Hugh Faringdon plaque, English Martyrs Church, Liebenrood Road, Reading
Born Hugh Cook, he adopted the surname of Faringdon when he became a monk, sometime prior to 1500. The use of this surname suggests that he came from Faringdon, a town some 30 miles (48km) northwest of Reading. However it is also significant that he subsequently used the arms of the Cook family of Kent, suggesting that he had connections there.[1] He is believed to have been educated within the abbey, and later served as the sub-cellarer of the abbey.[2]
Hugh Faringdon was elected Abbot of Reading Abbey in 1520, upon the death of Abbot Thomas Worcester. As well as his spiritual duties, he also took up the civil duties expected at that time of a mitred abbot, being appointed as Justice of the Peace and to various governmental Commissions for Berkshire from 1526 to 1538.[2]
At first Faringdon's relationship with King Henry VIII of England seemed to have been supportive. King Henry was his guest on 30 January 1521, and he later became one of the royal chaplains. Among Henry's New Year gifts in 1532 was £20 in a white leather purse to the Abbot of Reading.[3] When the king was hunting in the neighborhood, the abbot would take the opportunity of sending him presents of Kennet trout or hunting knives.[4]
Faringdon seems to have taken the king's side during the divorce controversy. While Henry was searching for authorities to support his views on matrimonial laws, Faringdon sent him books which he thought would serve the purpose.[5] He sat in Parliament from 1523 to 1539 and, in 1530, he signed, with other members of the House of Lords, a letter to the Pope pointing out the evils likely to result from delaying the divorce desired by the King; and, again in 1536, he signed the Articles of Faith drawn up in Convocation which virtually acknowledged the supremacy of the Crown over the Church. On Sunday, 4 November 1537, he sang the requiem and dirge for Queen Jane Seymour at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and was present at the burial on 12 November. As late as March 1538, he was in favour, being placed in the commission of the peace for Berkshire.[3]
When the commissioners arrived to take the surrender of Reading Abbey, they reported favourably of the abbot's willingness to conform, but the surrender of the abbey does not survive, and it is not therefore known whether or not Faringdon actually signed it.[5]
Bas-relief of execution of Hugh Faringdon, at Reading Abbey ruins.
In 1539, Faringdon was indicted for high treason after being accused of having assisted the Northern rebels with money. He was tracked down at Bere Court, his manor at Pangbourne, and taken back to the Tower of London, where he spent two months.[6] As a mitred abbot he was entitled to be tried by Parliament, but no scruples troubled the chancellor, Thomas Cromwell. His death sentence was therefore passed before his trial began.[3] Along with John Rugg, a known associate, and John Eynon, the priest of St Giles' Church in Reading, he was found guilty and hanged, drawn and quartered before the inner Abbey gatehouse on 14 November 1539.
John Rugg had been charged with taking and concealing one of the Abbey's celebrated relics, being the purported hand of St. Anastasius. The monks of Reading, not under suspicion of complicity in the Abbot's alleged treason, were given pensions normally set upon monks and nuns at the dissolution of their monasteries.[2]
There are stained glass windows of Blessed Hugh in the following churches:
St James' Church, the Roman Catholic parish church that occupies part of the footprint of the now ruined Reading Abbey. His two martyred companions are also commemorated.[7][8]
A plaque at the English Martyrs Church in Liebenrood Road, Reading commemorates him.[11]
There is a panel painting of him in the Our Lady and Saint Anne Church in Caversham, Reading.[12]
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.[13]
The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict, are a mainly contemplative monastic religious order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. The male religious are also sometimes called the Black Monks, in reference to the colour of their religious habits, in contrast to other Benedictine orders such as the Olivetans, who wear white. They were founded in 529 by Benedict of Nursia, a 6th-century Italian monk who laid the foundations of Benedictine monasticism through the formulation of his Rule. Benedict's sister, Scholastica, possibly his twin, also became a religious from an early age, but chose to live as a hermit. They retained a close relationship until her death.
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John Houghton, OCart was a Catholic priest of the Carthusian order and the first martyr to die as a result of the Act of Supremacy by King Henry VIII of England. He was also the first of the Carthusians to die as a martyr. As one of the Carthusian Martyrs of London he is among the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
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Meinrad, OSB was a German Benedictine hermit and is revered as a Catholic and Orthodox saint. He is known as the "Martyr of Hospitality". His feast day is 21 January.
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Events from the 1530s in England.
Richard Whiting was an English Catholic priest and the last Abbot of Glastonbury.
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Dom Bede Camm, O.S.B., was an English Benedictine monk and martyrologist. He is best known for his many works on the English Catholic martyrs, which helped to keep their memories alive in the newly reemerging Catholic Church of Victorian England.
Blessed Hugh Faringdon is a Catholic state secondary school in Reading in Berkshire, England. The school has approximately 850 pupils on roll and around 100 teaching and non teaching staff. The school specialises in Mathematics and the Performing Arts. Blessed Hugh Faringdon is one of the many Catholic schools in and around Reading but the only secondary and is under the Trusteeship of the Diocese of Portsmouth. The school is a member of the Partners in Excellence group of schools.
John Eynon, OSB 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.
Nine Martyrs of England and Wales, also known as Hugh Faringdon and Eight Companion Martyrs are a group of clergy and laypersons who were executed on charges of treason and related offences in the Kingdom of England. Eight of these occurred in 1539, during the reign of King Henry VIII, and one other in 1572. They are considered martyrs in the Roman Catholic Church and were beatified on 13 May 1895 by Pope Leo XIII.
↑ "The North Aisle". Roman Catholic Parish of St James and St William of York Reading. Archived from the original on 25 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
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