Thomas Vane

The place and time of his birth and death are not known; but he was educated at Christ’s College, Cambridge, and took the degree of Doctor of Divinity in that university. Having taken Anglican orders, he was made chaplain extraordinary to King Charles I and rector of Crayford. On becoming a Catholic, he resigned these preferments, and went with his wife to Paris, where he practised as a physician, taking the degree of M.D. there or at some other foreign university. At Parish he wrote an account of his conversion, the preface being dated 4 August, 1642, which was published in 1643 under the title, “A Lost Sheep returned Home: or the Motives of the Conversion of Thomas Vane.” This book ran through several editions and was answered by the Anglican writer Edward Chisenhall (1653). He also wrote “An answer to a libell written by D. Cosens against the great Generall Councell of Laterane under Pope Innocent III” (Paris, 1646), and “Wisdome and Innocence or Prudence and Simplicity in the examples of the Serpent and the Dove, propounded by our Lord” (s.l. 1652).