Blessed James Fenn and Companions (AC)
Died 1584. A group of martyrs consisting of James Fenn, John Nutter, John Munden, and Thomas Hemerford, who were martyred at Tyburn, England, and beatified in 1929. While they died during the same persecution and were beatified at the same time, they are not included among the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
James Fenn was born in Montacute near Yeovil, Somerset, and was educated at Corpus Christi College and Gloucester Hall at Oxford. He became a school master and married. Upon his wife's death, he studied in Rheims and was ordained to the priesthood in 1580.
John Nutter was born near Burnley, Lancastershire, and was a fellow of Saint John's College, Cambridge. He studied for the priesthood at Rheims and was ordained in 1581.
John Munden, a native of Coltley, South Maperton, Dorset, studied at New College, Oxford, became a school master, went to Rheims and to Rome for his ecclesiastical training and was ordained in 1582.
Thomas Hemerford, a native of Dorsetshire, was educated at Saint John's College and Hart Hall, Oxford. He studied for the priesthood at the English College in Rome, where he was ordained in 1583--just a year before his death (Benedictines).