Richard Challoner

Title

Richard Challoner

Source

William M. Klimon

Publisher

Center for Norbertine Studies

Birth Date

1691

Death Date

1781

Biographical Text

Challoner, one of the great figures of English Catholicism, served as bishop, and later vicar apostolic of the London district, for 40 years. That unflinching service, during the Penal Times, would have been enough to ensure his greatness, but he was also a literary genius, translator of Scripture, composer of prayer books, and theological controversialist, who “supplied, in fact, almost the entire range of necessary or useful religious literature for his Catholic fellow-countrymen.” That included this new edition of St. Augustine's Confessions, in light of the scarcity and difficulty of the earlier Matthew and Woodhead editions. Bp. Challoner's translation went through many later editions, many published in Dublin.

REFERENCES: Blom, 127; Gillow, 1:447-57; Burton, 1:371-72, 2:33, 328.