ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN FEBRUARY
Saints celebrated on the 12th of February
BLESSED JAMES FENN, PRIEST AND MARTYR
He was born at Montacute, in Somersetshire, and brought up in Oxford, first in New College, where his two elder brothers, John and Robert, studied at that time, and afterwards in Corpus Christi College, but being about to be received fellow of the college, he boggled at the oath of supremacy, which was tendered him upon that occasion, and thereupon was expelled the house: however, he stayed a while longer in the university, and was tutor to some young scholars in Gloucester-Hall - but not finding himself safe here, he retired from Oxford into his native country, Somersetshire, where he wan entertained by a gentleman of fortune, in quality of tutor or preceptor to his sons, whom he brought up in the fear of God, and the love of the old religion; though their father, who was a worldly man, had another way of thinking.
Here Mr. Fenn married a wife by whom he had two children; and having undergone divers persecutions for has conscience, and, after some time, lost his wife, he betook himself to the service of Sir Nicholas Pointz, an eminent catholic gentleman, whom he served in quality of steward, to the great satisfaction of his master, and all that had any dealings with him. And such, indeed, was his conduct in every station of life that he went through, as not only faithfully to discharge the duties of his office, lat also to behave himself with so much edification, that the whole tenor of his life was a perpetual sermon, by which he strongly recommended virtue and piety to all.
A learned and pious priest, who used to frequent Sir Nicholas's house, taking notice of the excellent qualifications and rare virtues of Mr. Fenn, thought it a pity that his talents should not be employed in greater things; and seriously advised him to quit that worldly employ, and to go over to Rheims [Reims] to the English college lately translated thither from Douay, that, receiving holy orders, and returning into his country, he might be serviceable to the souls of many.
Mr. Fenn took the council of the holy man, and giving up his stewardship, went over to Rheims, where he was made priest, as appears in the college diary, anno, 1580, and so was sent upon the mission. His labours were in his own native country, Somersetshire, where he reconciled several persons of distinction to the Catholic Church. But it was not long before he was apprehended by the persecutors, though not yet known to be a priest, and sent to Hester gaol, loaded with irons. And that nothing night be wanting to his disgrace, he was exposed, chained and fettered as he was, in a public place, on a market day, for a show to all the people: but the success did not answer the design and expectation of his adversaries: for such was the invincible patience; such the modesty of his countenance, and the tranquillity of soul, which discovered itself in his whole behaviour on this occasion, that the spectators conceived a great veneration for him; and many begun to look more seriously into their religion; being not a little veneration for him; and many began to look more seriously into their religion, being shocked to see a man treated in this manner, purely for following the dictates of his conscience in matters of religion.
The magistrates in the country being alarmed at this, acquainted the queen's council, by letters, with the whole matter, who ordered Mr. Fenn to be sent up to London, where he was examined by secretary Walsingham, and sent prisoner to the Marshalsea. Here he was kept for two whole years, the gaolers and turnkeys not knowing him to be a priest, and therefore treating him with more humanity than otherwise they would have done; and not prohibiting any one to visit him, which opportunity Mr. Fenn made good use of, not only to confirm the catholics in their faith, and administer the holy sacraments to as many as applied to him, but also to reconcile several protestants to the church. In the meantime he prayed much, meditated often, exercised himself day in the works of mercy, both corporal and spiritual, to his fellow prisoners, especially those of the household of faith. He had a particular charity for pirates and other unhappy malefactors, who were to suffer the law for those crimes; whom he visited as much as he could, and exhorted with great affection, to make good use of their time, and to appease the wrath of God by penitence, and to sech reconciliation with his divine Majesty in the communion of the Catholic Church, which alone had received from Christ the keys of heaven, and the power of remitting and retaining sins. And such was the force and unction that accompanied his words, that he brought several of those hardened sinners to repentance and confession; and, among the rest, a noted pirate, whom he found so deeply oppressed with the load of his sins, as to be in despair of salvation; whom he effectually exhorted and encouraged, by setting before his eyes the greatness of God's mercy, and the power he had given to his masters, that he cast himself at his feet, and desired to be admitted into the Catholic Church, and to make his confession, which he did, after Mr. Fenn had given him proper instructions as far as the short pass of his time would permit. The next day ha also admitted him to the holy communion, to his unspeakable comfort and so stout was this convert, that, being to die the following day, he absolutely refused the communion and prayers of the protestant ministers, neither regarding their threats nor their promises and at the place of execution publicly professed that he died a catholic, and blessed the providence of God that met with such holy company that had taught him to be a Christian.
