MILNER, JOHN. - Apostolic vicar of England, b. in London on 14 Oct. 1752, d. in Wolverhampton on 19 Apr. 1826. Educated at the English College of Douai, he was ordained priest in 1777. Parish priest at Winchester, in 1803 he was elected bishop of Castabala and apostolic vicar of central England.
He devoted his activity especially to achieving the emancipation of Catholics, who were kept in a state of inferiority in England and Ireland; on the path to success, he opposed every form of “veto” claimed by the government in episcopal appointments and the compromises to which certain Catholic leaders showed themselves willing. His intrepidity in the harsh struggle earned him the title of “English Athanasius.” His pastoral, polemical, and oratorical writings were numerous (about 67). Special mention deserves: The history of Winchester (2 vols., Winchester 1798-1801), an exaltation of the primacy of Rome, which he also defended, with Letters to a Prebendary (ibid. 1800), against the attacks of the Anglican bishop J. Sturges; The end of religious controversy (3 vols., London 1818).