Davenport, Christopher

Davenport, Christopher an English Romanist divine, was born at Coventry about 1598, and was sent to Merton College, Oxford, at 15, but was persuaded at 17 by a priest to go to the Romanist college at Douai, France, and thence to Ypres. Here he became a Romanist and a Franciscan. Under the name of Franciscus a Sancta Clara he came as a missionary to England, and was made chaplain to Henrietta Maria, consort of Charles I. Davenport was a man of learning and of good address, and he labored zealously and successfully for the cause of Rome. On the death of Charles I he went abroad, and only appeared in England in disguise until the restoration of Charles II, when he became chaplain of queen Catharine and provincial of the English Franciscans. He died May 31, 1680. Among his writings are, Paraphrastica Expositio Arliculorum Conf. Anglicanae (1635; new transl., Lond. 1865); Deus, Natura, Gratia (1635); both works aiming to show that the English Articles are not reaily hostile to Rome. — New Gen. Biog. Dict. 4:324.