NOTICES

ENGLISH COLLEGES & CONVENTS

ESTABLISHED ON THE CONTINENT

AFTER THE DISSOLUTION OF

RELIGIOUS HOUSES IN ENGLAND.

THE LATE LION. EDWARD PETRE.

EDITED ET
THE EEV. F. C. HTJSENBETH.

" Going they went and wept, casting their seeds. Bnt coming they shall come
" with joyfulness, carrying their sheaves? — Psaxm cxxv. 7, 8.

"Nortofcrj :
BACON AND KINNEBROOK.
MDCCCXLIX.

m

CONTENTS.

PREFATORY NOTICE 
ESTABLISHMENTS OF THE ENGLISH SECULAR CLERGY.

AT ST. LUCAR

l.-^-THE COLLEGE AT DOUAY ...
11.— THE COLLEGE AT ROME ...
HI.— THE COLLEGE AT VALLADOLTD .
P7.— THE COLLEGE AT SEV_I_ ...
V.— THE COLLEGE AT MADRID
VI.— RESIDENCE OF ENGLISH CLERGI
VII.— THE COLLEGE AT ST. OMER
VHI.— THE SCHOOL AT ESaUERCHIN .
IX.— THE SEMINARY AT PARIS ...
X.— THE COLLEGE AT LISBON ...

ESTABLISHMENTS OF THE ENGLISH SECULARS.
Religious Men.
I.— ENGLISH BENEDICTINS.
1. BENEDICTIN PeIOEY AND COLLEGE AT DOUAY
2. Benedictin Peioey at Dietilouard 
3. Benedictin Priory at St. Maio ..." 
4. Benedictin Priory at Paris
5. Benedictin Abbey at Lansperg, ob, Lambsfbino
6. Otheb Benedictin Establishments in Germany

1 58
111213 15 1617 18

24 2730 31
3234

CONTENTS.

II.— ENGLISH CARMELITES.
Barefooted Carmelites at Tongres  35
III.— ENGLISH CARTHUSIANS.
Carthusian Convent at Nieuport  36
TV.— ENGLISH CISTERCIANS.
Cistercian Monks of La Trappe  39
V.— ENGLISH DOMINICANS.
1. Dominican Convent and College at Bornheim ... 41
2. Dominican College at Louvain  43
VI.— ENGLISH FRANCISCANS.
Convent of Franciscan Recollects at Douay  44
VII.— ENGLISH JESUITS.
1. Jesuit College at St. Omer  48
2. Jesuit Noviciate at Watten  47
3. Jesuit College at Liege  49
4. Jesuit Professed House at Ghent  50
Religious Women.
I.— AUGUSTINIAN NUNS.
1. Canonesses of St. Augustin at Louvain ... 52
2. Canonesses of St. Augustin at Bruges  54
3. Canonesses of St. Augustin at Paris  5g
4. Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre at Liege kr

H.— BENEDICTIN NUNS.
1. Benedictin Abbey at Brussels 
2. Benedictin Abbey at Cambray 
3. Benedictin Abbey at Ghent 
4. Benedictin Abbey at Lansperg, or Lambspring
5. Benedictin Abbey at Paris 
6. Benedictin Abbey at Pontoise

606265
6869

 71
7. Benedictin Abbey at Dunkirk  72
8. Benedictin Abbey at Ipres   76
HI.— BRIDGETTINS. Bkidgettin Convent of Sion House  77

CONTENTS.

IV.— POOR CLARES, OR FRANCISCANS.
1. Convent of Poor Clares at Gravelines 81
2. Convent of Poor Clares at Dunkirk  84
3. Convent of Poor Clares at Aire  86
4. Convent of Poor Clares at Rouen  88
5. Nuns of the Third Order of St. Francis at Bruges 90
6. Nuns of the Conception, or Blue Nuns, at Paris ... 91

V.— DOMINICANESSES. Convent of Dominicanesses at Brussels  94
VI— JESUITESSES. Convent of Jesuitesses, or Wardists, at St. Omer ... 98
VII.— TERESIANS OR CARMELITE NUNS.
1. Convent of Teresians at Antwerp  100
2. Convent of Teresians at Lierre  101
3. Convent of Teresians at Hoogstraet  103
CONCLUSION  104

PREFATORY .NOTICE.

The following accounts were written at the request of the late
Honble. Edward Petre,. who had collected some materials
and made various notes for the purpose. He had felt a lively
interest in the remains of our Religious Establishments on the
Continent, and was anxious to preserve what information could
be collected respecting them. He had also considered that the
particulars of their history had never been presented to the
public in a collected form, nor indeed in some instances ever
printed. This Uttle work was completed before the death of
its lamented originator, and had met his entire approval. It is
now therefore given to the public, in full confidence that to
the English Catholic especially, its details, however slight and
imperfect, will not fail to prove precious and attractive.
F. C. HUSENBETH.
Cossey, December 8th, 1848.

ACCOUNTS OF
THE ENGLISH COLLEGES AND CONVENTS
ESTABLISHED ON THE CONTINENT, ETC.
i£0tafiU0f)ment0 of tlje Secular _urgp.
I.
THE ENGLISH COLLEGE AT DOUAY.
To perpetuate the succession of the Catholic clergy,
at a time when a total extinction of the ancient faith
was apprehended in England, William Allen, after
wards doctor of divinity, cardinal and archbishop of
Mechlin, formed the project of establishing colleges for
the education of the clergy on the Continent. Having
drawn together many learned men, who had been
educated at Oxford and Cambridge, he laid the founda
tion of a^ college, or seminary at Douay, in Flanders.
Mr. Morgan Philips, who had been Provost of Oriel,
and formerly Allen's master, purchased a convenient
house for the establishment. Contributions were made
by Allen and several of the Catholic clergy, and further
aid was obtained from England. Three neighbouring

DOUAY COLLEGE.

abbeys of Benedictins, the university of Douay, and
other communities assisted, and collections were made
in Douay, and the neighbouring towns. It was opened
in 1568, and in a few years the number of its inmates
amounted to one hundred and fifty ; of whom, eight or
nine were eminent doctors of divinity. The under
taking was applauded by the Holy See, and Pope St.
Pius V. wrote an encouraging letter to its founder.
His successor, Gregory XIII. being informed of the
state of the college, and having received a strong
recommendation of it from the Catholic nobility and
gentry of England, as well as from the university of
Douay, and several religious communities, settled upon
the new establishment in 1575 an annual pension of
1200 Roman crowns, and soon afterwards raised it to
2000; which sum was always regularly paid, and was
almost the only certain revenue of the college.
Douay College was not only the first of the English
nation, but is believed to have been the first in the
Christian world, instituted in strict accordance with
the decrees of the Council of Trent. After it had sent
fifty-two priests to labour in the English mission, the
tumults of the Low Countries in 1578, obliged the

DOUAY COLLEGE.

seminary to remove from Douay, then under the
dominion of Spain, to Rheims, in France. The real
instigator of the proceedings against the college was
Queen Elizabeth. Two or three persons however
remained, and kept possession of the house, for fifteen
years, when the college was invited by the magistrates
to return to Douay, in 1593. At Rheims their num
bers increased ; and twelve more priests were sent out
in the same year of their removal thither, who were
followed by twenty more in the succeeding year 1579.
In a little time, there were two hundred persons belong
ing to the establishment at Rheims. They returned
to Douay in 1593, and continued for two centuries to
supply priests to the English mission. Douay college
produced one cardinal, two archbishops, thirty one
bishops and bishops elect, three archpriests, about one
hundred doctors of divinity, one hundred and sixty
nine writers, many eminent men of religious orders,
and one hundred and sixty glorious martyrs, besides
innumerable others, who either died in prison, or suf
fered confinement or banishment for their faith. Many
also of our Catholic nobility and gentry received their
education at Douay college ; among whom, it is highly

DOUAY COLLEGE.

gratifying to record the noble name of the late laihented
Bernard Edward, Duke of Norfolk.
On the 12th of October, 1793, the college of Douay
was seized by the French ; and its inmates were con
veyed prisoners to the citadel of Dourlens. There they
remained till the 24th of November, 1794, when they
obtained permission to return to Douay, being twenty
six in number. They were still prisoners in the Irish
College, but under less restraint. In the following
February, they were set at liberty, and arrived in
England on the 2nd of March, 1795. These last
residents at Douay College became the founders and
first members of the several colleges of Old Hall Green,
Ushaw, and Oscott, which were all established shortly
after the dissolution of Douay College, and the return
of its inmates to their native land. The following is a
list of the presidents of the English College at Douay
from its first foundation.

Dr. William Allen .
Dr. Richard Barrett
Dr. Thomas Worthington
Dr. Matthew Kellison
Mr. George Musket
Dr. William Hyde .
Dr. George Leyburn
Mr. John Leyburn
Dr. Francis Gage

1568
1588
15991613
16411646
16521670
1676

Dr. James Smith .... 1682
Dr. Edward Paston . . . 1688
Dr. Robert Witham . . . 1714
Dr. William Thornburgh . 1738
Dr. William Green . . . 1750
Mr. Henry Tichborne Blount 1770
Mr. William Gibson . . . 1781
Mr. Edward Kitchen . . . 1790
Mr. John Daniel . ... 1792

ROMAN COLLEGE. 5
II.
THE ENGLISH COLLEGE AT ROME.
The English College at Rome was the eldest daughter
of Douay, whence it received its first members. Pope
Gregory XIII. whose attention had long been turned to
the distressed state of religion in England, conceived the
idea of establishing a college in Rome for the English
nation. He consulted Dr. Allen, Dr. Owen Lewis,
archdeacon of Cambray, and afterwards bishop of Cas-
sano, Dr. Goldwell, bishop of St. Asaph's, and others of
the English clergy, who earnestly recommended the pro
ject. The Pope accordingly converted the Hospital of
St. Thomas into a college, for the education of secular
priests for the English mission. Dr. Maurice Clenock, a
secular priest, and bishop elect of Bangor, in the reign
of Queen Mary, who was the last Warden of St. Thomas'
Hospital, was appointed by his Holiness, the first rector of
the new Roman College. This was in 1578, and in the
year following, the Pope issued the Bull of its founda
tion, for fifty students; giving them the hospital and
two contiguous houses, the church of the B. Trinity and
St. Thomas, an annual pension of 6000 crowns, and all

ROMAN COLLEGE.

the property of the hospital. At the command of his
Holiness, the first students were sent by Dr. Allen from
the college then at Rheims. Dr. Clenock presided over
the Roman college only about a year, when he was
removed to make way for an Italian Jesuit, F. Agarrazio ;
and not long after, the sole government of the college
fell into the hands of the English Jesuits, under whom
it continued till the suppression of the Society by Pope
Clement XIV. in 1773.
The college was then administered by Monsignor
Foggini, and other Italian priests. Repeated memorials
and petitions were presented from England, for the
restoration of the college to the English secular clergy.
These however were unsuccessful, and the college was
rendered almost useless to the English mission. In 1798
the college was seized by the French, under Bertier,
and remained closed for twenty years. At length, in
1817, on the death of Cardinal Braschi, the protector,
who had taken possession of the college and its revenues,
after the expulsion of the French from Rome, the Rector
of the Scotch college, the Rev. Dr. Macpherson, and
the Rev. Dr. Lingard, who was then at Rome, waited on
the Secretary of State, Cardinal Consalvi, and explained

ROMAN COLLEGE.

to him the original object of the establishment, its
failure under Italian superiors, and the increasing wants
of the English mission. Repeated memorials had been
previously sent from the Vicars Apostolic in England.
The result was, that Cardinal Consalvi procured the
re-establishment of the college by Pope Pius VII. and
may justly be regarded as its second founder. The Rev.
Robert Gradwell, afterwards bishop of Lydda, and coad
jutor in the London District, was appointed rector, on
the 8th of March, 1818. A colony often students soon
after arrived from England; and the revived college
flourished exceedingly under its new rector. In
1827, it contained thirty students. In 1828, Dr.
Gradwell was appointed coadjutor to Dr. Bramston;
and was succeeded in the rectorship by Dr. Wiseman.
When he also returned to England, in 1840, as coadjutor
to Dr. Walsh, in the Central District, Dr. Baggs suc
ceeded to the administration of the college. He became
Vicar Apostolic of the Western District in 1844, and
was succeeded by Dr. Grant, the present superior of the
Roman college. This establishment in its first days,
furnished besides other labourers, forty-four generous
martyrs, who were put to death for the discharge of

VALLADOLID COLLEGE.

their duties in England ; and since its second founda
tion, it has sent many able and zealous missioners to
labour in their own country. Its revenue is about
£1500 a year. III.
THE ENGLISH COLLEGE AT VALLADOLID.
The college of Douay having been obliged to remove
to Rheims, was not without apprehensions even there,
from the disturbed state of France. The rector of the
EngUsh college at Rome at that time, was the Jesuit
Father Persons; who wrote thence to Dr. Allen, the
founder of Douay coUege, to suggest the expediency of
providing further resources for the supply of priests to
the EngUsh mission, in case the college at Rheims
should be disturbed. Three students were hereupon
sent from Rheims to Spain, to endeavour to form an
establishment in that country. They landed at Corunna,
in the latter part of May, 1589, and after many difficul
ties arrived at VaUadolid. Here they were entirely
unknown ; but accidentally fell in with two Englishmen,
who were pursuing their studies in the town. They
lodged with these, and for some time frequented the

