John Wall, (aliases John Marsh, Francis Johnson or Dormore or Webb, religious name "Joachim of St. Ann") (1620 – 22 August 1679) was an English Franciscan friar, who is honoured as a martyr by the Catholic Church. Wall served on the English mission in Worcestershire for twenty-two years before being arrested and executed at the time of Titus Oates's alleged plot.
Life
He was born in Preston, Lancashire, the son of wealthy and staunch Lancashire Catholics. His brother William, also a priest, became a Benedictine monk. William was later arrested, and condemned for being a priest, but was reprieved and survived. John Wall was sent when very young to be educated at the English College, Douai. As the English government had spies and informers on the continent, Wall used the name "John Marsh".
He entered the English College, Rome, on 5 November 1641 and was ordained a Catholic priest on 3 December 1645. He was sent on the English Mission on 12 May 1648 under the aliases of Francis Johnson, and Dormore. For several years he said Mass for recusant households. He returned to Douai and on 1 January 1651, he joined the Order of Friars Minor at St. Bonaventure's Friary, taking the name Friar Joachim of St. Ann. He was soon named Master of novices, serving in that office until 1656, when he returned to England, under the name Francis Webb and settled in Worcestershire. Wall was a much respected local figure and the crowd's reaction showed that their sympathies were entirely with him. Many of the onlookers, who were mostly Protestants, wept, and the Sheriff reportedly cried out "Will this end Popery? This is the way to make us all Papists!"
Veneration
His quartered body was given to his friends and was buried in the cemetery adjoining the Church of St. Oswald of Worcester,