Skip to main content

Full text of "Pax : chronological notes containing the rise, growth, and present state of the English congregation of the Order of St. Benedict : drawn from the archives of the houses of the said congregation at Douay in Flanders, Dieulwart in Lorraine, Paris in France, and Lambspring in Germany, where are preserved the authentic acts and original deeds, etc., an: 1709"

See other formats 


ENGLISH  BENEDICTINE 
CONGREGATION. 


UCl 


0tt0 


CONTAINING     THE 


iRise,  <$rotot&,  ana  present  ^tate  of  t&e 

ENGLISH    CONGREGATION 


OF     THE 


of 


DRAWN  FROM  THE  ARCHIVES  OF  THE  HOUSES  OF  THE  SAID  CON- 
GREGATION AT  DOUAY  IN  FLANDERS,  DIEULWART  IN  LORRAINE, 
PARIS  IN  FRANCE,  AND  LAMBSPRING  IN  GERMANY,  WHERE  ARE 
PRESERVED  THE  AUTHENTIC  ACTS  AND  ORIGINAL  DEEDS,  ETC. 

AN:    1709. 

BY 

SDom  IBennet  flBeinon,  flXft/B.  a  monfc  of  §>t<£Dmunu'0, 


STANBROOK,   WORCESTER: 

THE    ABBEY    OF    OUR    LADY    OF    CONSOLATION. 


I. 


SUBSCRIBER'S  COPY. 


A      CHRONICLE      OF      THE 


Jttotttts* 


FROM   THE    RENEWING    OF   THEIR   CONGREGATION 

IN   THE    DAYS    OF    QUEEN    MARY,  TO  THE 

DEATH   OF  KING  JAMES  II   BEING  THE 
CHRONOLOGICAL    NOTES  OF 
DOM  BENNET  WELDON, 
O.  S.  B. 


Co 

Eigfjt  EetJerento 

illiam  ISernaru  Ollat&orne,  D.  D,  S>.  &  1 
TBiftop  of  T5irmmg{)am, 

Cfris  toork, 
nraton  from  tte  arcl)toe0  of  tig  ^onaflic  ftome, 

anu  noto  fitfl  publiftetJ  at  fns  tequeft, 


toit6  etierp  feeling  of  efteem  anu  tetierence, 
Deuicaten  Dp  W0  Lornftip^  fjumble  servant 

C6e 


jFeafl  of  %t  IBenetiift,  mticcclrrrt 


PREFACE. 


THE  following  work  is  offered  to  the  public  as  a  contribution  to  the  history 
of  the  Catholic  Church  in  England  during  the  seventeenth  century.  There  is, 
indeed,  a  good  deal  told  us  in  it  concerning  the  history  of  the  Benedictines  in 
England  before  that  period,  but  the  chief  value  of  these  Chronological  Notes  con- 
sists in  the  information  which  they  contain  on  the  reestablishment  of  the  English 
Benedictines  under  the  first  of  the  Stuarts,  and  the  chief  events  in  connection 
with  their  body  down  to  the  death  of  James  II. 

Till  very  recently  the  supply  of  works  illustrative  of  the  condition  of  the  Catholic 
Church  in  this  country  subsequent  to  the  Reformation  has  been  extremely  scanty. 
The  Collections  of  Dodd,  the  Memoirs  of  Missionary  Priests  by  Bishop  Challoner, 
Mr.  C.  Butler's  Historical  Memoirs  of  English  Catholics,  the  antidotal  and  Sup- 
plementary Memoirs  which  Dr.  Milner  published  on  the  same  subject, and  the  vari- 
ous writings  of  the  late  Dr.  Oliver,  were  the  best  known,  and  indeed,  almost  the 
only  works  on  our  history  accessible  to  the  Catholic  Student.  But  with  the 
publication  of  the  late  Canon  Tierney's  edition  of  Dodd's  Church  history,  a  new 
era  may  be  said  to  have  commenced,  and  the  interest  excited  by  his  most  valu- 
able notes,  consisting  as  they  so  often  did  of  extracts  from  the  almost  forgotten 
manuscript  treasures  still  in  the  possession  of  Catholics,  has  never  since  died  out. 
To  the  influence  of  this  newly-awakened  spirit  of  enquiry  and  research  we  pro- 
bably owe  the  publication  of  many  able  and  interesting  articles  in  the  Rambler 
and  other  Catholic  serial  publications,  of  the  Records  of  the  English  Province  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus,  edited  by  the  Rev.  H.  Foley,  S.  J.,  of  Mrs.  Hope's  Francis- 
can Martyrs,  and  of  several  other  works  of  the  same  kind.  Simultaneously  with 
this  desire  to  promote  a  more  general  interest  in  the  history  of  our  catholic  fore- 
fathers, there  has  arisen  a  wish  for  the  reproduction  and  publication  of  the 
original  records  from  which  the  works  above  enumerated  drew  their  information. 
What  the  Calendar  of  State  Papers  and  the  immerous  historical  publications 
issued  under  the  direction  of  the  Master  of  the  Rolls,  have  done  for  the  general 
history  of  our  country,  has  been  done  in  some  measure  for  Catholic  history,  by 
Mr.  Lewis'  translation  of  Sanders'  History  of  the  Schism  and  by  the  First  and 
Second  Douay  Diaries  edited  by  the  Fathers  of  the  London  Oratory.  These 
works,  we  cannot  doubt,  are  an  evidence  of,  as  they  are  an  answer  to,  the  wish 
so  often  expressed,  that  we  should  have  the  opportunity  of  forming  our  own 
opinions  on  the  thoughts  and  actions  of  our  Catholic  ancestors,  and  be  enabled 
to  enter  more  surely  into  their  feelings  and  opinions  on  those  internal  disagree- 
ments and  troubles  which,  even  more  than  the  open  persecution  of  which  they 
were  so  often  the  valiant  victims,  bore  them  down,  and,  to  a  great  extent,  neutra- 


VI  PREFACE. 

lised  their  noblest  efforts.  This  wish  is  admirably  summed  up  in  a  letter  of  the 
Yery  Rev.  Father  Kuox,  of  the  Oratory,  which  I  may  be  pardoned  for  quoting 
here  : 

"  What  is  wanted  just  now,  it  seems  to  me,  is  original  documents,  printed 
just  as  they  were  written.  They  will  form  the  material  for  future  histories. 
But  unless  the  documents  are  given  themselves  in  their  integrity,  readers  have 
no  means  of  testing  the  views  of  historical  writers  ;  and  there  are  so  many  dis- 
puted and  debatable  questions  in  our  Catholic  history  of  the  Post-reformation 
period  that  we  need  a  full  publication  of  the  sources  to  be  able  to  form  correct 
judgments  on  these  points." 

It  is  hoped  that  these  Chronological  Notes  will,  in  some  measure,  help  to  supply 
this  want,  as  they  contain  the  only  full  and  consecutive  account  that  has  yet  been 
published  of  the  restoration  and  remodelling  of  the  English  Benedictine  Congre- 
gation, a  not  unimportant  element  in  the  English  Catholic  world  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  Of  the  history  of  that  body  in  pre-reformation  times  much  has 
been  written.  Its  connexion  with  the  conversion  of  our  forefathers  and  the 
spread  and  development  of  the  Anglo  Saxon  Church,  necessarily  attracts  the 
attention  of  all  students  of  the  history  of  our  country  ;  and  when  we  consider 
that  the  labours  and  holiness  of  St.  Augustine  and  his  companions  were  per- 
petuated or  renewed  in  an  Aldhelm  and  a  Boniface,  a  Bede  and  an  Alcuin,  a 
Dunstan  and  an  Anselm  and  many  another  saintly  teacher  and  zealous  pastor, 
we  can  understand  the  claim  that  the  monastic  order  had  on  the  reverence  and 
love  of  Catholic  England  and  the  large  part  that  the  monks  of  old  played  in 
the  civil  and  religious  history  of  our  country.  Their  widespread  monasteries, 
their  broad  acres,  their  stately  churches,  bore  witness  to  the  piety  of  the  faithful 
towards  the  benefactors  of  their  race  ;  and  the  spell  which  in  the  Middle  ages 
had  such  influence  over  men,  was  not  unfelt  in  later  days  by  many,  who,  though 
aliens  from  the  Faith  of  their  fathers,  could  not  view  unmoved  the  noble  ruins 
of  what  that  Faith  had  built  up.  And  thus  it  is  that  we  see  in  the  works  of 
Dugdale  and  Stevens,  of  Spelman  and  Willis  in  former  times,  and  in  our  own 
days  of  many  well  known  writers,  (of  one  of  whom,  the  Rev  Mackenzie  Walcot 
we  have  lately  had  to  deplore  the  loss),  an  evidence  of  the  lasting  interest  which 
the  history  of  English  Monasticism  has  for  the  student,  the  architect,  and  the 
antiquary.  And  it  is  matter  for  congratulation  that  the  works  of  recent  writers 
have  almost  without  exception  evidenced  a  thorough  appreciation  of  the  monas- 
tic ideal  and  its  beneficial  influence  upon  society,  notwithstanding  that  it  had 
been  customary  for  writers  of  a  previous  generation  to  bestow  upon  the  Religious 
Orders  a  more  than  ordinary  share  of  that  rancour  and  bigotry  with  which  every 
thing  Catholic  was  assailed. 

Of  course  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  assert  that  the  high  standard  which 
marked  the  most  flourishing  period  of  Benedictine  history  was  uniformly  main- 
tained. The  changing  phases  of  society,  the  long  continued  civil  wars,  the 
ravages  of  those  frightful  pestilences  which  were  the  scourge  of  mediaeval  Europe, 
all  combinded  to  interfere  with  the  perpetuity  of  those  sage  reforms  which  the 
fourth  Lateran  Council  (1215)  had  promulgated.  Hence  we  are  not  surprised  at 
finding  that  two  hundred  years  after  that  date  some  further  efforts  were  needed 
to  restore  the  Order  to  its  pristine  vigour.  In  England  the  first  step  towards 
a  reform  was  taken  by  King  Henry  Yth,  who  as  we  are  told  by  Thomas 


PREFACE.  VII 

Walsingham  (himself  a  monk  of  St.  Alban's),  summoned  the  Abbots  and  Pre- 
lates of  the  Order  of  Black  monks  to  meet  him  in  the  Abbey  of  Westminster. 
There  accordingly,  in  1421,  sixty  Abbots  and  Conventual  Priors,  and  more  than 
three  hundred  monks,  learned  men,  and  procurators  of  those  Abbots  who  were 
unable  to  attend  in  person,  assembled  to  meet  the  King,  "whom  certain  false 
brethren  had  prejudiced  against  their  Order  by  asserting  that  many  both  Abbots 
and  monks,  had  fallen  away  from  the  primitive  institution  and  observance  of 
the  Monastic  State"  and  that  a  reform  was  urgently  needed.  The  historian 
explains  the  disorders  which  had  arisen  by  stating  that  the  death  of  the  greater 
number  of  the  Abbots  and  senior  monks  in  the  great  pestilences  of  1407  and  1413 
had  exposed  the  monasteries  to  the  dangers  which  naturally  followed  from  the 
accession  to  posts  of  office  and  dignity  of  those  who  were  young  and  inexperienced. 
The  King,  then,  accompanied  by  only  four  persons,  one  of  whom  was  Edmund 
Lacy,  Bishop  of  Exeter,  went  to  the  Chapter  House  of  Westminster  Abbey 
where  the  representatives  of  the  Benedictine  body  had  assembled  to  meet  him. 
After  a  discourse  by  the  Bishop,  the  monarch  earnestly  addressed  the  monks 
reminding  them  of  the  piety  of  his  ancestors  and  others  in  the  foundation  and 
support  of  so  many  religious  houses  ;  he  exhorted  them  to  rectify  whatever 
abuses  had  of  late  crept  in  and  to  return  to  the  former  strictness  which  had  of 
old  made  the  Order  so  renowned,  and  repeatedly  begged  of  all  to  pray  unceas- 
ingly for  himself,  his  kingdom,  and  the  Church.*  Under  the  direction  of  the 
Abbot  of  St.  Alban's,  William  Heyworth,  a  man  "  much  admired  for  his  great 
holiness  and  piety,  beloved  both  of  God  and  men  for  the  strictness  of  his  life 
and  the  excellency  of  his  government, "t  several  articles  of  reform  were  drawn 
up  which  it  was  agreed  should  be  submitted  to  the  ensuing  Provincial  Chapter 
of  the  Congregation  for  approval  and  to  the  Apostolic  See  for  final  confirmation. 

In  the  meantime  a  movement  had  commenced  among  the  Benedictines  of 
Germany  and  Italy  which  was  destined  in  after  years  to  make  its  influence  felt 
in  England,  The  Decree  of  the  council  of  Lateran  (1215)  ordering  the  holding 
of  triennial  chapters  had  long  been  neglected  in  Germany,  with  results  which 
proved  only  too  clearly  the  wisdom  of  the  Pope  who  had  in  the  first  instance 
promulgated  that  salutary  ordinance.  The  Fathers  of  the  Council  of  Constance 
therefore,  insisted  on  the  practice  being  revived  ( 1414),  and  among  the  twenty 
five  chapters  which  they  devoted  to  the  reformation  of  the  Monastic  Orders 
they  specially  insisted  on  the  Abbots  of  the  Province  of  Mayence  assembling 
every  three  years  in  General  Chapter  as  had  been  decreed  two  centuries  pre- 
viously. Accordingly  a  Chapter  was  held  at  Peterhausen  near  Constance  in 
1417,  where  of  the  hundred  and  thirty -one  monasteries  comprised  in  the  Pro- 
vince, only  three  were  unrepresented.  The  regulations  drawn  up  at  this  assem- 
bly were  afterwards  approved  by  the  Emperor  Sigismund,  (Jan.  17,  1418),  and 
put  in  force  throughout  the  Province. 

The  soul  of  the  movement  was  John  Dederoth,  Abbot  of  Pheinhauseu;  to  him 
was  owing  the  reformation  of  the  Abbey  of  Clus  near  Gandersheim,  which  had 
hitherto  resisted  the  reforms  of  the  Peterhausen  Chapter,  and  after  accomplish- 
ing that  difficult  task,  he  betook  himself  to  the  half  ruined  Abbey  of  Bursfeld 

*  Thomas  Walsingham,  Historia  Anglicana.  Vol.  II.  p.  337,  Ed.  1864. 
t  Stevens'  addition  to  Dugdale.     Vol.  I.   p.  262,  Ed.  1722. 


VIII  PREFACE. 

which  was  destined  to  become  the  centre  of  the  Benedictine  revival  in  Germany. 

Another  name  which  is  inseparably  connected  with  his  is  that  of  John 
Rhode,  who,  at  the  solicitation  of  Archbishop  Otho,  had  left  his  Carthusian 
solitude  to  take  upon  himself  the  government  of  the  great  Abbey  of  St.  Matthias 
at  Treves.  He  assiduously  seconded  all  the  labours  of  the  holy  Abbot  of  Burs- 
feld,  and  through  their  united  efforts  the  reform  was  extensively  propagated. 
On  the  death  of  Abbot  Dederoth  in  1439,  his  successor  John  de  Hagen  took  up 
his  unfinished  task,  and  the  Council  of  Bale,  appreciating  the  importance  of  the 
work  which  was  being  accomplished  by  these  ''Reformers  before  the  Reforma- 
tion" deputed  twelve  Abbots,  John  Rhode  being  of  the  number,  to  visit  and 
reform  all  the  houses  of  both  monks  and  nuns  throughout  the  German  Church. 
The  Statutes  of  Bursfeld  were  gradually  introduced  into  other  monasteries,  and 
from  the  community  of  Bursfeld  were  selected  those  monks  who  were  required 
for  the  infusion  of  new  life  and  regular  observance  into  the  other  houses  of  the 
Order.  Thus,  little  by  little  the  influence  of  the  Abbey  of  Bursfeld  grew,  till 
in  time  it  came  to  be  regarded  as  the  head  of  the  reformed  monasteries  of  Germany. 
Its  first  General  Chapter  was  held  in  1446  ;  the  Apostolic  See  approved  of  the 
new  congregation  in  1458  and  1401,  and  extended  to  it  the  privileges  recently 
conceded  to  the  congregation  of  St.  J  ustiua  of  Padua  which  was  doing  a  similar 
work  in  Italy.  From  that  date  the  great  German  Monasteries,  one  by  one 
adopted  the  reforms  and  were  aggregated  to  the  Bursfeld  Congregation,  which 
by  the  year  1502,  reckoned  on  its  roll  ninety  of  the  chief  Abbeys  of  the  Empire. 

Nor  mnst  we  omit  to  mention  the  part  taken  by  Cardinal  Nicholas  of  Cusa, 
Papal  Legate  in  Germany  ( 1451 — 1453,)  in  this  great  work  of  the  renovation  of 
the  Order  of  St.  Benedict.  His  zeal  seconded  by  his  immense  popularity  brought 
about  the  reform  of  nearly  every  monastery  of  the  order  in  Austria,  Styria, 
Carinthia,  Salzburg  and  Bavaria ;  while  under  his  personal  influence  the  com- 
munities of  several  important  Abbeys*  in  the  North  of  Germany  were  incorpo- 
rated into  the  Bursfeld  Union. 

The  history  of  the  foundation  of  the  Congregation  of  St.  Justina  in  Italy  is 
even  more  remarkable,  t  There  was  in  the  suburbs  of  Padua  an  ancient  Abbey 
of  Benedictines  formerly  in  great  repute  but  at  the  commencement  of  the  15th 
century  reduced  to  a  state  of  great  penury  both  spiritual  and  temporal.  Its 
revenues  had  been  almost  entirely  lost,  and  the  regular  places  were  in  such  a 
state  of  ruin,  that  there  was  hardly  sufficient  accomodatiou  for  the  Abbot  and 
three  surviving  monks  who  formed  the  community.  But  within  the  church  lay 
the  bodies  of  St.  Prosdocimus,  the  first  Bishop  of  Padua,  and  of  St.  Justina,  his 
convert,  the  Patroness  of  the  Monastery.  There  came  daily  to  visit  the  sepul- 
chres of  these  Saints  a  holy  old  Priest  of  Padua,  Mark  by  name,  parish  Priest  of  St. 
Mark's  Church  in  the  same  town.  To  this  simple  and  saintly  man  God  made  known 
that  the  Abbey  of  St.  Justina  was  about  to  be  restored,  and  that  by  the  merits  and 
prayers  of  the  Saints  and  Martyrs  who  therein  reposed  it  would  become  once 
more  a  veritable  house  of  God  and  the  home  of  his  faithful  servants.  The  author, 
under  God,  of  this  reform  was  indicated  to  the  priest  Mark,  as  Louis  Barbo,  at 

*  Among  others  those  of  Treves,  St.  Michael's  at  Hildesheim,  St.  Martin's  and  St. 
Pantaloon's  at  Cologne. 

t  An  interesting  account  of  this  movement  is  given  by  Moehler,  Histoire  de  1'Eglise.  lime 
Period,  Chapter  IV.  §  V. 


PREFACE.  IX 

that  time  Prior  of  the  Canons  Regular  of  St.  Q-eorge  in  Alga  at  Venice,  who  on 
visiting  Padua  was  told  by  Mark,  of  the  position  and  work  prepared  for  him  by 
Grod,  but  who  laughed  at  predictions  which  he  considered  to  be  the  result  rather 
of  his  old  friend's  affection  than  of  the  inspirations  of  the  Giver  of  Lights.  The 
transfer  of  St.  Justina's  to  the  Olivetan  monks,  and  Barbo's  own  promotion  to 
the  Abbey  of  St.  Cyprian  di  Mariano  seemed  to  show  that  Mark  was  no  true 
prophet.  But  ere  long  all  was  changed  :  Barbo  resigned  his  claim  to  St.  Cypri- 
an's ;  the  Republic  of  Venice  at  the  request  of  the  old  monks  of  St.  Justina's 
annulled  the  transfer  of  their  house  to  the  sons  of  Blessed  Bernard  Ptolomeo, 
and  to  crown  all,  Pope  Gregory  XII  by  the  unanimous  advice  of  his  Cardinals 
and  at  the  suggestion  of  his  nephew  the  Cardinal  Grabriel,  (himself  to  be  one 
day  Pope  under  the  name  of  Eugene  IV)  gave  the  Abbey  of  St.  Justina  to  the 
young  Prior  of  St.  Q-eorge  in  Alga ;  and  to  the  great  joy  of  all,  and  of  none 
more  than  of  the  old  priest  Mark,  Louis  Barbo  was  installed  in  his  new  dignity. 
With  the  ready  help  of  the  few  monks  whom  he  found  there  and  with  one  or 
two  others  (including  some  of  the  Clerks  of  his  old  monastery  of  St.  George), 
the  new  Abbot  set  about  the  restoration  of  St.  Justina's  ;  but  the  difficulties 
which  he  met  with,  and  the  desertion  of  his  first  disciples,  almost  discouraged 
him  from  persevering  in  his  holy  work.  At  length  after  many  months  of  un- 
certainty and  darkness,  when  every  attempt  which  he  made  to  withdraw  from 
his  post  had  failed,  Abbot  Barbo  was  cheered  by  the  arrival  of  a  postulant  from 
Pavia,Paul  de  Strata,  to  whom  he  gave  the  habit  of  St.Benedicton Easter-day,  1410. 
A  young  friend  of  Paul's,  of  the  family  of  the  Salimbeni,  coming  to  the  monastery 
to  endeavour  to  entice  his  comrade  away,  was  himself  overcome,  and  in  his  turn 
became  a  fervent  novice.  The  constancy  of  this  young  man  in  resisting  the 
solicitations  and  even  violence  of  his  friends  and  kindred  to  alter  his  determina- 
tion and  to  make  him  give  up  the  idea  of  becoming  a  monk,  caused  such  a  stir 
in  the  town  that  the  work  upon  which  Abbot  Barbo  was  engaged  became  known 
and  many  hastened  to  enrol  themselves  among  his  followers.  Sixteen  students 
of  the  University  were  among  his  first  novices  ;  each  year  saw  an  addition  of 
about  twenty  monks  to  his  community,  till  at  last  it  became  necessary  to  estab- 
lish new  foundations  to  accommodate  the  numerous  religious  family  of  S.  Justina. 
In  this  way  the  Abbey  of  St.  Fortunatus  at  Bassano,  another  at  Verona,  of  St. 
Nicholas  at  Genoa,  of  the  Holy  Spirit  at  Pavia  were  founded :  the  monks  of 
St.  Denis  at  Milan,  St.  Mary's  of  Florence,  and  St.  George's  at  Venice  em- 
braced the  reform,  and  in  a  few  years  the  regular  observance  of  St.  Justina's 
had  been  introduced  into  the  greater  number  of  the  Italian  monasteries.  The 
Cardinal  Gabriel  of  Sienna  above  mentioned  introduced  sixteen  monks  from  the 
Venetian  Abbey  of  St.  G-eorge  into  the  ancient  Patriarchal  monastery  of  St. 
Paul  at  Rome  ;  and  when  later  the  Arch- Abbey  of  Monte  Cassino  adopted  the 
reforms  of  St.  Justina's,  the  reigning  Pope  Julius  II  gave  the  name  of  the  Cas- 
sinese  Congregation  to  the  whole  body  of  the  reformed  Benedictines  of  Italy. 

The  good  effected  by  Abbot  Barbo  and  his  monks  was  not  confined  to  Italy 
and  the  Benedictines.  The  Portuguese  Gomes  who  had  made  his  profession  at 
St.  Justina's  was  chosen  to  reform  the  Cistercians,  Sylvestrines,  Minorites  and 
other  religious  orders  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Florence,  and  afterwards  passed 
to  his  native  country  to  extend  there  also  the  spirit  of  zeal  and  regularity  which 
had  marked  his  career  in  Italy.  To  Placid  Pavanello,  Abbot  of  St.  Paul's  at 

B 


PREPACK. 