VALLADOLID COLLEGE.

public schools. Their slender means of subsistence
were, however, soon exhausted, and they were obliged
to depend for three months' further support upon the
generous charity of a nobleman in the town, Don Alfonso
de Quinones. But F. Persons had learned their adven
tures and distresses, and proceeded to Spain to exercise
his zeal and industry in their behalf. He had collected
some funds for them from the Duchess of Feria, Sir
Francis Englefield and others ; and he at once removed
the students from their inconvenient lodging to a house
which he hired, and which afterwards became the college
of St. Alban. He next drew up rules for the adminis
tration of the new estabUshment, gave the students an
academical dress, and saw the college settled in regular
form before Michaelmas of the same year, 1589. F.
Persons soon after appointed Father Ceciliano a Jesuit,
first rector of the new college of VaUadolid. In the next
year, he altered and enlarged the house, which he had
at first only rented, but had been enabled to purchase,
by the liberality of the nobleman above mentioned.
Other contributions were received for the support of the
new college ; and in the course of a few months, F.
Persons obtained of the Spanish government a perma-

10 VALLADOLID COLLEGE.

nent pension settled on the establishment, of sixteen
hundred crowns; whieh was made up to four thousand
by various contributions of nobility, gentry, and clergy,
including one thousand annuaUy from the bishop of
Jaen, and a like sum bequeathed by the archbishop
of Toledo. The establishment of the seminary was
approved and confirmed by a Bull of Pope Clement
VIII. in 1592. Twenty more students were sent thither
from Rheims in 1590, having been preceded by three
priests from the Roman college, and three also from
Rheims. The first rector, F. Ceciliano, was recalled by
the King of Spain to Madrid early in the same year ;
and was succeeded by F. de Guzman.
The coUege of VaUadolid suppUed several glorious
martyrs, among the missionary priests executed for
their faith in England. In the year 1605, the revenues
obtained from the Court of Spain amounted to 4000
crowns annuaUy.
When the English coUeges at Madrid, SeviUe, and
VaUadoUd were restored to the secular clergy, on the
suppression of the Jesuits in Spain, in 1767, Bishop
Challoner united them all at VaUadoUd, and appointed
Dr. Perry the first president.

SEVILLE COLLEGE. 11

IV.
THE ENGLISH COLLEGE AT SEVILLE.
The EngUsh college of St. Gregory, at SeviUe, was
founded by the zeal and labours of Father Persons, on
the 25th of November, 1592, assisted and favoured by
the Cardinal Rodrigo de Castro, Don F. de Caravajal,
and the Conde de Pliego. The bishop of Jaen gave an
annual sum of 1000 crowns to this college, while he
lived, as he did also to the seminary of VaUadoUd.
Many others of the Spanish nobiUty, clergy, and gentry
countenanced the establishment, and contributed very
liberally towards its support. Its first rector was Father
Francis Peralta, of the Society of Jesus. The college
was first begun in the Calle de la Surpe, but a more
commodious house was purchased after many difficulties
for 7000 crowns, and the members of the seminary came
to dwell in it, October 4, 1595. Pepe Clement VIII.
confirmed the estabUshment, and favoured it with ample
privileges, by a brief on the 15th of May, 1594. A
church was built for the coUege by the liberahty of a
pious widow and her two brothers, and dedicated with
great solemnity on St. Andrew's day, 1598. The house

12 MADRID COLLEGE.

was subsequently enlarged, and four lesser houses added
to it, as also a commodious garden made, with a stream
of water through it, from a fountain bestowed on the
college by the Duke of Medina Sidonia. The church
historian Dodd observes that the revenues of this
coUege having been very precarious, it never made any
extraordinary appearance. Some few however of the
missionary priests who suffered for the faith in England
were educated at SeviUe, as William Richardson, alias
Anderson, executed at Tyburn, 1603 ; and Thomas
Reynolds, alias Green, at Tyburn, 1642. When the
Jesuits were suppressed in Spain, in 1767, the college
at Seville was restored to the secular clergy, and united
by Bishop Challoner to that of VaUadolid.
V.
THE ENGLISH COLLEGE AT MADRID.
This was a small community of English clergy esta
blished at Madrid, through the interest of F. Persons at
the Court of Spain, and called St. George's. Its means
of support became sufficiently ample, by the generous
donations of the citizens, as well as of an ItaUan gentle
man resident in Madrid. But, it never prospered to any

ST. LUCAR'S ESTABLISHMENT. 13
extent. It had but few EngUsh students, probably
owing in part to the uncongenial cUmate, subject to the
extremes of heat and cold ; which was one of the reasons
assigned for aggregating it to the EngUsh coUege of St.
Alban at VaUadolid, situated in a more healthy part of
Spain. This was effected by Bishop Challoner, through
the instrumentaUty of Dr. Perry, the first secular rector
of St. Alban's at VaUadoUd, after it came into the
hands of the secular clergy, upon the suppression of the
Jesuits in Spain in the year 1767. The property of St.
George's college in Madrid lay chiefly in houses, which
were sold for profitable investment in lands near VaUa
dolid. Dr. Perry died in Madrid shortly after this
exchange was effected; and thus ended all connexion
with the English college at Madrid.
VI.
RESIDENCE OF THE ENGLISH CLERGY AT
ST. LUCAR.
Besides the English colleges in Spain, there was an
establishment for the secular clergy at St. Lucar, near
SevUle. It rose out of a confraternity of English mer
chants, resident in the (own, who erected a church and

14 ST. LUCAR'S ESTABLISHMENT.

house for the accommodation of their countrymen, on
land granted them by the Duke of Medina Sidonia.
This was in the year 1517 ; and the estabUshment
flourished for upwards of seventy years. A certain
number of EngUsh chaplains officiated in the church,
and the members found the institution highly useful
and advantageous* But war with England, and the
consequent decay of commerce so affected the estabUsh
ment, that in 1591, the fraternity conveyed the church,
house, lands, and property to the EngUsh secular clergy
for ever. They gave it as a residence for as many chap
lains as the funds would support. All vacancies were
to be filled up by the Catholic bishops of London,
Winchester, or Exeter. They appointed cardinal AUen
to act as visitor ; and after his death, the Jesuit provin
cial of Andalusia ; but specially provided that neither
he, nor any other religious should pretend to any right
to the church or house, or any thing in them, but only
to do them a good work, out of charity, for the better
life and manners of the president and chaplains. This
grant was confirmed by the Duke of Medina Sidonia,
and the cardinal archbishop of Seville. A body of rules
was drawn up, binding the chaplains to receive and for-

ST. OMER'S COLLEGE. IS

ward on their journey, any priests proceeding from the
seminaries in Spain to the English mission.
VII.
THE ENGLISH COLLEGE AT ST. OMER.
This was originally a Jesuit college ; and was founded
by F. Persons in 1594. It was at first intended for the
reception of only sixteen youths ; for whose support the
king of Spain aUowed 160 ducats a month. This sum
was afterwards increased, and the number of students
regulated by the discretion of the fathers of the society.
On the expulsion of the Jesuits from France, the
EngUsh Jesuits shared the fate of their brethren. The
college of St. Omer then came into the hands of the
secular clergy, in 1764. Its second president was the
celebrated Alban Butler, in 1766; in which office that
venerable man continued till his pious-death in 1773.
The college of St. Omer was seized at the French revo
lution, and its members confined at Arras, in three
different places. In May, 1794, they were transferred
to the citadel of Dourlens, and became feUow-prisoners
with their countryrden from Doiiay coUege. Rev.
Gregory Stapleton was their president. One of their

16 ESQUERCHIN SCHOOL,

professors, the Rev. Richard Brettargh, died under the
hardships of imprisonment. They were recalled to St.
Omer in the latter part of October following, and left
Dourlens, sixty-four in number. On- their return to
St. Omer, they were confined in the French coUege,
adjoining their own. At length, in the foUowing year,
1795, they were set at liberty, and returned to England.
They arrived under the conduct of their president, Mr.
Stapleton, at Old HaU Green, on the 15th of August.
After a few years, Mr. Stapleton was appointed Vicar
Apostolic of the Midland District, and Dr. Paynter
succeeded him as president of St. Edmund's coUege,
Old HaU Green, on the 15th of February, 1801.
VIII.
SCHOOL AT ESQUERCHIN.
This was a small establishment at the village of
Esquerchin, three miles from Douay, and belonging to
that coUege. It was founded about the year 1750, by
the Hon. James Talbot, afterwards V. A. of the Lon
don district, as a school for boys of the lower classes. It
shared the -fate of Douay college, to which it belonged.
It was entered on the evening of the 12th of October,

PARIS SEMINARY. 17

1793, by a commissary of the district of Douay, the
mayor of the place, and an officer in the national
uniform of France, who surrounded the house with
forty soldiers. They proceeded to take possession of
the effects, but all that was valuable had previously
been removed.
IX.
THE ENGLISH SEMINARY AT PARIS.
This was an institution in Paris, known as the coUege
of Arras, and intended partly for the residence of the
clergy, who had finished their studies, and might
further improve themselves there, — and partly for the
maintenance of a certain number of writers for the
defence of the Holy Catholic religion. The design for
such an estabUshment having been laid before Pope
Paul V., his holiness approved of it, and expressed his
readiness to render every assistance towards printing the
works produced by the members of such institution.
Accordingly, in the month of August, 1611, a small
house was hired for the purpose in Paris, near the
Porte S. Victoire ; and the new establishment was taken
possession of by Dr. Smith, October 26th foUowing.

18 LISBON COLLEGE.

He was joined there by Drs. Bishop, Champney, and
KeUison, with Mr. Richard Ireland, previously master of
Westminster school, and also by a cousin of Dr. Smith.
This college continued for several years famous for
its learned inmates, and the ability of their productions.
In 1667, it was much augmented by a Mr. Carr of
Douay coUege, but not completed tiU many years
after, when Dr. Betham was appointed to preside over
it. He was enabled to purchase a handsome house and
garden in the Rue des Postes, Fauxbourg S. Marceau,
and opened it as St. Gregory's seminary, by letters
patent from the King of France, in 1701.
X.
THE ENGLISH COLLEGE AT LISBON.
The college at Lisbon was first projected by an
English priest residing in that city, named Nicholas
Ashton. When he died, he bequeathed his house to
another priest, William Newman, or in his default, to
the Jesuits, in trust, for the foundation of a seminary.
The real name of Mr. Newman was Ralph SUefild. He
was rector of the house which Ashton had purchased
with a view to forming a seminary. A rich nobleman,

LISBON COLLEGE. 19

Don Pedro Coutinho, who honoured Newman with his
intimate friendship, offered to erect a coUege at his own
expense for the education of English secular priests.
Mr. Newman proceeded to Madrid in August, 1621, to
obtain the necessary permission for its erection from
Philip IV. who reigned over both Spain and Portugal.
Here he met with great opposition from the Jesuits,
who sought the government of this new college, as they
already governed the seminaries of Rome, VaUadolid,
SeviUe, and Madrid. To this, however, the founder
Coutinho would not consent, and positively declared
that if it were insisted upon, he would abandon the
undertaking altogether. Having at length surmounted
great and vexatious opposition, and gained his object at
Madrid, Mr. Newman returned to Lisbon ; and soon
after procured from the Pope a brief in confirmation of
the new establishment, dated September 22, 1622. The
founder purchased a house, garden, and other premises,
and built a small church, intending the community to
consist of only twelve persons, besides servants, as a
beginning ; and aUowed one hundred and fifty pounds
a-year towards their support. The completion of the
work was committed to the Rev. Joseph Harvey, alias

20 LISBON COLLEGE.

Hynes, the archdeacon of the English chapter. It was
not till the year 1627, that the establishment was
ready for the reception of its destined inmates, and
Mr. Harvey returning to England, was appointed the
first president. On the 14th of November, 1628, he
arrived again at Lisbon, with a colony of ten students
from Douay; but, broken down by his exertions and
fatigues, he was taken iU, and died on the 22nd of
the February following. The schools were opened on
the 25th of April, 1629. The second president was
Dr. Blacklow, who drew up a code of rules, and settled
the government of the establishment. The first of the
EngUsh benefactors to the coUege was Mr. Anthony
Morgan, one of the earUest students, who died at the
college, August 11th, 1631, and bequeathed to it
twenty-four pounds a year. The seminary, smaU and
poorly endowed as it was, acquired however so much
fame from its very commencement, that it has been said
of it, " that the college at Lisbon never had a morning,
but shone out at once in aU the splendour of meridian
day." During the presidentship of the Rev. Peter
Clarence, and by his exertions, was obtained of the
Portuguese authorities the privilege of conferring

LISBON COLLEGE. 21

degrees ; and the degree of D. D. was first obtained
by Mr. Edward Daniel, in the year 1640. Two very
distinguished members of Lisbon College, Dr. Goden
and Mr. John Sergeant, who had become converts to
the Catholic faith, arrived at the coUege on the 4th of
November, 1643. Dr. Goden, after greatly distinguish
ing himself both in learning and virtue, was made
president of the college in 1655. The controversial
writings of the Rev. John Sergeant are well known and
highly appreciated. He was also eminently successful
in his missionary labours in England. Among the
ornaments of the coUege, the Rev. John Gother stands
very conspicuous. He entered the coUege January 10,
1668, soon after his conversion to the Catholic faith;
and left it, to labour on the mission in England, at the
close of 1682. After twenty-two years spent in mis
sionary labours and controversial and spiritual writings,
which cannot be too highly esteemed, Mr. Gother pro
posed to return to Lisbon, but died on the voyage,
October 13, 1704. His body was brought to Lisbon,
and solemnly buried in the church of the college, near
the altar of St. Thomas of Canterbury. Up to the end
of the seventeenth century, the coUege flourished most ;

22 LISBON COLLEGE.

but its resources were yet very scanty. The buildings
were mean, the accommodations poor and inconvenient,
and the diet of the collegians scanty. Under the pre
sidentship of Rev. Edward Jones, funds were collected
through his zeal and activity for rebuilding the college.
But the sums coUected were so inadequate, that though
the building was commenced in 1714, it was not roofed
in till 1727 ; and the interior was even then left in a
very unfinished state. About the year 1720, an impor
tant donation was made to the coUege, of a house, vine
yard and lands, at a place caUed Pera, on the south side
of the Tagus. The college buildings sustained con
siderable injury in the great earthquake of 1755, and
the president, Mr. Manley, was killed by the falling of
a turret, which had been left standing of the old house.
After remaining in a very depressed state, and with its
first spirit almost extinct for a series of years, Lisbon
college began to flourish again about the year 1777,
through the instrumentaUty of the Rev. John Preston
and the Rev. Jerom Allen. The ruined parts of the
building were repaired, and the whole made a com
fortable residence for twenty-five students, with proper
superiors.

