The London Martyrs of 1591 are a collection of seven martyrs—both those who are canonized and those who have been beatified—who died in London on December 10, 1591, in a period of persecution that followed a reinforcement of anti-Catholic laws.

The central figure in their story is the priest, Edmund Gennings. Edmund Gennings was born in Lichfield, a city in Staffordshire in Northern England in 1567.
He became a page to an English nobleman who left England to become a priest in France. Deeply impressed by this example, Edmund left England for France, where he studied at Reims and was ordained at Soissons in 1590. At the age of only twenty-three, he was sent back to England in April 1590. He was estranged from his family because of his faith. But, despite the estrangement, Edmund returned to Lichfield to visit his family only to find that his parents had died. Edmund proceeded to London, seeking his brother John.

John had remained an ardent Puritan and had become fiercely anti-Catholic. John warned Edmund that if Edmund had become a priest, as he suspected, it would only bring death to himself and bring deep shame to his family and friends. Edmund went into the country for a few months to escape. But, in the autumn of 1591, Edmund returned to London. In November, he was celebrating Mass for a collection of Catholics at the home of an elderly schoolmaster, Swithin Wells, and his wife, Margaret.

In the middle of the celebration of Mass, the notorious priest-catcher, Topcliffe, appeared at the house. Some of the men who had been celebrating the Mass with them kept Topcliffe and his men at bay until Mass was finished. Before they were able to escape, Edmund Gennings and Polidore Plasden were arrested along with the laypeople at Mass.

On December 10, Edmund Gennings was hanged, drawn and quartered, Swithin Wells was hanged, and Polidore Plasden and the two other laymen who had been at Mass were executed at the infamous execution site of Tyburn in equally gruesome fashion.

Of those who had been at Mass that day, only Margaret Wells was left to live. Margaret received a reprieve from her own execution and died in prison eleven years later.

Eustace White, a priest who had been imprisoned and tortured by Topcliffe with extreme cruelty was also executed alongside Wells and Plasden. Brian Lacey, a priest who had been betrayed by his own brother, was killed that day as well.

Edmund Gennings’ brother, at first rejoicing at the death of his Catholic kinsman, less than two weeks later became a Catholic. Eventually, he became a Franciscan and founded a convent of Franciscan Sisters in Brussels.

All seven of those martyred on December 10, 1591, were beatified in 1929 by Pope Pius XI. Edmund Gennings, Polidore Plasden, Swithin Wells and Eustace White were canonized as members of the Forty Saints of England and Wales on October 25, 1970, by Pope Saint Paul VI.

These brave martyrs who were brutally killed for practicing their faith are a reminder of the bitter wounds of division that exist still, to this day, in the Body of Christ. We ask for the intercession of the London Martyrs of 1591 that all Christians may increase in charity for one another.

Brave Martyrs of London, who sacrificed their lives rather than renounce their faith—pray for us!