Rome  was  entrusted  the  renovation  of  the  Vallombrosians  ;  Archangelo  Eossi 
and  others  of  the  Cassinese  Congregation  were  commissioned  by  St  Pius  V  to 
reform  the  Cistercians  of  Tuscany.  In  1547  the  Benedictines  of  Dalmatia  were 
formed  into  a  Congregation  on  the  model  of  that  of  Italy  and  a  century  later 
distant  Poland  received  a  colony  of  Monks  from  the  Arch-Abbey  of  Monte- 
Cassino,  whose  new  home,  the  Abbey  of  Castro  Cassino  in  Lithuania  became  the 
centre  of  Benedictine  influence,  as  it  was  the  model  of  monastic  observance  in 
that  country  ( 1693 ).  * 

How  far  these  widespfead  efforts  at  a  better  order  of  things  among  the  monks 
of  Germany  and  Italy  were  known  to  and  appreciated  by  their  brethren  in 
England  it  is  impossible  to  say.  We  know  so  little  of  the  internal  life,  of  the  Eng- 
lish monasteries  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  that  it  is  useless  to  conjec- 
ture what  were  their  views  on  the  monastic  revival  on  the  Continent ;  but  there  is 
one  incidental  piece  of  evidence  that  shows  that  the  influence  of  that  movement  was 
not  entirely  unfelt  in  this  country.  Richard  Kiddermynster,  Abbot  of  Winch- 
combe,  was  called  on  some  affairs  of  his  Order  to  Borne  in  the  year  1500  ;  and  we 
read  that  during  his  stay  of  more  than  a  twelvemonth  in  the  centre  of  Christen- 
dom, he  improved  himself  much  in  learning  and  particularly  that  "he  informed 
himself  of  "several  useful  regulations  belonging  to  a  monastick  life."  On  his  return 
to  England  he  taught  the  lessons  which  he  had  learned  and  practised  abroad,  so 
that  in  his  Abbey  of  Winchcombe  monastic  discipline  was  observed  to  the  great- 
est nicety,  while  the  diligent  pursuit  of  learning  and  the  numbers  who  attended 
the  cloister  schools  made  the  monastery  seem  like  a  little  University,  t 

The  state  of  the  Religious  Orders  naturally  attracted  the  attention  and  claimed 
a  share  in  the  zeal  of  those  noble-minded  Bishops  whose  names  lent  lustre  to  the 
reign  of  Henry  YHth.  Amongst  others  Fox,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  had  some 
thoughts  of  founding  a  College  at  Oxford  for  the  benefit  of  the  monks  of  his 
Cathedral,  but  he  was  dissuaded  from  the  project  by  Hugh  Oldham,  Bishop  of 
Exeter,  who  prophetically  told  his  friend  there  were  more  monasteries  in  Eng- 
land already  than  could  stand  long.  +  Another  prelate  whose  early  endeavours 
for  the  reformation  of  abuses  seem  to  have  been  dictated  by  an  enlightened  zeal 
was  Cardinal  Wolsey  ;  and  to  him  Fox  wrote  that  for  three  years  he  had  been 
giving  all  his  study,  labour,  and  attention  towards  that  object,  and  especially 
towards  a  revival  of  the  primitive  intention  of  the  Monastic  Life.§ 

Such  facts  are  indications  of  the  importance  which  was  attached  to  the  con- 
dition of  the  religious  houses,  and  doubtless  the  still  unpublished  documents 
relating  to  the  last  years  of  the  old  Hierarchy  will  throw  much  light  on  this 
section  of  Ecclesiastical  History.  If  there  is  little  evidence  that  Winchcombe 
Abbey  was  but  one  of  many  houses  wherein  the  regularity  and  fervour  of  the 


*  See  Rohrbacher,  Histoire  de  1'Eglise.  Vol.  XXI.  p.  235,  and  Mcehler's  Histoire  ;  lime 
Period ;  Chap.  IV.  §  V. 

t  Dpdd's  Church  History,  I,  229 ;  Wood's  Hist,  et  antiq.  Univ.  Oxon :  1.  1,  p.  247. 
In  a  dispute  concerning  ecclesiastical  exemptions  in  1515,  Abbot  Kiddennynster  vigourously 
opposed  Dr.  Standish,  Provincial  of  the  Franciscans,  who  in  this  question  sided  with  the 
court.  Dr.  Standish  was  condemned  by  the  ensuing  convocation  of  the  Clergy,  but  was  pro- 
moted by  the  King  to  the  See  of  St.  Asaph  in  1579.  A  full  account  of  the  dispute  is  given 
by  the  Rev.  H.  Blunt  in  his  Reformation  of  the  Church  of  England,  p.  395 

}  Dodd's  Church  History,  I,  183. 
§  Blount's,  Reformation  of  Church  of  England,  p.  363. 


PRKFACE.  XI 

new  foreign  congregations  were  known  and  emulated,  there  is  certainly  as  little 
to  show  that  the  better  part  of  the  English  monasteries  had  fallen  to  so  low  a 
state  as  was  the  case,  for  instance,  with  St.  Justina's  or  Bursfeld  before  the  grace 
of  renovation  was  given  to  them.  There  is  nothing  to  make  us  suppose  that 
the  monks  of  Croyland  had  so  soon  degenerated  from  the  regularity  and  piety 
which  had  moved  the  Saint-like  monarch,  Henry  VI,  to  desire  admission  into 
their  fraternity,*  nor  that  the  community  of  Westminster  had  done  anything 
to  forfeit  the  high  esteem  which  had  raised  their  Abbot,  Thomas  Milling,  to  the 
Bishopric  of  Hereford  under  Edward  IV,  and  which,  under  Abbot  Islip,  had 
procured  them  such  favour  in  the  sight  of  the  seventh  Henry :  Grlastonbury,  St. 
Edmund's,  Whitby  and  others  of  the  "divers  great  and  solemn  monasteries"  seem 
to  have  fully  merited  the  praises  for  "  Religion  right  well  kept  and  observed" 
for  which  an  extremely  zealous  Parliament,  in  proceeding  to  the  dissolution  of 
the  smaller  houses,  returned  thanks  to  Grod.  The  many  honourable  names  of 
men  distinguished  in  ecclesiastical  and  literary  affairs  that  were  found  among 
the  monks  up  to  the  very  end  prove  that  their  condition  was  not  so  black  as  their 
enemies  gave  out.  Christ  Church  Monastery  at  Canterbury  under  Priors  Sellying 
and  Groldstone  would  have  reflected  credit  on  any  age.  The  good  repute  of  the 
English  Benedictine  body  is  likewise  evidenced  by  the  considerable  list  of  its 
members  who  were  judged  worthy  of  the  Episcopal  office.t 

The,  services  which  the  monks  rendered  to  learning  by  their  patronage  of  the 
newly   discovered  art  of  printing  constitute  a  lasting  claim  to  the  gratitude  of 

*  "  In  the  year  1460,  King  Henry  VI  coming  to  Croyland  and  being  delighted  with  the 
Religious  Life  of  the  Monks,  stay'd  three  days,  desiring  to  be  admitted  into  their  Brotherhood, 
that  is  to  partake  of  their  Prayers  and  other  Acts  of  Piety :  which  being  granted  liim,  he  in 
return  gave  them  his  Charter  whereby  he  confirmed  their  Liberties."  &c.  Stevens'  Addition 
to  Dugdale,  I,  374. 

t  The  following  is  a  list  of  those  monks  who  were  promoted  to  the  Episcopate  in  the  forty 
years  which  preceded  the  dissolution  of  Abbeys  : 

1495,  September  4th,  D.  William  Senhouse  or  Sever,  Abbot  of  St.  Mary's,  York,  made 
Bishop  of  Carlisle;  translated  to  Durham,  January  27th,  1502. 

1500,  January  8th,  D.  Miles  Salley  or  Sawley,  Abbot  of  Eynsham,  appointed  Bishop  of 
Llandaff. 

1505,  April  4th,  D.  John  Thornden  or  Thornton,  S.  T.  D.  Prior  of  Wellingford,  appointed 
Bishop  of  Syrin,  i.  p.  i.  as  Auxiliary  to  Archbishop  Warham. 

c  1512,  D.  Thomas  Chard,  appointed  to  the  See  of  Salubria,  in  partibus,  as  Coadjutor  to 
Hugh  Oldham,  Bishop  of  Exeter. 

1515,  D.  Robert  Wilson,  Prior  of  Drax,  appointed  Bishop  of  Negropont,  i.  p.  i.  as  Auxi- 
liary to  the  Archbishop  of  York.  He  was  translated  to  Meath,  Feb.  27,  1523. 

1520,  April  16th,  Robert  Blyth,  Abbot  of  Thorney,  nominated  to  the  See  of  Down  and 
Connor  in  Ireland. 

1521,  August  9th,  D.  William  Sutton,  Prior  of  Avecotte,  appointed  Bishop  of  Pavaden : 
i.  p.  i.,  as  Auxiliary  to  the  Bishop  of  Coventry  and  Lichfield. 

1524,  April  28th,  D.  John,  Prior  of  Tynemouth,  appointed  Bishop  of  Poloten:  i.  p.  i.  as 
Suffragan  or  Auxiliary  to  the  Archbishop  of  York.  The  same  title  seems  to  have  been  borne 
by  another  Benedictine,  John  Stanywell,  Abbot  of  Pershore,  who  died  in  1553. 

1532,  May  15th,  D.  William  Fawell,  Prior  of  St.  Nicholas'  Exeter,  nominated  Bishop  of 
Hippo,  i.  p.  i.  He  died  Archdeacon  of  Totness,  July  4th,  1557. 

In  the  same  year  the  Cathedral  Prior  of  Winchester  also  received  Episcopal  consecration. 

1539,  August  27th,  D.  Gabriel  de  S.  Sevo,  nominated  to  the  See  of  Elphin ;  he  was  trans- 
lated to  Ferns,  June  3rd,  1541. 

See  Dodd's  Church  History,  Maziere  Brady's  Episcopal  Succession,  Gram's  Series  Epis- 
coporum,  &c. 


XII  PREFACE. 

posterity.  As  the  Benedictines  of  St.  Alban's  in  Mentz  were  among  the  earliest 
to  encourage  printing  in  Germany,  as  the  monks  of  Subiaco  were  the  first  to 
welcome  the  new  art  into  Italy,  so  in  England  the  same  merit  may  be  claimed 
for  the  monks  of  Westminster  in  whose  Almonry  the  first  English  press  was 
set  up  in  the  days  of  Abbot  Milling.  The  Abbeys  of  St.  Alban's  and  Tavistock, 
and  apparently  those  of  Abingdou  and  St.  Augustine's  at  Canterbury  also,  were 
not  long  in  procuring  presses  for  their  own  use.  * 

It  is  not  intended  to  give  in  this  place  a  detailed  account  of  the  visitation,  and 
suppression  of  the  religious  houses.  So  much  has  been  said  on  the  subject  by 
well  informed  writers  t  that  till  it  receives  fuller  illustration  from  the  further 
research  of  able  and  conscientious  students  it  will  be  impossible  to  say  what 
has  not  been  well  said  already.  On  one  point,  the  serious  charges  which  their 
enemies  made  aganist  the  monks,  we  will  quote  the  words  of  a  well  known  jour- 
nal which,  in  a  few  sentences,  gives  a  common  sense  view  of  the  whole  question  :  + 

"The  historiettes  concerning  the  depravity  of  monks  and  nuns  at  the  Reformation  were 
mostly  invented  to  give  a  colour  to  the  wholesale  rapacity  of  the  Court,  and  no  doubt  the 
sanguinary  reign  of  Mary  was  the  revanche.  The  Roman  clergy  had  been  not  only  injured 
but  insulted  ;  not  only  robbed  but  lied  against ;  and  in  their  blind  fury  at  deeds  which  would 
not  admit  of  palliation,  they  cauterised  their  detractors  with  excesses  which  nobody  will  care  to 
justify.  At  the  same  time  as  a  mere  matter  of  common  sense,  it  is  simply  beyond  the  range 
of  imagination  to  conceive,  either  in  the  Middle  Ages  or  our  own  day,  men  and  women  devot- 
ing their  lives  and  their  substance  to  religion,  whether  in  its  contemplative  or  in  its  active 
aspect,  and  yet  being  so  amazingly  inconsistent  as  to  convert  their  cloth  into  a  cloak  for 
secret  sin. 

The  folly  of  one  who  invests  all  his  spare  savings  in  a  huge  insurance  policy,  keeps  the 
premium  going  for  twenty  years,  and  with  the  money  in  his  hand  deliberately  allows  his 
policy  to  lapse  in  the  21st.  year,  is  as  nothing  to  this.  Indeed,  we  fail  to  see  the  point  of 
people  who  expect,  in  return  for  vows  of  celibacy  and  holy  poverty,  of  obedience  and  devo- 
tion, to  earn  a  glorious  hereafter — unless  they  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  their  belief 
is  illusory — deliberately  descending  to  a  lower  moral  standard  than  that  adopted  by  the  world. 
It  is  not  business.  It  is  buying  shoddy  in  the  dearest  market." 

It  is  not  pretended  that  every  single  community  of  the  very  nmnerous  houses 
in  England  and  Wales  wherein  the  Rule  of  St.  Benedict  was  followed,  was  at 
the  time  of  its  dispersion  in  the  highest  state  of  Regular  discipline.  The  gen- 
uine records  of  the  time  show  that  there  were  occasional  shortcomings  among 
the  monks,  as  there  were,  are,  and  must  be  to  the  end  of  days  in  all  human 
societies.  The  letters  relating  to  the  affairs  of  Christ  Church  Monastery  at 
Canterbury,  for  instance,  give  us  an  insight  into  the  troubles  which  beset  the 
Prior  or  Warden  of  a  monastic  College  in  one  of  our  Universities.  Doin  John 
Langdon,  Warden  of  Canterbury  College,  Oxford,  thus  writes  to  the  Prior  of 
Christ  Church  : 

"  Another  cause  of  my  writing  at  this  time  is  this ;  I  have  had  trouble  late  with  some  of 
the  brethren  that  be  sojourners  with  us,  especially  with  them,  of  Peterborough,  which,  as 
you  remember,  by  their  ungodly  demeaning  in  D.  William  Chichely's  days  went  from  us  to 

*  See  Dibdin's  Typographical  Antiquities  of  Great  Britain,  Vol.  I,  Life  of  Caxton,  p.  ci. 

f  See  The  English  Monastic  Houses  ;  their  accusers  and  defenders.  Dixon's  History  of 
the  Church  of  England ;  and  Blunt' s  Reformation  of  the  Church  of  England,  &c. 

|  From  an  Article  entitled  "  Veil  and  Cowl,"  in  the  "  Whitehall  Review,"  of  March  2nd, 
1878. 


PREFACB.  XIII 

Gloucester  College,  and  since  they  were  taken  again  to  UB  in  D.  Humfrey's  days.  And  now 
they  be  as  frowardly  disposed  or  worse  than  ever  they  were.  It  were  too  long  to  write  to  you. 
the  process  of  their  guiding,  therefore  what  they  have  done  and  propose  to  do  I  have  com-, 
mitted  unto  my  fellowship  to  inform  you  especially  to  D.  Thomas  Eastry.  The  said  brethren 
of  Peterborough  be  now  at  home  in  their  monastery,  and  shall  be  till  Michaelmas,  wherefore 
I  pray  your  fatherhood  to  write  on  to  their  Abbot,  desiring  him  to  give  them  charge,  if  they 
shall  come  again  to  us,  that  they  be  guided  as  scholars  should  be,  for  they  be  no  students. 
And  also,  that  worse  is,  they  begin  to  set  all  men  at  debate,  and  especially  (the)  other  so- 
journers  amongst  us."* 

This  letter  was  written  about  the  year  1 193  :  There  is  another  letter  in  the 
same  collection  written  by  the  Cathedral  Prior  of  Coventry  to  the  Prior  of  Christ 
Church,  explaining  the  circumstances  which  obliged  him  to  dismiss  a  certain  monk 
from  the  monastery  of  Coventry  :  t  and  at  a  slightly  later  period  certain  charges 
were  made  against  the  monks  of  Hyde  Abbey,  by  Winchester,  which  even  if  true, 
hardly  justify  all  the  severe  things  that  have  been  said  against  the  monks  J 
Well  would  it  have  been  if  they  had  in  every  case  been  as  careful  as  the  sainted 
founder  of  their  Order  to  avoid  whatever  might  be  made  use  of  by  their  adversa- 
ries to  the  vilification  of  their  state  and  the  undermining  of  the  Church  of  Grod.  § 

In  estimating  the  ease  with  which  so  many  venerable  monasteries  were  over- 
thrown it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  for  some  years  previous  to  their  final  sup- 
pression many  steps  had  been  taken  by  those  in  power  to  render  that  suppression 
more  easy.  One  of  these  and  perhaps  the  chief,  was  the  appointment  by  the 
court  of  compliant  and  suborned  men,  already  apostates  at  heart,  to  highest 
positions  in  the  religious  houses.  No  one  was  more  prominent  in  this  disgrace- 
ful intrigue  than  the  highest  ecclesiastical  authority  in  the  kingdom,  the  Primate 
Cranmer.  We  find  him  writing  as  follows  to  the  King's  Yicar  Greneral,  Lord 
Cromwell  (August  15th,  1535)  : 

*  Christ  Church  Letters,  Camden  Society,  pp.  59-60. 

t  "Moreover  Father,  the  said  Sir  William  Catesby  informed   me   that  you  marvelled 

greatly  of  dismissing  of  a  brother  of  mine, The  truth  is  thus  :    D.  Richard  Blake,  for 

some  time  being  in  Oxford,  which  you  knew  as  I  supposed,  being  at  home  in  our  monastery, 
unknown  to  me  sued  for  a  capacity,  his  conversation  being  not  virtuous  nor  good,  exciting 
others  to  the  same.  And  when  I  had  very  certainty  of  it,  I  moved  him  to  the  contrary,  and 
he  would  have  made  conditions  with  me,  which  I  would  not  be  agreeable  to.  I  knew  his  con- 
ditions such,  my  conscience  to  be  saved,  rather  to  part  with  him  than  to  keep  him  still,  in 
so  much  as  he  had  obtained  a  capacity ;  and  by  council,  saying  that  he  was  sure  of  an  annual 
service,  dismissed  him  from  my  congregation.  If  he  have  given  you  any  other  sinister  infor- 
mation, I  pray  you  heartily  let  me  have  knowledge  in  writing,  that  I  may  answer  thereto." 
Letter  xxiv,  p.  29. 

|  See   Liber  Monasterii  de  Hyde,   edited  by  Edward  Edwards,   Esq.     Preface,  p.  Ixiii. 

"  The  complaints  relate  for  the  most  part  to  certain  anticipations,  by  some  of  the  more 
youthful  monks,  of  the  teachings  of  what  has  lately  been  called  muscular  Christianity,  as 
shown  in  their  addiction  to  the  practice  of  long-bow  archery  in  the  Hyde  meadows,  and  to 
that  of  keeping  late  hours,  sitting  for  long  discussions  sometimes  to  the  hour  of  eight  in  the 
evening,  and  even  beyond  it  (and,  it  is  much  to  be  feared,  occasionally  over  a  potation  to 
freshen  their  talk),  instead  of  betaking  themselves  to  bed  immediately  after  supper,  accord- 
ing to  the  good  wont  of  their  predecessors.  It  was  also  alleged  that  their  train  of  servants 
was  now  so  numerous  as  to  diminish  the  old  almsgiving,  long  honourably  characteristic  of 
Hyde  Abbey." 

§  See  S.  Bedae  opera,  Ed.  Colon.  T.  VII,  p.  344  ;  "Forsitan  ( S.  P.  Benedictus)  ssecularium 
latratus  vitabat  qui  bonos  monachorum  mores,  canino  more  devastant :  et  hoc  credunt  in  illis 
quod  suis  marls  actibus  agere  non  recusant." 

c 


XIV  PREFACE. 

"Moreover  I  understand  the  Priory  of  Worcester  shall  be  shortly  void,  which  if  it  be  so,  I 
pray  you  be  good  master  unto  Mr.  Holbeck,  doctor  of  divinity,  of  the  house  of  Crowland,  or 
else  to  Dane  Richard  Gorton,  batchelor  of  divinity,  of  the  house  of  Burton-upon-Trent. 
And  if  the  priorship  of  Worcester  shall  not  be  vacant,  yet  I  pray  you  be  good  master  unto 
these  two,  when  you  shall  find  places  meet  for  them  :  for  I  know  no  religious  men  in  England 
of  that  habit,  that  be  of  better  learning,  judgment,  conversation,  and  all  qualities  meet  for 
an  head  and  master  of  an  house."* 

Three  years  afterwards  the  Archbishop  was  similarly  employed  ;  and  this 
time  to  the  undoing  of  his  own  Cathedral  monastery  : 

"  My  very  singular  good  lord,  in  my  most  hearty  manner  I  commend  me  unto  your  lord- 
ship ;  and  whereas  I  am  informed  that  one  Sandwich  a  monk  of  Christ's  Church  in  Canter- 
bury, and  Warden  of  Canterbury  College  in  Oxford  doth  sue  for  the  preferment  of  the  prior's 
office  in  the  said  house  of  Canterbury,  these  my  letters  are  most  effectuously  to  desire  your 
lordship,  if  any  such  alteration  be,t  to  bear  your  favour  and  aid  to  the  Warden  of  the  manors 
of  the  said  house,  a  man  of  right  honest  behaviour,  clean  living,  good  learning,  good  judg- 
ment, without  superstition,  very  tract/Me,  and  as  ready  to  set  forward  his  prince's  causes  as  no 
man  more  of  his  coat ;  and  in  that  house  in  mine  opinion  there  is  no  better  man.  I  am 
moved  to  write  to  your  lordship  in  this  bohalf,  in  as  much  as  I  consider  what  a  great  com- 
modity I  shall  have  if  such  one  be  promoted  to  the  said  office,  that  is  a  right  honest  man,  and 
of  his  qualities  ;  and  I  insure  your  Lordship  the  said  room  requireth  such  one  ;  as  knoweth 
God.J 

In  the  same  year,  the  Primate  again  endeavoured  to  promote  his  and  the 
King's  ends  by  procuring  a  prelacy  for  a  certain  Mr.  Hutton.  He  writes  to 
Cromwell,  (August  15th,  1538)  : 

"  In  my  last  letter  I  prayed  your  lordship  to  remember  Mr.  Hutton  that  he  might  be  made 
an  Abbot  or  a  Prior,  which  I  doubt  not  that  your  lordship  will  effectiously  attempt  with  the 
King' s  ma  j  esty . ' '  § 

That  such  attempts  upon  the  liberty  of  their  elections  were  not  readily  ao- 
quiesced  in  by  the  monks,  is  manifest  from  the  letter  of  Robert  Silvester,  Prior 
of  the  Canons  Regular  of  Gisborn  and  his  fellow  Visitor,  Tristram  Teshe,  who 
were  obliged  to  write  to  their  master  Cromwell  of  the  defeat  which  they  had 
sustained  at  the  Abbey  of  Whitby  through  the  manly  resistance  of  "  Sir  Robert 
Woodhouse,  Prior  claustral  of  the  said  monastery  "  and  his  adherents,  "  which 
perversely  resisted  and  withstood  your  lordship's  pleasure  and  commandment."  || 

The  almost  unanimous  fidelity  which  the  religious  orders,  and  especially  the 
Benedictines,  showed  to  the  cause  of  the  Catholic  Church  against  the  vigourous 
heresies  which  were  then  springing  up  in  Grermany  and  England  ;  their  opposi- 
tion to  the  divorce  of  King  Henry  VIII  from  Katharine  of  A.rragon,  and  their 
opposition  to  the  novel  claims  of  their  temporal  monarch  for  ecclesiastical  Suprem- 
acy in  his  own  dominions,  have  been  spoken  of  by  many  writers  both  Catholic 
and  Protestant.U  Thus  at  Westminster  on  April  27th,  1533,  "the  preachers  have 

*  See  Remains  and  Letters  of  Cranmer,  Parker  Society,  1846. 

t  Alluding,  apparently,  to  the  contemplated  removal  or  retirement  of  the  then  Prior  Gold- 
well,  "a  man  of  unstained  reputation,  the  last  survivor  of  the  circle  of  Warham,  More,  and 
Colet"  (Dixon,  History  of  the  Church  of  England,  II,  226).  Prior  Goldwell  had  long  proved 
a  thorn  in  Cranmer's  side,  opposing  the  Archbishop  for  abusing  the  Pope  (Dixon's  History,  I. 
330).  |  Cranmer's  Letters  and  remains.  To  Crumwell,  Letter  220,  March  17,  1538, 

§  Cranmer's  Letters  &c. — Letter  235  ;  p,  376. 

||  Letters  relating  to  the  Suppression  of  monasteries  Cainden  Society,  cxxiii,  p.  249. 

5[  See  an  article  on  "English  Martyrs"  in  the  Dublin  Review,  April,  187  7. 


1'RKFAfE.  XV 

ing  been  desired  to  admonish  the  people  to  pray  to  Gfod  for  the  King  and  Queen 
Anne,  one  who  preached  at  Westminster  not  only  spoke  against  the  marriage  hut 
told  the  people  publicly  to  pray  for  the  King  and  Queen  Katharine,  and  for  the 
Princess."*  In  1534  when  Latimer  had  been  broaching  novelties  in  Bristol, 
D.  Robert  Circester,  Master  Prior  of  St.  James'  Benedictine  House  in  that  city, 
was  one  of  those  who  were  most  zealous  in  opposing  him,  "approving  purgatory, 
pilgrimages,  the  worshipping  of  Saints  and  images,  also  approving  that  faith 
without  good  works  is  but  dead,  and  that  our  Lady  being  full  of  grace  is  and 
was  without  spot  of  sin."t  To  Catholic  readers  the  following  words  of  the 
same  heretic  Latimer  to  Lord  Cromwell  will  read  as  the  highest  praises  of  the 
monks  of  the  noble  Abboy  of  Evesham  : 

(  Christmas  Day,  1537  ).  "  My  Doctor  Barnes  hath  preached  here.  . .  .1  would  wish  that 
the  King's  Grace  might  see  and  hear  him  :  but  I  pray  you  let  him  tell  you  how  two  monks 
hath  preached  a  late  in  Evesham,  and  I  wist  you  will  hearken  to  them  and  look  upon  them ; 
for  though  they  be  exempt  from  ine,  yet  they  be  not  exempt  from  your  Lordship.  I  pray 
God  amend  them,  or  else  I  fear  they  be  exempt  from  the  flock  of  Christ,  veiy  true  monks, 
that  .is  to  say,  pseudo  prophets  and  false  Christian  men,  perverters  of  Scripture ;  sly,  wily, 
disobedientiaries  to  all  good  orders  ;  ever  starting  up,  as  they  dare  to  do  hurt." 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  many  instances  that  might  be  quoted  to  show 
that  in  general,  the  monks  were  on  the  side  of  the  Church  in  its  struggle  with 
the  powers  of  the  world.  That  this  was  felt  by  the  court  party  is  manifest  from 
the  unscrupulous  efforts  of  every  kind  which  were  made  to  shake  their  constancy. 
By  the  promotion  of  unworthy  men  to  the  greater  Abbeys,  by  the  great  bribes 
of  all  kinds  which  were  offered  to  those  who  would  resign,  by  the  terrors  inspir- 
ed in  the  beginning  of  their  troubles  by  the  cruelties  exercised  on  the  Holy 
Maid  of  Kent  and  her  supporters,*  and  afterwards  on  so  many  Abbots  and 
Priors  of  various  Orders,  and  Priests,  secular  and  regular,  the  submission,  ruin 
and  dispersion  of  the  religious  was  brought  about. 

