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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2015
Founded in the seventeenth century the College of Saints Peter and Paul at Lisbon was for many years one of the overseas seminaries that provided for the education and formation of the secular clergy of England and Wales. When at the beginning of the nineteenth century seminaries began to be established in England the need for these foreign colleges grew less apparent. But the English bishops not only saw special reasons for continuing and strengthening the connection with Rome, but also decided to continue to support the two colleges in the Iberian Peninsula. There were similarities between the situations at Valladolid and Lisbon but the distinct histories of the Church in the two countries provided nuances and shades of difference that were sometimes not fully appreciated by the hierarchy. This article which uses hitherto unpublished material to be found in the archives of Lisbon College, treats of that College between the years 1807 and 1883 when the difficult conditions in Portugal called for special qualities in those English priests whose responsibility it was to maintain the College in being.
1 The College was closed in 1971 and its archives are now housed at St. Cuthbert's College, Ushaw, Durham, England. They are known as The Lisbon Collection. I wish to express my thanks to the President and the librarians, especially Fr. Michael Sharratt who has charge of the Lisbon Room, for their kind hospitality and assistance on my visits to Ushaw.
2 For the early history of the College see Michael, E. Williams, ‘The Origins of the English College Lisbon’ Recusant History vol. 20, pp. 478–492.Google Scholar
3 Croft p. 90.
4 Jerome Allen b. 1730. Son of Anthony Gomes, an employee at the Portuguese Embassy in London and his wife Mary Allen. He entered the College in Lisbon in 1744 at the request of the then Ambassador in London, Sebastian de Carvalho (later Marquis of Pombal). Sharratt, p. 3.
5 The Register refers explicitly to William Birdsall, Michael Ellis, Daniel McDonnel and James Wareing as leaving in 1808 because of the French usurpation. There may have been others.
6 William Carr, Viscount Beresford. Dictionary of National Biography. Rose, Macauley, They Went to Portugal Too. Manchester 1990, pp. 198–231.Google Scholar
7 ‘Entre 1808 e 1821 o pais passou a ser quer um protectorado ingles, quer uma colonia brasileira’ Oliviera Marques, Historia de Portugal. Lisbon 1972, p. 581.
8 b 1772 in Derbyshire. Admitted to the College in 1787, he spent the rest of his life in Portugal. He was the author of several works including a two volume Outline of Ecclesiastical and Civil History, London 1846 and A Short Sketch of Ancient Geography, Lisbon 1848. Sharratt pp. 224–225.
9 b 1774 in Lancashire. Admitted to the College in 1788. He too spent the rest of his life in Portugal. LC annals gives a short biography. Sharratt p. 93.
10 The Dean of Lisbon Chapter to Winstanley 6.11.1808. LC ecclesiastical licences.
11 Patriarch to Winstanley 1813. LC ecclesiastical licences and LC Marriage registers.
12 Patriarch to Winstanley and Father Confessor (T. Hurst). Faculties to administer baptism to adultsand give Easter communion to foreign residents, 20.3.1811. The baptismal records indicate that the sacrament was conferred not only in the college chapel but on board ship and also at other religious houses such as the English Bridgettine convent and St. Patrick's Irish College. When the majority of the British troops were withdrawn and the college resumed its function as a seminary Winstanley and Hurst continued to receive similar licences to minister to the various detachments of soldiers that came to the city from time to time.
13 The faculties to administer adult baptism and give Easter communion to foreigners given in 1811 were renewed and confirmed in 1815, 1826 and 1843. LC ecclesiastical licences.
14 b. 1770 London. Admitted to College 1785. Spent some time as professor, appointed President 1806, later became Vicar Apostolic in the West Indies. Sharratt, p. 24.
15 b 1783 in Kent. Admitted to College 1802, died of cholera in Lisbon 23.12.1813. Croft, pp. 115–117. Sharratt, p. 34.