LISBON COLLEGE. 23

Towards the close of the seventeenth century, to
supply in some measure the loss of Douay, and other
continental coUeges, the superiors made every exertion
to increase the accommodations of the coUege ; and they
were enabled to extend the house to its present dimen
sions, and receive forty students, besides superiors.
When the French entered Lisbon in 1807, the members
of the college were declared prisoners of war, but
allowed considerable liberty. The coUege was occupied
by 280 soldiers, who remained there nine months. Soon
after their departure, fresh dangers threatened from the
advance of Marshal Soult ; the students were sent to
England as a measure of prudence, and the house was
opened as a temporary academy for the education of
young gentlemen. At the peace of 1814, the coUege
was restored to its original purpose ; eleven new
students for the church arrived from England, and the
Rev. Edmund Winstanley was recaUed, and again
inscribed among the superiors of the estabUshment.

_0ta*»U0Dment0 of ttft Utgu\av*.
RELIGIOUS MEN.
I.
BENEDICTINS. 1.
BENEDICTIN PRIORY AND COLLEGE AT DOUAY.
At the commencement of the seventeenth century,
only one Benedictin remained in England, of the
ancient congregation of that order, Father Sigebert
Buckley ; who had made his profession at Westminster
in the reign of Queen Mary. Several young men,
however, from England had entered the congregations
of Benedictin monks at Monte Cassino and VaUadoUd,
with a view to serve upon the EngUsh Mission. Four
of these returned to labour in England in 1603,
others from time to time followed ; and aU were aggre
gated by the authority of the Holy See to the original
EngUsh congregation, represented by F. Buckley. The

BENEDICTIN PRIORY AT DOUAY. 25
vicar general of the order in England was F. Augustin
Bradshaw, one of the first who had come over from the
continent. He retired to Douay, and hired some sleep
ing apartments of the coUege of Anchin, or Anchienne,
in that town, in the year 1605, and there began with
a few of his brethren, and some scholars. But about a
year after, he removed to a more commodious dwelling,
which he hired of the Trinitarians. Here they became
sufficiently numerous to keep choir, and discharge their
other duties ; and they also admitted novices. For
some years they suffered great poverty; tiU by the
munificence of the abbot of Vaast in Arras, Philip
Caravel, a portion of land was purchased, and the
foundations laid of a noble convent and coUege for the
EngUsh monks ; which was completed and opened in
1611, and caUed St. Gregory's. Their means of support
were at first very scanty ; but on their presenting a
petition to the good abbot Caravel, entreating him to
grant them an increased aUowance, he at once acceded
to their request, and settled upon them a permanent
revenue of twelve hundred florins. The foundation
was confirmed by Pope Urban VIII. in 1626, for
not more than twelve, nor less than nine monks, to

26 BENEDICTIN PRIORY AT DOUAY.

be dependent upon the abbot and convent of St. Vaast
or Vedast.
At the French revolution, the coUege was seized in
1793, and its members imprisoned, with circumstances
of the most wanton cruelty. Their church was im
piously converted into a temple of the goddess of
Reason ; and afterwards used for military stores. It
became miserably dilapidated, and was taken down, and
its materials sold about the year 1833. The monastery
originally erected by the abbot of St. Vaast, was
destroyed at an early period of the revolution. The
handsome coUege, which the Benedictins had erected,
not many years before, was let by the revolutionary
government for a sugar manufactory, and thereby much
damaged. It returned, however, with the greater part
of the land, originally belonging to St. Gregory's, to
that community at the restoration of Louis XVIII.
They were then settled at Downside, in Somersetshire,
and at one time made preparations for returning to
Douay ; but they finally transferred the whole of their
property in Douay to those who remained of the
EngUsh monastery of St. Edmund in Paris, who had
been ejected at the revolution. The Rev. Dr. Marsh

BENEDICTIN PRIORY AT DIEULOUARD. 27

and others accordingly took possession of the coUege
at Douay in 1818, since which it has continued to
educate students, many of whom are now labouring
on the EngUsh mission.

2.

BENEDICTIN PRIORY AT DIEULOUARD OR
DIEULEWART.

The church at Dieulouard had been a collegiate
church, till in the year 1606 the canons were removed
by the Cardinal Charles of Lorrain to the cathedral of
Nancy. Soon after their removal, Father Bradshaw,
the vicar general of the English Benedictins, petitioned
for the vacant coUege, and through the interest of an
EngUsh canon of Remiremont named Pitts, a grant of
the property was obtained. By means of this gen
tleman, some of the English Benedictins, who had
entered different monasteries of Italy and Spain, were
brought to Dieulouard ; where they were put in pos
session of the coUegiate church, and a smaU farm in the
neighbouring village of Jaillon. The Bishop of Verdun
confirmed them in their possessions. The house of

#28 BENEDICTIN PRIORY AT DIEULOUARD.

Dieulouart was prepared for their reception, in the
best manner that their poverty could afford. But from
their hard circumstances, it went on so slowly, that the
monks did not come there to live conventuaUy till the
9th of August, 1608.
About the year 1613, the cottages around the church
were purchased, and an enclosure formed of nearly six
acres ; the church was repaired and ornamented, and a
conventual house built adjoining it. Other land was
purchased, till the whole afforded a decent maintenance
for twelve or fifteen persons in community. Here Mr.
Gifford, of the Chillington family, took the habit, and
subsequently became prior. Afterwards he was pro
moted to the first see in France, and became Archbishop
of Rheims. He was a considerable benefactor; and
gave to the monastery a valuable Ubrary and a quantity
of household furniture. So rapidly did the numbers
here increase, that in the year 1614 they amounted to
eighty religious. Many of these were in high repute
for their virtue and abiUties ; and eight of them were
at one time professors of the higher sciences in the
college of the great abbey of Marchin. Other colleges
solicited their services, and several bishops had recourse

BENEDICTIN PRIORY AT DIEULOUARD. 29
to their zeal and prudence for the introduction of
salutary reforms into various communities. The mem
bers laboured with great zeal and success in planting
and establishing missions in their native country: Father
Alban Row was a distinguished martyr of their com
munity, under the penal laws.
When the French Revolution broke out, the house
was frequently alarmed and threatened. It was ha
rassed and oppressed with arbitrary impositions and
exactions ; and no other reply could be obtained to any
remonstrance, than that EngUshmen must be rich. At
length in the beginning of October, 1793, passports
were with difficulty obtained for the younger students
to return to England. On the 12th of the same month,
the house was beset by five or six hundred armed men,
between 9 and 10 at night. The superior and two others
made their escape with much difficulty. Four were
imprisoned the same night at Pont-a-Mausson, and aU
the property of the estabUshment taken possesion of in
the name of the French nation.

30 BENEDICTIN PRIORY AT ST. MALO.
3.
BENEDICTIN PRIORY AT ST. MALO.
Gifford, caUed in rehgion, Father Gabriel of St. Mary,
went into Brittany in January, 1611, with Father Barnes,
to endeavour to procure an additional house for their
order, as that of Dieulouard had not sufficient resources
for its increasing inmates. They were favourably
received at St. Malo, and the Bishop invited them to
fix their residence near his cathedral. Gifford received
a prebend with its emoluments, for the benefit of the
religious ; and in the autumn of the same year, six
more monks arrived from Dieulouard, to take possession
of their new establishment. A citizen of St. Malo,
named Toutin, bestowed on them his house and chapel,
with an annual allowance of corn. Gifford was appointed
prior ; and the bishop assigned him a chair of divinity.
Others of the community were employed in teaching,
preaching and other sacred duties in the town. After
some years, the parliament of Brittany was jealous of
the monks, and the King Louis XIII. refused to allow
a community of EngUsh in that sea port town, so near
to England. In 1661 therefore, the monks determined

BENEDICTIN PRIORY AT PARIS.

to leave their house at St. Malo, which was disposed of,
after much trouble. 4.
BENEDICTIN PRIORY AT PARIS.
The origin of this foundation was in 1615. The
abbess of CheUes, having requested a few monks from
Dieulouard in 1611, to perform the reUgious offices of
her convent, resolved soon after to procure for the
monks a permanent establishment in Paris. She
obtained six monks from Dieulouard in 1615, and placed
them in a house called St. Andrew's, in the Faubourg
St. Jacques. She assigned for their maintenance an
annual sum of £150, secured a further sum for the rent
of the premises, and frequently suppUed them with
provisions from her monastery. The prior was F. Brad
shaw ; but F. Waldegrave, who had originally come to
CheUes, and was the superior of the monks there,
became the real superior of the estabUshment at Paris,
which was made dependent on that of CheUes. This
continued only tiU the year 1618, when the community
were desirous of establishing the independence of their
house ; and Dr. Gifford, then bishop of Archidal, in

32 BENEDICTIN ABBEY OF LAMBSPRING.
1619, erected for them at his own expense, the monas
tery in Paris, afterwards known as St. Edmund's. They
were at last fixed in the Faubourg St. Jacques, in the
year 1642. Their church was built in 1674, and con
secrated in 1677 by the Abbot of Noailles, afterwards
cardinal, and archbishop of Paris. King Louis XIV.
gave towards their new building 7000 Uvres. Here they
remained till 1793 ; when they were involved in the
common destruction of the French Revolution. Those
of its members who remained after the restoration of
the Benedictin college and monastery of Douay to its
former possessors, had that property made over to them
by the monks of St. Gregory's, then at Downside, and
took possession of it in 1818; since which time it has
been caUed St. Edmund's, from their former establish
ment at Paris.

BENEDICTIN ABBEY OF LANSPERG, OR
LAMBSPRING.

The abbey of Lansperg, or Lambspring is situated
near Hildesheim in the kingdom of Hanover. It was

BENEDICTIN ABBEY OF LAMBSPRING. 33

originaUy a Benedictin nunnery; but the nuns were
removed by Ferdinand, elector of Cologn, and lord of
Hildesheim ; and on the 17th of November 1643,
Clement Reyner, with two other monks, were ordered
to take possession of it. These came from the esta
blishment at Dieulouard ; so that Lambspring was a
filiation from that house. Reyner was appointed the
first abbot of the new establishment. In the month of
October 1644, he was joined by the Fathers Laurence
Appleton, Hilary Walker and Bernard Palmer. A
body of rules was drawn up and adopted ; and thus was
laid the foundation of a permanent and flourishing
estabUshment. In the year following, the abbey of
Lambspring, with the consent of the abbot, was sub
jected to the common constitutions of the EngUsh con
gregation of the Benedictin Order. The abbot was a
regular mitred abbot, and Uke all the prelates in
Germany, enjoyed great privileges. But the president
of the EngUsh congregation claimed and exercised the
same jurisdiction over Lambspring, as over the other
houses of the congregation.