It  little  availed  the  monks  of  Tewkesbury  that  they  forcibly  resisted  the 
King's  Visitors  at  their  first  coming  :  their  Chapter  House,  Cloisters  and  other 
offices  were  burned  to  the  ground  to  avenge  the  insult. §  It  little  availed  the 
premier  Abbey  of  St.  Alban  that  its  Abbot,  Robert  Catton,  some  time  Prior  of 
Norwich,  waxed  hourly  "more  obstinate  and  less  conformable"  when  the  Grand 
Inquisitors  made  their  "communications  or  motions"  concerning  a  surrender  ; 
telling  them  "that  he  would  rather  choose  to  beg  his  bread  all  the  days  of  his 
life  than  consent  to  any  surrender"  ;  for  he  was  deprived  of  his  office  and  a 
more  pliant  Superior  appointed  in  his  stead  to  give  up  the  Abbey  into  the  King's 
hands.  ||  Evesham  was  resigned  by  a  young  monk  Philip  Hawford  or  Ballard 
who  feared  to  have  it  said  of  him,  as  he  told  the  commisioners  "that  he  was  com- 
pelled to  resign  for  fear  of  deprivation  ;  but  this  was  only  when  the  lawful  Abbot, 
Clement  Wych  of  Litchfield,  "  not  choosing  to  surrender,  was  persuaded  by 
Cromwell  to  resign  his  pastoral  staff.  "1i 

*  Calender  of  State  Papers.  Henry  VIII.     1533,  April  27. 

t  Letters  relating  to  the  suppression  of  monasteries.  Letter  V.  p.  12. 

J  For  an  able  defence  of  the  Holy  Maid,  a  Benedictine  nun  of  St.  Sepulchre's,  Canterbury 
and  her  companions,  including  two  Benedictines,  two  Franciscans  and  two  secular  priests,  see 
the  Article,  "  English  Martyrs"  in  the  Dublin  Eeview,  April,  1877. 

§  See  Steven's  addition  to  Dugdale,  I,  513.  ||  Suppression  of  monasteries,  p.  249. 

^1  Monasticon.  II.  p.  9. 


XVI  PREFACE. 

Hyde  was  given  up  by  a  courtly  Prelate,  Salcot,  Bishop  of  Bangor,  who 
held  the  Abbey  in  cammendam.  The  Abbot  of  Gloucester  would  not  sign  the 
deed  of  surrender,  so  the  Prior  did  it  for  him.  The  Cathedral  Priors  of  Canter- 
bury and  Bath  as  though  to  hide  themselves  after  their  forced  surrenders,  re- 
fused preferment  in  the  new  establishments,  which  arose  in  place  of  their  late 
monasteries,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  their  lives  in  retirement. 

John  Beeves  of  Melford,  the  last  Abbot  of  St.  Alban's  "intrepid,  prudent, 
learned,  affable,  upright,  and  a  lover  of  his  vow  and  his  religion"  died  of  grief 
a  few  months  after  the  destruction  of  his  house  which  he  had  been  powerless  to 
avert.  *  The  fate  of  the  Abbots  of  Colchester,  Beading,  and  Grlastonbury  was 
even  more  tragic.  Of  the  first  named  of  these  three  houses  Colchester  fared  the 
worst,  or  the  best,  according  to  the  manner  in  which  its  history  is  viewed.  Its 
Abbot,  Thomas  Marshall,  who  had  formerly  been  Abbot  of  St.  Wereburg's  at 
Chester  was  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  of  London  for  refusing  to  consent  to  the 
King's  wishes,  and  appears  to  have  been  executed  in  January,  1539.  In  the 
same  year  his  successor  John  Beche,  the  last  of  the  Abbots,  was  hung  before  his 
monastery  gates  in  December,  f  and  the  monks  sent  adrift,  even  though  Sir 
Thomas  Audley  +  the  Chancellor  wrote  to  the  King's  Vicar  General  for  the  pre- 
servation of  that  house,  where  the  many  poor  people  who  dwelt  in  the  King's 
own  town  of  Colchester  had  daily  relief  from  the  charitable  fraternity. 

The  noble  end  of  the  Abbots  of  Reading  and  Q-lastonbury  was  the  last  scene 
in  the  history  of  the  destruction  of  monasteries.  The  satisfaction  which  these 
executions,  or  rather  martyrdoms,  gave  to  the  protestant  party  ought  to  be  made 
better  known  than  it  seems  to  be.  Some  extracts  from  the  Zurich  Letters  will 
indicate  the  jubilant  tone  in  which  the  revilers  of  the  monks  alluded  to  their 
downfall,  Bartholomew  Traheron,  a  favourer  of  the  reformation  writes  from  Lon- 
don (February  20,  1540)  to  the  exiled  Bullinger. 

' '  I  have  nothing  to  relate  at  present  except  that  all  the  monks  in  this  country  have  lost  the 
appellation,  that  some  of  the  principal  monasteries  are  turned  into  schools  of  studious  men, 
and  that  three  of  the  most  wealthy  Abbots  (  Glastonbury ,  Reading  and  Colchester )  were  led  to 
execution  a  little  before  Christmas,  for  having  joined  in  a  conspiracy  to  restore  the  Pope."- 

Four  days  later  another  protestant,  John  Butler,  thus  wrote  to  Bullinger. 

"  More  than  all  this,  wonderful  to  relate,  the  monasteries  are  eveiy  one  of  them  destroyed 
or  else  will  be  before  Shrovetide ;  of  the  most  opulent  of  which,  namely  Glastonbury  and 
Beading  the  two  Abbots  have  been  condemned  for  treason  and  quartered,  and  each  of  them  is 
now  rotting  on  a  gibbet  near  the  gates  of  the  Abbeys  over  which  they  respectively  presided. 
A  worthy  recompense  for  their  imposture." 


*  Monasticon  III,  lift.      See  also  a  little  work  "  Scraps  from  my  scrap  book,"  p.  118. 

Concerning  St.  Edmundsbury  Abbey,  John  Apricethus  wrote  to  Cromwell:  "The  Abbot 

seemeth  to  bo  addicted  to  the  maintaining  of  such  superstitious  ceremonies  as  hath  been  used 
heretofore,  as  touching  the  convent  we  could  get  little  or  no  comforts  among  them,  although 
we  did  use  much  diligence  in  our  examination,  and  thereby  with  some  other  arguments  gath- 
ered of  their  examinations,  I  firmly  believe  and  suppose  that  they  had  conferred  and  compacted 
before  our  coming  that  they  should  disclose  nothing ....  There  depart  of  them  that  be  under 
age  about  eight,  and  of  them  that  be  above  age  upon  a  five ....  The  whole  number  of  the  con- 
vent before  we  came  was  sixty,  saving  one,  besides  three  that  were  at  Oxford."  Monasticon 
III,  170.  f  See  Blunt' s  Reformation  of  the  Church  of  England,  p,  345. 

I  Suppression  of  monasteries,  pp.  245,  246. 


PREFACE.  XVII 

In  the  same  strain  wrote  Nicholas  Partridge  from  Dover  (Feb.  26, 1540)  to 
the  same  Bullinger : 

"  But  since  you  have  sent  me  such  excellent  tidings  respecting  your  church,  I  will  also 
relate  some  circumstances  not  perhaps  to  be  despised.  There  does  not,  exist  here  a  single 
monk  at  least  in  name.*  Punishment  has  lately  been  inflicted  on  three  principal  Abbots, 
who  had  secreted  property  to  a  great  extent,  and  had  conspired  in  different  ways  for  the  res- 
toration of  popery." 

Turned  out  of  their  homes,  the  monks  and  nuns  were  in  most  cases  put  to 
great  suffering  and  endured  many  privations  from  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  a 
livelihood.  Some  no  doubt  were  provided  with  livings  :t  others,  as  the  historian 
of  Oxford  tells  us  in  his  Fanti  (Yol  I,  p.  61),  retired  to  Canterbury  College,  Glou- 
cester College,  Durham,  St.  Bernard's,  St.  Mary's,  and  other  halls  which  were 
full  of  them.  Many  went  abroad,  others  wandered  about  their  native  land  in  the 
greatest  penury. 

The  sufferings  of  the  Benedictine  Nuns,  as  of  those  of  the  other  Orders,  were 
in  many  cases  extremely  severe.  The  high  reputation  which  so  many  of  their 
Communities  bore  for  regularity  and  benevolence,  the  fact  that  they  were  the 
only  schools  for  the  young,  and  that  they  were  the  centres  of  charity  for  the 
country  around  them,  induced  the  King  in  many  cases  to  refound  them  for  a 
few  brief  months  ;£  but  the  evident  utility  of  their  mission,  and  the  holiness  of 
their  inmates  could  not  save  such  houses  as  Shaftesbury,  Holywell,  Polesworth, 
or  Grodstow  from  the  hand  of  the  destroyer. 

The  popular  sympathy  for  their  sufferings  and  hard  lot  was  shown  by  the 
demand  of  the  Devonshire  insurgents  a  few  years  later,  for  the  restoration  of  at 
least  two  Abbeys  in  every  county  ;  §  a  demand  which  at  the  same  time  indicates 
the  loving,  trusting  regard  which  the  poor  of  England  still  entertained  for  their 
tender  hearted  guardians. 

"With  the  reign  of  Mary  began  a  happier  time,  and  those  who  under  the 
tyranny  of  the  past  reigns  had  been  in  hiding  for  conscience  sake  or  had  waver- 
ed in  their  faith,  now  that  there  was  freedom  once  again,  declared  themselves 
true  Catholics.  The  Archbishop,  Cranmer,  was  reported  to  have  said  Mass  in 

*  The  last  person  to  wear  the  religious  habit  in  England  during  the  persecution  was  Thomas 
Empson,  a  monk  of  Westminster,  who  for  his  constancy  in  refusing  to  adopt  a  secular  dress, 
was  imprisoned  and  probably  executed.  See  Dodd's  History,  I,  535. 

t  A  few  of  the  compliant  abbots  were  provided  with  bishoprics  during  the  Schism,  as  Salcot 
of  Hyde  to  the  See  of  Bangor  and  subsequently  of  Salisbury  ;  Thomas  Spark,  a  monk  of 
Durham,  to  the  Suffragan  See  of  Berwick ;  Wharton,  Abbot  of  Bermondsey,  to  the  See  of  St. 
Asaph's  ;  Rugg,  Abbot  of  Hulme,  to  Norwich  ;  Holbeach,  Prior  of  Worcester,  to  the  new  See 
of  Bristol ;  Abbot  Chambers  to  the  new  See  of  Peterborough  ;  Abbot  Kitchen  to  Llandaff  ; 
Wakeman,  Abbot  of  Tewkesbury,  to  the  new  See  of  Gloucester  ;  and  John  Salisbury,  Prior  of 
St.  Faith's,  to  the  new  Suffragan  See  of  Thetford. 

J  The  pious  monarch  having  deprived  the  Austin  Canons  of  their  Priory  of  Bisham  in 
Buckinghamshire,  refounded  the  same  for  an  Abbot  and  twelve  Benedictine  monks,  towards 
whose  support  some  of  the  lands  of  Chertsey  Abbey  were  assigned.  Bisham  Abbey  soon  met 
the  fate  of  similar  institutions  of  an  older  and  more  honourable  foundation. 

§  The  14th  article  of  their  demands  was  as  follows  :  "We  will  that  the  half  part  of  the 
Abbeylands  and  chantry  lands  in  every  man's  possession,  however  he  came  by  them,  be 
given  a£?iiin  to  two  places,  where  two  of  the  chief  Abbeys  were  within  every  county ;  where 
such  half  part  shall  be  taken  out,  and  there  to  be  established  a  place  for  devout  persons,  who 
shall  pray  for  the  king  and  the  commonwealth,  and  to  the  same  we  will  have  all  the  alms  of 
the  Church  boxes  given  for  these  seven  years." 


XVIII  PREFACE. 

Canterbury  Cathedral  for  King  Edward's  soul,  but  he  denied  the  charge  to  the 
Privy  council  saying :  "  It  was  not  I  that  did  set  up  the  Mass  in  Canterbury, 
but  it  was  a  false,  flattering  and  lying  monk  ( — whom  the  Archbishop  after- 
wards named  to  be  the  Benedictine  suffragan  Bishop,  Thornton — )with  a  dozen 
of  his  adherents  which  caused  the  Mass  to  be  set  up  there,  and  that  without  mine 
advice  or  counsel."* 

Another  monk  of  Canterbury  was  among  the  earliest  to  preach  openly  the 
Catholic  doctrine  on  the  Holy  Eucharist  in  London,  t  A  monk  of  Westminster 
almost  lost  his  life  in  defence  of  the  same  mystery,  on  Easter-Day,  1555.  J 

In  the  general  revival  of  Catholicity  under  Queen  Mary  several  Bishops  of 
the  Order  took  a  prominent  part.  Wharton  of  Hereford,  formerly  Abbot  of 
Bermondsey  was  one  ;  he  received  his  appointment  on  the  17th  of  March,  1554, 
and  on  July  6th  of  the  same  year  the  Papal  Legate  confirmed  the  choice,  after 
the  Bishop-elect  had  been  absolved  from  the  schism  into  which  he  had  fallen 
"rather  by  some  fear  than  by  any  other  cause."  §  On  the  18th  of  November, 
(1554)  John  Holyman,  a  monk  of  Reading  who  had  all  along  remained  true  to 
the  Church  was  consecrated  the  first  Catholic  Bishop  of  Bristol  in  place  of  the 
intruded  Holbeach ;  Bishops  Salcot  of  Salisbury,  Chambers  of  Peterborough, 
Kitchen  of  Llandaff,  and  Thornton,  Suffragan  Bishop  of  Dover,  were  also  among 
those  whom  Cardinal  Pole  absolved  and  reinstated  in  their  Sees.||  Unfortunately 
they  were  not  granted  many  years  wherein  to  labour  and  thus  repair  in  some 
degree  the  havoc  which  heresy  and  irreligion  had  caused  in  the  Church,  in  Eng- 
land. Bishop  Chambers  died  in  1556  ;  Bishops  Thornton  and  Salcot  in  1557  ; 
the  Bishops  of  Hereford  and  Bristol  in  1558.  Their  survivor,  Bishop  Kitchen, 
who  managed  to  retain  his  see  till  his  death  ( October  31st.  1563 ),  is  entitled  to 
an  honourable  mention  solely  by  his  obstinate  refusal  to  consecrate  Parker  to 
the  Archbishopric  of  Canterbury  ;  the  momentous  results  of  that  refusal  need 
not  be  dwelt  upon  in  this  place. 

The  years  of  Mary's  reign  were  too  few  to  allow  of  the  religious  houses  being 
reestablished  in  all  places  where  they  had  formerly  existed.  The  Bridgettine 
nuns  of  Sion,  the  Dominicans  in  Smithfield,  the  Observants,  and  lastly  the  Bene- 
dictines of  Westminster  Abbey,  were  among  the  few  who  who  were  refounded. 

A  brief  account  of  the  restoration  of  the  monastery  of  Westminster  (Novem- 
ber 21st,  1556)  is  given  in  the  Chronological  Notes ;  of  its  history  during  the 
short  period  of  its  renewed  existence  some  few  details  have  been  preserved  in  the 
diaries  and  other  records  of  the  time.  Dr.  Feckenham,  a  monk  of  Evesham, 
who  had  been  appointed  Abbot,  seems  to  have  contemplated  the  possibility  of 
restoring  the  venerable  Abbey  of  OHastonbury :  the  following  petition  of  four  of 
the  monks  of  that  house  who  had  joined  the  new  Community  at  Westminster 
may  well  be  reprinted  here.  Their  address  to  the  Lord  Chamberlain  and  the 
Queen  was,  (with  a  few  variations  in  the  spelling) ,  as  follows : 

*  Cranmer's  Works.     Parker  Society,  I,  429. 

f  See  a  Confutation  of  unwritten  verities,  p.  65,  Parker  Society.  "  I  will  rehearse  one 
sermon,  made  in  Queen  Mary's  beginning  by  a  momish  monk,  and  so  leave  off  their  vain  and 
wicked  lies.  A  new  upstart  preacher,  being  some  time  a  monk  of  Christ's  Church  in  Canter- 
bury stept  into  the  pulpit  in  St.  Paul's  Church,  saying  that  the  very  body  of  Christ  is  really 
and  naturally  in  the  Sacrament  of  the  Altar.  &c." 

\  See  Wood's  Ecclesiastical  Antiquities  of  London,  p.  265. 

§  See  on  these  appointments  Brady1  a  Episcopal  succession. 

||  Salcot,  Kitchen  and  Chambers  were  absolved  from  the  Schism  on  Janury  26th,  1655. 


PREFACE.  XIX 

To  the  Et.  Honble.  Lord  Chamberlain. 
To  the  Queen's  Majesty. 

Eight  Honourable  in  our  most  humble  wise,  your  lordship's  daily  beadsmen,  some  time 
of  the  house  of  Glastonbury,  now  here  monks  in  Westminster,  with  all  due  submission  we 
desire  your  honour  to  extend  your  accustomed  virtue  as  it  hath  been  always  heretofore  pro- 
pense  to  the  honour  of  Almighty  God,  to  the  honourable  service  of  the  King  and  Queen's 
Majesties,  so  it  may  please  your  good  Lordship  again,  for  the  honour  of  them,  both  of  God 
and  their  Majesties,  to  put  the  Queen's  highness  in  remembrance  of  her  gracious  promise 
concerning  the  erection  of  the  late  monastery  of  Glastonbury,  which  promise  of  her  Grace 
hath  been  so  by  her  Majesty  declared  that  upon  the  same,  we,  your  lordship's  daily  beads- 
men, understanding  my  Lord  Cardinal's  Grace's  pleasure  to  the  same,  by  the  procurement 
here  of  our  reverend  Father  Abbot,  have  gotten  out  the  particulars ;  and  through  a  warrant 
from  my  Lord  Treasurer  our  friends  there  have  builded  and  bestowed  much  upon  reparation : 
notwithstanding  all  now  stands  at  a  stay.  We  think  the  case  to  be  want  of  remembrance, 
which  cannot  so  well  be  brought  unto  her  Majesty's  understanding  as  by  your  honourable 
lordship's  favour  and  help.  And  considering  your  lordship's  most  godly  disposition,  we  have 
a  confidence  thereof  to  solicit  the  same,  assuring  your  lordship  of  our  daily  prayer  while  we 
live,  and  of  our  successors  during  the  world  if  it  may  so  please  your  good  lordship  to  take  it 
in  hand. 

We  ask  nothing  in  gift  to  the  foundation,  but  only  the  house  and  site,  the  residue  for  the 
accustomed  rent,  so  that  with  our  labour  and  husbandry  we  may  live  there  a  few  of  us  in 
our  religious  habits,  till  the  charity  of  good  people  may  suffice  a  greater  number ;  and  the 
country  there  being  so  affected  to  our  Religion,  we  believe  we  should  find  much  help  amongst 
them  toward  the  reparations  and  furniture  of  the  same,  whereby  we  would  haply  prevent  the 
ruin  of  much  and  repair  no  little  part  of  the  whole  to  God's  honour  and  for  the  better  pros- 
perity of  the  King  and  Queen's  Majesties,  with  the  whole  realm.  For  doubtless,  if  it  shall 
please  your  good  Lordship,  if  there  hath  ever  been  any  flagitious  deed  since  the  creation  of 
the  world  punished  with  the  plague  of  God,  in  our  opinion  the  overthrow  of  Glastonbury  may 
be  compared  to  the  same  ;  not  surrendered,  as  other  (Abbeys),  but  extorted  ;  the  Abbot  pre- 
posterously put  to  death  with  two  innocent  virtuous  monks  with  him ;  that  if  the  thing 
were  to  be  scanned  by  any  University  or  some  learned  Counsel  in  Divinity,  they  would  find 
it  more  dangerous  than  is  commonly  taken;  which  might  move  the  Queen's  Majesty  to  the 
more  speedy  erection ;  namely  it  being  a  house  of  such  antiquity  and  fame  through  all 
Christendom,  first  begun  by  St.  Joseph  of  Arirnathea  who  took  down  the  dead  body  of  our 
Saviour  Christ  from  the  cross,  and  lieth  buried  in  Glastonbury.  And  him  most  heartily  we 
beseech  to  pray  unto  Christ  for  good  success  unto  your  honourable  lordship  in  all  your 
lordship's  affairs,  and  now  specially  in  this  our  most  humble  request  that  we  may  shortly 
do  the  same  in  Glaston  for  the  King  and  the  Queen's  Majesties  as  our  Founders  and  for  your 
lordship  as  a  singular  benefactor 

Your  Lordshiy's  daily  beadsmen  of  Westminster, 
John  Phagan 
John  Neott 
William  Adelwold 
William  Kentwyn.* 

Though  the  restoration  of  Grlastonbury  was  not  effected  before  Queen  Mary's 
death,  the  hope  of  one  day  seeing  its  glories  revived  was  not  quickly  extinguish- 
ed. A  holy  old  monk  of  GUastonbury,  Austin  Ringwode  by  name,  who  died  in 
the  winter  of  1587,  is  said  to  have  predicted  that  "  the  Abbey  would  be  one  day 
repaired  and  rebuilt  for  the  like  worship  which  had  ceased. "  t 

*  Monasticon  Anglicanuin.  I.  9. 

t  See  Dr.  Lee's  Church  under  Queen  Elizabeth,  Vol  II,  p.  101.  "A  prophecy,  long  ago- 
fulfilled,  is  one  of  the  points  of  the  following  notice.  The  restoration  of  Glastonbury  Abbey 
is  by  no  means  so  improbable  as  our  forefathers  may  have  supposed.  An  old  monk  of  Glas- 
tonbury, Austin  Eingwode,  who,  having  the  fear  of  God  before  his  eyea,  though  turned  out 
from  his  sacred  home,  dwelt  in  a  cottage  no  great  distance  from  it,  and  througn  many  long 


XX  PREFACE. 

But  the  brief  reign  of  Mary  was  not  long  enough  for  the  fulfilment  of  all 
these  pious  hopes.  The  funeral  discourses  which  Abbot  Feckenham  preached  at 
the  obsequies  of  the  Queen,  though  it  touches  but  lightly  on  the  prospects  of 
Elizabeth's  reign,  sufficiently  indicates  the  gloomy  forebodings  with  which  men 
awaited  the  coming  troubles.  Choosing  for  his  text  those  words  of  Ecclesiastes 
(IV,  2,  3,)  "Laudavi  mortuos  magis  quam  viventes  sed  feliciorem  utroque  indi- 
cavi  qui  necdum  natus  est,"  he  proceeded  in  the  course  of  his  address  to  speak  as 
follows  : — "  Let  us  comfort  ourselves  in  the  other  sister  whom  Q-od  hath  left, 
wishing  to  her  a  prosperous  reign  in  peace  and  tranquillity  with  the  blessings 
that  the  prophet  speaketh  of  (if  it  be  (rod's  will)  id  videat  filios  filiorwn  et  pacem 
super  Israel ;  ever  confessing  that  although  Grod  hath  mercifully  provided  for 
them  both,  yet  Maria  opt  imam  partcm  elegit,  because  it  is  still  a  conclusion,  Lan- 
davi  mortuos  magis  quam  viventes.  And  now  it  only  remain eth,  that  we  leaving 
to  speak  of  these  two  noble  ladies,  look  and  provide  for  ourselves,  and  seeing 
these  daily  casualties  of  death  gather  our  faculties  and  put  ourselves  in  a  readi- 
ness to  die."* 

Having  made  up  her  mind  to  separate  herself  from  Catholic  Christendom, 
Elizabeth  proceeded  to  undo  all  that  her  sister  had  done  on  behalf  of  the  Church. 
The  religious  houses  and  among  others,  the  Abbey  of  Westminster,  were  again 
suppressed,  and  on  July  12th,  1552,  (the  day  after  the  summer  festival  of  St. 
Benedict)  the  monks  were  forced  to  quit  their  venerable  cloisters.  What  became 
of  them  all  we  are  not  told,  particulars  of  only  three  of  the  Westminster  com- 
munity having  been  preserved.  One  of  these,  D.  William  Copinger,  an  intimate 
friend  of  Bishop  Gardiner,  on  refusing  to  conform  to  the  newly  established  order 
of  things  in  the  first  year  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  was  committed  prisoner  to  the 
Tower  where  he  died  soon  afterwards,  t  Abbot  Feckenham,  who  had  already 
endured  four  years  imprisonment  during  the  reign  of  Edward  VI,  was,  after 
Elizabeth  had  in  vain  endeavoured  to  shake  his  constancy,  committed  a  second 
time  to  the  Tower.  Thence  he  was  taken  and  removed  to  the  custody  of  Horn, 
the  pseudo-bishop  of  Winchester,  who  to  rid  himself  of  so  unwelcome  a  guest , 
procured  his  removal  for  the  third  time  to  the  Tower,  whence  he  was  afterwards 
taken  to  the  Marshalsea  prison,  and  then  for  a  time  allowed  to  remove  to  lodg- 
ings in  Holborn  though  he  still  continued  a  prisoner  at  large.  During  this 
period  of  comparative  freedom,  Dr.  Feckenham  employed  himself  in  various 

years,  observing  without  relaxation  his  old  rule,  constantly  interceded  with  God  for  his  mi- 
serable and  afflicted  countrymen.  Ho  lived  under  the  spiritual  direction  of  Father  Bridge- 
water,  in  the  greatest  retirement  and  on  the  sparest  diet ;  gave  himself  up  constantly  to 
prayer,  self  denial  and  fasting  ;  and  in  his  later  years,  was  favoured  with  celestial  visions  of 
a  most  consoling  nature.  To  some  friends  who  went  to  tender  him  assistance  when  he  was 
smitten  down  with  a  sore  plague,  he  predicted  that  "many  woeful  troubles"  would  "fall  upon 
the  people  because  of  their  sins  ;  that  "the  lands  would  be  untilled  for  divers  years,  and  that 
a  bloody  war"  would  overtake  the  country  as  a  punishment.  He  furthermore  averred  that 
some  of  those  living  would  not  die  until  they  had  beheld  these  portents.  He  said  moreover, 
that  "the  Abbey  would  be  onaday  repaired  and  rebuilt  for  the  like  worship  which  had  ceased 
and  that  then  peace  and  plenty  would  for  long  time  abound." 

