Christopher Davenport

Christopher Davenport, also known as Franciscus a Sancta Clara ^[1], (b. 1598, at Coventry, England, d. 31 May　1680) was an English Catholic theologian, a Franciscan Recollect, and royal chaplain.

Life

Christopher Davenport was the son of Alderman John Davenport and Elizabeth Wolley, and from the grammar school at Coventry went to Dublin where he spent fifteen months, leaving it 22 November, 1611. In 1613 he and his brother John Davenport proceeded to Merton College, Oxford, entering as "battelers" and taking Cook's commons; but the warden required them to enter as commoners or to leave the college; whereon in 1614 they migrated to Magdalen Hall. Here Christopher became B.A. on 28 May, his Dublin residence being allowed to count.^[2] John subsequently became a noted Puritan divine and emigrated to New England, where with a band of colonists he founded the city of New Haven, Connecticut (1638).

Davenport was converted to Catholicism by a priest living near Oxford and in 1615 went to the English College, Douai, Flanders (present day northeast France). Attracted by the efforts restore the English Franciscan Province, he joined the Flemish Franciscans at Ypres, 7 October, 1617. When he was professed, under the name of Franciscus à Sancta Clara, he joined the English Franciscan Recollects at the newly-established convent of St. Bonaventure at Douai on 18 October, 1618.

Davenport was sent to the University of Salamanca in Spain, where he took his degree in divinity. Returning to Douai, he became first professor of theology at St. Bonaventure's and filled the office of guardian. At length he was sent to England and was appointed chaplain to Queen Henrietta Maria, in which capactity he attended the Court and became acquainted with King Charles I of England, Archbishop Laud, Montague, Bishop of Norwich, and Goodman, Bishop of Gloucester. Inspired with the idea of converting England by means of corporate reunion, he wrote a treatise to show that the Thirty-nine Articles were susceptible of an interpretation more in accordance with Catholic teaching than was usually supposed. This was the Paraphrastica Expositio Articulorum Confessionis Anglicanae, published as an appendix to his book, Deus, Natura, Gratia, in 1634. It offended many Catholics and was put on the Index in Spain, though a condemnation at Rome was averted by Panzani, the pope's nuncio in London.

On 19 June 1637, Davenport was elected provincial of the order, an office to which he was subsequently re-elected, 10 July 1650, and 4 June 1665. After the Restoration he was appointed chaplain to Queen Catharine of Braganza, and returned to London, where he spent most of his remaining years with occasional visits to Flanders. His intellectual ability and attractive manner won him the friendship of many, and aided in reconciling numerous converts, among whom was Anne, Duchess of York.

Works

Christopher Davenport's works are:

• "Epistolium, continens confutationem duarum proposititionem astrologicarum" (Douay, 1626);
• "Deus, Natura, Gratia" with the appendix described above (Lyons, 1634);
• "Apologia Episcoporum" (Cologne, 1640);
• "The Practice of the Presence of God" (Douay, 1642);
• "Systema Fidei" (Liège, 1648);
• "De Definibilitate Controversiae Immaculate Conceptionis Dei Genitricis Opusculum" (Douay, 1651);
• "Explanation of the Mundo Peripatetico" (Antwerp, 1652);
• "An Echiridion of Faith" (Douay, 1655);
• "Explanation of the Catholic Belief" (1656);
• "Manuale Missionariorum Regularium praecipue Anglorum Ordinis Sacti Francisci" (Douay, 1658, 1661);
• "Fragmenta: seu Historia Minor. Provine. Angl. Fratrum Minorum";
• "Tractatus de Schismate praesertim Anglicano";
• "Vindication of Roman Catholics" (1659);
• "Liber Dialogorum" (Douay, 1661);
• "Problemata Scholastica et controversialia speculativa";
• "Corollarium Dialogi de Medio Aninarum Statu",
• "Religio Philosophia Peripati discutienda" (Douay, 1662, 1667);
• "Opera omnia Francisci a S. Clara" (Douay, 1665-1667);
• "Disputatio de antiqua Provinciae Praecedentia" (1670);
• "Supplementum Historiae Provinciae Angliae" (Douay, 1671).

References

• Anthony à Wood, Athenae Oxonienese, ed. Bliss (London, 1817), III, 1221
• Joseph Gillow, Bibl. Dict. Cath., s. v.
• Oxford Historical Society, Oxford University Register (Oxford, 1887), X. 374
• G. G. Perry in Dictionary of National Biography (London, 1888), XIV
• Joseph Foster, Alumni Oxonienses (Oxford, 1891), I. 376;
• Thomas J. Shahan, 'Christopher Davenport', U. S. Cath. Hist. Magazine (Philadelphia, April, 1888), II, 153.

Notes

1. ^ and sometimes by the alias of Francis Hunt and Francis Coventry
2. ^ Oxford University Register.

External links

• Works by or about Christopher Davenport in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). "Christopher Davenport". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. 

Persondata
Name	Davenport, Christopher
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Short description
Date of birth	1598
Place of birth
Date of death	1680
Place of death