John Fenn (born at Montacute near

Yeovil Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somerset's southern border with ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

; d. 27 December 1615) was an English

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

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. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

. He was the elder brother of James Fenn, the Catholic martyr, and Robert Fenn.

Life

After being a

chorister A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

Wells Cathedral Wells Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England, dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, whose cathedra it holds as mother church of the Diocese of Bath and Wells. Built as a ...

, he went to Winchester School in 1547, and in 1550 to New College, Oxford, 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 under Elizabeth. He went to Rome where after four years' study he was ordained priest about 1566. Having for a time been chaplain to Sir William Stanley's regiment in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-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 cultu ...

, he settled at Leuven, 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, S.J., of various accounts of persecution of English Catholics, under the title "Concertatio Ecclesiae Catholicae in Angliâ". This was the groundwork of the larger collection published by Bridgewater under the same name in 1588. Besides his "Vitae quorundam Martyrum in Angliâ", included in the "Concertatio", he translated into Latin

John Fisher John Fisher (c. 19 October 1469 – 22 June 1535) was an English Catholic bishop, cardinal, and theologian. Fisher was also an academic and Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He was canonized by Pope Pius XI. Fisher was executed by o ...

'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 ( la, Concilium Tridentinum), 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, it has been described a ...

, 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 ...

's attack on his letter to Queen Elizabeth (1568), Guerra's "Treatise of Tribulation", an Italian life of Catherine of Sienna (1609; 1867), and Gaspar Loarte's "Instructions How to Meditate the Misteries of the Rosarie". He also collected from old English sources some spiritual treatises for the Brigettine nuns of Syon House.

References

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, Oxfor ...

, ''De Illustribus Angliae Scriptoribus'' (Paris, 1623); ** Charles Dodd, ''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''. Early life Anthony W ...

, ed. Bliss, ''Athenae Oxonienses'', II,; ** Joseph Gillow, ''Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath.'', s.v. ; **

Thompson Cooper Thompson Cooper (8 January 1837, Cambridge – 5 March 1904, London) 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 t ...

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