MILLNER, JOHN. - Apostolic Vicar of England, b. in London on 14 Oct. 1752, d. at Wolverhampton on 19 Apr. 1826. Having been educated at the English College in Douai, he was ordained priest in 1777. As curate in Winchester, in 1803 he was elected Bishop of Castabala and Apostolic Vicar of Central England.
His activity was particularly directed toward securing the emancipation of Catholics, who were held in a state of subjection in England and Ireland. In the path to success, he opposed any form of “veto” claimed by the government in episcopal appointments and the compromises to which some Catholic leaders showed themselves willing. His intrepidity in this harsh struggle earned him the title of the “English Athanasius.” He wrote approximately 67 pastoral, polemical, and oratorical works. Special mention should be made of: *The History of Winchester* (2 vols., Winchester 1798–1801), an exaltation of the primacy of Rome, which he also defended in *Letters to a Prebendary* (ibid. 1800) against the attacks of the Anglican bishop J. Sturges; and *The End of Religious Controversy* (3 vols., London 1818).