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X. A Brief History of the late English Convent at Paris of the Order of the Conception, commonly called the Blue Nuns; in a Letter from John Gage Rokewode, Esq. F.R.S., Director, to Sir Henry Ellis, K.H., F.R.S., Secretary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2012

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Extract

In 1798 the Abbé Mann favoured the Society with a short chronological account of the religious establishments made by English Catholics on the continent of Europe, noticing among them the Nuns of the Conception at Paris.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1839

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References

page 193 note a Archæologia, vol. XIII. p. 251.

page 193 note b MS. on paper, tall folio, without a title, in modern calf. It is divided into these seven parts. I. Transcripts of the public instruments relating to the foundation of the Convent, beginning with “Permission des Vicaires de Monseigneur le Cardinal de Retz, Archevesque de Paris, pour l'Etablissement de cette niaison.” II. A diary of the Convent, commencing in these words: “The occasion and manner of the beginning of this Monastery of Bethlem, the first house of our nation of the holy order of the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Lady, in the suburbs of St. Anthony at Paris.” From the year 1658 to the year 1703 the diary is kept in the same hand-writing; after which the entries are made in different hands, as the circumstances seem to have arisen. The Diary terminates abruptly in 1792. III. Transcripts of the official documents relating to the election of the abbesses and officers of the Convent; the last document is dated 28th August, 1788. IV. The professions of the community; the formulae being transcripts down to the year 1679, after which occur, in every instance, the original signatures of the professed. V. An Obituary of the community, intitled “Burials,” closing with the entry of the burial at Norwich in 1810, of the last Abbess, Elizabeth Green. VI. The Superiors given by the Archbishop of Paris to the Religious. VII. The Confessors of the house.

This book was given in evidence before the House of Lords in 1812, in the Stafford Peerage case.

page 194 note c Died 29 Sept. 1664.

page 194 note d Died 4 May, 1689.

page 194 note e Returned to England.

page 194 note f Daughter of George Penny, of Poole, in Dorsetshire, Esquire, by his wife, Jane Perkins, of Ufton Court, in Berkshire, professed 8 Dec. 1661; died 9 November, 1664.

page 194 note g Dodd's Church History, vol. iii. p. 239, and Dugdale's Baronage—Stuart Duke of Richmond; according to the Diary of the Conception Lewis died in 1666.

page 195 note h License of the Vicar General, dated 12th January 1660, granted on the petition of the seven professed nuus in community, under their religious names of sisters Angela Alexis, Mary Ignatius, Catharine Louisa, Margaret Bruno, Anne Bonnaventura, Elizabeth Anne, and Lucy Mechtildis.

page 195 note i Bull dated 7 Sept. 7 Pontif.

page 195 note j Approbation dated 22 March, 1670.

page 195 note k Confirmation Louis XIV. dated at Douay, 27 May, 1670.

page 195 note l In 1673 the Queen, then Duchess of York, in passing through Paris bestowed upon the Convent forty pistoles to pray for her prosperity in England. The year before the abdication Father Shireburne, President of the Benedictines, obtained from the Queen a pension of forty pounds a year for this Convent.

page 196 note m Lady Barbara Fitzroy died 4th January 1734, and is buried in the choir of the collegiate church of Manchester. Near this lady reposes William Dawson, Esq., who desired to be buried with her, not only to testify his gratitude to a kind benefactress, “but because his fate was similar to hers; for she was disowned by her mother, and he was disinherited by his father.”

page 197 note n The community removed to the convent of the Austin nuns consisted of fourteen professed nuns, a lay sister, and a novice; two of the nuns died during their abode there. The novice and three of the nuns, on obtaining their liberty, went to England; and one of these ladies, Mrs. Ann (Teresa) Lonergan, of the city of Waterford, was the last survivor of the community, dying in Ireland ia 1838.—Letter dated 1st February, 1839, to the writer of this memoir, from Madame Finchet, present superioress of the Austin nuns at Paris.

page 198 note o Daughter of Godfrey Lloyd, of Wales, by his wife Dorothy Wharton, of Sussex.

page 199 note p Dodd's Church History.

page 199 note q John Hawkins died 29th July 1673.

page 199 note r Martin Woolascot died 1673.

page 200 note s Antiquities of Berkshire, vol. ii. p. 447.

page 200 note t MS. Collection of Pedigrees, by Manson, penes C. G. Young, Esq.

page 200 note u It is stated in the Diary that the Queen helped to put the black veil on the professed lady. Her Majesty's signature, and that of Dr. Betham, preceptor of the Prince of Wales, appear at the foot of the formula of the profession.

page 201 note x Vide the printed evidence in the Stafford Peerage case, page 145, for the formulae of the professions of Mary Louisa Stafford, and Xaveria Beatrix her sister.

page 201 note y Lady Mary Stafford, wife of Guy Augustus, Count de Rohan Chabot, brother to the Duke de Rohan: this lady was a great benefactress to the Convent.

page 203 note z Vide the printed evidence in the Stafford Peerage case, p. 148.

page 204 note a Vide Stafford Peerage case, p. 147.

page 204 note b It appears from an incidental entry in the Convent book, that an election took place, 7th November, 1791, and a doubt arises from the obit of Mrs. Stock, whether she was not then re-elected for three years. It is, however, presumed that Mrs. Green was re-elected on the occasion, as that lady, according to Madame Finchet, held the dignity some time before she went with the community to the Austin Nuns; at all events, Mrs. Green succeeded Mrs. Stock, and was the last abbess of the Convent.

page 205 note c Died 21st June, 1734.

page 205 note d Died 3rd June, 1717.

page 205 note e Died 8th February, 1762;

page 205 note f Died 14th December 1723.

page 206 note g Died 21st April, 1770.

page 206 note h Died 6th January, 1738.

page 206 note i Died 17th March, 1729.

page 206 note k Died 29th May, 1793.

page 206 note l Died 1st May, 1762.

page 206 note m Died 17th November, 1755.

page 206 note n Died 8th July, 1763.

page 206 note o Died 30th March, 1748.

page 206 note p Died 11th August, 1716.

page 206 note q A priest from Douay College, died 9th February, 1761.

page 206 note r Died 9th November, 1777.

page 206 note s In June, 1734.

page 206 note t Died 27th May, 1677.

page 206 note u June, 1708.

page 206 note x Died 10th January, 1717.

page 206 note y A Benedictine nun of the Chant de L'Allonette, buried 24th February, 1735.

page 206 note z Died 2nd September, 1741.

page 206 note a Died 17th October, 1756.

page 206 note b Died 15th November, 1756.

page 206 note c Died 5 th August, 1757.