Dr.  Lee  refers  to  a  tract  "A  true  relation  of  Master  Austin  Eingwode"  &c.  published  in 
London  in  1652,  wherein  the  first  part  of  the  prophecy  is  assumed  to  have  been  fulfilled  by 
the  Civil  War. 

*  A  sermon  on  the  death  of  Queen  Mary.    British  Museum,  MSS  Cotton.    Vesp.  D.  xviii, 
fol.  94. 

t  See  Dodd's  Church  History,  I.  524,  with  the  authorities  there  quoted. 


PREFACE.  XXI 

good  works  ;  the  building  of  a  hospice  for  the  poor  who  frequented  the  mineral 
waters  of  Bath  being  one  of  the  last  efforts  of  his  beneficence.*  In  1580  the 
Abbot  was  again  confined  in  prison,  this  time  with  many  other  noble  confessors 
in  the  unhealthy  Castle  of  Wisbeach,  and  there,  five  years  later,  he  died  the 
death  of  the  just.  Dom  Sigebert  Buckley,  who  had  received  the  Benedictine 
habit  at  Westminster  during  Mary's  reign,  lived  on  for  many  years,  and  was 
the  means,  under  Grod,  of  perpetuating  the  old  English  Congregation  of  the 
Black  Monks,  of  which  he  was  probably  the  last  professed  member. 

Scattered  notices  are  found  of  others  who  survived  long  into  Elizabeth's  reign 
and  even  later.  Thus  in  May,  1579,  a  blind  old  man  who  had  formerly  been  a 
monk  of  Westminster  visited  the  new  Seminary  at  Douay  in  the  Company  of 
Dr.  Allen,  its  president  and  founder.!  Probably  many  of  the  English  monks 
had  betaken  themselves  to  the  Continent.  £  Others  we  know  found  a  welcome 
in  Catholic  Ireland.  "  In  the  course  of  fourteen  years  about  twelve  hundred 
monks  escaped  to  Ireland,  where  they  repaid  the  hospitality  with  which  they 
were  received  by  preaching,  and  strengthening  the  faith  of  their  hosts.  In  Eli- 
zabeth's reign  they  were  hunted  like  wolves  and  shot  like  carrion  crows,  till  the 
few  survivors  from  bullet,  steel,  nakedness  and  hunger,  died  out  in  the  most  in- 
accessible places.  F.  Latchett,  a  monk  of  Grlastonbury,  was  imprisoned  for  twelve 
years,  and  tortured  twenty  times  ;  but  he  at  last  escaped,  and  died  in  the  wilds  of 
the  Graltee  mountains  at  the  age  of  101."§  The  history  of  the  Nuns  of  the  Order, 
who  were  turned  adrift  by  Henry  and  who  were  true  to  their  holy  calling  affords 
us  many  edifying  incidents.  Thus  Dame  Isabelle  Sackville,  the  last  Prioress  of 
Clerkenwell  was,  through  the  kindness  of  her  friends,  enabled  to  support  three 
of  the  religious  of  her  convent  till  her  death  in  her  ninety- first  year  in  the  twelfth 
year  of  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  Sybilla  Newdigate,  last  Prioress  of  Holywell  in 
London  is  supposed  to  have  perished  of  want.  Towards  the  very  end  of  Eliza- 
beth's reign  two  of  the  nuns  of  Grodstow  died  of  want,  one,  Dame  Rose  Herbert, 
at  Hackney,  another  near  St.  Alban's ;  Dame  Isabel  Whitehead,  formerly  a 


*  See  the  Bath  Herald,  November  29th,  1879.  In  1576,  during  the  mayoralty  of 
Thomas  Turner,  the  Chamberlain  of  the  city  :  ' '  Delivered  to  Mr.  Feckewand,  late  Abbot  of 
Westminster,  three  tonnes  of  Tymber  and  10  fote  to  build  the  House  for  the  poor,  by  the 
White  Bath,  33s,  4d.  To  him  more  400  Lathes  at  lOd.  the  100,  3s,  4d." 

In  the  British  Museum  (SloaneMSS.  A.  3919)  is  a  manuscript  of  about  400  folio  pages 
the  work  of  Abbot  Feckenham  which  bears  the  following  heading  : 

"  This  booke  of  sovereigne  medicines  against  the  most  common  and  knowne  diseases  both 
of  men  and  women  was  by  good  proofe  and  longe  experience  collected  of  Mr.  Dr.  Ficknam 
late  Abbot  of  Westminster  and  that  chieflie  for  the  poor  which  hath  not  att  all  tyrnes  the 
Learned  phisitions  att  hande. 

t  Eecords  of  the  English  Catholics  :  Douay  Diaries,  page  153. 

I  Thus  Father  Stratford,  the  author  of  a  small  black  letter  book  on  "  the  Irish  Abbeys 
and  Monks,  "  who  had  been  a  monk  of  Eeading  Abbey,  died  at  Tours  in  1549,  at  the  age  of 
eighty  seven  years.  See  Burke's  Historical  Portraits  of  the  Tudor  Dynasty,  II,  217. 

O       _       •J  ,  V__  .  __,  .  .  ._-_  7    .        T  -»«-  i  \        (*  i  *  1  t    l-»  W  •—  _J_V__  f .         J_1_ 


compte 

Women  of  the  Eeformation."  Vol.  II,  p.  .„._._ 

559),  an  account  is  given  of  the  treachery  which  Elizabeth  exercised  in  1602  towards  a  ship- 
ful  of  Benedictines,  Cistercians  and  Dominicans,  forty-two  in  all,  who  had  been  induced  to 
accept  a  safe  conduct  out  of  Ireland,  but  were,  by  the  Queen's  orders  drowned  off  Scattery 
Island  near  the  mouth  of  the  Shannon. 

E 


XXII  PREFACE. 

nun  of  the  monastery  of  Arthington  in  Yorkshire,  died  a  prisoner  in  York  Castle. 
(March  18th,  1587.) 

Thus  the  ancient  English  family  of  St.  Benedict's  Order  was  gradually  be- 
coming extinct  when  that  wonderful  revival  of  Catholicity  began  which  had  its 
origin  in  the  zeal  and  energy  of  Dr.  Allen.  It  was  not  long  before  the  hearts 
of  many  of  those  who  were  being  trained  in  the  Seminaries  which  he  had  been 
mainly  instrumental  in  establishing  were  turned  to  the  Order  of  St.  Benedict : 
and  the  internal  difference  which  disturbed  the  peace  and  unity  of  the  new  Col- 
leges caused  several  both  priests  and  clerics,  to  seek  admission  into  the  Benedic- 
tine Order  in  Italy  and  Spain.  To  this  twofold  movement,  of  those,  namely, 
who  were  attracted  by  the  edifying  lives  of  the  monks  to  seek  to  enter  among 
them  and  of  those  who,  while  they  sought  to  avoid  the  uncongenial  surroundings 
which  had  made  their  seminary  life  distasteful,  were  yet  anxious  to  devote  them- 
selves to  the  spiritual  needs  of  their  countrymen,  must  be  assigned  the  rapid 
development  of  the  Benedictine  Mission  into  England  which  is  sketched  in  the 
following  pages. 

Of  the  author  of  these  Chronological  Notrx  it  behoves  us  to  say  a  few  words. 
Ralph,  or,  as  he  was  afterwards  called  from  his  religious  name,  Bennet  Weldon, 
was  the  seventeenth  and  youngest  child  of  Colonel  George  Weldon  of  Swans- 
combe  near  Gravesend.  He  was  born  in  London  in  1674,  and  our  author  thus 
chronicles  the  events  of  his  early  life  in  some  memoirs  which  have  come  down  to  us. 

"  At  London  I  first  saw  light  on  the  12th  of  April,  S.  N.  1674,  and  was 
christened  at  home  by  Dr.  Hornet,  or  Horneck,  minister  of  the  Savoy.  My 
Godfathers  were  Sir  Francis  Clarke  and  Sir  John  Cotton's  eldest  son  ;  my  god- 
mother the  Lady  Barkham  :  the  name  they  gave  me  was  Ralph,  which  had  no 
other  ground  than  this,  that  for  some  generations  the  family  had  affected  to  con- 
serve a  succession  of  two  names,  viz.  Ralph  and  Anthony  ;  and  that  my  mother 
being  at  Swanscombe,  the  seat  of  the  family,  a  place  very  renowned  in  English 
history  for  the  Kentish  men  there  conquering  the  Conqueror,  William  I,  my 
cousin  Elizabeth  Weldon,  now  Mrs.  Barrow,  as  they  were  viewing  the  tombs  of 
the  name  in  the  Church,  takes  water  from  the  font  and  sprinkling  my  mother 
tells  her  she  would  baptize  the  child  she  bore  a  Ralph.  Thus  I  had  my  name 
from  my  great  grandfather's  tomb,  as  noble  and  stately  a  momument  as  one 
shall  see  in  Westminster  Abbey,  as  I  have  been  credibly  assured,  for  I  have  not 
seen  the  place  myself,  though  I  was  very  near  it  once  but  had  not  time  to  go.* 
The  inscription  on  the  tomb  is  this  : 

To 
The  Grateful  memory  of  Sir  Ralph  Weldon,  Knt,  whose  body  lies  here  entombed.     His 

*  In  Murrays  H<md-l>ool;  for  travellers  in  Kent  and  Sussex,  2nd.  occurs  the  following  pas- 
sage referring  to  Swanscombe  Church,  (p.  33.)  "In  the  chancel  is  the  monument  of  Sir 
Anthony  Weldon,  Clerk  of  the  Kitchen  to  Queen  Elizabeth  and  James  I.,  who  in  his  spite- 
ful reminiscences  has  supplied  us  with  one  of  the  best  pictures  of  the  British  Soloman,  and 
who  sat  himself  to  Sir  Walter  for  some  part  of  the  character  of  Sir  Mungo  Malagrowther. 
The  monument  of  Lady  Weldon  is  opposite  and  in  the  S.  Chancel  are  other  Weldon  Memorials, 
including  a  stately  altar  tomb  with  recumbent  figures' for  Sir  Ralph  and  Lady  Weldon :  d.  1609. 
The  Church  here  was  attached  to  the  manor,  which  soon  after  the  Conquest  was  granted  to 
the  family  of  Montchesni,  who  long  held  it.  In  it  was  one  of  the  many  shrines  which  lying 
on  or  not  far  from  their  road,  pilgrims  to  Canterbury  were  accustomed  to  visit.  The  Shrine 
here  was  that  of  S.  Hildeferthe  whose  aid  was  invaluable  in  all  cases  of  insanity  or  "me- 
lancholia." 


PREFACE.  XXIII 

• 

wife,  the  Lady  Elizabeth  Weldon,  out  of  her  dear  affection  and  respect,  erects  this  monument. 
He  was  chief  Clerk  of  the  kitchen  to  Queen  Elizabeth  :  afterwards  Clerk  Comptroller  to 
Bang  James,  and  died  Clerk  of  the  Green  Cloth  on  the  12th  November,  in  the  year  1609, 
and  of  his  age  64,  having  by  the  said  Elizabeth,  daughter  to  Leven  Buffkin,  Esq.  four  sons, 
Anthony,  Clerk  of  the  Kitchen  to  King  James,  Henry,  Leven,  and  Ealph,  and  six  daughters, 
Catharine  and  Elizabeth,  Anne,  Mary,  Judith,  and  Barbara. 

His  grandfather  served  King  Henry  VII,  and  was  master  of  the  Household  to  King 
Henry  VIII,  whom  likewise  Thomas  Weldon  hin  uncle  served  and  was  cofferer  to  King 
Edward  VI.,  and  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  died  Clerk  of  the  Green  Cloth. 

Let  this  suffice  for  those  who  hereby  pass, 
To  signify  How,  when  and  what  he  was  : 
And  for  his  life,  his  charge,  and  honest  Fame 
He  hath  Wei-don,  and  so  made  good  his  name." 

Our  author  then  gives  an  elaborate  account  of  his  reasons  for  thinking  that 
the  family  name  was  the  same  with  the  famous  one  of  Guelpho  or  Welpho  in 
Germany,-  "from  whence,  by  what  I  have  seen,  I  am  persuaded  it  came  with  the 
Saxons  into  England." — Regarding  the  diversity  of  spelling,  he  says,  a  little 
further  on,"  Those  that  are  strangers  to  us,  because  it  sounds  sweeter  pronounce 
and  write  our  name  Wefdcn,  but  we  of  Swanscombe  hold  stiffly  to  the  0." 

Sir  Anthony  Weldon,  the  grand-father  of  Ralph  held  the  offices  of  Clerk  of 
the  Green  Cloth,  Clerk  of  the  Kitchen,  and  Clerk  of  the  Woody ard  under  King 
James  I.  By  his  wife  Eleanor,  daughter  of  George  Wilmer,  Esq,  he  had  twelve 
children,  eight  sons  and  four  daughters.  The  eldest  son,  Ralph,  "  became  a 
Colonel,  and  Governor  of  Plymouth  and  enjoyed  the  estate,  which  is  at  least 
even  now,  as  I  was  assured  in  1700,  without  exaggeration,  seven  or  eight  hun- 
dred pound  sterling  a  year  ;  adorned  with  great  honours,  as  particularly  a 
famous  piece  of  homage  every  year  on  St.  Andrew's  day  on  Rochester  Bridge, 
as  the  tide  goes  under,  and  the  Royalty,  as  I  think  they  term  it,  of  Rochester 
Castle."  The  second  son,  Edward,  "  was  shot  through  the  head  as  he  entered 
triumphantly  a  place  he  had  taken  for  the  Great  Duke  of  Muscovy."  Then 
came  Anthony,  "  who  became  very  famous  in  the  Wars  in  the  Low  Countries, 
and  after  he  had  spent  three  fair  estates,  perished  at  sea  in  a  great  expedition  he 
had  undertaken  for  the  Great  Duke  of  Tuscany."  The  fourth  brother,  Henry, 
after  the  death  of  Edward,  returned  from  Muscovy  and  lies  interred  at  Swans- 
combe.  Thomas,  the  fifth  son,  married  a  considerable  fortune,  and  passed  his 
time  quietly  at  Goudhurst  in  Kent.  George,  the  father  of  our  author,  became  a 
Colonel,  and  "had  a  great  hand  in  the  King's  restoration."  Of  the  daughters, 
Elizabeth  "married  Mr.  Hart,  a  family  of  great  account ;"  Eleanor  "unhappily 
married  Mr.  Say,  one  of  the  Judges  of  King  Charles  I,  and,  by  a  just  Judgment 
of  God,  that  man's  posterity  is  now  come  to  nothing ;"  Susanna  became  the  wife 
of  Mr.  Charnock,  and  her  sister  Mary  appears  to  have  remained  unmarried. 

Colonel  George  Weldon  was  bred  up  for  some  time  under  Sir  John  Penning- 
ton,  Vice  Admiral  under  the  Earl  of  Northumberland.  On  the  breaking  out  of 
the  Civil  Wars  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I,  Sir  Anthony  took  up  the  Roundhead 
cause  and  induced  his  eldest  son  to  throw  in  his  lot  with  him.  But  George  re- 
mained true  to  his  King,  and  was  accordingly  banished  for  seven  years  by  his 
own  father,  and  "what  was  yet  harder,  for  his  father's  sake  was  never  looked  on 
notwithstanding  all  his  loyal  services  acted  on  behalf  of  the  Stuarts,  as  ensue 
hereafter." 

These  loyal  services  were  of  a  very  varied  nature,     In  1647  he  was  engaged 


XXIV  PREFACE. 

against  Lord  Fairfax  and  Cromwell  in  their  march  upon  London.  "Afterwards 
he  was  privy  to  all  the  actings  of  Colchester,  being  several  times  in  action  with 
Col.  Will.  Mayr  and  Lieut.  Genl.  Mayr  :  and  by  reason  he  repulsed  his  father's 
orders  to  take  a  command  of  horse  under  Harrison  against  his  Majesty  at  Wor- 
cester in  that  rebellious  service,  Sir  Anthony  his  father  utterly  deprived  him  of 
his  affection,  and  at  his  death  refused  to  see  him,  neither  did  he  leave  him  so 
much  as  £5  ;  and  all  this  was  upon  no  other  account  than  that  of  his  being 
loyal  to  his  sovereign."  Besides  "  he  ventured  all  that  he  had  and  his  very  life 
in  destroying  the  Committee  of  safety ;  he  received  a  commission  for  raising  four 
thousand  horse  against  Lambert,  when  he  was  in  the  North  ;  and  materially 
aided  the  Duke  of  Albernarle  ( then  General  Monk )  in  securing  Coventry  and 
Northampton.  For  these  services  he  was  three  times  earnestly  recommended  by 
the  Duke  to  the  King's  notice,  but  was  not  so  fortunate  as  to  meet  with  any 
reward."  How  this  came  about  is  thus  narrated  : 

"One  thing  that  contributed  to  his  remaining  thus  unrecompensed,  was  that  as  the  King 
(Charles  II)  returned  triumphantly  home,  and  he,  among  other  his  faithful  servants,  attend- 
ed him  on  horseback  as  his  Majesty  was  passing  from  Dover,  the  horse  my  father  rid  grew 
all  on  a  sudden  into  freaks ;  and,  as  he  was  not  far  from  the  King,  it  gave  the  King's  horse  a 
kick,  and  leapt  with  its  ridor  into  au  arm  of  the  sea  and  broke  his  leg.  The  tide  was  out  and 
so  he  escaped  drowning.  The  Right  Hon.  Earl  of  Bridgwater  sent  his  coach  and  took  him 
up ;  and  while  ho  was  curing,  which  lasted  some  time,  all  was  distributed  at  Court ;  so  that 
when  he  was  able  to  appear  ho  experienced  the  truth  of  the  English  proverb  Out  of  sight  out 
of  mind — The  King  excused  what  had  passed,  promising  fair  for  the  future,  as  soon  as  possi- 
bly he  could,  which  proved  never,  as  we  have  seen. 

Besides  all  this,  he  was  entrusted  with  many  concernments  for  King  Charles  I.  for  which 
he  suffered  very  much  and  as  he  attended  on  his  Majesty  for  a  time  after  the  English  had 
got  him  from  the  Scotch,  wherever  he  waited  on  the  King,  as  he  could  not  imagine  the  wicked 
drifts  and  fetches  of  those  perverse  men  who  at  last  took  the  King's  life  away,  as  he  was  as- 
tonished at  the  rudeness  and  brutality  of  the  people  to  their  Sovereign,  with  his  own  hands  he 
would  so  cane  their  sides  to  their  duties  that  they  dared  as  well  be  hanged  as  forget  them- 
selves while  he  waited  ;  which  the  suffering  King  took  so  kindly  with  his  other  loyal  services, 
that  he  declared  that,  if  ever  it  pleased  God  to  settle  him  on  his  throne  quietly  again,  ho 
would  highly  advance  him. 

In  one  word,  this  most  loyal  and  worthy  gentleman  who  had  never  really  acted  against 
the  King  by  thought,  word  or  deed,  but  had  ever  made  it  his  whole  care  and  study,  to  serve 
their  Majesties,  and  had  been  the  refuge  and  azyle  of  their  friends,  as  I  said  in  1700, 
authentic  testimonies  thereof,  under  their  hands  and  seals  of  many  persons  when  they  were  so 
straightly  pursued,  that  they  expected  nothing  but  death — yet  all  this  did  not  hinder  Mr. 
Weldon's  dying  unrewarded,  and  neglected  and  brought  to  hard  shifts,  Anno  Domini  1679, 
at  12  o'clock,  at  noon  on  the  30th  of  March,  interred  on  the  2nd  of  April  following. 

He  married  twice,  first  to  a  cousin  german  of  the  Countess  of  Anglesey  and  the  old 
Countess  of  Buckingham.  This  gentlewoman  was  a  widow.  He  never  had  child  by  her, 
but  right  and  title  to  £3300  sterling  a  year.  She  dying,  he  made  her  a  noble  funeral,  and 
sometime  after  married  my  mother.  It  was  in  the  time  of  the  detestable  regicide  Oliver ;  for 
they  were  not  only  married  by  a  parson,  but  by  a  Justice  of  Peace.  Her  name  was  Lucy 
Necton,  of  a  family  of  much  ancienter  date  than  the  Conquest,  seated  in  Norfolkshire.  Her 
grandfather  possessed  £3000  sterling  a  year  in  old  rents,  which  they  say  would  now  make 
£6000  sterling  a  year.  This  Gentleman  marrying  a  Stuart,  nothing  less  than  a  first  Cousin 
to  King  James  I,  when  he  came  to  the  crown  of  England,  she  lived  so  highly  puffed  up  with 
the  thoughts  of  her  royal  blood,  that  she  brought  this  estate  to  only  £100  sterling  a  year, 
bringing  her  son  up  at  the  Inns  of  Court,  that  by  the  dint  of  his  wit,  he  might  help  himself  to 
another  estate  as  he  could.  But  King  James  I  who  had  been  his  Godfather  and  given  him 
his  name,  pitying  his  circumstances,  gave  him  also  offices  at  Court,  so  that  at  his  death,  he 
left  betwixt  his  three  daughters  £1500  sterling  a  year.  The  eldest  married  Sir  John  G-addes- 
den,  in  Hertfordshire ;  the  youngest  was  my  mother ;  the  middlemost  dying,  her  portion  was 
divided  betwixt  the  other  two.  By  this  means  my  mother  brought  £800  sterling  a  year  to 


PREFACE.  XXV 

my  father,  land  of  inheritance.  This  presently  was  made  use  of  to  make  good  my  father's 
right  and  title  by  his  former  wife,  of  which  he  recovered  £1500  sterling  a  year,  King  James 
II,  then  Duke  of  York,  rising  up  in  the  house  of  Lords  and  speaking  in  the  behalf  of  my 
father's  cause,  whom  he  honoured  with  his  royal  favour  and  esteem,  and  was  sorry  to  see  in 
such  turmoil  of  law,  while  his  cause  was  just.  This  was  the  final  trial  of  all  the  bustles 
about  that  estate.  Ten  thousand  pounds  sterling  cash  was  flung  away  in  these  affairs,  to  my 
certain  knowledge,  and  my  father  was  so  disgusted,  that  he  lost  all  appetite  of  pursuing  the 
rest.  Several  families  concerned  in  restoring  the  usurped  estate,  were  impoverished  sadly  by 
these  lawsuits,  and  a  Lord  undone,  and  the  said  £1500  a  year  tricked  away  from  him.  By 
my  mother  he  had  many  children,  of  which  I  am  the  seventeenth  and  last.  Few  lived ;  only 
my  sister  and  three  males  ;  but  so  that,  betwixt  each  of  our  births  there  was  seven  years 
space.  Of  my  eldest  brother  I  say  nothing  now,  reserving  his  memory  to  the  year  in  which  I 
was  sent  to  England  upon  his  account.  My  brother  Charles  came  over  in  '88,  in  order  to  be 
a  monk  here,  but,  went  first  to  Tyrone  to  the  Mauritian  Benedictine  Seminary,  to 
review  his  humanities  ;  but  here  he,  in  a  short  time,  ended  his  days  like  a  Saint. 
How  and  when  he  became  a  Catholic,  I  know  not.  I  suppose  he  saw  me  so  young  and 
green,  that  therefore  he  would  never  speak  to  me  of  such  a  thing,  but  he  never  ceased  with 
my  mother  till  he  saw  her  reconciled  to  the  Church  in  the  time  of  King  James  II.  But  then, 
under  the  usurper  William  III,  teased  to  death  by  her  protestant  relations,  in  whose  hands  she 
chanced  to  be  then  alone,  she  became  so  indifferent  to  outward  communion  in  religion,  that  she 
would  neither  hear  Priest  nor  parson — declaring  that  she  put  all  her  confidence  and  trust  in 
the  merits  of  her  Redeemer  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.  She  died  about  her  great  climacterical 
year,  April  26,  S.M,  1702,  and  was  nobly  interred,  according  to  her  birth,  in.  Aldgate  Church, 
at  London,  in  the  vault  her  grandfather  and  the  Lord  Darcy  built  there  for  them  and  theirs, 
where  lies  her  father  Mr.  James  Necton,  and  her  Mother  Madam  Theodosia,  daughter  to  one 
of  the  Kings  at  arms  in  England,  and  who,  in  marrying  a  second  time  had  taken  to  hus- 
band Major  General  Gibson. 

I  see  no  ground  for  any  reproaches  to  be  made  to  ino  upon  this  mishap  I  did  all  that  was 
possible  for  ine  to  do,  in  1700,  when  I  saw  her  last,  but  was  always  repaid  with  the  above- 
said  Declaration.  Yet  seeing  that  she  ended  with  all  the  piety  that  was  possible  for  a  person 
in  those  circumstances,  heartily  sorry  for  all  offences,  entirely  resigned,  composed  and  easy, 
possessing  her  senses  entire  to  the  last  moment,  I  have  reason  to  hope  well  for  her  possessing 
the  infinite  mercy  of  God,  and  with  so  much  the  more  reason  by  how  much  I  am.  thereto  in- 
duced by  what  Monsr.  Habert  tells  us  in  the  life  of  the  great  Cardinal  Berullo  ;  that  a  nun, 
having  apostatized  from  her  profession,  and  tottering  after  that  in  her  faith,  was  recom- 
mended to  the  said  Cardinal's  piety.  Ho  to  the  utmost  that  could  be  expected  from  his  great 
sense  of  God  and  religion,  acquitted  himself  of  his  commission,  offering  himself  in  a  manner, 
a  living  sacrifice  for  the  said  soul,  by  much  prayer,  and  severe  corporal  affliction,  to  obtain 
her  grace.  Some  hopes  he  had,  but  they  lasted  not  long  :  for  "iiiiinicus  homo"  undoing  in 
the  night  what  he  did  in  the  day,  as  she  had  abandoned  her  nunnery,  so  she  abandoned  the 
faith  she  had  been  brought  up  in,  and  for  the  over  measure  of  her  wickedness,  became  a 
minister's  wife,  and  away  with  him  ran  to  Geneva,  and  there  died  so.  After  many  years  of 
Monseigneur  Berulle's  being  continually  afflicted  in  mind  for  her,  as  a  lost  soul,  an  extra- 
ordinary holy  pious  creature,  whose  true  worth  and  virtue  he  very  thoroughly  knew,  declar- 
ed to  him  the  lost  soul  was  to  be  found  in  heaven  ;  for  that,  through  an  extraordinary  and 
singular  grace  of  God,  expiring  she  had  made  such  an  act  of  contrition  for  all  her  miscar- 
riages, that  God  had  received  her  into  his  Mercies — A  most  prodigious  and  singular  example. 

