Hugh Cook Faringdon
English Roman Catholic monk and martyr
Feast: 15 November (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Hugh Cook, called Faringdon, was elected Abbot of Reading in 1520. He was a royal chaplain, sat in Parliament, and was long in the king's favour.
When he refused to surrender his abbey in 1539 he was attainted for high treason, his sentence passed before his trial began. He was executed at Reading on 15 November 1539 with two priests.
The miracles
As a martyr he was raised to the altars without a miracle.
Why that counted as sanctity
An abbot who would not hand his monastery to the king.
The cause
The cause continues. No postulation address is published here yet. Favours received through this person’s intercession, and offers of help, are best sent to the religious order or congregation they belonged to, or to the diocese where the cause was opened; either will pass them to the postulation.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Hugh Faringdon
- Wikidata Q1897597 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Hugh Faringdon (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.