34 OTHER BENEDICTIN ESTABLISHMENTS.

OTHER BENEDICTIN ESTABLISHMENTS IN
GERMANY.
The superiors of the German Benedictin congregation
of Bursfield, on the 18th of May, 1628, gave to the
English fathers the abbey of Cismar, in the dukedom of
Holstein ; or rather lent it to them upon certain condi
tions, to be restored whenever the EngUsh monks should
recover either Canterbury or St. Alban's, by the return
of England to the CathoUc faith.
Other monasteries were made over to the EngUsh
congregation on the Uke conditions ; as the monastery
of RinteUn in WestphaUa, of Dobrah in the duchy of
Mecklenburg, of Soharnabeck in Luneberg, and of
Weine in the territory of Brunswick. None of these,
however, continued in the possession of the EngUsh
monks, at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

II.
CARMELITES.
BAREFOOTED CARMELITES AT TONGRES.
A. few years before the French revolution, that is,
about 1770, a smaU estabUshment of CarmeUtes, or
White Friars, was made at Tongres, by permission of
the Prince Bishop of Liege. It was purchased by
Mr. Firth, of the Prince Bishop, having belonged to
the Jesuits, until their suppression. The convent was
enlarged ; and an order came from Rome for the En-,
gUsh CarmeUtes, who were dispersed in France, Brabant
and Germany, to repair to Tongres. There were only
five CarmeUte friars upon the mission in England.
Four were sent from France to supply the missions of
the aged priests. The young men, who came to the
convent were sent to Wurzburg, Heidelberg, Liege, and
Antwerp. Tongres was the first convent for the
EngUsh missions. This establishment, however, had
hardly time to gain a footing ; for it was broken up in
1793, in consequence of the French revolution. The
convent is now destroyed ; its funds are gone, and all
papers and documents relating to it, lost.

III.
CARTHUSIANS.
CARTHUSIAN CONVENT AT NIEUPORT.
The Carthusians who were driven from the monastery
of Sheen, or Shene, in Surrey, had retired to Bruges.
But in Queen Mary's reign, Father Chauncey, who had
belonged to the Carthusian monastery in London, left
Bruges with several others, and came to London in
June, 1555. In November, 1556, they recovered their
ancient monastery at Shene, and F. Chauncey was made
prior. On the accession of Elizabeth, they were per
mitted to leave the kingdom unmolested, being in
number fifteen monks and three lay brothers. They
returned to Bruges in 1559, and remained in the
Flemish monastery of Carthusians, til] in 1569 they
obtained a house in the street St. Clare.
They were obliged to leave Bruges in April, 1578, in
consequence of the tumults raised by the Calvinists ;
and being allowed to take with them what few effects
they had saved from the plundering mob, they directed
their course towards Douay. Here, however, they
found the same confusion caused by the Calvinists, and

CARTHUSIAN CONVENT AT NIEUPORT.

37

great jealousy of the English on the part of the inhabi
tants. They were ordered to quit the town in two
hours ; and after some ineffectual attempts to settle in
France, they returned to the Low Countries, and arrived
at the Carthusian convent at Louvain, on the 17th of
July, 1578, where they were received and lodged by
order of Don John of Austria, till the end of the year
1590. The prior, F. Maurice Chauncey, went to Spain
to solicit assistance for his monks, and obtained a
pension from king Philip II. about the year 1566,
which, however, was not regularly paid. He died at
Paris, July 12, 1581, and was succeeded as prior by
F. Walter Pytts.
The community removed from Louvain to Antwerp,
in the year 1590, and thence to Mechlin in 1591, where
the prior had purchased a large house in the Bleeke
street. There they resided till 1626, when a more con
venient house being prepared for them at Nieuport,
they removed thither in September. A charter for
their settlement at Nieuport was given at Brussels, by
king Philip IV. on the 20th of June, 1626; and a grant
made to them of about 250 acres of land in the neigh
bourhood, in lieu of the former pension of 1200 florins,

38 CARTHUSIAN CONVENT AT NIEUPORT.
granted by PhiUp II. Here they remained tiU their
final suppression by the emperor Joseph II., in the
year 1783, at which time the community was reduced
to three professed monks, and two lay brothers. This
was the only English community of reUgious men, who
had continued without dispersion from the reign of
Queen Mary. It possessed a considerable Ubrary, in
which was a foUo bible on vellum, written in the 12th
century, and presented to the monastery at Shene by
its founder, king Henry V. in 1416. This, with many
other 'MSS. church ornaments and paintings, which had
been brought over from England in 1559^ was lost at
the final suppression of the convent in 1783.

IV.
CISTERCIANS.
CISTERCIAN MONKS OF THE REFORM OF
LA TRAPPE.
No English Cistercian community was established on
the continent : but some notice may be introduced here
of the more recent adventures of some English monks
of the austere Reform of La Trappe.
When the dissolution of religious houses took place
in France at the revolution, the monks of La, Trappe
fled to the Canton of Fribourg, in Switzerland. Their
resources, however, were so smaU, that some of them
were compeUed to retire to the Low Countries ; where
they resided near Antwerp. The course of events
obUged them to seek shelter in England; and they
landed in this country, five in number, in the year
1792. They found shelter and protection on the estate
of Thomas Weld, Esq. of Lulworth castle, Dorsetshire,
father of the late Cardinal Weld ; and were generously
provided with a residence, near the castle, where they
remained twenty-five years. In the year 1817, they
returned to France. Their numbers had increased at

40 CISTERCIAN MONKS.

Lulworth to fifty -nine ; the greater part of whom were
either EngUsh or Irish. They were generously received
at the great and beautiful abbey of MeUeray, originally
founded and possessed by English Cistercian monks,
situated near Nantes, in Brittany. Here the com
munity increased so rapidly, that in 1826, they num
bered 160 members ; two-thirds of whom were British
subjects. A year after the second revolution in France, the
religious community of MeUeray was declared to be
suppressed and dissolved, on the 5th of August, 1831.
After much vexatious and insulting treatment, all those
monks, who were British subjects, were compelled to
leave the convent, and forced on board a steam boat on
the Loire, on the 19th of November. They were con
veyed in the Hebe to the shores of Ireland ; whence a
portion of them came to begin the estabUshment which
they now possess in peace and security, in Charnwood
Forest, Leicestershire, and which they have named
Mount St. Bernard.

V.
DOMINICANS, OR PREACHING FRIARS.
1.
DOMINICAN CONVENT AND COLLEGE AT
BORNHEIM.
There were, at the dissolution of religious houses in
England, forty three convents of Dominicans, or the
order of preachers, commonly called in England Black
Friars. But the English Dominicans acquired no
establishment on the continent, tiU the year 1658, when
the convent at Bornheim, near Antwerp, was founded
for them, by the Baron of Bornheim. Its establishment
was principally owing to PhiUp Howard, third son of
Henry Lord Mowbray, who had been placed with the
Dominicans at Cremona, and in a few years took the
habit of the order, and made his religious profession
among them. He endeavoured to recover the glory of
his order, by completing the foundation at Bornheim,
and became the first prior of the new establishment. In
F

42 DOMINICANS AT BORNHEIM.
May, 1675, Father Howard was promoted to the dignity
of cardinal; and went to Rome, accompanied part of the
way by his uncle, Viscount Stafford, who was beheaded
in 1680, his son, the Honourable John Stafford, and
other distinguished persons. At Rome, Cardinal Howard
was appointed protector of the English nation, and
chief director of the affairs of the English cathoUcs.
He died probably in the year 1690. He founded also
another convent in Rome for the EngUsh Dominicans,
but it was suppressed after a brief existence. The reU
gious at Bornheim afterwards kept a celebrated coUege
for the education of youth ; while they trained up
zealous and learned ecclesiastics of their order. They
continued to flourish, till they were compeUed to fly in
1794, on account of the French invasion of the Low
Countries. The mansion of Carshalton in Surrey was purchased
for the refugees from Bornheim, of the order of
St. Dominic ; and here a school was commenced by
them in 1795, under the direction of Fathers Wilson
and Atkinson. This they carried on till the year 1810,
when they removed to their present establishment at
Hinckley in Leicestershire.

DOMINICANS AT LOUVAIN.

2.
DOMINICAN COLLEGE AT LOUVAIN.
This was a small establishment, destined solely for
the young reUgious of Bornheim, to pursue their studies
in philosophy and divinity. On this account, it enjoyed
the privileges of the university of Louvain. It was
broken up, of course, when the house at Bornheim was
abandoned in 1794.

VI.
FRANCISCANS.
CONVENT OF FRANCISCAN RECOLLECTS AT
DOUAY.
The Franciscan friars possessed about eighty con
vents in England, before the Reformation, and their
order produced many eminent men among us. In the
year 1614, or the year foUowing, a Douay priest, John
Gennings, anxious to revive the order of St. Francis
among the- EngUsh, entered the noviceship, and made
his profession before the commissary general of the
EngUsh province of Franciscans. He persuaded several
students at Douay and the other English coUeges, to
foUow his example ; who, through his interest passed
through their noviceship at Ypres. Several promising
young men thus became Franciscans : and laid the
foundation of a smaU convent at a house procured for
them at Douay, about the year 1617. Father John
Gennings became their first provincial superior, when
their numbers had so increased, that, by an express bull
from Rome, they were made a distinct and independent

FRANCISCANS. 45

body. Though they were extremely poor, destitute of
all endowment, and depending on alms for their support,
they contrived to erect a handsome church. Their
object was to prepare additional labourers for the
EngUsh mission. In 1624 they had fifteen resident
members. They had no other school than for the
reUgious of the house : but enjoyed in that respect, the
privileges of the university of Douay. The estabUsh
ment subsisted in a flourishing condition, tiU the French
Revolution put an end to it in 1793. AU the friars who
resided there at that time found means to escape out of
France in disguise ; whereas the members of aU the
other English estabUshments in France were seized,
imprisoned, and most barbarously treated.

VII.
SOCIETY OF JESUS.
1.
JESUIT COLLEGE AT ST. OMER.
The EngUsh Fathers of the Society of Jesus had first
a school in Normandy, erected through the interest of
Father Persons, in 1583, with a pension of one hundred
pounds, for the education of youth, granted by the
Duke of Guise. This, however, ceasing at the death
of the Duke, F. Persons conceived the design of a
coUege at St. Omer, which was completed in 1594. It
was accompUshed by donations from the king of Spain,
and others, whose main intention was that youth should
be there prepared for the secular colleges recently
estabUshed in Spain. It was governed at first by three
Flemish rectors in succession ; and the first EngUsh
rector was F. WiUiam Baldwin. It became the prin
cipal establishment of the EngUsh Jesuits ; and so con
tinued till their Society was suppressed in France. It
then was made over to the English secular clergy, in

JESUITS' NOVICIATE AT WATTEN. 47

quaUty of a royal coUege ; and it so remained till its
dissolution in 1793. 2.
NOVICIATE OF THE ENGLISH JESUITS AT
WATTEN.
Watten is situated two leagues from St. Omer, on
the canal leading to Dunkirk. About the year 1570,
the monastery of canons regular at this place was sup
pressed. The bulk of its revenue went for the endow
ment of a bishopric at St. Omer; and the remainder
was assigned for the maintenance of a religious com
munity, to be selected by the bishop, and to reside in
the house, from which the canons had been ejected. It
was not, however, till thirty years after, when Blase
became bishop of St. Omer, that any measures were
taken to fulfil this intention. He conceived the idea
of employing the house for preparing missioners for
England : and the project was proposed to F. Persons,
and finally laid before Pope Paul V. who approved of
the house being transferred, with its endowment of
three thousand florins, to the Jesuits, for a noviciate.
The plan, however, met with delay and opposition from

48 JESUITS' NOVICIATE AT WATTEN.
the archduke Albert ; and F. Persons, unable to obtain
an immediate settlement at Watten, hired a house at
Louvain, an ancient residence of the knights of Malta.
A devout Spanish lady, Aloysia de Caravajal, had
placed a large sum at his disposal for the foundation of
a noviciate for the society. With this, he estabUshed
the house at Louvain in 1607 ; and F. Thomas Talbot
was sent from Rome to take charge of it. In 1612, the
foundations of a college were added to this noviciate ;
but the great increase of the members, and the appear
ance of an infectious disorder among the novices in
1614, induced the fathers to seek a new residence at
Liege. On the 1st of November in that year, the
noviciate was removed thither, under the direction of
F. John Gerard; and settled in a suitable building,
which had been purchased, near the walls of the town,
with about ten acres of land. In 1616, however, they
built a regular college, and opened it with a school of
philosophy, and one of divinity. The estabUshment
flourished, and had become, important, when by the
death of the archduke Albert in 1621, the fathers were
enabled to reside in their house at Watten, which had
been confirmed to them in 1611. In the course of the

JESUITS' COLLEGE AT LIEGE. 49

foUowing year, the noviciate was transferred from
Liege to Watten, under F. Henry SiUsdon, while
the coUege remained at Liege, under the superin
tendence of F. Owen SheUy. In 1624, the inmates
amounted to twelve in the noviciate at Watten. It
continued tiU the suppression of the Society of Jesus;
and served for a retreat for aged and infirm members of
the society, as weU as for a noviciate. After the Jesuits
were suppressed in France, those of Watten removed
to the professed house at Ghent, in 1765, and remained
there tiU the dissolution of the society in 1773.
3.
COLLEGE OF ENGLISH JESUITS AT LIEGE.
At the coUege of the English Jesuits at St. Omer,
were taught grammar, poetry, and rhetoric ; but they
procured another estabUshment at Liege, where the
students pursued the courses of philosophy and divinity.
It was begun in 1616, completed and partly endowed in
1622, by George Talbot of Grafton, afterwards Earl
of Shrewsbury; when Father Thomas Gerard was
appointed its first rector. In 1626, through the interest
of the same George Talbot, the Duke of Bavaria, who

SO JESUITS' PROFESSED HOUSE AT GHENT.

was prince bishop of Liege, settled an annual pension
on this college, of the interest of two hundred thousand
florins. The mansion displayed its spacious buildings
on the heights of the city, amidst groups of stately
trees. The coUege subsisted on its original footing till
the suppression of the Society in 1773. It then changed
its name into that of an EngUsh academy, and enlarged
its plan of education. It thus remained in the hands of
the same proprietors, till the French occupied Liege in
1794. Thomas Weld, Esq. of Lulworth Castle, had
been brought up at this college ; and his sons were its
inmates in 1793. This gentleman offered the Jesuits an
asylum at Stonyhurst, where they have been ever since
established.