After  a  sickly  childhood*  he  was  by  his  father's  last  earnest  desires  on  his 
deathbed,  "  continually  kept  at  some  public  school  or  other  "  till,  on  his  recovery 
from  a  great  sickness  in  1684,  he  was  taken  by  his  mother  to  Westminster,  that 
he  might  enjoy  the  air  of  St.  James'  Park.  There  "an  honest  Catholic"  made 
him  acquainted  with  Father  Joseph  Johnston, f  who,  after  sufficiently  instructing 

*  He  says  of  himself,  ' '  I  was  nursed  up  with  strong  Spanish  wines  as  Sack,  and  such 
like,  with  Naples  biscuits,  and  nothing  else  but  such  things. " 

t  On  the  foundation  of  the  Eoyal  Benedictine  Monastery  at  St.  James'  Palace  of  which 
Fr.  Johnston  was  a  member,  Weldon  elsewhere  writes  "James  II.  rightly  sumamed  the 

F 


XXVI  PREFACE. 

him  in  the  Catholic  faith,  received  him  into  the  Church.  He  thus  recounts  his 
conversion. 

For  as  near  as  I  can  remember,  my  dipping  into  the  clear  fountain  of  the  Church  was  on 
the  12th  of  October  S.  N.  on  a  Saturday,  1687,  when  I  made  my  abjuration  at  the  Royal 
convent  of  St.  James'  in  the  hands  of  R.  F.  Joseph  Johnston ;  and  was  admitted  to  the  most 
holy  Sacrament  of  the  Altar,  on  the  Monday  following,  October  14,  in  the  said  chapel,  which. 
I  have  therefore  ever  since  particularly  loved,  and  much  grieve  to  see  it  in  the  power  of 
erroneous  darkness. 

My  Mother  waa  veiy  vigilant  to  cultivate  my  tender  greenness  with  the  best  and 
noblest  principles  of  morality  and  honour  and  conscience,  and  took  care  that  I  prayed  morn- 
ing and  evening  &c,  but  as  she  was  not  learned,  as  few  are  in  the  affairs  of  religion,  so  she 
could  not  teach  me  much  thereof  ;  but  I  hearing  my  brothers  arguing  with  her  about  the 
schism,  God  enlightened  with  his  grace  my  tender  reason,  I  argued  with  myself,  without 
telling  them  my  thoughts, — that  those  whom  God  made  use  of,  to  plant  the  Church,  were 
men  of  most  extraordinary  holy  lives;  while  it  was  evident  that  King  Henry  VIII  was  a  man 
of  most  infamous  shameful  life ;  wherefore  I  concluded  it  was  never  by  such  that  God  ever 
makes  any  alterations  in  Church  affairs,  and  by  consequence,  that  his  pretended  fie  for/na- 
tion was  but  an  execrable  deformation,  and  that  therefore  I  would  never  remain  any  longer 
in  it,  come  what  would  of  my  change.  And  so,  without  asking  any  leave,  I  became  a  Roman 
Catholic,  resolved  to  die  in  the  truth  thereof.  The  day  I  abjured,  I  was  sent  to  visit  a  young 
gentleman  lately  come  from  Constantinople,  in  order  to  iny  undertaking  as  much  ;  but  I 
went,  and  first  made  my  peace  with  God  at  St.  James'  ;  and  then  I  went  about  the  human 
amusements  ;  but  after  that  I  had  sealed  up  my  holy  deed  by  the  most  holy  Sacrament  of  the 
Altar,  my  mother  finding  out  the  affair,  I  know  not  how,  was  in  such  a  toss,  that,  had  I  been 
murdered  she  could  not  have  been  in  more.  But  God  gave  me  grace  to  support  the  storm  ; 
and  crossing  the  Park  of  St.  James'  I  fetched  Revd.  Fr.  Johnston,  who  calmed  it.  I  cannot 

Just,  of  most  holy  memory,  no  sooner  had  the  English  imperial  diadem  on  his  professed 
Catholic  hands  («?V),  but  he  thought  himself  of  its  old  props  the  Benedictine  Crozier.  (Reader 
consult  the  histories  of  England,  you  will  find  this  no  piece  of  arrogant  pride  but  a  great 
truth  humbly  hushed  up  in  a  word):  and  therefore  resolved  his  royal  Consort's  Chapel  should 
be  attended  by  a  Convent  of  Benedictine  Monks.  Thus  the  Royal  Chapel  of  St.  James' ,  (the 
Franciscans  being  placed  with  the  Queen  Dowager  et  Somerset  House),  came  into  the  Bene- 
dictines to  whom  his  Majesty  had  shown  much  affection  before,  having  two  of  them  attending 
his  Duchess  when  he  was  Duke  of  York,  to  wit,  the  RR.  FF.  Lionel  Sheldon  and  Nicholas 
or  Poss,  as  we  have  seen  before,  besides  those  King  Charles  II,  his  royal  brother,  maintain- 
ed, under  pretence  of  their  being  part  of  the  clergy  composing  the  Chapel  of  his  Queen. 
The  monks  thus  placed  at  St.  James'  were  as  follows  :  1.  V.  R.  F.  Augustine  Howard, 
2.  V.  R.  F.  Fi'ancis  Lawson,  3.  F.  Maurus  Nicholls,  alias  Poss,  4.  F.  Joseph  Aprice, 
5.  R,  F.  Philip  Ellis,  of  Wcddesdon  in  Buckinghamshire,  professed  at  Douay  the  30th.  of 
Nov.  1(570,  whom  the  King  before  the  Revolution,  honoured  with  a  mitre  in  this  Chapel  of 
St.  James',  6.  R.  F.  Thomas  Aprice,  7.  R.  F.  Bennet  Gibbons,  8.  R.  F.  Maurus 
Knightley,  9.  V.  R.  F.  Bernard  Gregson.  10.  F.  Cuthbert  Parker,  whom  the  King  order- 
ing to  be  otherwise  disposed  of,  the  V.  R.  F.  Augustine  alias  Thomas  Constable,  of  the  Cas- 
tle called  Eagle  in  Lincolnshire,  professed  at  Douay  the  22nd  of  August,  1649,  came  in  his 
place.  11.  F.  Bernard  Lowick,  de  Humili  Visitatione  B.  M.  V.  12.  R.  F.  Joseph  Johnston. 
13.  F.  Cuthbert  Marsh  was  added  for  his  preaching  so  eloquently.  14.  F.  Gregory  Tiinper- 
ley.  15.  Br.  Thomes  Brabant,  a  pious,  industrious,  laborious  Lay -"Brother  of  Douay  house 
deceased  not  long  ago  at  London  to  the  great  grief  of  all  that  knew  him.  16.  Br.  Austin 
Rumley,  Lay-Brother  of  Dieulwart. 

And  such  was  the  affection  of  his  Majesty  to  the  habit,  that  when  he  assisted  at  his  Royal 
Chapel  at  Whitehall,  (for  he  often  resorted  to  that  of  St  James'),  he  would  have  one  of  our 
Fathers  by  the  credence  in  his  habit,  that  seeing  St.  Bennet  in  his  children,  he  might  be 
ever  mindful  of  him.  I  have  seen  it  as  I  say,  and  wondered  at  it,  till  the  V.  R.  F.  Francis 
Fenwick  told  me  this  as  I  have  delivered  it,  and  he  was  the  person  that  used  to  be  there, 
•which  seemed  to  me  therefore  strange,  because  the  Chapel  of  Whitehall  was  served  by  the 
ecular  Clergy  and  some  Regular  Clerks  as  one  may  term  them. " 


PREFACE.  XXVII 

ut  admire  that  she  had  so  much  honour  and  virtue  and  dread  for  the  great  sacrament  of 
religion,  that  she  never  offered,  in  all  her  taking  on,  to  call  me  back  from  what  I  had  done; 
but  lamented  what  would  become  me,  for  that,  by  this,  I  had  forfeited  all  the  kindness, 
favour  and  assistance,  I  had  to  expect  from  friends,  in  the  desolate  circumstances  her  and  my 
father's  misfortunes  had  cast  us  into.  But  she  was  soon  eased  of  this  concern,  Fr.  Johnston 
proposing  to  her  a  Monachal  condition  for  me,  which  I  was  mighty  desirous  of  from  the  first 
time  I  had  seen  the  Chapel,  desiring  nothing  more  than  to  spend  my  life  in  the  service  of  God  in 
the  habit  of  St.  Bennet.  Accordingly,  I  set  out  after  Easter  in  1688,  took  shipping  at  Dover  the  29 
of  May,  and  arrived  at  our  house  of  Paris  the  5th  of  June  N.  S.,  the  eve  of  the  great  solem- 
nity of  Whit-Sunday.  But  as  I  was  too  young  for  the  habit,  I  was  sent  to  the  Mauritian  Be- 
nedictine Seminary  of  Pontlevoy,  by  Blois,  from  whence  I  set  out  hither  on  the  oth.  Dec. 
1699,  and  on  the  17th  of  the  same  month,  by  the  order  of  R.  F.  Prior,  Fr.  Francis  Fenwick, 
then  occupied  abroad,  Rev.  Fr.  Maurus  Nelson,  Sub-Prior,  clothed  me,  as  it  was  a  Sunday, 
a  little  before  Compline,  and  out  of  honour  to  our  great  Patriarch,  I  chose  his  name,  anno 
set.  rnese  25,  and  on  the  13th  of  January,  1692,  also  a  Sunday,  I  made  my  profession.*  Rev. 
Fr.  Francis  Fenwick  did  the  ceremony,  in  presence  of  Rev.  Fr.  Joseph  Sherburne,  President : 
— so  that  my  clothing  and  profession  happened  on  two  days  singularly  consecrated  by  the 
Church  to  the  honour  of  the  Eternal  Wisdom  of  God,  without  my  having  sought  after  [it]. — 
Thus  came  all  about  what  many  had  often  said  of  me,  when  in  my  tender  infancy,  they  never 
saw  me  better  pleased  th;m  in  setting  up  altars  and  rearing  stately  temples  pro  modulo  meo 
of  what  I  could  lay  hold  of :  Though  there  was  no  likelihood  of  niy  ever  becoming  a  Catholic, 

*  At  the  same  time  as  Bennet  Weldon,  Br.  Joseph  Kennedy  was  likewise  professed. 
Br.  Bennet  gives  the  following  account  of  his  fellow  novice. 

"  This  F.  Joseph  alias  William  Kennedy  is  son  to  Sir  Richard  Kennedy,  Knight  and  Baronet, 
2nd  baron  of  her  Majesty's  court  of  Exchequer  in  Ireland.  He  was  sent  to  London  in  1682 
to  the  Inns  of  Court,  where  his  brother,  Sir  Robert  Kennedy,  who  managed  his  father's  con- 
cerns, was  to  pay  him  fourscore  pounds  a  year.  In  this  fammis  town  he  became  a  Roman 
Catholic.  Fr.  Joseph  Johnston  was  the  instrument  of  his  conversion.  Rev.  Fr.  Joseph,  Pre- 
sident, received  his  abjuration  at  our  Royal  Chapel  of  St.  James',  and  gave  him  here  at 
Paris,  on  the  28th  of  August  1687,  the  habit  himself  very  solemnly,  with  his  own  religious 
name  of  Joseph,  before  many  considerable  persons,  for  whom  afterwards  there  was  not  only  a 
formal  but  splendid  treat  in  the  convent.  But  his  brother  Sir  Robert  Kennedy  dying,  he  was 
sent  by  his  Superiors  into  Ireland  to  look  after  his  affairs.  While  he  was  thus  busied,  King 
James  II,  of  glorious  memory,  came  into  the  country,  and  empowered  him  to  act  for  him  on  the 
lands  about  his  brother's  estate,  to  raise  soldiers  &c.  and  made  him  Governor  of  Wicklow,  a  cas- 
tle on  the  sea  shore.  But  Fr.  Kennedy  managing  with  his  sister,  a  notable  Dame,  his  brother's 
estate,  and  having  the  person  of  his  little  nephew,  Sir  Richard  Kennedy,  in  his  hands,  his 
most  earnest  desire  was  to  get  away  secretly  his  nephew,  without  the  friends  knowing  any- 
thing thereof  and  bring  him  for  France,  and  here  bring  him  up  a  Roman  Catholic,  with  all 
education  suitable  to  his  quality.  The  design  miscarried,  the  friends  took  alarm,  and  raised 
the  country  against  him,  deferring  him  to  the  Viceroy,  my  Lord  Tyrconnel,  who  to  avoid  the 
consequences  of  shocking  and  vexing  the  Protestants,  at  that  time  found  himself  in  a  ne- 
cessity of  issuing  out  orders  against  Mr.  Kennedy,  as  disturbing  the  king's  peace,  so  that  he 
ran  risk  of  his  life  for  his  undertaking.  In  fine,  in  1690,  reaching  Paris  again  in  the  begin- 
ning of  November,  on  the  6th  of  the  said  month  he  put  on  his  habit  again  and  we  were  pro- 
fessed 1792  together  as  is  said.  Afterwards  Fr.  Johnston  being  Prior,  made  him  his  Procu- 
rator. Orders  he  had  taken  before,  at  Cambray,  having  been  sent  to  Douay,  for  the  dislike 
some  had  taken  to  his  conduct  here,  though  a  man  of  an  honourable  and  virtuous  carriage.  But 
the  very  Scriptures  (The  Bible)  show  how  Saints  themselves  sometimes  disagree,  while  each 
endeavours  for  that  which  seems  to  him  to  be  best.  He  had  not  been  2  months  Procurator 
or  Cellerarius,  but  he  was  called  by  the  President  into  the  mission,  where  he  is  very  much 
esteemed,  and  has  seen  his  nephew  who  cannot  bear  his  uncle  a  grudge  for  so  much  good  he 
sought  to  procure  him  in  his  infancy ;  but  like  a  gentleman  incline  to  satisfy  him  on  his 
estate  :  For  Fr.  Kennedy  had  a  very  handsome  income,  which  he  gave  up  very  freely  with 
himself  before  the  Altar,  and  had  not  the  orangian  Revolution  happened,  his  debts  could 
have  been  paid,  and  the  house  helped  by  his  fortune :  for  I  do  not  find  his  debts  as  I  have 
heard  them  represented.  There  are  papers  in  the  house  where  he  gives  a  very  clear  account 
of  them,  as  also  of  his  estate,  and  what  was  owing  to  him  himself." 


XXV11I  PREFACE. 

yet  they  said  more,  that  I  must  become  a  religious  man.  Besides  that,  in  that  little  age,  it 
was  a  mighty  satisfaction  to  me  to  be  carried  in  arms  to  Westminster  Abbey,  on  whose 
ground  even  my  father  was  born  in  a  great  house  standing  almost  close  to  the  Abbey  Church, 
above  the  Northern  Porch. 

The  Easter  following  my  profession,  E.  F.  Fenwick,  delighting  to  encourage  those  whom 
he  saw  sensible  of  their  duties,  as  he  told  me  himself,  would  needs  do  me  the  honour  of  tak- 
ing me  for  his  companion  to  St.  Germain's  en  Laye,  where  he  was  most  highly  obliging  and 
kind,  making  me  to  kiss  the  young  prince's  hand,  etc.  ;  but  when  we  went  to  the  Rt.  Hon. 
Alexander  Felton,  Baron  Gosworth,  Lord  High  Chancellor  of  Ireland,  he  presently  asked 
who  I  was.  R.  F.  Fr.  Fenwick  had  no  sooner  told  him,  but  he  presently  again  answered 
with  great  demonstrations  of  a  high  esteem  of  my  father,-  expressing  much  civility  to  me  upon 
it, — a  sign  my  father's  integrity  and  worth  was  sufficiently  known  to  the  bettor  part  of  the 
Btate.  And  King  James  himself,  in  a  visit  he  here  honoured  us  with,  upon  the  account  of 
my  father  took  particular  notice  of  me,  in  our  great  room  as  we  call  it.  Besides  that,  before 
he  came  to  the  crown,  when  Jeffreys  was  very  severe  to  my  Brother-in-law,  fining  him 
£2000  sterling,  after  ho  had  committed  him  to  prison  for  only  a  few  words  he  had  hastily 
and  inconsiderately  let  fall,  tending  to  the  blame  of  those  who  had  condemned  a  man,  my 
mother  no  sooner  appeared  before  his  highness,  and  told  whose  widow  she  was,  but  as  soon 
as  ever  he  heard  the  name,  he  most  graciously  assured  her,  her  business  was  done  ;  and 
presently  all  the  pursuit  ceased,  to  the  very  great  astonishment  of  evfen  Jeffreys  himself. 

After  spending  about  two  years  at  St.  Edmunds',  Br.  Bennet,  thinking  him- 
self called  to  a  life  of  still  greater  retirement  and  perfection,  besought  the  Very 
Rev.  F.  President  General  of  the  English  Benedictines  for  leave  to  withdraw  to 
the  Abbey  of  La  Trappe,  where  a  strict  reform  of  the  Cistercian  Institute  had 
recently  been  introduced  by  the  celebrated  De  Ranee.  Failing  to  obtain  the 
approbation  of  his  superiors  for  this  scheme,  Br.  Bennet  nevertheless  persisted 
in  his  design,  and  encouraged  by  letters  of  the  holy  reformer,  (who  herein  seems 
to  have  acted  with  less  than  his  ordinary  discretion),  left  Paris  and  set  out  for 
perfection  and  La  Trappe.  De  Ranee"  received  his  new  postulant  with  all  possi- 
ble kindness  but  after  a  sojourn  of  about  eight  months  among  his  new  brethren 
(from  July  4th,  1694,  to  March,  1695),  he  found  that  he  had  made  a  mistake 
and  returned  somewhat  crest-fallen  to  St.  Edmund's.  After  a  brief  stay  there  he 
was  sent  to  La  Celle  en  Brie  where  the  English  Benedictines  of  the  Paris  house 
had  a  small  dependency  or  priory.  The  retirement  of  La  Celle  suited  the  stu- 
dious tastes  of  Br.  Bennet,  and  he  remained  there  till  the  April  of  1696  when  he 
was  recalled  to  Paris  to  his  great  grief  "being  sorry  to  exchange  the  quiet  of  that 
solitary  place  for  the  noise  of  so  great  a  town."  The  following  year,  (1697)  he 
was  again  placed  at  La  Celle  for  a  few  months,  and  in  1698  obtained  the  permis- 
sion of  his  Superiors  to  reside  among  the  French  Benedictines  of  St.  Maur  in  the 
Abbey  of  Jumieges*  in  Normandy.  His  stay  there  was  cut  short  by  certain 
family  affairs  which  made  his  presence  necessary  in  England.  He  thus  accounts 
for  this  unexpected  change  in  the  quiet  tenour  of  his  life. 

"Through  the  Orangian  Revolution  and  the  wars  ensuing,  not  having  any  account  of  my 
friends,  I  acquainted  Rev.  Fr.  Hitchcock,  then  Prior,  that  I  desired  to  inform  myself  how 
affairs  stood  with  them,  but  especially  my  elder  brother,  whom  at  my  entrance  into  religion 
I  knew  to  be  in  a  very  nourishing  condition  in  the  East  Indies.  R.  F.  Hitchcock  herein  very 
willingly  and  very  obligingly  employed  good  Br.  Thomas  Brabant  who  at  London  did  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Congregation  ;  upon  enquiry  he  found  my  brother  returning  home  had  been  made 
away,  and  (he)  expressly  set  down  in  his  letter  that  my  brother's  fortune  was  counted  five 
hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling." 

His  elder  brother,  Colonel  George  Weld  on  had  held  the  post  of  Deputy 
Governor  of  Bombay,  and  the  fortune  which  he  had  accumulated  and  the  ru- 


1'REFACE.  XXIX 

mours  of  foul  play  which  reached  Br.  Bermet  at  Paris  made  him  desirous  in  the 
interests  of  his  mother  and  sisters  to  do  what  he  could  to  recover  some  portion 
of  his  brother's  property  which  was  almost  their  only  support.  He  set  out  from 
Paris  in  the  company  of  Sir  Eichard  Moore,  nephew  of  Prior  Hitchcock,  and 
proceeded  to  Dunkirk. 

"When  I  came  to  the  sea  shore,  not  finding  a  conveniency  to  pass  over  at  Dunkerq,  and 
Sir  Eichard  being  in  the  humor  of  staying  there,  I  went  alone  to  Calais.  The  weather  being 
contrary,  the  packet  boat  could  not  stir  ;  but  there  coming  an  express  from  the  King  of 
France  to  his  ambassador  at  London,  passage  was  offered  me  in  a  little  fisher  boat  with  it  ; 
mighty  uneasy  I  was  to  go  over  in  such  a  small  thing,  and  when  I  was  in  it  I  was  ready  to 
come  out  of  it  again  ;  but  I  knew  not  what  overpowered  me  and  held  me  there  ;  from  mid- 
night we  laboured  till  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  next  day  against  wind  and  tide, 
viewing  Dover  and  not  being  able  to  reach  it,  when  all  on  a  sudden  it  pleased  God  to  send  a 
favorable  gale  of  wind  which  presently  carried  us  in,  the  sea  being  become  then  almost  with- 
out motion  and  the  sun  shining  very  pleasantly  as  the  moon  had  done  all  night  ;  though 
then  the  waters  were  so  rough  to  the  little  vessel  that  I  several  times  expected  that  what 
with  the  waves  and  what  with  the  wind  we  should  have  turned  over." 

The  history  of  Colonel  Greorge  Weldon  which  his  brother  the  monk  recounts 
in  great  detail  is  too  long  to  be  set  down  here  ;  but  it  seems  from  that  account 
that  the  Colonel  was  poisoned  on  his  way  home  from  India.  Here  is  an  extract 
from  tha  narrative : 

"  While  they  joyfully  i-epair  home  the  Lady  (Mrs.  G.  Weldon)  falls  sick  and  proves  poi- 
soned ;  breathing  forth  her  last  gasp  25th.  of  April  S.  V.  1697.  The  corpse,  adorned  with 
jewels  to  the  value  of  £500  sterling,  was  committed  to  the  sea,  the  ship  being  under  sail  and 
far  from  land,  and  reached  not  land  till  two  months  after,  when  it  touched  on  an  Island 
called  Morusha's,  (I  know  not  whether  I  spell  the  name  right ;  as  it  belongs  to  the  Hollan- 
ders, possibly  it  has  its  name  from  some  Prince  of  Orange  called  Maurice)  at  Carpenter's  bay. 
Here  the  Captain  began  to  persuade  my  brother  to  leave  the  ship  and  take  his  diversion  on 
land  to  solace  his  grief  and  melancholy  which  he  contracted  for  the  loss  of  his  lady  :  where- 
fore at  night  through  excercise  he  had  gotten  a  good  stomach  insomuch  that  he  eat  the  best 
part  of  two  piillets,  and  never  was  better  in  his  life  as  to  health  ;  but  as  he  loved  salad,  he 
met  that  supper  with  a  fatal  one ;  for  presently  he  found  himself  all  on  a  sudden  in  a  moment 
seized  with  such  violent  pains,  that  if  he  had  been  racked  he  could  not  have  endured  more ; 
and  so  on  the  2nd  of  July.  S.  V.  of  the  same  year  he  also  expired  in  vast  torment.  Some 
have  declared  that  the  authors  of  this  barbarity  seeing  the  wind  stood  fair  for  them  to  be 
gone  from  that  place,  they  stifled  him  with  pillows  that  they  might  not  be  frustrated  of  pro- 
fiting of  the  wind  by  expecting  till  the  poison  had  wrought  its  full  effect They  buried 

him  in  the  Island,  and  over  him  reared  up  a  monument  such  as  the  times  of  Barbarism  in 
the  uncivilized  ages  used  to  set  up  for  remarkable  persons." 

The  efforts  which  the  Weldons  made  to  recover  the  property  of  the  murder- 
ed man  and  bring  his  murderers  to  justice  proved  unavailing,  and  so  Br.  Bennet 
after  spending  some  months  in  England  returned  to  the  continent.  "  Seeing," 
he  says,  "that  I  could  do  nothing  in  England  either  as  to  them  or  the  reclaiming 
of  my  mother,  as  I  have  said,  and  that  I  had  no  character  for  the  mission,  my 
conscience  spurred  me  to  my  convent  again  to  there  live  according  to  what  I 
had  vowed  before  the  Altar."  Before  proceeding  to  Paris,  however,  he  spent 
about  six  weeks  with  the  monks  of  St.  Gregory's  in  Douay. 

What  Br.  Bennet  says  about  his  having  no  character  for  the  mission  is  no 
exaggeration.  Though  a  person  of  extremely  regular  life  and  studious  habits, — 
we  are  told  that  he  never  missed  a  conventual  duty  when  in  health,  and  spent 
nearly  sixteen  hours  daily  in  study  and  writing, — he  was  of  a  very  retiring  scru- 
pulous nature,  so  much  so  that  he  would  never  be  induced  to  take  Priest's  Orders, 
and  remained  throughout  his  life  a  simple  monk. 


XXX  PREFACE. 

The  remainder  of  his  career  presents  few  incidents.  He  passed  a  few  weeks 
among  the  Maurist  monks  at  Treport  in  the  autumn  of  1701 ;  he  spent  about  a 
twelvemonth  at  La  Celle  two  years  subsequently  and  returned  to  Paris  in  No- 
vember 1704  and  spent  there  the  remainder  of  his  life.  His  death  occurred  on 
the  evening  of  November  23rd,  1713,  when  he  was  in  his  40th  year.  His  liter- 
ary labours  were  undertaken  at  the  suggestion  of  Father  Bernard  Gregson,  Pres- 
ident General  of  the  English  Benedictines,  who  persuaded  him  to  employ  his 
leasure  in  collecting  materials  for  a  history  of  the  Congregation ;  two  folio  Vol- 
umes of  this  work,  the  result  of  his  industry,  are  still  preserved.  Another  work 
of  Br.  Beunet's  is  now  in  the  Library  of  the  British  Museum.*  This  is  entitled 
"A  course  and  rough  first  draught  of  your  History  of  England's  late  most  holy 
and  most  glorious  Eoyal  Confessor  and  Defender  of  your  true  Faith  King  James 

II Ut  aliqua  Serenissimi  Regis  Jacobi  II  haberetur  notitia  in  Bibliotheca 

Domus  su8B  hsec  exscripsit  mensibus  Maii,  Junii,  Julii  et  Augusti  1706  Frater 
Benedictus  Weldon  a  Sancto  Raphaele  Archangelo  Monachus  Anglo-Bene- 
dictinus  Monasterii  Sancti  Edmundi  Regis  et  Martyris  suburbiis  Lutetise  Parisi- 
orum  Sanjacobaeanis. 

The  Chronological  Notes  are  an  abridgment  of  the  two  folio  volumes  of  his 
Historical  Memoirs  of  the  English  Benedictines  and  were  finished  in  1709, 
though  a  few  additions  were  subsequently  made.  Two  copies  of  this  work  are 
preserved  at  St.  Gregory's,  Downside,  and  from  them  the  present  Edition  has 
been  prepared.  The  spelling  throughout  has  been  modernized,  though  proper 
names  have  been  given  as  they  stand  in  the  manuscript,  The  same  remark  may 
be  made  regarding  the  names  of  the  monks  and  nuns  in  the  appendix.  This 
will  account  possibly  for  such  variations  as  Belasyse  and  Bellasyse,  Kennet 
Kennett,  Middelton  and  Middleton,  and  similar  cases. 

The  editor  in  conclusion  begs  to  return  his  best  thanks  to  the  many  kind 
friends  who  have  supplied  him  with  the  catalogues  of  the  professed  religious 
which  appear  at  the  end  of  this  volume. 

*  Additional  MSS.  10,  118.     The  work  was  purchased  for  the  Museum  Library  at  Heber's 
Sale  in  February,  1836. 


CORRIGENDA. 

51,  for  Berkgate  read  Merkgate. 

89,  last  line,  for  Rayner  read  Reyner. 
122,  line  11,  for  Cank  read  Cauke. 
143,  line  8,  for  1624  read  1623. 
154,  line  8,  for  consent  read  consent. 
168,  line  8,  for  Frier  read  Frere. 

IN  THE  APPENDIX. 

4,  for  1122  read  1182. 

5,  for  D.  John  Baines  read  Barnes. 
„  for  Badd  read  Budd. 

8,  line  13,  for  R.  F.  Moundeford,  read  R,  F.  John  of  St.  Martin,  Moun- 

deford. 
32,  line  17,  for  as  read  are. 

35,  Anno  1784,  for  Thiclmans  read  Thielmans. 

36,  line  21,  for  Jeromima  read  Jeronimu. 

40,  Anno  1776,  for  Harkham  read  Markham. 
42,  line  29  for  Gillibord,  read  Gillibrord. 


To 
THE    VERY    REVEREND    &    VENERABLE    FATHER 

FATHER    BERNARD    GREGSON, 

PRESIDENT    GENERAL   OF    THE    ENGLISH    CONGREGATION 

OF   THE    HOLY    ORDER   OF    ST.    BENEDICT, 

PATRIARCH    OF    THE    WESTERN    MONKS, 

THE    COLLECTOR    WISHETH    ALL    PROSPERITY 
&   GIVETH    ACCOUNT    OF    HIS   STUDIES. 


Very    Reverend    Father. 

When  I  consider  all  human  societies  or  pub- 
lic weals  whether  profane  or  sacred,  so  much  the  more  careful  I 
find  them  of  maintaining  the  glory  their  predecessors  or  beginners 
have  achieved,  by  how  much  the  actions  of  those  worthies  have 
been  deeply  imprinted  in  their  minds.  Wherefore  Divine  Grace 
having  made  me  a  member  of  one  of  her  sacred  societies,  I  have 
always  delighted  to  consider  her  operations  in  those  she  hath  set 
me  for  patterns  and  examples  in  this  course  of  life  to  which  she 
hath  called  me.  This  hath  been  the  cause  that  not  content  with 

the  lives  of  the  Saints  of  this  great  Order,  recor  ded  through  all 

A 


ages  by  so  many  illustrious  pens  as  are  the  chiefest  storehouse  of 
modern  erudition,  I  have  also  been  glad  to  behold  the  latter 
glories  of  so  sacred  a  weal.  Hence  come  these  Chronological 
Notes  on  modern  times  that  fresh  examples  may  inspire  new 
courage  to  maintain  by  sanctity  and  purity  of  life,  the  first  achiev- 
ed glories  of  a  society  so  magnificently  holy,  as  the  Church  of 
God  hath  beheld  with  joy,  the  most  illustrious  Order  of  Saint 
Benedict,  of  which  the  English  Congregation  (as  all  monuments 
of  antiquity  over  and  above  attest)  hath  been  a  most  egregious 
and  singular  part  and  ornament :  the  glory  of  whose  worthies  I 
have  here  attempted  to  echo,  but  how  successfully  I  abandon  to 
your  Very  Reverend  Paternity's  pious  judgment  and  charitable 
censure. 

I  have  not  here  recorded  all,  but  have  chosen  the  most 
remarkable,  not  questioning  but  that  many  of  them  whom  I  have 
not  mentioned  deserve  as  honourable  a  remembrance,  if  I  could 
but  have  obtained  as  particular  a  knowledge  of  their  affairs 
as  I  have  done  of  these. 

As  to  the  rest,  if  any  one  can  prove  me  to  have  been  so  far 
mistaken  as  to  have  praised  in  this  little  book  any  undeserving 
person,  now  for  then  I  renounce  to  any  praise  I  may  be  found  to 
have  given  them.  For  that  I  only  applaud  and  admire  those 
who  sensible  of  the  dreadful  vows  they  have  poured  forth  before 
the  altar  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God  and  all  the  host  of 
heaven,  are  careful  and  solicitous  to  live  up  steadily  to  them  ; 
not  those  who  by  contrary  practices  blot  out  of  their  minds  such 
terrible  obligations  though  so  solemnly  contracted  in  the  face  of 
heaven  and  earth  :  an  invincible  argument  that  they  do  not  love 
Jesus  Christ  our  dread  God  and  good  Lord,  or  else  they  would 
not  fling  off  his  sweet  and  light  yoke  ;  seeing  the  proof  of  his 


love  he  assures  us  to  be  the  execution  of  his  sacred  and  amiable 
commands.  Wherefore  what  can  be  said  to  them  but  that  at 
the  hour  of  their  death  and  (by  consequence)  of  their  judgment 
they  will  find  it  had  been  much  better  for  them  *  that  they  had 
never  heard  or  known  of  the  ways  of  sanctity  and  justice  than  to 
turn  their  backs  to  the  Sun  of  Justice  -J-  and  Righteousness 
which  hath  risen  to  them  to  imanifest  to  them  the  secrets  of  his 
dread  glory,  while  in  the  depth  of  his  terrible  yet  just  judg- 
ments J  he  permits  so  many  others  for  a  just  punishment  on 
their  wicked  deserts  to  see  them  without  seeing  them  §  till  their 
wilful  blindness  unfold  itself  when  seeing  will  nothing  avail 
them,  for  that  no  more  time  ||  will  be  left  them  to  work  in. 

I  have  nothing  further  to  say  on  this  little  book  than  that  it 
must  take  patience  in  its  silence  of  the  just  praises  of  the  worthy 
and  honourable  Superior  to  whom  it  addresses  itself,  for  that  I 
dare  not  presume  to  attempt  on  your  Very  Reverend  Paternity's 
known  modesty  and  humility  superior  to  all  applause  and  admi- 
ration of  inconstant  mankind.  Wherefore  the  reader  must  not 
expect  to  hear  from  me  your  incomparable  moderation  and  meek- 
ness in  the  supreme  power  of  the  Congregation,  your  singular 
readiness  and  exact  justice  to  afford  satisfaction  where  reason 
craves  it,  your  undaunted  fidelity  in  the  performance  of  your  ho- 
nourable charge  which  neither  the  vexations  of  the  seas  or  the 
inconveniences  or  dangers  of  the  armies  on  land  have  been  able 
to  hinder  in  its  progress,  your  just  regulations  in  your  Visits 
which  when  exactly  remembered  and  followed  will  ever  prove  a 
main  support  to  that  regularity  and  good  order  which  is  by  the 
public  expected  in  Religious  houses,  and  which,  if  the  Son  of 

*  2  Peter  ii.  21.  t  Wisdom  v.  6.  J  Pa.  cxlvii.  20. 

§  Is.  vi.  9,  10.  ||  John  ix.  4. 


God  find  not  there,  He  will  call  them  dens  of  thieves.*  These 
things  and  many  more  on  which  I  cannot  reflecl:  but  with  plea- 
sure I  must  silence  to  respecl:  your  humble  conduct  and  no 
longer  tire  your  patience,  presuming  nothing  further  than  to 
assure  your  Very  Reverend  Paternity  that  by  the  grace  of  God 
you  will  ever  find  me 

Very  Reverend  Father 

Your  most  humble  Servant  and  dutiful  subject 
Br.  B.  W. 

FROM    THE   CONVENT    OF 
ST.  EDMUND'S   AT    PARIS.    MAY  25.    1709. 


*  Mat.  xxi.  13. 


NOTES 

CONCERNING     THE     VENERABLE     BODY 

OF       BENEDICTINES       IN       ENGLAND 

WHICH    SO  MUCH    ENDURED    AND 

SMARTED      WITH      THE       REST 

OF        CATHOLIC        RELIGION 
^  UNDER     THE 

TYRANNICAL      IMPIETY     OF 
KING     HENRY     VIII. 


CHAPTER   THE   FIRST. 

THE     MODERN     BENEDICTINE     REFORMATIONS. 


IT  is  remarkable  that  Saint  Benedict,  author  of  the  Bene- 
didtine  monks,  as  Saint  Gregory  the  Great,  a  most  illustrious  or- 
nament of  the  said  Order  witnesses  in  the  admirable  history  he 
has  left  to  the  world  of  the  actions  of  that  great  Patriarch  of 
Western  Monachism,  that  he  having  founded  several  monasteries, 
they  held  of  him  as  of  their  common  father,  and  he  corrected  in 
them  what  their  Abbots  informed  him  went  amiss.  This  exam- 
ple of  this  glorious  Patriarch  does  not  appear  in  History  to  have 
been  followed  by  his  children  after  his  triumphant  exit  out  of 
this  life,  nor  indeed  could  it  be  followed,  the  Order  spreading 
into  dominions  subjedt  to  different  sovereigns ;  but  experience 
convincing  the  Church  of  the  inestimable  benefits  that  might  re- 
dound from  it  to  monachism,  and  that  no  way  could  be  thought 
of  so  proper  to  conserve  in  its  primitive  purity  and  integrity  that 
holy  profession,  the  most  vigilant  universal  pastor  Innocent  III 
in  a  council  he  held  at  the  Lateran  Palace  (1215)  issued  out  a 
Decree  to  oblige  the  Benedictines  in  each  kingdom  to  unite  into 
a  Congregation,  that  is  to  resolve  to  hold  assemblies  from  time  to 
time,  and  agree  on  laws,  and  superiors  who  should  take  care  they 
were  put  into  due  execution,  that  the  holy  Rule  might  be  faith- 
fully observed  and  equally  practised  by  each  house.  But  these 
happy  delineations  of  an  assured  and  stable  reformation  obtained 
not  thoroughly  and  in  good  earnest  their  blessed  effecl:  till  in 
these  latter  ages,  when  the  Venerable  Lewis  Barbo,  (who  of  a 


8  CHAPTER     THE      FIRST. 

Canon  Regular  of  Saint  George  of  Alga  in  Venice  was  made 
abbot  of  Saint  Justina  of  Padua  in  1408  by  Pope  Gregory  XII 
and  professed  under  the  Rule  of  Saint  Benedict  February  3rd, 
1409),  at  Ariminum  was  presently  blessed  Abbot;  and  blessed 
with  the  Spirit  of  Saint  Benedict  he  resolved  and  effeclied  the  re- 
form which  bears  now  the  title  of  Mount  Cassin  Congregation. 
Not  long  after  sprang  up  that  of  Bursfeld  in  Germany  which 
held  its  first  Chapter  on  the  Sunday  Vocem  Jucunditatis  1464, 
and  Cisneros  began  that  which  is  called  of  Valladolid  in  Spain 
about  the  year  1520.  In  1596  began  that  of  Saint  Vanne  in 
Lorraine  from  which  have  risen  those  of  Saint  Maur  and  Cluny 
in  France  besides  those  monasteries  which  in  Flanders  have 
embraced  it. 


CHAPTER   THE   SECOND. 

PROVIDENCE    OF    GOD    TO    THE    ORDER    OF    SAINT    BENEDICT 
IN    ENGLAND   ESPECIALLY. 


BUT  as  the  Order  of  Saint  Benedict  though  everywhere  in 
great  request,  yet,  never  flourished  in  any  kingdom  as  it  did 
in  England,  hence  the  English  Benedictine  Congregation  hath 
very  singular  prerogatives,  beyond  all  others  confirmed  unto  it 
by  the  Holy  See.  For  the  understanding  of  which,  it  is  necessary 
to  take  a  view  of  Saint  Austin's  arrival  in  England,  with  the  Gos- 
pel in  one  hand,  as  I  may  say,  and  the  Rule  of  Saint  Benedict 
in  the  other,  under  the  banner  of  Christ  our  Saviour.  And 
though  it  be  not  my  present  subject  to  entertain  the  reader  with 
the  greatness  and  eminence  of  the  order  of  Saint  Benedict  for 
piety  and  learning  in  the  Church  and  splendour  in  the  world, 
(the  former  of  which  is  as  ungratefully  by  men  passed  by  and 
forgotten,  as  the  latter  is  gazed  at  with  malignity  and  envy), 
yet  I  cannot  but  take  notice  of  that  particular  regard  Divine 
Providence  has  from  time  to  time  had  of  this  Order,  which  ever 
since  its  first  planting  has  grown  up  with  the  Church,  becoming 
both  her  support  and  ornament,  flourishing  with  her  and  shar- 
ing more  than  all  others  in  her  sufferings  and  vexations.  Neither 
was  the  See  of  Rome  (the  Mother  and  Mistress  of  all  Churches 
and  particularly  of  England)  ever  since  she  shook  off  the 
yoke  of  secular  oppression  and  enjoyed  that  liberty  wherewith 
Jesus  Christ  endowed  her,  better  administered  than  while 


IO  CHAPTER     THE     SECOND. 

St.  Benedict's  disciples  sat  in  that  Chair,  nor  more  generally 
venerated  than  while  monks  were  her  apostles,  nor  more  safely 
guarded  than  when  Benedictines  were  her  champions. 

And  this  singular  favour  of  God  to  the  Order  does  appear  yet 
more  evident  in  our  nation,  and  to  it  also,  if  men  are  not  dead  to 
all  sense  of  gratitude ;  for  this  religious  Institute  took  root 
among  the  English  as  soon  as  Christianity  itself,  spread  with  the 
Faith  and  sank  with  it  likewise ;  as  if  there  were  so  close  an 
alliance  between  it  and  orthodox  profession,  that  that  saving 
belief  which  was  disseminated  among  us  but  by  it,  could  not 
subsist  without  it.  As  long  as  monachism  held  up  in  England 
the  Catholic  Church  had  its  fences  and  bulwarks,  but  that  being 
cast  down,  the  Church  became  the  prey  of  the  impiety  of  the 
times. 


1 1 


CHAPTER  THE  THIRD. 

THE    BENEDICTINE   MONACHISM   OF     St.  AUGUSTINE,     THE 
ITALIAN    APOSTLE   OF   THE    ENGLISH    NATION. 


I  know  that  many  and  those  not  unlearned  authors  do  drive 
up  the  conversion  of  our  country  much  farther,  many  ages  before 
St.  Augustine  and  his  companions  entered  the  land.  I  know 
they  attribute  one  conversion  thereof  to  St.  Joseph  of  Arimathea 
under  King  Arviragus,  and  a  second  to  Pope  Eleutherius'  mis- 
sioners  under  King  Lucius :  nay  some  stick  not  to  challenge 
Simon  the  Chananean,  others  St.  Paul,  others  St.  Peter  for  our 
apostles  :  but  without  entering  into  a  particular  examen  of  these 
assertions  (which  want  not  probable  grounds  and  powerful  abet- 
tors) my  reader  is  to  know  that  not  any  of  these  blessings  reach- 
ed the  English ;  the  ancient  Britons  reaped  them  all.  Neither 
was  there  among  the  English  any  footstep  of  Christianity  before 
St.  Augustine's  landing,  except  in  King  Ethelbert's  royal  consort, 
and  that  in  the  kingdom  of  Kent  only,  and  confined  to  a  private 
chapel  and  some  few  domestics,  and  those  too,  externs.  And 
that  St.  Augustine  introduced  and  established  the  Rule  of  Saint 
Benedict,  is  as  certain  as  that  himself  was  a  monk  and  had  order 
from  his  Abbot  and  Pastor  St.  Gregory  to  admit  no  others  to 
serve  in  the  Matrice  (or  Mother)  church  of  Canterbury.  This  I 
say,  is  certain  ;  at  least  it  was  so  to  all  former  ages.  For  though 
this  Order  was  ever  attended  by  that  blessing  to  be  hated  and 
detracted  by  the  world,  yet  none  of  her  most  desperate  adversaries 


12 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRD. 


ever  dared  attack  her  on  that  side  which  they  saw  so  well  guard- 
ed, and  from  whence  they  were  sure  to  be  beaten  with  shame 
and  confusion.  The  first  that  ever  made  doubt  thereof  or  would 
seem  to  do  so  ,was  a  German,  James  Whipheling,  who  like  the 
fellow  that  set  on  fire  Diana's  temple,  was  resolved  to  get  him- 
self a  name  though  only  for  his  impiety  and  impudence ;  but 
according  to  the  ordinary  fate  of  such  obscure  and  temerarious 
writers,  the  work  perished  with  the  author  after  it  had  been 
learnedly  confuted  by  Paulus  Langius,  though  it  deserved  not  so 
skilful  an  adversary,  since  it  maintained  that  not  only  St.  Gregory 
or  St.  Augustine,  but  that  St.  Bede  also  and  Alcuin  were  no 
Benedidtines,  an  untruth  visible  to  all  the  world. 


CHAPTER   THE  FOURTH. 

BARONIUS    EXCUSED    AND    CONFUTED. 


THE  attempts  of  Baronius,  Gallon!  and  Spondanus  found  bet- 
ter success,  not  only  for  the  strength  of  their  reasons,  but  for  the 
great  authority  of  the  authors,  yet  the  two  latter  discover  too 
much  earnestness  and  passion  to  be  esteemed  indifferent  judges. 
And  the  eminent  and  holy  Baronius  gives  us  an  emblem  of 
human  frailty,  which  many  times  betrays  itself  in  smaller  matters 
wherein  the  greatest  persons  are  more  subject  to  be  less  circum- 
spect. Neither  are  we  alone  that  wish  more  diligence  and 
application  in  so  laborious  an  historian.  The  French,  the 
Spaniard,  the  German  take  notice  of  his  mistakes  in  what  con- 
cerns their  particular  history,  yet  the  admirable  service  he  hath 
done  the  whole  Church,  renders  his  lapses  not  only  excusable 
but  even  necessary.  For  had  he  employed  his  time  in  turning 
the  annals  of  so  many  different  nations  more  exactly  he  would 
have  spent  that  time  much  less  profitably  than  in  the  general 
history  of  the  Church.  And  how  ill  grounded  were  this  Car- 
dinal's suppositions  is  discovered  by  many  learned  Benedictines 
who  presently  took  the  alarm  and  fought  invincibly  for  the  glory 
of  their  Order,  among  which  were  the  learned  Abbot  Cajetan  in 
Italy,  the  Abbot  Zieppe  in  the  Low  Countries  ;  our  learned 
Annalist  Yepez  in  Spain,  and  for  the  English,  the  Fathers  of  the 
ancient  Congregation  in  their  Apostolatus,  where  they  have 
demonstrated  S.  Gregory  the  Great  and  his  disciples  to  have  been 
of  no  other  Order  than  theirs,  and  this  from  all  sorts  of  topics. 


14  CHAPTER     THE     FOURTH. 

First,  from  the  common  tradition  and  consent  of  the  English 
nation,  delivered  from  father  to  child  and  instilled  into  them 
together  with  the  Catholic  faith.  And  even  when  that  faith  St. 
Augustine  preached  began  to  be  impugned  so  many  ages  after 
by  Wiclef  and  after  by  protestant  writers  of  our  nation  under 
King  Edward  VI,  Queen  Elizabeth  &c,  they  were  so  far  from 
questioning  that  he  was  a  Benedictine  Monk  that  from  that 
supposition  as  certain  on  both  sides,  they  found  matter  to  calum- 
niate him  upon  that  account  and  charge  him  with  ignorance 
and  superstition  as  inseparable  from  his  profession. 

Secondly,  from  a  just  enumeration  of  all  the  Monasteries  in 
England  and  Cathedral  Churches  which  were  inhabited  by  Re- 
ligious, that  they  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Benedictines  till  the 
entrance  of  William  the  Conqueror  all  other  Religious  Orders 
that  afterwards  appeared  in  our  Island  were  posterior  to  his  Con- 
quest nor  seen  before  in  our  nation.  And  this  verity  is  attested 
by  all  the  authors,  more  ancient  or  contemporary  with  the  said 
Prince,  William  Duke  of  Normandy ;  viz  Ordericus  Vitalis  who 
lived  under  King  Stephen  and  in  his  old  age  writ  a  history  very 
faithful  and  free  from  all  bias  of  parties  or  prejudice ;  William  of 
Malmesbury  who  lived  at  the  same  time  and  is  no  less  esteemed 
for  his  sincerity  than  for  his  eloquence ;  Eadmar  a  monk  of  Can- 
terbury and  the  inseparable  associate  of  his  holy  prelate  S.  Anselm 
in  all  his  sufferings  and  exiles  ;  and  in  a  word,  by  many  other 
historians  of  our  nation  who  writ  after  S.  Bede,  and  are 
published  by  the  learned  diligence  of  Mr.  Cambden  and  Mr. 
Selden.  Lastly  in  France  none  has  more  admirably  digested  and 
better  gathered  together  all  the  proofs  of  the  former  writers  to 
shew  that  St.  Gregory  the  Great  was  a  member  of  the  Bene- 
dictine order  than  the  most  learned  Benedictine  antiquarian  of 
the  Mauritian  Congregation,  Dom  John  Mabillon  of  renowned 
memory  in  his  2nd  tome  of  his  Annaledts  where  he  unanswerably 
proves  this  assertion.  And  after  that  many  other  Religious 
Orders,  which  with  their  admirable  variety  adorned  the  Church 
in  other  countries  were  transplanted  into  the  English  soil,  they 
were  far  from  overshadowing  the  Benedictine  Order  which 
served  as  a  cover  and  shelter  to  those  younger  sons  that  were 


CHAPTER     THE     FOURTH.  15 

coming  up,  and  was  regarded  by  them  as  their  mother,  and 
though  in  succeeding  time  that  of  the  Canon  Regulars  and 
Cistercians  spread  very  much  and  obtained  great  dignity  and 
immunities,  yet  the  honour  and  grandeur  of  St.  Benedict's 
Order  remained  sacred  and  untouched,  all  the  great  Abbeys 
of  the  Nation  were  never  possessed  by  any  other,  unless  when 
themselves  abandoned  them  by  reason  of  persecution.  They  kept 
their  eight  Cathedral  Churches  where  the  Bishops  were  chosen 
out  of  the  body  by  the  suffrages  of  the  Monks  only  ;  they  had 
twenty  six  Abbots  of  their  Order  only  who  had  their  seat  in  Par- 
liament ;  and  to  this  point  of  greatness  they  held  up,  rivalled  if 
not  surpassed  the  (secular)  clergy ;  overshadowed  if  not  kept 
down  all  other  Orders,  till  under  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII  it  sank 
with  the  religion  it  supported,  and  fell  from  so  high  an  elevation 
to  so  low  a  condition  as  we  see  it  is  in  at  present. 


i6 


CHAPTER   THE   FIFTH. 

THE    ANTIQUITY   OF    THE    ENGLISH    BENEDICTINE 
CONGREGATION. 


Now  having,  at  least  in  passing,  seen  the  Order  take  root 
grow  strong  and  bring  forth  such  seed  as  peopled  the  whole 
nation,  we  pass  on  to  our  subject,  which  is  to  see  how  the 
branches  thereof  were  interwoven,  what  kind  of  union  there 
was  between  the  several  houses,  and  whether  the  members  of 
the  same  Order  were  also  members  of  the  same  Congregation. 

The  authors  and  ancient  writers  of  monastic  discipline  use 
these  terms  promiscuously  for  one  and  the  same  thing.  St. 
Gregory  often  calls  single  convents  by  the  name  of  Congrega- 
tion, and  in  the  Congregation  of  Cluny  we  see  that  of  Order 
substituted  as  univocal,  how  sharply  soever  that  body  endeavour 
to  prove  they  make  an  Order  distinct,  the  whole  Controversy 
is  resolved  into  no  more  than  that  they  limit  the  ancient  sig- 
nification of  the  word,  and  will  needs  understand  it  in  their 
modern  and  stricter  sense,  which  imports,  according  to  the 
definition  of  each  separately  taken  :  that  a  Religious  Order  is  a 
number  of  persons  or  monasteries  that  profess  the  same  Rule,  prac- 
tise the  same  ceremonies  and  conspire  in  the  same  religious  obser- 
vations ;  but  a  Congregation  superadds  an  association  of  several 
houses  in  laws,  constitutions,  Superiors,  in  a  communication  of 
temporals  and  spirituals  towards  the  better  establishment  and 
conservation  of  discipline  and  regular  observances  and  govern- 


CHAPTER     THE      FIFTH.  \J 

ment.  So  that  within  the  bosom  of  the  same  Order  and  under 
the  profession  of  one  and  the  same  Institute  there  may  be  many 
Congregations,  or  none  at  all  if  each  Monastery  will  frame  a 
Republic  by  itself  independent  of  any  other.  And  to  apply  this 
explication  to  the  subject  I  have  now  in  hand  :  I  may  affirm  not 
ungroundedly  that  the  Benedictine  Congregation  is  as  ancient  as 
the  Order  itself  in  England.  Not  that  the  form  of  a  Congrega- 
tion (the  name  taken  in  a  stricter  signification  and  that  which  the 
two  or  three  last  ages  have  confirmed  it  to)  was  introduced  by 
St.  Augustine,  but  because  very  many  of  those  conditions  and 
properties  which  are  required  in  a  Congregation  strictly  taken 
are  to  be  found  in  our  Order,  even  as  soon  as  it  took  footing  in 
England,  though  at  all  times  not  so  discernible  and  stable  ;  as  it 
happens  in  all  political  and  human  bodies  which  are  subject  to 
change  and  decay. 


i8 


CHAPTER   THE   SIXTH. 

PROPERTIES    OF    A    CONGREGATION    FOUND    IN    THE 
PRIMITIVE    BENEDICTINE    ORDER    IN    ENGLAND. 


OF  which  properties  the  first  is  one  and  the  same  nation  or 
Province  in  which  the  English  Order  was  comprised.  For  as 
that  part  of  the  Catholic  Church  is  properly  called  the  English 
Church  which  is  comprehended  within  the  limits  of  that  nation 
and  confined  to  the  natives  thereof,  so  by  the  same  analogy  or 
manner  of  speaking  such  a  number  of  monasteries  and  Religious 
that  live  under  the  same  Rule  and  according  to  the  same  rites 
and  form  of  life,  may  not  improperly  be  called  the  English 
Congregation. 

The  second  is  a  closer  alliance  and  bond  of  fraternal  commu- 
nication, namely  in  the  Divine  Office,  in  habit,  ecclesiastical 
ceremonies,  conventual  afts,  allowance  of  meat  and  drink,  hours 
of  refreshing  according  to  the  exigencies  of  the  climate,  or  every- 
where equal  labours,  which  seems  to  be  a  tacit  constitution  and 
as  it  were  civil  law  passed  not  so  much  by  consults  and  votes  as 
by  common  necessity  and  convenience  equal  to  them  all.  For 
as  law  is  the  soul  of  civil  bodies,  and  the  soul  is  the  form  of  the 
whole  and  one  thing  can  have  but  one  form  :  the  same  laws,  the 
same  rules,  the  same  observances  frame  as  it  were  the  same  city 
or  congregation,  and  this  especially  if  there  be  added  thereto  an 
agreement  of  the  Governors  and  Superiors  to  lend  a  hand  to  one 
another  towards  the  promoting  or  recovering  monastic  discipline, 


CHAPTER     THE     SIXTH.  19 

assisting  their  brethren  in  temporals,  according  to  laws  jointly  to 
that  end  enacted  and  confirmed  by  lawful  authority  ;  none  of 
which  requisites  to  constitute  a  Congregation  were  wanting  in 
our  Order  from  the  very  infancy  of  it  in  England  as  appears  from 
St.  Bede  and  other  ancient  monuments,  but  especially  from  the 
wholesome  counsel  St.  Gregory  gives  his  disciple  and  our  first 
apostle,  and  which  both  he  and  his  successors  did  without 
question  strictly  observe  ;  first  that  they  should  live  together  and 
apart  from  the  clergy ;  secondly,  that  they  should  imitate  the 
simplicity  and  innocence  of  the  first  Christian  Church  and  no 
one  should  call  anything  his  own  ;  thirdly,  that  they  should 
collect  such  rules  as  were  proper  for  the  circumstances  they  were 
in,  not  only  from  the  Roman,  but  also  Gallican  or  any  other 
Church,  and  having  done  so  guide  themselves  by  them,  which 
counsel  had  the  force  of  precept,  coming  from  their  Abbot, 
supreme  Pastor  of  the  Church,  and  particularly  their  Father  and 
only  director,  exhorting  them  not  only  not  to  relax  anything  of 
their  own  religious  observances,  but  also  to  found  their  church 
as  near  as  possible  could  be  to  the  purity  and  method  of  the 
Church  of  Jerusalem.  Now  as  that  Church  in  its  beginning 
was  entirely  religious  and  monastical,  and  very  indifferent  from 
the  Churches  of  other  Provinces  ( Alexandria  excepted)  so  the 
monastical  Order  engrafted  into  the  Cathedral  Churches  of 
England  did  constitute  a  certain  peculiar  Congregation  very 
different  from  the  Order  of  St.  Benedict  in  other  Provinces ; 
different  I  say,  not  so  much  in  regular  observances  or  manner  of 
conversation,  as  in  the  end  of  religious  observance  raised  to  a 
higher  point  of  dignity  and  charge ;  for  religious  men  made  up 
the  nobled  and  governing  part  of  the  clergy  yet  ceased  not  to  be 
Religious  nor  to  live  like  such,  both  in  Community  and  other 
duties' of  their  profession;  and  over  them  besides  their  local 
Superior,  St.  Augustine  was  placed  as  their  common  Father  or 
President  General,  whose  paternal  solicitude  and  daily  instance 
extended  itself  no  less  to  all  Abbeys  than  to  all  Churches  of  the 
Kingdom,  and  had  no  less  a  dependence  of  him  and  himself  no 
less  responsible  for  their  lives  and  conversation. 


20 


CHAPTER   THE   SEVENTH. 

THE    TITLE    OF    CONGREGATION    IS   AS    DUE    TO   THE 

ENGLISH    BENEDICTINES   AS   TO   THE    OTHER 

CONGREGATIONS   AT   THEIR   BEGINNING. 


BUT  these  which  are  in  effect  no  more  than  the  first 
lineaments  and  rudiments  of  our  Congregation  yet  are  able  to 
merit  that  appellation  since  we  see  other  such  like  confraternities 
did  assume  it  as  their  due  upon  no  other  title.  For  in  like 
manner  the  Cluny  Congregation  is  said  to  have  taken  its 
beginning  from  St.  Benno  and  St.  Odo,  notwithstanding  that  in 
their  days  the  celebrating  of  General  Chapters  was  not  yet  begun 
nor  an  entire  union  and  communication  of  monasteries  com- 
menced nor  Pontifical  privileges  nor  Royal  Patents  granted  for 
the  confirmation  and  practice  of  such  an  union ;  for  of  these  (so 
necessary  for  a  complete  form  of  a  Congregation)  there  is  no 
certain  record  before  St.  Mayolus. 

And  the  Cistercian  Congregation,  nothing  inferior  to  that  of 
Cluny,  is  said  to  have  its  rise  from  St.  Robert  of  Molesme,  its 
increase  from  St.  Bernard,  yet  it  obtained  not  the  form  and 
regimen  of  a  Congregation  strictly  taken,  till  the  latter  days  of 
this  holy  Dodtor,  which  he  obtained  from  Eugenius  III  once  his 
disciple,  and  yet  there  is  no  one  that  does  not  refer  the  beginning 
of  these  Congregations  to  St.  Benno  and  St.  Robert.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  the  Italian,  Spanish,  German  and  French  Con- 
gregations and  others  of  posterior  Orders,  as  that  of  the  Discalced 


CHAPTER     THE     SEVENTH.  21 

Cannes,  of  the  Recollects  &c.,  though  their  origin  be  calculated 
from  the  first  reform  or  coalition  of  houses,  yet  they  arrived  not 
to  the  perfect  form  of  a  Congregation  but  by  tradt  of  time  and 
several  degrees  of  perfection  much  after  the  manner  of  the  body 
of  a  man,  which  first  is  an  embryo,  then  an  infant  and  through 
several  stages  of  growth  and  increases,  at  length  arrives  to  the 
perfect  state  of  manhood  and  by  a  like  decrease  goes  backward 
and  approaches  to  old  age  and  decay. 


22 


CHAPTER   THE   EIGHTH. 


SEVERAL     AGES     OF     THE     CONGREGATION. 


THE  first  age  therefore  or  rather  infancy  of  the  Congregation 
was  under  the  government  of  St.  Augustine  and  his  successors, 
when  that  great  Apostle  and  Doctor  of  our  English  Church 
effected  what  the  great  St.  Augustine  and  Doctor  of  the  Catholic 
Church  attempted  but  unsuccessfully  in  Africa ;  that  the  greater 
and  more  dignified  part  of  the  ecclesiastics  were  monks  of  the 
Order  of  St.  Benedict  as  they  are  still  of  St.  Basil's  Order  in  the 
Greek  Church,  though  dismally  rent  by  the  unhappy  Schism. 

The  second  age  was  under  St.  Wilfrid,  and  especially  St. 
Bennet  Biscop,  who  was  the  master  of  Venerable  Bede,  and  was 
raised  up  by  Almighty  God  to  recover  monastic  discipline, 
which  by  success  of  time  and  irruptions  of  pagans  not  yet  con- 
verted was  extremely  decayed  and  almost  extinguished.  But  by 
these  two  holy  men's  admirable  life  'and  vigilance,  and  by  their 
frequent  journeys  into  France  and  Italy,  were  collected  the 
choicest  flowers  of  regular  observances  which  they  met  with  in 
monasteries  there,  and  transplanted  into  their  native  soil  where 
they  most  happily  flourished  and  brought  forth  those  great  men  by 
whose  sweat  and  blood  all  Germany  &c,  received  the  Faith  and  was 
peopled  with  holy  religious.  Of  St.  Bennet  Biscop  who  died  in 
the  year  705,  Baronius  gives  this  eulogium :  "  Moreover  by  the 
"  means  of  such  a  founder  monachism  was  wonderfully  spread  in 
"  England,  insomuch  that  that  island  so  watered  by  the  Spirit  of 


CHAPTER     THE      EIGHTH.  23 

*'  God  became  a  heavenly  Paradise,  where  while  monastic  disci- 
pline persisted  entire,  heresy  could  find  no  entry,  but  that 
"dissolving  and  loosening,  the  fruitful  land  was  turned  into 
"  barrenness  for  the  wickedness  of  them  that  dwelt  therein ;" 
where  it  is  to  be  observed  that  this  great  historian  styles  St.  Bennet 
Biscop  the  founder  of  Monachism  in  England  not  because  he 
first  introduced  or  propagated  Monastical  Conversation  in  Eng- 
land, or  because  by  his  endeavours  it  was  more  largely  extended 
and  improved,  for  Baronius  could  not  be  ignorant  of  the  great 
labours  aud  no  less  success  of  St.  Wilfrid  in  that  affair,  or  that 
there  were  divers  Benedictine  Monasteries  ancienter  much  than 
either  of  these  Saints  :  But  he  calls  him  Founder  because  St. 
Bennet  Biscop  established  several  excellent  reformations,  regu- 
lated with  more  exactness  the  Divine  Service,  increased  the 
solemnity  and  gravity  of  singing  and  ceremonies  of  the  choir, 
and,  as  it  were,  added  the  last  hand  towards  the  absolute 
perfection  of  that  Order,  whereof  himself  formerly  was  a  mem- 
ber, then  a  Reformer  and  improver,  and  since  a  Patron  and  Pro- 
tector, which  last  title  the  English  Benedictine  Congregation 
revived,  and  (after  so  great  a  wreck  it  suffered  under  Henry  VIII) 
at  last  united,  gives  the  Saint  out  of  a  particular  gratitude  for  his 
solicitude  and  labours  in  that  work. 

But  about  a  century  afterwards  the  Danes  having  made  that 
dire  incursion  which  laid  almost  all  the  country  waste  before 
them,  and  monasteries  having  particularly  felt  the  effects  of  their 
rage  and  malice,  the  admirable  St.  Dunstan  began  to  build  up 
the  ruins  of  Jerusalem  and  reunite  the  stones  of  the  Sanctuary 
which  lay  scattered  in  the  streets  :  so  that  in  a  short  time  there 
were  seen  more  than  forty  monasteries  revived  out  of  their  ruins ; 
the  piety  of  King  Edgarus  furnishing  necessaries  towards  the 
material  houses  of  God,  and  the  Abbey  of  Fleury  in  France, 
seated  on  the  great  river  Loire  and  blessed  with  the  relics  of  the 
great  Patriarch  and  founder  of  our  Order,  together  with  the 
famous  Abbey  of  Gant  in  Flanders  towards  the  spiritual.  For 
out  of  them  in  great  repute  for  sanctity  and  learning,  he  borrowed 
spiritual  directors  and  masters,  scribes  learned  in  the  law  of  their 
profession,  that  brought  forth  out  of  their  store  both  new  and  old 


24  CHAPTER     THE     EIGHTH. 

whatsoever  might  contribute  towards  the  forming  of  their  new 
disciples.  And  to  establish  a  greater  uniformity  of  discipline  and 
form  of  Congregation  in  such  his  Monasteries,  St.  Dunstan  him- 
self though  oppressed  with  the  cares  of  his  pastoral  charge,  found 
time  to  make  a  collection  of  such  maxims  as  he  desired  might  be 
universally  observed,  which  he  entitled  his  Constitutions  (they 
are  extant  at  the  end  of  the  Apostolatus  ; )  and  they  continued  in 
vigour  and  observance  till  the  Norman  Conquest,  though  not 
without  great  difficulty  and  some  delay,  because  of  the  frequent 
and  almost  daily  piracy  and  inundation  of  the  implacable  Danes 
of  whom  the  princes  of  those  times  were  so  often  forced  to  buy 
their  liberty  till  they  pleased  again  to  invade  their  dominions, 
and  turned  their  arms  particularly  against  sacred  places  and 
monasteries. 

But  after  that  the  warlike  Duke  of  Normandy  had  settled 
himself  in  his  new  conquest  of  England,  and  changed  the 
municipal  laws  into  Norman,  Lanfranc  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury began  a  change  likewise  in  the  English  monachism,  or 
rather  revived  the  observance  of  such  wholesome  institution  as 
had  been  enadted  long  before  him  and  were  repealed  now  Jby  new 
observance.  He  had  herein,  besides  the  royal  permission,  the 
assistance  of  two  holy  and  learned  men,  his  own  nephew  Paul, 
Abbot  of  St.  Alban's,  and  his  successor  in  his  see,  the  learned 
Abbot  of  Bee,  St.  Anselm  ;  and  in  the  model  of  this  reformation 
(extant  in  the  appendix  of  the  Apostolatus)  is  very  near  expressed 
that  of  a  Congregation,  and  it  aims  like  St.  Dunstan's  foremen- 
tioned  concordat  not  only  at  reforming  each  monastery  apart,  but 
also  uniting  and  joining  them  together  into  one  continued  body. 


CHAPTER   THE   NINTH. 

THE    CONGREGATION    RECEIVES    ITS    LAST    PERFECTION. 


YET  we  confess  that  this  body  received  not  its  last  perfection 
and  property  of  a  Congregation  till  the  decree  of  the  Council  of 
Lateran  (1215)  in  compliance  with  which  decree,  which  ex- 
tended itself  to  all  kingdoms,  the  Order  of  St.  Benedict  divided 
itself  in  England  into  two  Provinces,  the  one  of  Canterbury,  and 
the  other  of  York  with  obligation  to  keep  a  Chapter  every  three 
years,  after  the  Innocentian  form.  But  this  form  was  afterwards 
changed  or  rather  amplified  and  better  adjusted  in  the  year  1300 
by  Benedict  XII,  who  revived  the  Decree  of  Innocent  almost 
generally  laid  aside,  excepting  in  England  where  it  still  held  up 
in  strict  observance.  Yet  our  ancestors  who  were  always  most 
obedient  to  the  orders  of  the  See  Apostolic  humbly  submitted  to 
Benedict's  alterations,  and  united  their  two  Innocentian  Provinces 
into  one,  governed  by  two  President  Generals  and  a  determinate 
number  of  Definitors  and  Visitors  to  be  renewed  every  three 
years ;  which  system  continued  unchangeable  among  all  the 
revolutions  of  State,  inviolable  in  the  midst  of  civil  wars  and 
popular  tumults,  strengthening  itself  by  excellent  laws  and 
constitutions  (as  are  yet  to  be  seen  in  the  appendix  to  the 
Apostolatus)  and  guarding  itself  without  by  the  singular  odour 
of  sanctity  and  exemplary  virtue,  until  the  unhappy  schism  of 
King  Henry  VIII,  when  desolation  came  upon  it  like  a  tem- 
pest, and  the  impiety  and  avarice  of  one  man  swept  away  the 

D 


26 


CHAPTER     THE       NINTH. 


ransom  of  sinners,  (the)  donations  and  labours  of  the  just,  and 
drawed  into  his  coffers  these  immense  treasures  which  rendered 
him  so  poor  in  his  life  and  at  his  death  a  beggar. 


27 


CHAPTER  THE  TENTH. 

ITS    RECOVERY    BEGAN    BY   THE    ITALIAN    AND   SPANISH 

CONGREGATIONS. 


FROM  which  miserable  time,  deplored  even  by  Protestants, 
after  a  captivity  of  about  seventy  years  there  came  (to  England) 
English  (monks)  professed  in  the  Congregations  of  Cassin  in 
Italy  and  Valladolid  in  Spain  of  the  Order  of  St.  Benedict,  who 
after  the  manner  I  shall  now  describe,  revived  the  Congregation. 
T'is  known  that  after  the  death  of  the  said  king  Henry  VIII 
there  ensued  a  consequence  which  naturally  followed  but  which 
he  did  not  foresee :  that  upon  the  ruin  of  religious  Orders  there 
must  follow  the  ruin  of  religion  itself.  Whatsoever  provision  he 
made  in  his  life  by  extirpating  heresies  and  maintaining  the 
Catholic  religion  in  all  points  but  those  two  of  the  supremacy 
of  the  Pope  and  Religious  Profession,  or,  at  his  death  by  assigning 
in  his  testament  (extant  in  the  English  Benedictine  Archives  at 
St.  Gregory's  in  Doway)  sixteen  tutors  to  his  son  most  of  which 
were  Catholics,  he  was  by  the  just  judgment  of  God  crossed  in 
both  these  his  principal  concerns.  For  in  supporting  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Church  of  Rome  and  razing  monasteries  which  are 
her  columns  he  plucked  down  with  one  hand  what  he  built 
with  the  other;  and  desiring  that  his  son  should  be  educated  in 
the  Catholic  Faith  (supremacy  excepted)  and  heresies  suppressed, 
he  was  scarce  cold  in  his  bed  before  the  contrary  was  settled ;  all 
religions  connived  at  but  the  Catholic,  a  forged  testament 


28  CHAPTER     THE     TENTH. 

produced,  where  instead  of  sixteen  governors  (for  the  most 
part  Catholics  as  abovesaid)  during  Edward  VI's  minority,  one 
was  set  up  under  the  title  of  Protector,  and  the  Prince  edu- 
cated in  that  religion  which  the  father  most  of  all  persecuted 
and  abhorred,  Zuinglianism. 

But  this  infant  King's  reign  being  but  short,  the  enemies  of 
monasteries  had  not  swing  enough  to  wreak  their  spleen,  nor 
time  wholly  to  extirpate  a  profession  that  had  taken  such  deep 
root  in  our  country  and  was  yet  so  numerous  in  her  issue;  where- 
fore she  rather  lay  hid,  than  was  wholly  dead  during  the  perse- 
cution of  the  reigning  child.  She  lost  her  goodly  and  spreading 
branches,  but  the  root  lay  underground  concealing  its  life  and 
vigour  till  the  winter  and  storms  were  past ;  the  wickedness  of 
Edward  and  his  councillors  not  permitting  him  to  complete  half 
his  days. 


29 


CHAPTER   THE    ELEVENTH. 

THE    ENGLISH    BENEDICTINES    RE-ESTABLISHED    BY 
QUEEN    MARY. 


THE  pious  and  virtuous  Mary  had  no  sooner  succeeded  him, 
but  her  first  care  was  to  reduce  her  people  to  the  obedience 
of  the  Church,  her  next  to  re-establish  the  dispersed  and 
afflicted  Benedictine  Order  as  the  best  means  to  keep  her 
subjects  in  the  profession  of  the  orthodox  faith ;  as  if  no  order 
was  more  proper  and  able  to  rebuild  the  church  than  that 
which  first  built  it  in  that  nation.  To  this  effect  she  began  with 
herself,  and  immediately  resigned  all  tythes,  first  fruits,  benefices, 
&c,  that  had  been  by  her  father  and  brother  annexed  to  the 
crown,  into  the  hands  of  the  Pope's  Legate,  the  eminent  more 
for  learning  and  sanctity  than  for  birth  and  dignity,  Cardinal 
Pole. 

But  the  prudent  conduct  of  the  Legate  was  forced  to  miti- 
gate her  zeal,  which  otherwise  certainly  would  have  had  no 
farther  success.  For  most  of  the  Abbey  lands  having  been  either 
usurped  by  or  bestowed  on  noblemen  of  the  kingdom,  and  so 
incorporated  into  their  estates,  that  alone  had  been  more  than 
sufficient  to  make  them  averse  from  accepting  of  a  religion  that 
obliged  to  such  restitutions,  being  men  that  had  so  small  sense  of 
piety  (when  Catholics)  seeing  how  easily  they  abandoned  the 
religion  they  had  been  bred  up  in ;  and  so  hardened  in  sin,  that  it 
was  indiscreet  to  expect  that  fear  of  God  now  which  they  had  not 


CHAPTER     THE     ELEVENTH. 


at  the  beginning.  Wherefore  the  Legate  most  prudently  removed 
that  impediment  in  the  name  of  Pope  Julius  III,  whereby  he 
absolved  and  exempted  all  such  invaders  and  detainers  of  Church 
lands  obtained  in  the  Schism,  from  all  ecclesiastical  punishment 
and  canonical  censures  whatsoever,  and  declared  the  possession 
of  such  lands  secure  and  lawful  (as  to  any  pretentions  of  persons) 
for  ever :  the  Church  quitting  her  right  and  remitting  the 
possessors  to  the  judgment  of  God  to  whom  belongs  revenge, 
especially  upon  usurpations  and  sacrileges  and  such  as  invade  the 
patrimony  of  Jesus  Christ. 

And  not  only  he  dispensed  with  this  perverse  generation  as  to 
the  immovables  of  the  Church  but  even  to  the  movables  too, 
yet  desiring  all  to  remember  what  befell  Balthassar  King  of 
Babylon  profaning  the  holy  utensils  his  father  had  taken  from 
the  Temple  of  God.  And  all  this  was  transacted  by  not  only 
the  free  consent  but  also  upon  the  petition  of  the  immediate 
Lords  and  pretenders,  the  present  clergy  of  the  Province  ojf 
Canterbury,  convened  according  to  their  custom  whilst  the 
Parliament  was  sitting  in  the  first  and  second  years  of  Philip  and 
Mary,  and  by  the  said  Parliament  accepted  of,  and  in  the  third 
and  fourth  year  of  their  reigns  read  in  the  Parliament  of  Ireland. 


CHAPTER   THE   TWELFTH. 

WESTMINSTER    ABBEY    RESTORED    AND   SOON   AFTER 

DISSOLVED. 


THIS  condescendence  of  the  Pope  and  Queen  calmed  the  minds 
of  the  interested  party,  disposed  more  to  religion  and  won  their 
consent  towards  their  restoring  Westminster  Abbey  to  its  ancient 
possessors  the  monks,  with  exclusion  of  the  College  of  secular 
Canons  which  her  father  had  creeled  in  their  place. 

This  happy  beginning  and  second  birth  (as  it  were)  of  the 
English  Congregation  was  allowed  by  A<fl  of  Parliament  the 
fourth  year  of  Queen  Mary's  reign  (1556)  who  nominated  Abbot 
of  Westminster  Dr.  John  Feckenham,  a  learned  and  pious  Monk 
of  Evesham,  whom  Cranmer  of  detestable  memory,  by  a  dread- 
ful judgment  of  God  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  out  of  hatred  to 
his  constancy  in  the  orthodox  faith  had  imprisoned  in  the  Tower 
and  from  whence  her  majesty  presently  after  her  coronation 
having  taken  him,  had  made  him  her  chaplain  and  Dean  of  St. 
Paul's.  He  then  now  with  fourteen  monks  on  the  Presentation 
of  Our  Lady,  November  the  2ist.  1556,  again  appeared  in 
Westminster  Royal  Monastery  in  his  venerable  Benedictine  habit 
which  the  violence  of  the  former  wicked  times  had  forced  him 
to  lay  down.  But  pious  Queen  Mary  dying  not  long  after,  her 
unworthy  successor  frustrated  all  these  happy  endeavours,  most 
cruelly  and  ungratefully  turning  the  Reverend  Abbot  Feckenham 
and  his  monks  out  of  their  monastery,  notwithstanding  the  great 


32  CHAPTER     THE     TWELFTH. 

services  she  had  received  from  him  in  her  troubles  and  the  good 
turns  and  kindnesses  he  had  done  to  her  friends.  Moreover  so 
void  she  was  of  all  humanity  that  she  held  the  holy  Abbot  in 
divers  prisons  for  the  space  of  twenty  three  long  years  till  he 
expired  in  that  of  Wisbeach  Castle  (an  unwholesome  place)  in 
the  year  1585.  His  eulogium  in  the  Apostolatus  is  very  remarkable 
for  his  noble  and  learned  encounters  in  defence  of  the  orthodox 
faith,  for  his  charity  to  the  poor  and  public,  having  set  up  a 
fountain  or  aqueduct  at  Holborn  in  London,  (though  then  Queen 
Elizabeth's  prisoner),  and  a  cross  at  Wisbeach  Castle. 


