[3] Christopher Davenport, on the other hand, was converted to Catholicism by a priest living near Oxford and in 1615 went to the English College, Douai, Flanders (present day northeast France).
When he was professed the following year, under the name of Francis of St. Clare, he joined the English Franciscan Recollects, a reform branch of the Order of Friars Minor known for their strict practice of poverty, at the newly established friary of St. Bonaventure in Douai on 18 October 1618.
[4] His intellectual ability and attractive manner won him the friendship of many, and aided in reconciling numerous converts to the Catholic Church, among whom was Anne, Duchess of York.
[3] Inspired with the idea of converting England by means of corporate reunion, Davenport wrote a treatise to show that the Thirty-nine Articles were susceptible of an interpretation more in accordance with Catholic teaching than was usually supposed.
[5] In 1652, while serving as Provincial of his Order for England, Davenport published his most ambitious philosophical treatise, Paralipomena philosophica de mundo peripatetico, aimed at harmonizing Scotism with new astronomical and chemical discoveries.