PROFESSED HOUSE OF THE ENGLISH JESUITS
AT GHENT.

In the year 1622, Ann, Countess of Arundel laid the
foundation of a house for the Jesuits at Ghent. It was
styled the Professed House ; and was destined chiefly
as a place of retirement for such of their members as

JESUITS' PROFESSED HOUSE AT GHENT. 51
were aged and infirm, or unable to perform the active
duties of the society. It served also for others, who
were preparing to labour in their various functions. The
house was smaU, and made but little appearance. In
1765, the noviciate was removed to this place at Ghent,
from Watten : but both were dissolved at the suppres
sion of the Jesuits, by Pope Clement XIV. in 1773.

Mtligiow WSBomen.
I.
AUGUSTINI ANS.
1.
PRIORY OF CANONESSES OF ST. AUGUSTIN AT
LOUVAIN.
The monastery of Augustinian nuns in Louvain was
begun on the 10th of February, 1609, by Mrs. Mary
Wiseman and several other English ladies, who had been
professed in the monastery of St. Ursula, in the same
town. With the approbation of the archbishop of the
diocese, they purchased a building, and converted it
into a monastery in honour of the conception of our
Blessed Lady, and of St. Michael, under the title of St.
Monica's. They were at first seventeen nuns and two
lay sisters. On the 16th of November, Mrs. Mary
Wiseman was elected the first prioress. These pious
ladies had no foundation to begin with ; but came forth
from St. Ursula's with only their habits, and some small
articles of furniture, and no more than five shillings in

CANONESSES OF ST. AUGUSTIN AT LOUVAIN. 53
their purse. AU they could depend upon were some
smaU annuities promised by their friends : but they
cheerfully relied upon Divine Providence, and their
hopes were never disappointed. Two friends in par
ticular generously assisted them, Dr. Cassar Clement,
an English priest, who was dean of the church of St.
Gudule, in Brussels, and Mr. Thomas Worthington, of
Blainscoe, in Lancashire, then resident at Louvain.
Their church was finished in 1624, and consecrated by
the archbishop of Mechlin, on Trinity Sunday, under
the title of the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed
Lady. These nuns received young ladies for education ;
and it is recorded to their honour in the Douay diary
that they lived in a pious, holy, and religious manner.
So they continued till the disastrous period of the
French Revolution, when the Low Countries were
invaded, in the year 1794. Then the members of this
community were obUged to fly ; and quitted Louvain
on the 28th of June. They proceeded to Rotterdam,
and embarked for England. They landed at Green
wich July 18th, and proceeded to Hammersmith, where
they continued in the house then called the ladies'
school, till the year 1800, when they removed to

54 CANONESSES OF ST. AUGUSTIN AT BRUGES.

Amesbury in Wiltshire, to a house built upon part of
the ancient Benedictin nunnery. But in the year fol
lowing, they finaUy settled at Spetisbury House, near
Blandford, Dorsetshire-, where they have ever since
been estabUshed. 2.
PRIORY OF CANONESSES OF ST. AUGUSTIN AT
BRUGES.
The number of postulants for admission into the
Convent of Augustinian nuns at Louvain being very
great, it was determined to purchase a house at Bruges,
and begin a filiation there from Louvain. Thither nine
of the reUgious proceeded on the 14th of September,
1629, under the direction of the Reverend Mother
Frances Stanford. The education of young ladies
formed part of their duties. For several years they
suffered much from want of funds, and from the small-
ness of their habitation ; and were obUged to receive a
small pension from the mother house at Louvain. In
time however they found friends ; and were enabled by
liberal donations to discharge the debts, which they had
been necessitated to contract, and also to enlarge their

CANONESSES OF ST. AUGUSTIN AT BRUGES. 55
house. When Lady Lucy Herbert was prioress of this
community, she rebuilt their church, which was beau
tiful, but smaU. Thus by degrees, their establishment
increased in numbers, and flourished exceedingly.
When the French invaded the Netherlands at the
Revolution, these reUgious on an alarm of danger,
quitted their house on the first of May, 1794, and
retired for safety to Sluys, where they remained five
weeks. They ventured, however, to return to Bruges; but
were permitted to remain there only a fortnight, before
the approach of the French obUged them again to fly.
They first went to Antwerp, and thence proceeded to
Rotterdam, where they arrived on the 29th of June.
They embarked for England on the 5th of July, and
landed in London on the 12th of the same month.
They were kindly received in their native land, and
generously invited to take up their abode at Hengrave
Hall, in Suffolk,, the seat of Sir Thomas Gage, Bart.
Their superior was Mrs. Mary More, who repaired
with her spiritual daughters' to the hospitable mansion
of Hengrave, where they were enabled to practise all
their reUgious observances, and also to continue their

56 CANONESSES OF ST. AUGUSTIN AT PARIS.

school for young ladies. Here they remained tiU the
peace of Amiens, when Mrs. More returned to their
convent at Bruges, which they had repurchased. That
excellent lady died in the spring of 1807. The establish
ment remained with very Uttle molestation, and con
tinues to flourish, with a high reputation, both in
England and the Low Countries. 3.
CANONESSES OF ST. AUGUSTIN AT PARIS.
This establishment originated with six English young
ladies, who had been educated in the French abbey of
the order of St. Augustin at Douay. Aspiring to
greater perfection in a religious life, they resolved to
begin a monastery of the same order ; and under the
guidance of one of their number, Dame Letitia Maria
Tredway, having obtained the necessary powers of
Cardinal Richelieu, they settled in the year 1633, in the
Fauxbourg St. Michel at Paris, being under the direc
tion of the clergy of Douay coUege. But finding this
situation inconvenient, they soon removed to the
Fauxbourg St. Antoine ; and finally purchased a house
in the Rue des Fosse's St. Victor, in the year 1639.

CANONESSES OF ST. AUGUSTIN AT PARIS. 57
Here they built their monastery, which was caUed
Mount Sion, and their church, which was dedicated
in honour of St. Augustin, by Dr. Smith, Bishop
of Chalcedon, who resided for greater security in Paris.
He spent the last thirteen years of his Ufe in an apart
ment belonging to this convent ; and there died in 1655,
leaving a considerable legacy to the community, who
placed a monument to his memory in their church.
Dame Tredway governed the house as lady abbess,
during the space of forty years; but afterwards the
superior was chosen for four years only, though she
might be re-elected at the expiration of that term.
During many years, this community was numerous and
flourishing ; receiving members successively from aU
the noble CathoUc famUies of England, and educating
numbers of young EngUsh ladies in Catholic principles
and practice, at the time when their reUgion was
proscribed in England. This house was honoured by
frequent visits from the Stuart princes, during their
exile in France, especiaUy James II. and Marie d'Este ;
and continued to prosper tiU 1793, when aU British
property was confiscated. The convent was then
declared a house of detention, and the community,

58 CANONESSES OF THE H. SEPULCHRE AT LIEGE.
with many other ladies, both religious and secular,
remained for seventeen months prisoners within its
walls. They suffered much misery, anxiety, and dis
tress, during the remainder of the Revolution. At
length, however, they regained their liberty and the
restoration of their house, through the protection of the
consuls Buonaparte and Lebrun. They resumed their
reUgious habit, and exercises, received again some
English members, and re-opened their school, which
has continued to flourish ever since.
4.
CANONESSES OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE AT
LIEGE.
This establishment was originally founded in the
year 1616 by the Hon. Susanna Hawley, with very
slender means. It was begun in the convent of the
suppressed Jesuitesses at Liege ; but in 1624, the com
munity obtained of the Pope and the prince bishop of
Liege the house in which they continued tUl the French
Revolution. It had formerly belonged to some monks
of the hospital of the knights of St. John of Jerusalem,
who had been suppressed. Here their exceUent method

CANONESSES OF THE H. SEPULCHRE AT LIEGE. 59
of education and their virtuous conduct rendered them
eminent ; and so they continued till the French invaded
the neighbourhood of Liege in 1794. On the 29th of
May, in that year, these religious left Liege, and after
many hindrances and disagreeable accidents, they arrived
safe at Greenwich, on the 18th of August following. In
1795, they settled at Holme, near Market Weighton, a
seat of the Langdale family in Yorkshire : but removed
in 1797 to Dean House, near Salisbury. Thence in
1800, they came to their present mansion at Newhall,
near Chelmsford, in Essex.

II.
BENEDICTINS. 1.
BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT BRUSSELS.
The English Benedictin abbey at Brussels was the first
monastery of English nuns founded on the continent
after the dissolution of religious houses in England at
the Reformation ; and it is curious to observe that its
members were the first who returned to England after
the French Revolution. It was originally projected
by Lady Mary* Percy, daughter of Thomas, Earl of
Northumberland. A bull was obtained of Pope
Clement VIII. for beginning a Benedictin nunnery
at Brussels, to be under the archbishop of Mechlin, and
not subject to the Order. In the year 1598, the pur
chase of a house was made in Brussels, which belonged
to Sir Rowland Longinus, viscount of Bergues. To aid
her in this pious foundation, Lady Mary Percy had
obtained from the Benedictin monastery of St. Peter in
Rheims, Madam Joanna Berkley, who was a professed
nun in that house, who came to Brussels, and joined

BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT BRUSSELS. 61
Lady Mary, with several other young EngUsh ladies,
who aspired to a religious life. Possession of the house
which had been purchased was obtained on the 11th of
July, 1598. Other devout ladies joined the former ;
and on the 14th of November, 1599, Madam Joanna
Berkley was consecrated the first abbess of the new
monastery, by Mathias van Houe, archbishop of
Mechlin. Eight ladies were invested with the habit
shortly after, and began their noviceship with great
fervour. Lady Mary Percy was the second abbess,
foUowed by other ladies of ancient English families.
The statutes of this new monastery were drawn
up by an assembly of prelates, abbots, and divines,
well experienced in monastic discipUne^ They were
approved of and confirmed by the Pope, in the year
1612 ; and deUvered to the religious, with the con
ditions of their being subject to the archbishop, and
having their spiritual director of the Society of Jesus ;
whose members had much laboured for the spiritual and
temporal good of their monastery from its commence
ment. This sanctuary of virtue and piety had existed nearly
two hundred years, when it was assailed by the votaries

62 BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT CAMBRAY.
of anarchy and infidelity. The peaceful inmates were
compeUed to quit their house, and seek some new
establishment. They quitted Brussels June 22, 1794,
passed through Antwerp, and arrived at Rotterdam on
the 26th. There they embarked for England on the
2nd of July, and landed on the 6th at St. Catherine's
stairs, near the Tower. They remained only three days
in London, leaving it on the 9th of July for Win
chester, where a house had been provided for them, in
St. Peter's street, a retired and healthy part of the city.
There they have continued ever since, engaged in the
education of young ladies. 2.
BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT CAMBRAY.
The monastery of English nuns of the order of
St. Benedict at Brussels, proved a nursery to others.
The first fiUation from it was begun at Cambray by
Mrs. Frances Gawen. Some of the Benedictin fathers
requested of the archbishop of Mechlin and Lady Mary
Percy, the abbess of the English monastery at Brussels,
that some of the religious might begin a house of then-
order at Cambray, to be placed under tireir direction.

BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT CAMBRAY. 63
This being granted, the Rev. Dame Frances Gawen,
Dame Potentiana Deacon, and Dame Viviana Yaxley,
professed nuns of the convent at Brussels, were con
ducted to Cambray for that purpose by Father Rudisend
Barlow, prior of the EngUsh Benedictin monastery at
Paris. This took place in the year 1623. The house
in which they were located was the refuge of the
Benedictin abbey of Ferny, a monastery not far from
Cambray, which had been begun by English, but was
then in ruins. Nor was this house at Cambray much
better. There were only four waUs standing without
any partitions, and the walls broken in many places ; so
that the place cost £500 to make it habitable. At first
it was only lent to them ; but in 1638, it was made over
to them as a gift. The three ladies took possession,
December 24th, 1623. The archbishop himself received
them there, celebrated the first Mass, and dedicated
their convent to our B. Lady of Consolation. On the
1st of January, 1625, the same prelate professed nine
other ladies, and placed the community entirely under
the superintendence of the English Benedictin fathers.
The first abbess was Dame Frances Gawen, who
resigned this dignity after six years, and was succeeded

64 BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT CAMBRAY.

by Dame Catherine Gascoigne, who governed the com
munity thirty-four years, with great piety and prudence.
These religious educated young ladies, and lived by
their own work and other resources, engaged in the
most edifying manner in the exercises of reUgion and
virtue. On the 18th of October, 1793, a body of soldiers
entered the convent, and hurried away its inmates with
out even a change of clothes, to Compeigne, whither
they were carried in open carts, amidst insults and
barbarous usage. They were imprisoned in the infirmary
of the convent, formerly of the Visitation ; in another
part of which were confined seventeen Carmelite nuns
of the convent of St. Denis. These were led out to
execution only a few days after the arrival of the
EngUsh nuns, who for a long time daily expected the
same fate. They suffered greatly during their confine
ment, from the want of bread, fuel, and clothing. They
received however some articles of wearing apparel,
which had belonged to the poor Carmelites who were
guillotined, which to them were most valuable treasures
and holy reUcs. They were twenty in number, besides
their chaplain, F. Augustin Walker, and another priest.

BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT GHENT. 65
Of these, the reverend chaplain and four of the nuns
sunk under the rigours of their imprisonment, early in
the year 1794. At length they obtained their Uberty,
and on the 24th of April, 1795, procured passports to
return to their native country. On the 3rd of May they
sailed from Calais, and on the 4th arrived in London.
No sooner was their arrival known, than a lady of
distinction charitably provided a house for them at the
west end of the town, where she visited them, and
afforded them every comfort in her power. Upon the
invitation of the Rev. Dr, Brewer, they proceeded to
Wootton, near Liverpool, where they undertook a
school for the education of young ladies. In the year
1808 these religious removed to Abbot's Salford, near
Stratford on Avon. There they remained, and con
tinued their school, tiU 1838, when they entered upon
their present residence at Stanbrook, near Worcester.

BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT GHENT.
Four nuns of the monastery of EngUsh Benedictins
at Brussels, Eugenia Poulton, Magdalen Digby, Mary
Roper, and Lucy KnatchbuU, on account of various i

66 BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT GHENT.
inconveniences arising from the increased number of
the establishment, became anxious to form a new foun
dation. After two years of consultation with several
fathers, they addressed the archbishop of Mechlin on
the subject. He entered into their plan ; but the
abbess, though she approved of the design, was unwil
ling to part with either of the ladies, with whom it had
originated. These, however, ultimately succeeded in
obtaining the commission ; and the protection of both
the civil and ecclesiastical authorities of Ghent having
been secured, a small house was taken for the new
colony in that city. On the 16th of January, 1624, the
four religious, with two novices, left Brussels, and
entered Ghent the following morning, destitute of aU
means of support, and whoUy relying on Divine Provi
dence. In a few days the Bishop of Ghent repaired
to the new convent, and assured its fervent inmates of
his paternal protection. The suffrages of the members
were then taken, and Dame Lucy KnatchbuU was
unanimously chosen abbess. She was solemnly blessed
and installed on the feast of their holy patron St. Bene
dict, in the same year 1624. In the following month,
these nuns were joined by two others ; and before the

BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT GHENT. 67

end of the year, they numbered two and twenty inmates.
By their accession, the means for their support in
creased: but it also became necessary to seek more
extensive accommodation. They purchased ground
near the Benedictin abbey of St. Peter, where they
erected a house- and a church; and removed to their
new habitation on the 5th of August, 1628. During
the exile of Charles II. both the king and his brother,
the Duke of York, frequently visited this monastery.
Charles made them numerous presents, and settled on
them an annuity of £500. James II. was converted at
Ghent to the Catholic religion, and on his succeeding
to the throne, intended to estabUsh them as the first
monastery in his kingdom.
The community appear to have remained in the same
house at Ghent, until the year 1794. The chief maga
zine of corn and bread of the late Duke of York was in
their convent, during the campaign in the Low Coun
tries. They received on every occasion the kindest
protection from his royal highness, and the greatest
respect and civility from the British officers and soldiers
in general. Having received a friendly intimation from
an English nobleman, that they could no longer remain

BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT LAMBSPRING.

in Ghent with safety, they quitted it in separate parties,
and by the care and generosity of a gentleman in Lan
cashire, were enabled to reach their native country.
They were assembled again in a temporary residence in
Lancashire, and in 1795 settled at Preston, where they
opened their school for young ladies. In the early part
of the year 1811, the community removed to the
venerable building, of quite monastic appearance,
which they had purchased, and where they have
ever since continued, Caverswall Castle, near Stone,
Staffordshire. 4.
BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT LAMBSPRING.
The Benedictin abbey at Lambspring was originaUy
a nunnery of the same Order, founded in the ninth cen
tury. It was given to the English congregation of the
Order of St. .Benedict, in the year 1630, as an establish
ment for its female members. But by the authority,
or influence of Ferdinand, elector of Cologn, and
lord of Hildesheim, the nuns were afterwards removed ;
it was taken possession of by English Benedictin
monks.

BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT PARIS.

5.
BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT PARIS.
This was a filiation from Cambray, as that of Cambray
had been from Brussels. Dame Clementina Cary,
daughter of Viscount Falkland, who was a religious in
the convent at Cambray, coming to Paris, with per
mission, for the cure of a disorder, in the year 1651,
obtained by means of Henrietta Maria, Queen of the
unfortunate Charles I. and of the Abbe Montague, that
a monastery of Benedictin nuns should be established
in Paris. Five nuns from Cambray were sent to assist
her in beginning this pious foundation, two of whom
returned afterwards to Cambray. Dame Bridget More
was installed the first abbess ; the foundress Dame
Clementina Cary having out of humility declined
that dignity. After occupying five different houses,
the community in March 1664, with the assistance of
their friends, purchased the convent which they finally
occupied in the Rue du Champ de L'Alouette, Faux
bourg St. Marcel.
On the 3rd of October, 1793, they were made
prisoners in their own house, and deprived of all

70 BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT PARIS.

communication with persons out of it. A month
after, this convent was turned into a common jail, and
filled with prisoners. Here the poor nuns endured the
greatest hardships,, and daily witnessed the most dis
tressing scenes. Whole famiUes at a time were dragged
from their convent to the guiUotine ; and they expected
no better fate for themselves. But on the 15th of July,
they were removed in the night, in six coaches to the
Castle of Vincennes. Here they were locked up by
day, as weU as by night, in narrow cells, without being
able to see out of their windows. After four months of
this rigorous confinement, they were taken back to
Paris in a cart; and were at length brought to the
convent of Austin nuns in the Fosse St. Victor, who
were also prisoners in their own house, but had been
less harshly treated. On the first of March, 1795, they
regained their Uberty, but could only recover part of
their linen and furniture. By the sale of these, they
raised suppUes for their journey ; and having obtained
passports with much difficulty, they left Paris June 19th,
and arrived in London July 5, 1795. They settled in
the same year at MarnhuU, in Dorsetshire. In 1807,
they removed to Cannington, near Bridgewater; in

BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT PONTOISE. 71
1836 they came to Aston Hall, Staffordshire, and in
1837, finaUy settled at St. Benedict's Priory, Great
Heywood, Staffordshire.

BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT PONTOISE.
The convent of EngUsh Benedictin nuns at Pontoise
was a filiation from their establishment at Ghent, as
that also had been from the abbey at Brussels. At first
they were established at Boulogne, in 1652, whither six
religious were sent, one of whom appears to have been
a lay sister. This new foundation was principally ac
complished through the munificence of Sir Richard
Foster, treasurer to the queen mother, who bestowed
upon the community 20,000 Uvres. The bishop, after
examining their constitutions, approved them ; and
they were encouraged and patronized both by his lord
ship, and the inhabitants of the town. Their situation,
however, at Boulogne was rendered unpleasant by other
circumstances, which induced them to remove to Pon
toise in 1658. They obtained a settlement there by the
interest of the Abbe Montague ; their former bene
factor, Sir Richard Foster adding 30,000 Uvres to his

72 BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT DUNKIRK.

former donation, for this purpose. The first abbess
was Catherine Wigmore, who died in 1656, while the
community was still at Boulogne. Many ladies distin
guished by birth as weU as piety, retired from the world
to serve God in the monastery of Pontoise ; some of
them of royal extraction. Their last abbess was
daughter of N. Clavering, Esq. of Callaly Castle,
Northumberland. The necessities of the convent be
came so urgent at that time, that it became necessary to
break up the estabUshment ; and the archbishop gave
permission to the religious to retire to any other con
vents. The abbess, with six other nuns, retired to the
community of their order at Dunkirk, in the year 1784;
and were afterwards joined by others of their former
companions, where they continued in peace and happi
ness till the fatal event of the French revolution.
7.
BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT DUNKIRK.
The convent of English Benedictin nuns at Ghent
having exceedingly increased in numbers, the abbess,
Lady Mary KnatchbuU, niece of Lady Lucy, their first
abbess, obtained permission of the English government

BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT DUNKIRK. 73
in 1662, to establish a new convent in the town of
Dunkirk, which was then in possession of the English.
When King Charles II. and his brother James, then
Duke of York, were in exile in the Low Countries,
they had received great hospitality from the community
at Ghent ; and the abbess had rendered valuable service
to the royal cause. The king, after his restoration,
acknowledged his obligations in a letter to the abbess,
and made some presents to the community, with great
promises of support and assistance. Finding however
that his majesty did nothing further, the lady abbess,
Mary KnatchbuU, by the advice of her friends, and with
consent of the bishop, left Ghent at the end of October
1661, with Rev. Mr. Gerrard, Dame Mary Carrille, and
a lay sister, and proceeded to England, to surprise the
king by a personal visit. His majesty received her with
great favour, and assigned her £3000 ; besides which
she received many valuable presents. Having obtained
the sanction of the EngUsh government, twelve of the
community of Ghent removed to Dunkirk, on the 8th
of May, 1662. Most of these were of ancient families,
as NeviU, Fortescue, Savage, Stanley, Webb, Heneage,
CarriUe, Pordage, Eyre, and others. They purchased a
K

74 BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT DUNKIRK
house, with the assistance of several English noblemen,
on the site of which they built a complete and handsome
convent. Dame Mary CarriUe, or Caryl, presided over
this community for the first two years, as prioress ; and
then being elected abbess, governed them forty-nine
years, leaving at her departure forty-six choir nuns.
She was succeeded by abbess Fleetwood, who died in
1748, abbess Fermor, who died in 1764, abbess Engle-
field, who died in 1777, and abbess Prujean. Under
the government of this lady, the dreadful effects of the
French Revolution were experienced by this com
munity, as by every other religious establishment.
In the fatal year 1793, the church of their convent
was seized upon for the meetings of the Jacobin club of
Dunkirk; and on the 13th of October, these ladies were
turned out of their convent at a few hours' notice, and
their property sequestered. They had no time, nor
conveyances, to bring away even their clothes, but were
obliged to hurry their departure, and pass through the
ranks of soldiers to the coaches sent for them. They
were conveyed to the convent of the Poor Clares, in the
same town ; but these underwent the same treatment
only four days later, and both communities were sent off

BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT DUNKIRK. 75
to the Poor Clares at GraveUnes. They were conveyed
in a wretched boat, which could scarcely contain them
and the fifty soldiers who guarded them, so that they
were in great danger of being drowned. Some months
after, they recovered some part of their ' poor clothing ;
but the three communities thus imprisoned together,
endured the greatest hardships, were kept in continual
alarm, and must have perished through want, had they
not received charitable supplies from charitable friends,
particularly of GraveUnes. In this state they barely
existed for eighteen months : indeed two of the Bene
dictin community died during their confinement. The
Convention declared them at liberty, while they kept
them in confinement ; and it was not till after repeated
applications, that they obtained permission to return to
England. At length they embarked at Calais, on the
30th of April, and arrived in London, May 3rd, 1795.
They betook themselves to their several friends, till a
house could be provided for them. On the 8th of May,
however, the abbess Prujean, with some of the com
munity, took possession of the convent at Hammer
smith ; but the whole community did not assemble tiU
September 29, of the same year. Since that time

76 BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT IPRES.
they have continued all their conventual duties, and
received young ladies for education. The abbess
Prujean died in 1812, and was succeeded by the abbess
Mary Placida Messenger. Since her decease in 1828,
the community has been governed by the abbess Mary
Placida Selby. 8.
BENEDICTIN ABBEY AT IPRES.
This was another fiUation from Ghent. It was
founded in the year 1665, on the 22nd of May. The
first abbess was Lady Mary Beaumont, who was
solemnly blessed in the cathedral of Ipres, by the
bishop, Martin de Praet, in the year 1669. The abbess
KnatchbuU of the Benedictin abbey at Ghent, whence
this colony had proceeded, had always intended this
house for a community of Irish Benedictin nuns ; and
accordingly, in the year 1683, she invited some of the
Irish religious, professed in different monasteries of the
English congregation, to the establishment at Ipres.
From that time it became an Irish establishment,
and removed to Dublin in 1688 by invitation of king
James II. In 1690, the community returned to Ipres,
where they have ever since continued.

• •

III.
BRIDGETTINS.
BRIDGETTIN CONVENT OF SION HOUSE.
The convent of the Order of St. Bridget is the only
English nunnery which has continued without disper
sion since the Reformation. There was only one great
monastery of the Bridgettin Order in England. It was
called Sion House, and situated in Middlesex, near the
Thames, about ten miles from London; having been
founded by king Henry V. in 1413. It was one of the
first houses dissolved by Henry VIII. Queen Mary
restored it to its former owners, and founded the monas
tery anew, in the fourth and fifth years of her reign,
recalling its members from Dermond in Flanders,
whither they had retired. But on the accession of
Elizabeth, it was again dissolved. The nuns, twenty in
number, having obtained a safe conduct of Elizabeth,
through the Spanish ambassador, the Duke of Feria,
left England in 1559, with their abbess, Catherine
Palmer, and first retired to their former asylum at
Dermond. In 1563, they removed to a house bestowed
on them by the Duchess of Parma in Ziiric-Zee, the

78 BRIDGETTIN NUNS OF SION HOUSE.
capital of Zealand. But the unwholesomeness of the
situation obliged them to remove again ; and in 1567
they purchased a place near Antwerp, called Mesaghan,
where they remained near five years. Subsequently
they removed to Mechlin, and then to Rouen in 1580.
Here they were hospitably received, provided with a
house, and enabled to build a church. . In addition to
their pension from Spain of 1200 florins, the pariiament
voted them an allowance ; and they rested here for
fourteen years. But on the accession of Henry IV. to
the throne of France, the community became objects of
suspicion ; their allowance was withdrawn, and they
found it expedient to retire to Lisbon.
They left Rouen, March 29, 1594, and proceeded to
Havre de Grace, whence they embarked on the 5th of
May, and after a passage of fifteen days, arrived at
Lisbon. They were fifteen professed nuns, and one
novice ; and were accompanied by three fathers of their
Order. At Lisbon they met with a most kind and
hospitable reception from the Franciscan nuns of the
monastery of our Lady of Hope ; and in that convent
they Uved tiU they received from a noble lady a gift of
some houses and grounds in the place caUed Mocambo,

BRIDGETTIN NUNS OF SION HOUSE. 79
where they built their church and monastery. King
PhiUp II. endowed them with a pension of the value of
lis. l|d. per diem of EngUsh money, besides thirty
quarters of wheat annually, from the revenue of the fens
belonging to the crown at Santarem. Their spiritual
wants were supplied by two secular priests ; one of
whom also administered the temporal concerns of the
community. On the 17th of August, 1651, both their
church and monastery were burnt to the ground ; and
the good Franciscan nuns again afforded them an
asylum for five years. In the same year, however,
October 2nd, 1651, the first stone was laid for the
foundation of the new. building, and the religious
returned to their old locality in 1656.
They remained secure in their peaceful abode till the
year 1810, when the disturbed state of affairs on the
continent, and the privations they had suffered, induced
some of them to seek refuge in England, their native
country. Here they opened a school at Peckham in
Surrey, caUing their establishment by the old and
venerable name of Sion House. Their school continued
here about four years ; and they afterwards removed to
Somerstown. Thence they went to reside at Cobridge

80 BRIDGETTIN NUNS OF SION HOUSE.
Cottage, near Newcastle, in Staffordshire. This was in
April 1822. They were only five in number at that
time, including their abbess, EUzabeth Fumes. They
left Cobridge in September 1829, to reside at Aston
Hall, near Stone, in the same county. They dwindled
down at length to two lay sisters, who left Aston in
March 1837 ; one Uved in lodgings at Newcastle-under-
Lyme, the other with the Benedictin nuns at Win
chester, whither two of the choir nuns had retired some
time before. Thus that portion of the Bridgettins who
had come over from Lisbon became extinct; but the
remainder still exist at Lisbon.

IV.
POOR CLARES. 1.
CONVENT OF POOR CLARES AT GRAVELINES.
This first convent of nuns of the Order of St. Francis
was estabUshed through the zeal of Mrs. Mary Ward,
who entered a French convent of Poor Clares at
St. Omer in 1607. Hearing of certain lands at Grave-
lines, lately bequeathed for a reUgious foundation, she
made interest with the bishop of St. Omer, and the
abbot of St. Bertins, to procure them for the purpose
of founding a monastery of EngUsh Poor Clares.
Mrs. Ward proceeded to Brussels, and there obtained
of the Austrian Archduke the necessary grant for
executing her pious project at GraveUnes ; but he gave
this permission upon the conditions that the proposed
convent should be under the jurisdiction of the bishop,
and not chargeable to the inhabitants. The approbation
of the Pope was next obtained ; who in a brief to the
bishop of St. Omer, directed him to take charge of the
establishment, and afford every assistance to fhe reU-

82 POOR CLARES OF GRAVELINES.

gious who should commence the undertaking. The
Rev. John Gennings, a Franciscan of that branch of the
Order, caUed Recollects, had a great share in the foun
dation of the monastery at GraveUnes. Mrs. Ward
collected together several English ladies, and procured
the bishop's authority to receive such EngUsh nuns
as had been professed in a French convent at St. Omer.
Among these was Mary Gough, who was chosen supe
rior of the new convent, Clare Fowler, Lucy Darrel,
and two lay-sisters. These took possession of the house
at GraveUnes, on the 14th of September, 1609. This
being too smaU, they built one more complete, by the
assistance of various kind friends, in 1611; their church
being erected by one of the Gage family. Many holy
souls, unknown to the world, practised in this convent
the exercises of an interior life. The discipline of the
house was the subject of general admiration, while the
virtues of its inmates were a constant source of edifica
tion to the surrounding neighbourhood. The com
munity in 1624 numbered sixty -five members. The
lives of two eminent members of this convent have been
pubUshed by the Jesuit Father Edward Scarsbrick, who
were Lady Warner, caUed in reUgion Sr. Clare of Jesus>

POOR CLARES OF GRAVELINES. 83

and her sister-in-law, EUzabeth Warner, caUed Sr. Mary
Glare. The former became a convert with her hus
band, Sir John Warner, and both embraced a reUgious
state, he becoming a Jesuit, and she a Poor Clare ; and
both made their reUgious profession on the same day,
November 1, 1667, in the church of this convent.
At the disastrous epoch of the French Revolution, this
convent was surrounded with guards, on the 12th of
October, 1793, and the papers and property of the nuns
seized. Five days after, the two communities of Bene
dictins and Poor Clares from Dunkirk were brought
prisoners to this convent, consisting in aU of forty-two
persons, making their whole number seventy-seven pri
soners. Afew days after this, commissioners arrived, and
effaced aU pictures and tokens of royalty and nobility,
both within and without the enclosure ; and Ukewise
secured all the sacred vessels, vestments and ornaments,
and shut and sealed up the church and sacristy. For
eighteen months the three communities were confined
together, and suffered severe privations and various afflic
tions, particularly from the want of fuel in a very severe
winter. They were reduced to the necessity of cutting
up the cupboards and wainscoting of the house, and

84 POOR CLARES AT DUNKIRK
even the trees of the garden to obtain firing. They
were aUowed only a very smaU sum daily, amounting to
no more than twopence of EngUsh money. At length
they were declared at Uberty ; but seeing no prospect
of an end to their miseries where they were, they
petitioned for passports to return to England. They
quitted GraveUnes April 29th, 1795, sailed from Calais
on the 30th, and arrived in London on the 3rd of May.
They received numberless proofs of charity and kind
ness on their arrival, many of them from persons
unknown to them; but to one illustrious family in
particular, including its worthy chaplain, they were
indebted principaUy for their support in London, as
well as for their first house of retirement in the
country, which was at Gosfield in Essex. Afterwards
they removed to Coxside, Plymouth ; and thence they
went to join the community at Clare Lodge, Catterick,
Yorkshire. 2.
POOR CLARES AT DUNKIRK.
In the year 1623, four nuns were sent out from the
original EngUsh convent of Poor Clares at GraveUnes,

POOR CLARES AT DUNKIRK. 85
to soUcit assistance, when from fire and other misfor
tunes that house had greatly suffered, and was brought
into great difficulties. These were sisters Ann Ludovica
Browne, Mary EvangeUst Clark, Ann Clare Anderson,
and Clare Francis Rockwood, afterwards joined by
another, Sr. Mary Collet Rockwood. They first set up
a school at Dunkirk ; and afterwards with the approba
tion of the bishop and governor, converted their school
into a convent, and by due authority elected sister
A. L. Browne their first abbess. She was niece of
Viscount Montague, and possessed great piety, pru
dence, and humility. This occurred in the year 1654,
and two years after the nuns retired to Ghent, Dunkirk
having faUen into the hands of the EngUsh. They were
encouraged, however, to return in the same year, and
proceeded to erect a new convent on the same spot,
where they had before resided. By the benefactions of
friends, and the pensions of their school, they supported
themselves, in the frugal way which befitted their state
of holy poverty, until they were involved in the miseries
of the French Revolution. In September, 1793, their
spiritual director, Rev. Mr. Apedale was arrested ; and
on the evening of October 13, the Benedictin dames of

POOR CLARES AT AIRE.

the same town were transferred to this convent. They
were all strictly guarded ; and on the 16th were trans
ferred together to the convent of their sisters at Grave
Unes. When at last they required their Uberty, and
returned to their native country, they were provided
with a house at Church-HiU, near Worcester, by the
liberaUty of the Berkeley family of Spetchley. There
they continued about twenty years, and gradually be
came extinct. 3.
POOR CLARES AT AIRE.
This first filiation from the original house at Grave
Unes, went forth in the year 1629. Their estabUshment
was brought about chiefly by means of Father Francis of
St. Clare, aUas Christopher Davenport. On the 19th of
May, 1629, Margaret RadcUffe, caUed in religion Sister
Margaret of St. Paul, arrived at Aire, to preside as
abbess over the new community of twenty-four persons,
who had preceded her, from the convent at GraveUnes.
They were lodged at first in what is called the king's
hall ; tiU their convent being ready for enclosure,
F. Francis of St. Clare held a visitation of the members,

POOR CLARES AT AIRE. 87

and a new election took place, of superiors, and those
who were to fiU the various offices in the convent. The
same abbess was re-elected, and the members consisted
of eighteen choir nuns, two novices, and three lay
sisters. The piety and, virtues of this community at all
times endeared them to the inhabitants of the Uttle
town of Aire.
From the year 1793, these holy sisters had been
hardly a day without apprehension ; but they continued
in their convent. However, on the 20th of February,
1798, their chaplain, F. Kington, was arrested, and the
whole community shared the same fate on the 24th ;
and were confined under guard in their convent, suffer
ing great privations till the 27th of June, when they
were turned out at ten o'clock at night, without money
or passports, to seek an asylum wherever they could.
They were harboured with great kindness in different
houses of the inhabitants. They obtained passports for
England on the 14th of August, and quitted the town
September 4th, 1798. They reached Calais the same
evening, and arrived at Dover September 1 1th. Twelve
of the nuns reached London on the 13th, and the rest,
with 'their chaplain, on the day foUowing. In 1800,

88 POOR CLARES AT ROUEN.

they were settled at Britwell House, near WatUngton,
Oxfordshire. They afterwards removed to Coxside,
Plymouth ; whence they repaired to GraveUnes in
1834, but quitted it in 1836, and joined the community,
formerly of Rouen, now at Scorton, near Catterick,
Yorkshire.

POOR CLARES AT ROUEN.
A colony was sent forth from the original estabUsh
ment of Poor Clares at GraveUnes, in the year 1648,
to form a separate convent at Rouen. It consisted
of fifteen reUgious, among whom were Sisters Mary
Taylor, Ignatia Bedingfeld, Winefrid Giffard, M. Mag
dalen Browne, and Clare Perkins. They were much
encouraged by the inhabitants of Rouen, and received
stiU more effectual support from king Charles II. his
queen, and other royal and noble benefactors, amongst
whom Lords Montague, Petre, and Arundell, and the
Hon. Mr. Petre were conspicuous. The three ladies
above mentioned were in succession the first abbesses of
this convent, which was protected by letters patent from
the king of France in 1650. ' Sr, Mary of the Holy

POOR CLARES AT ROUEN.

Cross, of the noble family of the Howards, was among
those who attained a high degree of sanctity in this con
vent. Her life was composed and published by the
venerable and learned Alban Butler.
This community continued respected for the strict
ness and fervour with which they uniformly observed
their austere rule, till they were called to suffer with
the rest of their pious countrywomen, under the tyranny
of the French revolutionists. They were arrested on
the 2nd of October, 1793 ; their effects confiscated, and
the deeds of their establishment obUged to be sur
rendered. Their church ornaments, crosses, religious
memorials, and everything relating to reUgion were car
ried away or demolished. Their convent was made a
common prison, in which 320 persons were confined ;
the nuns themselves being shut up in granaries and
other inconvenient parts of the convent. In the foUow
ing Spring, they were removed to a different prison,
called St. Mary's, which contained above 700 prisoners.
Here they suffered dreadfully from want of room, fresh
air, food and even water ; and were left to languish
under these terrible privations tiU the 18th of January,
1795, when they were aUowed to quit their confinement. M

90 RELIGIOUS OF ST. FRANCIS AT BRUGES.
They were refused permission to return to their con
vent, and seeing no prospect for them in France but
persecution and starvation, they resolved, to throw
themselves on the compassion and charity of their
countrymen. They came over in parties, till all were
happily landed in England, in the month of September,
1795, being in number forty-three. They settled first
at Haggerstone Castle, Belford, Northumberland ; and
in 1808, removed thence to Scorton HaU, near Catterick,
Yorkshire ; where they now remain, their establish
ment being called St. Clare's convent.

