CHAMPNEY, ANTHONY. – Controversialist, born in England in 1569 (?), died there in 1643 (?). He completed his theological studies in Rome and was vice-rector of the English College of Douai from 1619 to 1625, taking a very active part in the religious struggles of his homeland.
A very extensive polemical production by him, both published and unpublished, has been preserved: An Answer to a letter of a Jesuit Gentleman (n. p., 1601); A Manual of Controversies (Paris 1614); Mr. Pilkington his Parallela Disparalled (St-Omer 1620); etc. He is of great importance in the history of theology for having been the first theologian to discuss and deny the validity of Anglican ordinations in the work A Treatise of the Vocation of Bishop (Douai 1616), of which there is a Latin edition: De vocatione ministrorum tractatus (Paris 1618), with some additions.