| Admin_History | Henry Davis was born 1 December 1866 in Liverpool, was educated at St Francis Xavier's College, and joined the novitiate 7 September 1883. He was given his full time in the Juniorate and in Philosophy with an extra year to enable him to take his London BA in Classics. Davis was then appointed Master of Rhetoric at Mount St Mary's, a role rarely accorded to a scholastic, and continued in this role for several years. After his four years of Theology and year of Tertianship at Tronchiennes, he was appointed Superior and Prefect of Studies of the Juniors, in which role he stayed for a year. Davis took his final vows 2 February 1903 and became Prefect of Studies at Stonyhurst later that year. Davis passed from Stonyhurst in 1911 to succeed Fr Slater at St Beuno's in the chair of Moral Theology.
In 1935 he published his 4 volume manual, Moral and Pastoral Theology, and issued several subsequent editions. It was eventually summarised in a 1 volume edition in 1952. He also revised Francisco Suarez's translation of Cicero's De Legibus and translated St Gregory's Pastoral Care for the American Ancient Christian Writers' series. He had a great interest in vocations and the foreign missions and published several pamphlets on the theme, and it is likely that this interest prompted Davis to compile the unpublished biography of Fr Cuthbert Cary-Elwes SJ, who spent 15 years in Guyana. He also wrote on piety and an account of St John Fisher's dealings with Henry III. Over the course of his life, Davis created over 50 publications.
A younger brother, Fr William Davis, followed him into the Society a few years later and was Prefect of Studies at Mount St Mary's when he died there in 1933.
Davis died 4 January 1952 at Heythrop College, Oxfordshire. |