16 b 1778 Lincolnshire. Admitted to College 1802. Sharratt, p. 190. According to J. Gillow's Register (Croft, p. 254) Spain returned to England in 1809, served on the mission in the Isle of Wight and was for many years at the Bavarian Chapel, Golden Square, London where he died 9.12.1838.
17 Croft, p. 88. One should recall that it was a long standing tradition at Douai that the English seminary was a place where clergy and laity were educated side by side.
18 LC council and college life.
19 Gradwell Papers. Scritture 66.11. Archives of Venerable English College, Rome.
20 We learn from Sharratt (pp. 63–64) that one of the benefactors was Joseph Glover a former professor at the College who was living in Lisbon as a private tutor.
21 The bishop's bookplate is still to be found in some of the volumes from the College library that are in the Lisbon Collection at Ushaw.
22 For Dom Pedro Coutinho see Michael, E. Williams, ‘The Origins of the English College Lisbon’, Recusant History vol. 20, pp. 478–492.Google Scholar
23 This same year 1819 Buckley was appointed Vicar Apostolic in the West Indies. See also Scritture 63.6. Archives of V.E.C. Rome.
24 For England's involvement in Portuguese politics, Maria Fatima Bonifacio, Seis Estudos sobre o liberalismo portugués. Lisbon 1991. Rose, Macauley, They Went to Portugal Too. Manchester 1990, pp. 204–229.Google Scholar
25 For the Church's relations with Dom, Miguel, Fortunato, de Almeida, Historia da Igreja em Portugal vol. 3, livro 4, cap 8.Google Scholar
26 LC, council and college life 23.4.1835. The note is from D. Eugenia d'Almeida, Marquesa de Ficalho, Dame of the Order of St. Isabel.
27 In the seventeenth century both Thomas White (Blacklow) and John Sergeant were members of the teaching staff at Lisbon College.
28 ProNuncio to Superiors. Permission to hear confessions and say Mass in the houses of the faithful when necessary in this time of persecution, 25.1.1834. The document is signed by the auditor in the absence of the proNuncio. ProNuncio to College. Permission for College priests to confess the faithful and say Mass in time of persecution, 26.1.1835. LC, ecclesiastical licences.
29 Patriarch to College. Permission to the faithful to hear Mass on Sundays and Holy Days in the quinta chapel, 10.9.1835. LC, ecclesiastical licences. Note that it is the quinta chapel that is referred to. As it is dated September, the traditional holiday period, this may be an extension of a previous permission granted to the chapel in the College in Lisbon.
30 José, Hermano Saraiva, Historia Concisa de Portugal, Mem Martins p. 303.Google Scholar
31 The remains of a tombstone could still be seen at the bottom of the College garden right up to the time of the closure.
32 Lisbonian Magazine, 1907, pp. 53–54.
33 The College archives are reticent as to the purpose of this visit. All that is recorded is that he and Lady Russell (who later became a Catholic) were received by the President of the College. The students had composed an Horatian Ode in his honour and he made a speech in Latin in reply. Two holidays were granted to mark the visit. LC, council and college life. Croft, p. 126 gives the latin text of the poem.
34 b 1805 in Oxfordshire. Admitted to College 1819. He spent the next 44 years at the College. In1863 he resigned the presidency and returned to England because of failing health. Croft, 219.
35 LC, annals 1853 gives an account of the origins of the school. The financial accounts for 1842–1853 are in LC, book archives 69. For the years 1837–1854 see also LC, book archive 270a and 270b.
36 The text of the speech is to be found in LC, council and college life.
37 Croft, p. 128.
38 LC, council and college life.
39 Carlos João Rademaker was descended from a Dutch family that had settled in Portugal in the seventeenth century. His mother was French, Dona Carlota Verdier, and she is referred to in LC, correspondence (Eden to Cawley 1878). His connections with England begin with his father who as a boy in 1802 spent two years at the Academy in Kensington established by the ex-Jesuit Abbé de Broglie. Later he was engaged in efforts to restore trade between Portugal and England and he then became plenipotentiary minister for Dom Miguel in Turin and it was here that his son Carlos entered the Jesuit novitiate. However the measures taken against the Society by the Piedmontese Government caused him to return to Lisbon in 1848 where after a period assisting in the Apostolic Nunciature he was ordained by the Archbishop of Mytilene and said his first Mass in the chapel of the English College in 1851. He had much in common with Ilsley. Both supported the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, both were on friendly terms with the Fronteira family and the English Bridgettine nuns, both were involved in educational projects and it was no surprise when Ilsley handed his school on to him. Later Rademaker founded a further establishment that was to become the Jesuit College at Campolide. He himself became Superior of the Jesuits in Portugal. See Grande Enciclopédia Portuguesa e Brasileira. vol. XXIV.
40 Croft, p. 149.
41 LC, annals 1852 gives a resumé of Winstanley's life and refers to his Short History of the Holy Land that was printed at the English College in 1850. This is one of several indications that at this timethere was a private printing press at the College.
42 For a copy of the text of the brief of 14.1.1854 see Southwark Diocesan Archives, Lisbon File 1853–1869.
43 LC, annals.
44 Croft knew Palma both as a student and as professor and he recalls it with affection, pp. 121–123.
45 Di Pietro was a distinguished ecclesiastic. Born in Rome in 1806, he had obtained doctorates in both civil and canon law before beginning his studies for the priesthood. On ordination he was sent as bishop and nuncio to the Two Sicilies in 1839, five years later he became Apostolic Delegate to Portugal and in 1847, Nuncio. He was later created Cardinal in petto and when this was made public in 1856 he remained in Lisbon as proNuncio only returning to Rome in 1859. He held many posts in the Roman Curia, was Cardinal Protector of Portugal and became Dean of the Sacred College. He died in Rome in 1884 having supported the President of Lisbon College in his difficulties with the English bishops.
46 LC, council and college life has the text of the defence of the College against Febronianism.
47 Ilsley's correspondence with Rome can be found in Prop.Fid. SC (Congressi) vol 17, ff 50–144. Copies of this ‘status’ of 1854 were sent to the English bishops and can be found in diocesan archives.
48 Thanks to Di Pietro, two other members of the teaching staff, Frs Richmond and Brown were similarly honoured.
49 It was during the eighteenth century that one of the Oeyenhausen-Gravenburg family, a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, settled in Portugal. His descendants all took the name Oeyenhausen. One of them married the Sixth Marquis of Fronteira. The Fronteiras resided at Benfica. Details of their house and some records of the Oeyenhausen family are to be found in: José Cassiano Neves, Jardins e Palâcio dos Marqueses de Fronteira. 2a Ed. Lisbon 1954.
50 Prop. Fid. SC17 ff 83–86. Ilsley also states in this letter that Dona Joanna had translated into Portuguese Viscount Bussières’ book on the Portuguese schism in India and published it at her own expense. This information was intended to create a favourable impression in Rome as Marie-Théodore Renouard de Bussières as well as being the author of several religious works was also a strong supporter of the papacy.
51 Some letters of Ilsley in the 1850 were written from the Channel Islands. See LC, correspondence. The Oeyenhausen connection continued with Ilsley's successor in the presidency. In 1877 a Fund was opened to gain financial help for the College and it was known as ‘The Oeyenhausen Fund’. P. Bainesto T. Barge 23.11.77 and 22.1.78. LC, correspondence.
52 Fortunato, de Almeida, História de Portugal. Coimbra 1929. Livro X, Tomo 6, pp. 342–362.Google Scholar
53 The Seventh Marquis, D. José Trazimundo, was a witness when the Infanta made a codicil to herwill in May 1875. LC, Baines letter book (liber 102, p. 449).
