Edward Hawarden (aka Harden; 9 April 1662 – 23 April 1735) was an English

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

theologian and controversialist.

Life

Hawarden was born in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. His family were

recusant Recusancy (from ) was the state of those who remained loyal to the Catholic Church and refused to attend Church of England services after the English Reformation. The 1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign of Elizabeth I, and temporarily repea ...

s who maintained domestic chapels in their residences in Appleton in Widnes. Edward, after a course at the

English College, Douai The English College ( French: ''College des Grands Anglais'') was a Catholic seminary in Douai, France (also previously spelled Douay, and in English Doway), associated with the University of Douai. It was established in 1568, and was suppresse ...

, remained there as a classical tutor, and after his ordination (7 June 1686), as professor of philosophy.Rudge, F.M. "Edward Hawarden." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 17 January 2019 In 1688, having taken the bachelor's degree at the

University of Douai The University of Douai (; ) was a historic university in Douai, France. With a medieval tradition of scholarly activity in the city, the university was established in 1559, and lectures began in 1562. It ceased operations from 1795 to 1808. In ...

, he spent two months as tutor of divinity at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

, which

James II of England James II and VII (14 October 1633 – 16 September 1701) was King of England and Monarchy of Ireland, Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II of England, Charles II, on 6 February 1 ...

purposed making a seat of Catholic education. The impending revolution against James forced Hawarden to return to Douai, where he soon proceeded D.D. and was installed in the chair of divinity. One of his students was the historian

Hugh Tootell Hugh Tootell (1671/72 – 27 February 1743) was an English Catholic historian. He is commonly known under his pseudonym Charles Dodd. Life Tootell was born in Lancashire. He was tutored by his uncle, Christopher Tootle, before studying wi ...

. In 1702 he was persuaded to take part in the concurrence for one of the royal chair of divinity in the university, but the influence of a hostile minority secured the installation of another candidate by mandatory letters from the court. Shortly afterwards complaints were lodged at Rome that the Douai professors, Hawarden in particular, were propagating the errors of

Jansenism Jansenism was a 17th- and 18th-century Christian theology, theological movement within Roman Catholicism, primarily active in Kingdom of France, France, which arose as an attempt to reconcile the theological concepts of Free will in theology, f ...

. Hawarden was dismissed from the university,"Hawarden, Letter March 14, 1711", Pitts Theology Library
/ref> but a subsequent official investigation completely exonerated all. In 1707 Hawarden left Douai to take charge of the mission of Gilligate,

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

, and later Aldcliffe Hall, near

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

. Brief entries in the Tyldesley Diary give an idea of his daily life until the seizure of Aldcliffe Hall in 1717, after which he moved to London, probably on his appointment as Controversy-writer. Hawarden received the thanks of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

for his defence of the

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

in the famous conference with

Samuel Clarke Samuel Clarke (11 October 1675 – 17 May 1729) was an English philosopher and Anglican cleric. He is considered the major British figure in philosophy between John Locke and George Berkeley. Clarke's altered, Nontrinitarian revision of the 1 ...

(1719). He died, aged 73, in London.

Works

Among his works are: *"The True Church of Christ, shewed by Concurrent Testimonies of Scripture and Primitive Tradition" (London, 1714) *"The Rule of Faith truly stated in a new and easy Method" (London, 1721)
Charity and Truth or Catholicks not uncharitable in saying that none are saved out of the Catholick Communion, because the Rule is not Universal" (Brussels, 1728)
*"An Answer to Dr. Clarke and Mr. Whiston concerning the Divinity of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (London, 1729) A collective edition of his works was published at Dublin in 1808.

References

;Attribution * The entry cites: ** Charles William Sutton in ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', s. v., **

Joseph Gillow Joseph Gillow (5 October 1850, Preston, Lancashire – 17 March 1921, Westholme, Hale, Cheshire) was an English Roman Catholic antiquary, historian and bio-bibliographer, "the Plutarch of the English Catholics". Biography Born in Frenchwood Ho ...

, Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath., s. v.; **Tyldesley Diary, ed. Joseph Gillow & Anthony Hewitson (Preston, 1873); **Douay Diaries, ed.

Thomas Francis Knox Father Francis Knox (born as Thomas Francis Knox; 24 December 1822 – 20 March 1882, London)Thompson Cooper''Knox, Thomas Francis (1822–1882)'' reviewed by Sheridan Gilley, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Pr ...

(1878). {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawarden, Edward 1662 births 1735 deaths 17th-century English Roman Catholic priests 18th-century English Roman Catholic priests English theologians