RELIGIOUS OF THE THIRD ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS
AT BRUGES.
This convent of St. Elizabeth was first established at
Brussels, by the instrumentality of the two Franciscan
Fathers, Gennings and. Davenport, in the year 1621.
Their first superior was Mrs. Elizabeth Wilcox, who
with five others made her profession in 1622. They
removed in 1637 to Nieuport, in Flanders, on account
of the dearness of the necessaries of life at Brussels.
Thence in 1662, they retired to Bruges, to the ancient

CONCEPTIONIST NUNS AT PARIS. 91
palace called Princenhoff; but were not fully settled
there tiU the 1st of March foUowing. They were
employed in the education of young ladies ; and con
tinued their peaceful and holy course of life, till in the
month of June, 1794, they were alarmed by the report
of the near approach of the French. Having com
mended themselves to Almighty God in the holy sacri
fice, they left their beloved convent, and arrived at
Rotterdam on the 30th of June. They took shelter the
day following at Delft ; but on the 23rd of July they
embarked for England. They landed August 7th, at
Greenwich, and proceeded to London. They settled
in the same year at the abbey house at Winchester ;
but in 1808 removed to Taunton Lodge, where they
still remain.

CONCEPTIONISTS AT PARIS, COMMONLY CALLED
THE BLUE NUNS.
The nuns of the Third Order of St. Francis, had
been settled for some years at Nieuport in Flanders, as
related in the preceding article, having entered their
house there with forty in community in the year 1637.

92 CONCEPTIONIST NUNS AT PARIS.
About twenty years afterwards, ten of their number
were sent to form a filiation in Paris. The Rev. Mother
Angela Jerningham was appointed their abbess. They
met with many friends, both English and French. For
about two years, they were but indifferently accom
modated in a house in the Rue St. Jacques ; but they
borrowed money to purchase a more convenient place in
the Fauxbourg St. Antoine ; and gradually repaid the
sum out of the fortunes of their novices. They built
a small chapel adjoining their convent. They were
encouraged and assisted by the Cardinal de Retz, and
his successor in the archbishopric of Paris, Monseigneur
Hardouin de Perefixe. This latter however obUged
them to submit to his jurisdiction ; and in consequence,
they exchanged their previous rule for that of the
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, which
they did by permission of the sovereign pontiff Alex
ander VII. They put on the habit and took the vows
of this rule, on the feast of the Conception, in the year
1661. The first abbess, Angela Jerningham, after being
in office a little more than two years, was permitted, at
her own request, to retire to Bruges, with her sister
Mary Ignatia and two others. She was succeeded by

CONCEPTIONIST NUNS AT PARIS. 93
Elizabeth Ann Tymperley ; and the third superior was
Susanna Hawkins. Like several other communities,
these religious employed themselves in the education of
young ladies. At the French Revolution, they were
compelled to fly to their native land, and about six of
them were most generously received by Sir William
Jerningham, at Cossey Hall, near Norwich. A resi
dence was provided for them afterwards in the city
of Norwich ; others being distributed in different
places. But in a few years they all died away.

V.
DOMINICANESSES AT BRUSSELS.
This was the only community of English nuns of the
order of St. Dominic. It was founded by Cardinal
Philip Howard, of the Norfolk family. At first he
estabUshed them at Vilvorde, seven miles from Brussels.
His own sister Henrietta, consecrating herself to God,
became their first prioress. Several of the noble family
of the Howards became nuns in this convent, besides
many other ladies of distinction. In the year 1690,
they were removed by their noble patron to a large old
mansion in Brussels, called the SpeUekens, having a
spacious garden attached to it. Their house, however,
threatening ruin about the year 1777, they built a hand
some new convent and church in the upper part of their
garden. . Originally these religious were not employed
in education; but the edict of Joseph II. in 1782,
threatening the suppression of all convents of nuns not
so employed, obliged them to procure scholars. By
this means they remained unmolested, and in the peace
ful enjoyment of a religious life till the fatal period of
the French revolution.

DOMINICANESSES AT BRUSSELS.

The first entry of the French into Brussels was in
November 1792; and while they remained, the com
munity of Dominicanesses were left in continual alarm.
First they were compelled to supply a number of
French soldiers with food and lodgings for three or four
nights. Then, on the 6th of March 1793, a body of
soldiers with their officers demanded admittance ; but
being refused, they forcibly entered, plundered various
parts of the house of provisions, and such articles of
plate as they happened to find ; and worse than all,
sacrilegiously carried off the sacred vessels of the church,
even taking the sacred ciborium out of the tabernacle.
This was done however by the commanding officer
himself with much apparent reverence, as if his faith and
conscience reproached him for his impious act. He pre
viously deposited the sacred particles on a corporal, and
carefully wiped out the ciborium with a mundatory.
Indeed the behaviour of both officers and men, while in
the convent, was tolerably respectful. The French fled,
on the approach of the Austrians ; and the church plate
was recovered, though much battered and injured.
On the 21st of June 1794, it became necessary for ,
these religious to provide for their safety by immmediate

96 DOMINICANESSES AT BRUSSELS.
flight. They first took refuge at the coUege of the
Fathers of their order at Bornheim, a distance of twenty
miles from Brussels; having only two conveyances,
which were appropriated to the infirm and aged, the
rest walking over hot sand in a burning sun. They
remained at the college till the evening of June
24th, when they were obUged to decamp again.
Their confessor, Rev. T. L. Brittain, had come
with them from Brussels; and now proceeded
with them, and several of the Dominican Fathers
in two small vessels to Antwerp. Thence they sailed
to Rotterdam, and arrived there on the 29th, after nar
rowly escaping being drowned, by one of the vessels
springing a leak in the night. They remained at Rot
terdam ten days, and embarked at length for England
in an American vessel, destitute of every convenience.
They were repeatedly fired at by foreign vessels on
their voyage, but happily escaped aU dangers, and
arrived safe in the Thames July 16th, 1794. They
remained in London seven weeks, when a generous offer
was made to them of an ancient mansion of the
Berkeley family, called Hartpury Court, situated about
six miles from Gloucester. It then belonged to the

DOMINICANESSES AT BRUSSELS. 97
present Lady Southwell, and her sister, the late Mrs.
Robert Canning. This they joyfully accepted, with
lively gratitude to their kind benefactresses. They left
London, September 1, 1794, and reached Hartpury
Court the day following. In that venerable abode they
remained forty-five years ; and would gladly have con
tinued there, had not the old house become so decayed,
as to be pronounced past all repairing. They removed
in 1839 to a convent newly built for their reception at
Atherstone, in Warwickshire, to which they gave the
name of the Rosary convent, and where they now
remain.

VI.
JESUITESSES.
CONVENT OF JESUITESSES AT ST. OMER.
In the account given above of the convent of Poor
Clares at GraveUnes, it was mentioned that they owed
their estabUshment principally to the zeal of a pious
lady, Mrs. Mary Ward. That excellent woman how
ever did not remain herself among them, though she
had previously been a novice in a French convent of
Poor Clares at St. Omer's. She formed a project of
another estabUshment of religious women, who should
be bound by certain vows, but without enclosure ; and
whose principal occupation should be to educate young
ladies. This she attempted by the advice of Father
Roger Lee, and other Jesuits. She began with several
young ladies, in a house at St. Omer's, about the year
1603. The Jesuits mainly supported their cause, and
endeavoured to procure their estabUshment. Hence
they were called Jesuitesses, but sometimes also
Wardists. Many objections, however, were raised
against this new institution ; and though several of its
members went to Rome, in the hope of obtaining the

JESUITESSES. 99

Pope's approbation, they could never succeed. Their
not being subject to enclosure opened the door to many
abuses ; and instances were enumerated of very im
proper behaviour on the part of some of the members in
consequence. They were sixteen in number at St.
Omer's in the year 1622. In 1629, they had planted
themselves in Liege ; but meeting no countenance
there, they removed to Munich. Their institute how
ever was condemned and abolished by Pope Urban VIII.
January 13, 1630 ; so that they could continue after
wards only as a private congregation under simple vows.
In this character however, they succeeded, and pro
duced admirable fruits, having two filiations in England,
one at Hammersmith, and the other at the Bar at York ;
which latter stiU continues usefully employed in the
education of young ladies.

VII.
TERESIANS OR CARMELITES.
1.
TERESIANS AT ANTWERP.
This was the first convent of English Teresian nuns
estabUshed on the continent. Lady Mary Lord, aUas
Roper, daughter of Lord Teynham undertook its foun
dation, with the assistance of one of the companions of
St. Teresa, the blessed Ann of St. Bartholomew, in
whose arms indeed that saint expired. It was founded
under the patronage of St. Joseph and St. Ann, May 1,
1619, after many obstacles had been surmounted by the
zeal and perseverance of the pious foundress. The first
prioress was Ann Worsley, who presided over this com
munity with admirable wisdom, sweetness, and charity
for twenty-five years, having been re-elected to the
office of prioress every three years, as the term of her
superiority expired. Teresa Ward from Poland, and
three Flemish sisters from Brussels and Louvain became
with her the first members. Many ladies of famUy and
fortune were inspired to renounce all, and become poor
Carmelites in this convent. Some of them were after-

TERESIANS AT LIERRE. 101

wards sent out to Nieuenberg, Bois-le-Duc, and Alost,
where they continued to lead lives worthy of their holy
vocation. The best known of these to English Catholics
was Mrs. Margaret Wake, who died in the odour of
sanctity, in the convent at Antwerp, on the 21st of
June, 1678. In 1624, their number appears to have
been about twenty.
These religious felt, in common with all their pious
sisters in other communities, the dire effects of the
French Revolution. They were obliged to abandon
their beloved convent, on the 29th of June, 1794. They
proceeded to Rotterdam, and arrived in London on the
12th of July. There they met with generous protectors
and benefactors, whom divine Providence sent to their
succour ; many of whom they never knew before. By
favour of a nobleman of distinguished piety and charity,
they were settled at Llanherne, near St. Columb's, in
Cornwall, where they have ever since remained.
2.
TERESIANS AT LIERRE.
After the mother-house of CarmeUte nuns of the
English nation had flourished for almost thirty years at

102 TERESIANS AT LIERRE.

Antwerp, a colony went forth from it to form a second
estabUshment at Lierre. This happened in the year
1648 ; and the new community consisted of ten of the
reUgious sisters from Antwerp, with the venerable
Mothers Margaret and Ursula, both of the Mostyn
family. The establishment fuUy answered the ends of
its institution. The community Uved in the fervent
practice of the duties of their austere rule ; and were
rewarded by that happiness, and those consolations of
an interior life, which are indescribable. Thus they
continued, tiU the approach of the French army obUged
them to fly for security to their native country. They
made what preparations they could, at a very short
notice, quitted their convent on the 23rd of June,
1794, and arrived safe in London on the 7th of July
following. From their first landing in England, they
experienced the greatest humanity and generosity.
Under the patronage of a worthy baronet they were
settled first at Auckland, St. Helen's, near Durham.
Thence they removed in 1804 to Cocken HaU, near
Durham, where they remained tiU 1830, when they
settled at Carmel House, Darlington.

TERESIANS AT HOOGSTRAET. 103
3.
TERESIANS AT HOOGSTRAET.
This convent of English Teresian nuns owed its
foundation to the Countess of Hoogstraet. She pro
cured some Carmelite nuns from the mother-house at
Antwerp, for this new establishment, which was founded
on the 18th of August, 1678. Her eldest daughter,
Mary Margaret, took the habit in this convent, and
made her profession on the 16th of October, 1680.
This lady was afterwards chosen superior, in which she
continued many years, until her death on the 6th of
February, 1713. Many of these holy reUgious died in
Mgh repute for their virtue and piety. The community
continued their retired and happy life, undisturbed, till
the anarchy and irreUgion produced by the French
Revolution. They were compeUed to quit their con
vent, in the morning of the 7th of July, 1794, and
arrived in London very early in the morning of the
13th, with their chaplain. They were received with
the most tender affection by their relatives and friends,
and with compassion and kindness by the people in
general, who gathered around them in great numbers.

104 CONCLUSION.

Their first residence in England was at Fryer's Place,
near Acton, Middlesex ; whence they removed in 1800
to Canford House, near Wimborn. In 1828, they
settled at Torigny, near St. Lo, in Normandy.

CONCLUSION.
In the foregoing pages, some account has been given
of every English reUgious estabUshment on the con
tinent, from the period of the suppression of religious
houses in 'England, in the sixteenth century. If some
convents now in England are not here notice.d, it is
either on account of their not having been estabUshed
originaUy for EngUsh subjects, or having been first
founded in England subsequently to the French Revo
lution. The object of the foregoing pages has been to
preserve in a collected form some records of those
venerable estabUshments, precious monuments of the
piety of our ancestors ; and of that enduring faith,
which when persecuted in its native country, quickly
took root in foreign soil, and there flourished, till by
the merciful decree of Heaven it was happily enabled to
live again in its own land. " When the Lord brought

CONCLUSION. 105

" back the captivity of Sion, we became hke men com-
" forted. The Lord hath done great things for us :
" we are become joyful. Going they went and wept,
" casting their seeds. But coming they shall come
" with joyfulness, carrying their sheaves." Ps. cxxv.

THE END.

Bacon and Kinnebrook, Mercury Office, Norwich.