Anthony Wood (17 December 1632 – 28 November 1695), who styled himself Anthony à Wood in his later writings, was an English antiquary. He was responsible for a celebrated ''Hist. and Antiq. of the Universitie of Oxon''. He meticulously rese ...

, ed. Bliss, ''Athenae Oxonienses'', II,; **

Joseph Gillow Joseph Gillow (5 October 1850, Preston, Lancashire – 17 March 1921, Westholme, Hale, Cheshire) was an English Roman Catholic antiquary, historian and bio-bibliographer, "the Plutarch of the English Catholics". Biography Born in Frenchwood Ho ...

, ''Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath.'', s.v.; **

Thompson Cooper Thompson Cooper (8 January 1837 – 5 March 1904) was an English journalist, man of letters, and compiler of reference works. He became a specialist in biographical information, and is noted as the most prolific contributor to the Victorian e ...

in ''Dictionary of National Biography'', s.v.; **Adam Hamilton, ''Chronicle of the English Augustinian Canonesses of St. Monica's Louvain'' (London, 1904). {{DEFAULTSORT:Fenn, John 1615 deaths 16th-century English Roman Catholic priests 17th-century English Roman Catholic priests Fellows of New College, Oxford Year of birth unknown People educated at King Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds