Lawrence Arthur Faunt

Lawrence Arthur Faunt (b. 1554, d. at Wilna, Poland, 28 February1591) was an English Jesuit theologian and missionary to Poland.

Life

After two years at Merton College, Oxford (1568-70) under the tuition of the philosopher John Potts, he went to the Jesuit college at Louvain where he took his B.A. After some time spent in Paris he entered the University of Munich under the patronage of William V, Duke of Bavaria.

The date of his entrance into the Society of Jesus is disputed, some authorities giving 1570, others 1575, the year in which he went to the English College, Rome, to pursue his studies in theology. On the latter occasion he added Lawrence to his baptisal name, Arthur. He was made professor of divinity and attracted the attention of Pope Gregory XIII, who on the establishment of the Jesuit college at Posen in 1581, appointed him rector. He was also professor of Greek there for three years, of moral theology and controversy for nine more.

Works

His major theological works are:
*"De Christi in terris Ecclesia, quaenam et penes quos existat" (Posen, 1584);
*"Coenae Lutheranorum et Calvinistarum oppugnatio ac catholicae Eucharitiae defensio" (Posen, 1586);
*"Apologia libri sui de invocatione ac veneratione Sanctorum" (Cologne, 1589).