As Mr. Fenn's words carried with them a particular virtue, by which he made a great impression on the souls of those that conversed with him; so, in his very countenance and mein, there was something exceedingly engaging and attracting, most especially when he was speaking of God, and of heavenly things (which he did as often as he had opportunity), and when he was celebrating the sacred mysteries insomuch, that those who saw him, or heard him, on these occasions, found themselves wonderfully affected and stirred up to devotion, by that heavenly air which showed itself in the whole man. A certain gentleman, who once assisted at his Mass, declared to a priest of his acquaintance, that he found in his soul such unusual sentiments of devotion that he could not refrain from shedding an abundance of tears, and this, by seeing the heavenly mein of the holy priest, and that air of recollection and devotion, which was so remarkable in him upon that occasion.
One year before his happy end, he seemed to have a foreknowledge of his death, and prepared himself for it by a more strict retirement. (only when the necessities of his neighbours required his attendance) a more continual prayer, joined to much watching and fasting, till the time now drawing near, when God would crown his servant. He was discovered to be a priest, and committed to a more close confinement. And as it pleased the ministry at that time to pick out some of the many priests they had then in prison, to make an example of them for the error of the catholics, he was one that was marked out for the butchery. And, as a preparation for this, he was called to an examination, and had the usual murdering questions put to him concerning the supremacy to which he answered in such manner as to profess all due obedience nce to the queen in temporals, and the pope in spiritual; declaring withal, that he was a catholic, and that there was not any one article of the catholic religion for which he was not willing to lay down his life.
When his trial came on, though they wanted not matter sufficient for his condemnation, on account of his priesthood, and the answers he had given to the examiners; yet to make the proceedings against him more plausible in his indictment, they affirmed, that James Fenn and George Haydock, in such a year, mouth, and day, (which were all named,) had conspired together at Rome to kill the queen, and had returned into England in order to perpetrate their wickedness. Mr. Fenn being called upon by by the judges to answer for himself, called God and all the court of heaven to witness, that this accusation was most notoriously false; that, indeed, he had never been at Rome in his life, nor ever any nearer it than Rheims; that he had never seen Mr. Haydock till he met him at the bar, and that at the very time when he was pretended to have been plotting at Rome, he was actually in England, as he could demonstrate; and that he believed he could make it appear that he was then prisoner in the Marshalsea that he had never entertained so much as the first thought of any treason against the queen, and that he would not, for the whole kingdom of England, have done her the least hurt, though he could be sure of doing it with impunity.
The judge told him, that although there might be some error in the circumstances of time, place, &c., yet that he had been sufficiently convicted of treason, and therefore was to look for nothing else but to die; and so neither witness nor any evidence whatsoever being produced to prove the pretended plot, to the astonishment of all that were there, he directed the jury to find him guilty of the indictment, and accordingly pronounced sentence upon him, as in cases of high treason, which bare faced iniquity convinced all, that the true cause of Mr. Fenn's condemnation and death, was no other than his priestly character and religion.
Having received sentence, he was carried to the Tower, and there kept in a dungeon, loaded with irons, from Friday, the day of his condemnation, till Wednesday following, which was the day of his execution. In the meantime, Mr. Popham, the attorney general, and a doctor of the civil law, formerly school-fellow to Mr. Fenn, came to him to exhort him to comply and acknowledge the queen's authority, and obey the laws; promising, that if he would, they would use their best endeavours to save his life. The confessor told them, he willingly acknowledged the queen's authority in all temporal matters, but that he neither could nor would acknowledge her supreme head of the church, but only as one of the sheep, subject, in spirituals, to that shepherd to whom Christ committed his whole flock: and that he was ready in and for the profession of this faith, to die. On the day of execution he was laid on a hurdle, to be drawn, with his companions, from the Tower to Tyburn. It was a moving spectacle to many, to see his little daughter Frances, with many tears, take her last leave of her father upon this occasion, whilst the good man, who had long since been dead to all things in this world, looking upon her with a calm and serene countenance, and lifting up his handa as well as he could, for they were pinioned, gave her his blessing, and so was drawn away. At Tyburn he was not suffered to speak many words; but after he had prayed for a while, he only declared to the people his innocence of the crime that had been falsely laid to his charge in the court; and then recommended himself and the queen, to whom he wished all manner of happiness, to God's mercy. And so the cart being drawn away, he was left hanging for a little while, and then cut down alive, bowelled and quartered. His quarters were disposed on four of the gates of the unity, and his head upon London Bridge.
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