54 Fortunato, de Almeida, História de Portugal. Livro X, Tomo 6, p. 391.Google Scholar
55 Fortunato, de Almeida, História da Igreja em Portugal, vol. III pp. 196–203 Google Scholar and p. 626. On page 196 he cites Th. de Bussières’ work on the Indian Schism translated into Portuguese by Dona Joanna. See note 50 above.
56 Croft, p. 149.
57 Joel, Serrão, Dicionario de História de Portugal, vol. II, p. 463.Google Scholar
58 An insight into the relations between the two courts in the mid-nineteenth century can be gleaned from the letters printed in the two volumes of Ruben, Andresen Leitão (Ed), Docurnentos dos Arquivosde Windsor. Coimbra, 1955 Google Scholar and 1958.
59 LC, council and college life.
60 It was the practice from early times for students at the overseas English seminaries to take the missionary oath that obliged them, on the completion of their studies, to return to work on the mission in England.
61 Ilsley to Guest 22.2.1860. Archives of St. Alban's College, Valladolid. It is somewhat ironical that just over one hundred years later it was Lisbon College that closed and the ‘provincial’ Valladolid survived.
62 There are in the Southwark Diocesan Archives, Lisbon File 1853–1869, letters from Peter Baines, the Vice President in Lisbon that mention Ilsley's ill health and indecision on whether to resign or not.
63 ASV, Nunziature di Lisbona, 259.
64 Baines was nominated by Cardinal Barnabó in December 1864. He died in office in August 1882.
65 LC, council and college life.
66 LC, Baines letter book 18.10.1878.
67 see p. 533 above.
68 Isabel Maria was the sister of the contending brothers, Dom Pedro and Dom Miguel.
69 Documentation concerning the Infanta's will is to be found in LC, Baines letter books and correspondence. Also ASV, Nunziatura di Lisbona 289. A fuller treatment of the College and the Infanta's will is to be found in Michael, E. Williams, ‘The President of the Seminary, The Will of the Princessand the Favour of the Apostolic See’ in Convivium: Celebratory Essays for Ronald Cueto; Leeds, 1997.Google Scholar
70 LC, council and college life gives details of the Report in so far as it concerns Lisbon College. The full report is Vaughan, H. Report of the Conditions of the English Catholic Colleges in Italy, Spain and Portugal, Salford 1876.Google Scholar
71 Manning to Baines 19.5.1876, Baines to Manning 14.8.1876. In a letter to Cawley 23.9.1876 Bainessaid ‘the measure proposed in the Cardinal's letter was given up. The Bishop of Salford's explanation was that it was simply the wish of the bishops to ascertain if what they proposed was practicable. We answered that it was not and there was an end of it’. LC, correspondence.
72 For similar troubles regarding the appointment of staff to Ushaw seminary see David, Milburn, A History of Ushaw College, Ushaw 1964, especially p. 206.Google Scholar
73 Although it was not mentioned in this correspondence one has to note that both the Bishop of Liverpool and the Bishop of Beverley were at this time contemplating starting their own diocesan seminaries and were looking for suitable staff.
74 Sanguini to Franchi 26.2.1877, 7.3.1877. Prop. Fid., SC 17 f 107.
75 Very similar arguments are used later by another Nuncio. See note 83 infra.
76 ASV, Nunziatura di Lisbona, 289 f 24.
77 27.8.1876. LC, Baines letter book.
78 ASV, Nunziatura di Lisbona, 289.
79 ASV, Nunziatura di Lisbona, 289.
80 LC, annals 1867. Duckett published a lecture he had delivered about his visit to Rome. This is to be found in the archives of St. John's Cathedral, Norwich.
81 This phrase occurs in a letter of the Nuncio to Franchi. ASV, Nunziatura di Lisbona, 289 f. 22.
82 2.10.1877. LC, Baines letter book.
83 Gaetano Aloisi Majella to Cardinal Simeone, Prefect of Propaganda Fide. 3.4.1883. Prop.Fid., SC 17, f 127.