33 


CHAPTER  THE   THIRTEENTH. 

THE     BEGINNING     OF     MlSSIONERS. 


FOR  the  first  ten  years  of  this  unhappy  Princess'  reign  matters 
passed  concerning  religion  with  such  doubtfulness,  that  Catho- 
lics, hoping  still  some  change  or  toleration  were  very  little 
industrious  to  preserve  their  religion  against  the  spreading  canker 
of  the  wickedness  of  those  days,  nay  rather  the  Protestants  gained 
more  to  their  side  by  gently  dealing  with  Catholics,  than  they 
got  by  rigorous  persecution  in  thirty  four  years  following.  For 
then  many  Catholics,  if  not  almost  all,  went  to  their  churches, 
sermons  and  communions,  whereby  abundance  of  them  became 
infected ;  who,  upon  better  information  from  the  mission,  which 
upon  this  soon  sprung  in  upon  them,  they  withdrew  from  such 
dangerous  practice.  The  chief  author  of  this  mission  was  one 
Dr.  Allen,  afterwards  made  Cardinal  at  the  request  of  Philip  II 
King  of  Spain. 

In  the  beginning  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign  the  exaction  of 
the  oath  of  supremacy  had  driven  him  and  many  other  remark- 
able men  from  the  Universities  of  England.  As  he  was  a  person 
of  great  parts  he  easily  conceived  great  designs  for  the  glory  of 
God ;  wherefore  when  Vendivilius,  then  Doctor  of  the  Faculty 
of  Doway  and  Royal  Professor  there,  afterwards  made  Bishop  of 
Tournay,  had  wrought  on  him  to  take  the  degree  of  Doctor  in 
that  University  and  had  procured  him  a  pension  from  the  said 


34  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTEENTH. 

King  Philip  II,  he  turned  all  his  thoughts  on  the  erection  of  a 
Seminary  which  might  enable  men  to  withstand  the  heresies  he 
saw  devouring  the  Kingdom. 

Vendivilius  lent  to  this  design  all  the  help  he  could,  and 
Dr.  Bristow  seconding  Dr.  Allen,  the  new  Seminary  of  Doway 
was  begun  in  1562.  The  Council  of  England  informed  of  this, 
fell  to  persecuting  it  by  all  the  ways  they  could  devise,  and 
therefore  first  endeavoured  to  set  the  Catholics  in  England 
against  it,  as  a  thing  that  would  exasperate  the  State  and  hinder 
their  peace  in  England ;  and  afterwards  by  the  rebels  of  Flanders 
they  drove  them  out  of  Doway  about  the  year  1577,  upon 
which  they  fled  to  Rheims  in  France,  and  were  there  kindly 
entertained.  This  so  enraged  their  adversaries  that  they  had 
also  worked  them  from  thence  ;  but  Pope  Gregory  XIII  of  holy 
and  incomparable  memory  for  his  almost  incredible  charities 
to  even  the  antipodes  and  aliens  from  the  orthodox  faith,  argued 
the  case  with  Henry  III  of  France ;  as  also  the  Duke  of  Guise  and 
the  Cardinal  his  brother,  on  whom  Rheims  and  its  University 
depended,  supplicated  for  them.  But  under  Henry  IV,  Queen 
Elizabeth  prevailed ;  and  Doway  being  at  quiet  the  Seminary 
returned  thither  again,  and  hath  remained  there  ever  since. 


35 


CHAPTER   THE   FOURTEENTH. 


THE    FIRST    ENTRY    OF    JESUITS    INTO    ENGLAND. 


THE  state  of  England  instead  of  ruining  them  by  such  pursuit 
rather  advanced  their  affairs,  for  at  the  suggestion  of  Dr.  Owen 
Lewis  afterwards  Bishop  of  Cassano  ( 1 5  8  8 — 1594)  in  Italy,  soli- 
cited thereto  by  Dr.  Allen,  the  said  holy  charitable  Pope  erected 
the^  English  Roman  Seminary  in  1578.  And  the  said  Dr.  Allen 
hearing  the  Jesuits  had  considerable  English  subjects  amongst 
them,  used  the  name  of  the  English  Catholics  to  obtain  them  of 
the  Society  for  the  English  Mission  in  which  they  arrived  in 
1580,  and  were  made  very  welcome  by  the  Secular  Clergy 
and  matters  passed  very  charitably  and  humbly  between  them, 
each  party  deferring  honour  to  the  other,  and  both  parties  seek- 
ing the  common  good  and  not  what  might  be  for  their  own 
advantage. 

Mr.  Pitts  says  that  these  Jesuits  at  their  arrival  found  four- 
score seminarists  labouring  in  the  mission,  besides  several  of  the 
ancient  clergy  of  England  who,  by  the  grace  of  God,  had  aban- 
doned the  schism  and  some  of  the  collegiates  or  seminarists  had 
endured  cruel  deaths.  Indeed,  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  for  the 
excess  of  a  gaudy  court  was  called  in  foreign  countries  the 
Comedian  Queen,  gave  them  after  the  twentieth  year  of  her 
reign  occasion  to  augment  the  title  of  Comedian  with  that  of 
Tragedian  ;  for  Christendom  stood  astonished  at  her  frequent  and 
cruel  executions  of  poor  Catholic  Priests  ;  so  that  Sir  Richard 


36  CHAPTER     THE      FOURTEENTH. 

Baker  one  of  her  great  admirers,  is  so  confounded  at  this  red  part 
of  her  history  that  he  seeks  by  apologetical  excuses  to  lessen  the 
height  of  its  dreadful  colour  ;  and  she  herself  finding  how  odious 
her  name  became  abroad  for  such  exorbitant  cruelty,  was  glad  to 
mitigate  the  fury  of  her  state  by  ungutting  her  prisons  of  the 
Priests  to  send  them  by  shiploads  to  Catholic  countries.  Of 
these  doings,  Stow  and  Baker,  Protestant  writers,  are  very 
unsuspected  and  remarkable  witnesses. 

The  first  who  felt  her  cruelty  of  those  Priests  who  were 
Seminarists  was  Mr.  Cuthbert  Mayn  in  1 577,  upon  refusing  to 
acknowledge  her  supremacy,  and  the  gentleman  who  har- 
boured him,  had  his  goods  confiscated  and  his  person  adjudg- 
ed to  perpetual  imprisonment, 

But    none    were    more    hotly    pursued    by    her    state    and 
council  than  the  Jesuits  at  whose  coming  they  were  extremely 
offended,  wherefore    Father  Campion    after   little  more  than  a 
year,  was  taken,  put    to  cruel  torments    and  lastly    to  a   cruel 
death,  all  which  he  endured  with  wonderful  cheerfulness    and 
a  most    undaunted    courage.       Father    Parsons     his    Superior 
and  companion,  seeing  no  hopes  of  a  calm  and  being  violently 
pursued,  having  spent  about  two  years  in  the  mission,  depart- 
ed the  land    and  never  returned  more,  but  applied    himself  to 
great  persons    for  foundations    of  seminaries,  and  presently    set 
up  one  at  Eu  in  Normandy ;  which,  though  it  be  just  on  the 
sea    shore    enjoys   a    pleasant  situation  and   an    air  wonderfully 
healthy.    The  Duke  of  Guise  gave  to  it  one  hundred  pounds 
a   year    which    held    till   he  was  murdered  at  Blois  in   1588  ; 
and  then  Father  Parsons  procured  its  erection  at  St.  Omers,  as 
also  he  procured  the  setting  up  of  the  seminaries   and  residences 
of  Valladolid,  Sevil  and  St.  Lucar  in  Spain  and  Lisbon  in  Portu- 
gal and  great  alms  to  the  old  seminaries  of  Douay  and  Rome. 


37 


CHAPTER   THE   FIFTEENTH. 

THE     MISUNDERSTANDINGS     OF     THE     SOCIETY     AND     CLERGY. 


THE  Society  soon  supplied  these  two  places  with  Father 
Haywood  and  Father  Holt,  when  unhappily  the  great  amity  and 
friendship  which  had  been  hitherto  betwixt  the  Clergy  and 
Society  vanished  into  smoke  and  a  dismal  dissension  arose  betwixt 
them  to  the  very  great  scandal  of  Catholic  religion.  That  part 
of  the  clergy  which  relished  not  the  Jesuits  (for  many  kept  to 
them  against  their  brethren ),  began  to  repute  the  Jesuits 
politicians  and  thought  they  felt  their  politics  in  all  their  affairs. 
It  grieved  them  that  all  the  colleges  or  seminaries  were  either 
immediately  in  the  hands  of  the  Jesuits  or  such  as  were  totally 
devoted  to  them ;  and  they  thought  the  Jesuits  lorded  it  over 
them  and  would  make  them  the  drudges  of  the  mission  and 
prescribed  them  rules  to  draw  all  the  credit  of  the  good  order  of 
the  English  Clergy  on  the  Society,  of  which  the  English  afflicted 
Church,  they  said,  had  implored  helpers  and  not  masters,  which 
they  desired  might  be  only  such  as  the  hierarchy  of  the  Church 
only  acknowledges,  to  wit  Bishops ;  which  desire  failing,  and  an 
Archpriest  with  twelve  assistants  being  appointed  over  them  by 
the  Holy  See  (for  that  the  Cardinals  of  the  Inquisition  appre- 
hended that  a  higher  title  might  give  too  great  an  alarm  to  the 
State),  the  said  English  Clergy  fell  absolutely  from  the  Jesuits, 
esteeming  them  to  be  the  only  persons  that  thwarted  their  desires 


38  CHAPTER     THE     FIFTEENTH. 

and  designs,  to  make  all  things  depend  on  their  secret  orders 
and  intentions.  Upon  this  they  wrote  against  the  Jesuits,  and  the 
Jesuits  and  those  that  adhered  to  them  against  them  again  ; 
which  miserable  doings  much  rejoiced  the  enemies  of  the  Church 
and  further  contributed  to  their  eternal  ruin.  And  these  miseries 
lasted  all  the  rest  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  days  and  further.  The 
chief  plea  of  the  clergy  against  this  new  form  of  Hierarchy  was 
a  law  made  in  Catholic  times  with  the  free  and  full  consent  of 
all  the  Clergy  and  Temporality  in  such  manner  that  upon  admis- 
sion of  such  a  novelty  as  this  of  an  Archpriest  and  his  twelve 
assistants,  the  Sovereign  could  have  taken  a  fair  occasion  of  pur- 
suing them  very  rigorously  as  in  a  manifest  Premunire. 


39 


CHAPTER   THE   SIXTEENTH. 

THE     FIRST     ENTRY     OF     THE     STUDENTS     OF     THE     ENGLISH 
SEMINARIES     INTO     THE     ORDER     OF     SAINT     BENEDICT. 


THE  youths  of  the  Seminaries  likewise  taking  great  distaste 
at  the  Jesuits,  several  of  the  Roman  College  became  monks  in 
the  Congregation  of  Mount  Cassin,  and  those  who  were  in  Spain 
and  had  an  inclination  to  the  Order  of  St.  Benedict,  after  some 
difficulty  and  delays  were  very  kindly  admitted  into  the  Congre- 
gation of  Valladolid  ;  (1588 — 1600)  but  all  of  them  intending  the 
English  Mission  with  leave  of  their  Superiors.  And  what  is 
worthy  of  observation  these  young  men  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  aforesaid  dissensions  and  heats.  They  were  all  of  them 
who  first  entered  the  Italian  Congregation  Priests,  and  engaged 
in  the  Order  as  follows  : 

Firstly,  R.  F.  Gregory  Sayr  at  Mount  Cassin  itself  in  1588. 
In  the  world  he  was  called  Robert  Sayr  and  brought  up  at  Cam- 
bridge where  he  began  his  Philosophy,  but  broke  it  off"  out  of  a 
desire  of  becoming  a  Roman  Catholic  and  so  began  it  again  at 
Rheims  from  whence  he  went  for  divinity  to  Rome,  and  after  he 
was  become  a  monk  taught  divinity  in  his  Monastery  and  in 
1602,  Odober  3Oth  died  in  Saint  George's  Monastery  in  Venice ; 
a  man  who  for  the  integrity  of  his  life,  the  sweetness  of  his 
manners  and  his  singular  modesty  in  conversation  was  grateful  to 
God  and  all  good  men,  and  one  who  by  the  benefits  of  his  solid 
wit  constant  judgment  and  happy  memory  arrived  at  a  great 


40  CHAPTER     THE     SIXTEENTH. 

height  of  learning  as  his  books  sufficiently  witness :  of  which  Mr. 
Pitts  in  his  ingenious  work  of  the  illustrious  English  writers  has 
published  a  Catalogue. 

Secondly,  R.  F.  Thomas  Preston  from  the  same  College, 
(became  a  monk)  after  he  had  heard  his  course  of  divinity  under 
Vasquez  then  reader  at  Rome.  He  was  known  to  be  learned,  of 
a  good  sober  life,  very  much  admired  for  the  elegance  of  his  style 
and  rare  skill  in  Canon  Law,  though  employed  upon  an  unfor- 
tunate subject  and  wherewith  he  maintained  a  bad  cause  too 
well,  which  upon  better  considerations  he  afterwards  detested. 

Thirdly,  about  the  same  time  R.  F.  Beech  known  by  the 
name  of  Dom  Anselm  of  Manchester  went  to  St.  Justina's  at 
Padua  and  there  became  an  egregious  Benedidtine  monk,  and 

Fourthly,  R.  F.  Austin  Smith  at  Mount  Cassin,  where  he  was 
so  esteemed  especially  for  his  skill  in  the  Canon  Law  that  they 
made  him  their  Vicar  to  discharge  the  episcopal  jurisdiction  that 
blessed  and  renowned  Sanctuary  enjoyeth  in  its  territory. 

Fifthly,  Dom  Raphael  in  those  times  also  entered  the  same 
Congregation  yet  never  took  to  the  mission,  but  became  at  Rome 
the  agent  and  procurator  of  the  missioners  and  died  in  that 
employment  after  many  years  of  a  Monastical  life. 

Sixthly,   at   Cave   in  Italy  R.  F.  Antony  Martin   known  in 
religion  by  the   name   of  Dom  Athanasius ;   to  whom  Cardinal 
Allen  writ  the  following  remarkable  letter : 
"  Most  dear  Brother  and  Child, 

"  I  have  received  two  letters  from  you  since  you 
"  have  withdrawn  into  those  holy  places  both  of  them  elegantly 
"  and  lovingly,  but  what  is  above  all,  religiously  written.  To 
"  the  first  I  answered  by  some  about  me,  but  to  the  last,  having 
"  got  a  little  leisure,  I  resolved  to  write  myself.  First,  that  you 
"  might  not  by  other  persons*  words  only  see  how  much  I  affec- 
"  tion  you,  but  also  by  my  own.  Next,  that  you  might  know 
*'  how  much  I  esteem  your  progress  in  that  most  holy  state  of 
"  life,  for  which  much  more  now  in  the  Lord  than  ever  in  the 
"  world,  (though  your  remarkable  talents  ever  rendered  you  very 
"  dear  to  me,)  I  love  and  embrace  you.  Lastly,  that  I  might 
*'  communicate  unto  you  the  joy  I  have  conceived  of  this  most 


CHAPTER    THE     SIXTEENTH.  4! 

"  happy  state  of  life  to  which  I  apply  the  words  of  the  Apostle  : 
" '  I  have  no  greater  joy  than  to  hear  that  my  children  walk  in 
" '  the  Truth.'  *  Wherefore  I  most  highly  congratulate  your 
"  contempt  of  human  affairs  and  fervour  in  pursuit  of  those  of 
"  heaven  ;  and  that  having  escaped  and  overcome  the  most  cruel 
"  and  most  turbulent  movements  of  a  worldly  and  secular  life, 
"  you  model  and  form  yourself  in  such  holy  discipline ;  pru- 
"  dently  preferring  to  the  most  turbulent  businesses  of  the  world 
"  the  most  holy  leisures  of  a  most  ancient  and  most  glorious 
"religious  state  of  life.  For  this  most  solid  good  and  most 
"  saving  advantage  I  congratulate  with  you  from  the  bottom  of 
"  my  heart,  neither  is  there  anything  more  for  you  or  me  to 
"  crave  from  Christ  our  Sovereign  Good  who  inspired  you  this, 
"  than  that  He  will  please  of  His  infinite  piety  and  goodness  to 
"  assist  you  to  the  end  of  the  work  of  your  salvation  which  he 
"  has  so  happily  begun ;  which  he  will  not  fail,  if  that  since  you 
"  have  put  your  hand  to  the  plough  of  the  Lord  you  do  not  look 
"  back,  but  advance  forward  to  the  utmost  you  may  be  able,  if 
"  you  are  diligent  in  the  hard  yet  sweet  labours  of  religion,  if 
"  courageously  and  stoutly  you  shake  off  temptations,  if  you  cast 
"  out  of  your  mind  what  for  your  trial  you  have  suffered  in  the 
"  world  either  from  heretics  or  bad  Catholics  or  rivals  and  envious, 
"  and  also  pray  for  your  persecutors  which  all  the  Saints  in 
"  heaven  do  whose  life  and  charity  you  have  taken  on  you  to 
"  express  on  earth  by  a  lively  imitation  of  them. 

"  Let  others  think  and  say  what  they  list  of  this  your  most  holy 
"  state  of  life,  I  would  have  you  persuaded  I  most  heartily  espouse 
"  your  affairs  and  mightily  like  this  resolution  you  have  taken  of 
"  engaging  in  religion,  and  hope  that  you  are  taken  from  this 
"  wicked  world  to  contribute  to  the  restoration  of  this  most  holy 
"  Order  which  formerly  so  flourished  in  our  country,  and  your 
"pen  and  genius  will  render  you  an  ornament  thereof;  and 
"  therefore,  so  much  the  more  profit  you  make  in  that  most 
"  holy  discipline  so  much  the  more  I  shall  love  you  and  you  will 
"  have  no  occasion  to  repent  you  of  this  resolution. 

*  IlSt.  John,  4. 


42  CHAPTER     THE     SIXTEENTH. 

"  If  a  letter  would  allow  it  or  that  I  had  time  I  could  expose 
"  to  your  piety  out  of  the  histories  of  our  nation  many  things 
"  concerning  the  sanctity  and  greatness  of  this  Order  in  England. 
"  For  St.  Austin  himself  and  all  the  other  disciples  of  St.  Gregory 
"who  converted  our  nation  to  the  faith  were  all  of  this  Order, 
"  and  all  the  first  monasteries  (of  which  venerable  Bede),  as  like- 
"  wise  he  himself,  were  of  this  venerable  Institute  ;  and  all  the 
"  Cathedral  Chapters  which  were  afterwards  held  by  secular 
"  Canons  were  at  their  beginning  in  the  hands  of  Benedictine 
"  Monks.  So  was  Canterbury  Church  in  the  time  of  Lanfrank, 
"  Anselm,  Thomas  the  Martyr,  who  themselves  were  monks  of 
"  the  self  same  Order  ;  that  I  may  say  nothing  of  the  most  noble 
"  monasteries  of  Westminster,  St.  Alban's,  St.  Edmund's,  Glaston- 
"  bury,  whose  Abbots  and  many  other  more  proved  glorious  martyrs 
"  under  Henry  the  8th.  These  examples,  my  child,  are  able  to 
"  encourage  you  and  the  rest  of  our  countrymen  to  strive  after  the 
"  solid  glory  of  Christ  and  his  Church  :  for  my  part  I  mightily 
"  delight  at  the  sole  thought  of  such  great  men  ;  which  thought 
"  and  the  remembrance  of  our  old  affairs  has  made  me  longer 
"  than  I  would  have  been,  but  not  to  the  distaste  of  either  you  or 
"  me,  for  I  talk  freely  with  you.  Wherefore  remember  me  in 
"your  prayers  and  Sacrifices  and  salute  from  me  the  Superiors  of 
"  your  House  and  Order  very  afFedtuously  in  the  Lord,  who  will 
"  abundantly  recompense  this  most  Christian  charity  which  they 
"  thus  exercise  on  our  fellow  pilgrims  and  exiled.  Adieu  my 
"  dear  child.  From  our  mansion  at  Rome  the  1 2th  of  the  Kalends 
"of  February,  1594.  With  my  own  hand 

Thine  in  Christ 

"William  Cardinal  Allen." 

This  was  but  a  little  before  the  good  Cardinal's  death,  for  he 
died  the  1 6th  of  October  following ;  however  it  shows  how 
much  he  coveted  the  restoration  of  St.  Benedict's  Order  in  Eng- 
land, and  contributed  towards  it  what  he  could ;  for  besides  this 
he  recommended  Don  Anselmo  to  St.  Justina  of  Padua  and 
credibly  others  elsewhere.  Moreover  Mr.  Fitzherbert,  one  of 
his  domestics  was  so  active  and  jealous  for  it  that  to  help  it  on 


CHAPTER     THE     SIXTEENTH.  43 

he  left  at  his  death  all  he  had  to  the  English  thus  engaged  in  this 
Congregation  at  Mount  Cassin ;  nor  was  less  active  in  this  pious 
design  the  already  mentioned  Dr.  Owen  Lewis.  And  so  strictly 
were  these  English  Priests  held  to  monastical  discipline,  that  as 
Father  Thomas  related  of  himself  to  R.  F.  Austin  Baker, 
though  he  entered  the  Monastery  as  a  Priest  of  a  middle  or 
mature  age,  and  was  esteemed  by  his  Novice-Master  as  a  learned 
and  virtuous  man,  yet  would  not  the  said  Master  allow  or  permit 
him  to  say  Mass  in  the  space  of  three  whole  years  that  he  spent 
under  his  conduct  according  to  the  practice  of  that  Congregation 
save  only  out  of  a  special  favour  on  some  principal  Feasts,  as 
Christmas,  Easter,  &c,  telling  him  to  this  effect :  "  You  are  not 
"  come  hither  to  exercise  your  priestly  function  that  hath  dignity 
"  or  honour  in  it,  but  to  become  recollected,  to  know  and  hum- 
"  ble  yourself  and  cleanse  your  soul." 

As  to  those  who  entered  the  Spanish  Congregation,  though 
he  neither  lived  nor  was  clothed  in  any  monastery,  as  Father 
Baker  affirms,  Mr.  Mark  Barkworth  alias  Lambert  challenges  the 
first  place. 

i°.  Because  he  was  a  great  furtherer  and  concurrer  with 
those  who  engaged  amongst  the  Spanish  monks,  which  the 
Fathers  of  the  Society  took  very  ill,  fearing  lest  thereby  the 
mission  would  be  ruined. 

2°.  In  1 60 1  after  frequent  occasions  and  even  provocation 
to  make  an  escape,  after  nine  several  examens  before  several 
tribunals,  endowed,  as  R.  F.  Sadler  attests,  with  the  gift  of 
miracles  besides  many  dowries  of  mind,  being  condemned  for  his 
faith  to  be  put  to  death,  to  make  the  nation  remember  how  it 
received  the  said  holy  faith  and  manifest  the  secrets  of  his  heart 
and  intentions  in  regard  of  the  Benedictine  Order,  he  chose  to  be 
drawn  to  Tyburn  in  the  Benedictine  habit  which  by  some  means  he 
had  provided  or  gotten,  and  had  his  tonsure  accordingly  made ;  con- 
founding by  that  silent  rhetoric  the  hideous  insensible  impiety  of 
his  adversaries,  who  yet  glorying  in  the  name  of  Christians  while 
they  reject  unity  of  faith  with  the  Church  of  Christ,  stick  not  to 
be  so  cruel  to  such,  to  whom  the  English  monarch  Ethelbert 
when  he  knew  neither  Christ  nor  his  Church,  was  yet  so  kind 


44 


CHAPTER     THE     SIXTEENTH. 


as  St.  Bede  has  recorded  to  posterity;  and  though  absorbed  in 
the  darkness  of  idolatry,  yet  so  rationally  weighed  their  lives  and 
words  that  convinced  of  their  candour  and  sincerity,  became  a 
son  of  that  light  to  which  their  descendants  now  turn  their 
backs.  God  grant  them  to  turn  their  faces  again  to  the  same 
that  they  may  .not  be  for  ever  confounded. 


45 


CHAPTER  THE   SEVENTEENTH. 

THE     MODERN    BENEDICTINE     MlSSION     OF     ENGLAND. 


BUT  of  those  who  formally  took  the  habit  in  the  monasteries, 
the  first  was  Father  Austin  White,  alias  Bradshaw,  who  according 
to  the  practice  of  monachism  in  those  countries  left  his 
surname  to  take  that  of  a  Saint,  and  so  was  called  Father  Austin 
of  St.  John. 

The  next  was  Father  John  Mervin  alias  Roberts  and  after 
him  is  counted  Father  Maurus  Scot  &c.  And  the  same  year 
Mr.  Barkworth  was  put  to  death  (1601)  a  petition  of  some  noble- 
men of  England  was  presented  to  Pope  Clement  VIII  by  the 
Most  Illustrious  and  Most  Reverend  Lord,  Frederick  Cardinal 
Borromeo,  upon  which  his  holiness  gave  leave  by  word  of  mouth 
for  the  English  professed  in  the  Congregation  of  Mount  Cassin 
to  go  into  England  in  Mission  for  the  further  advancement  of 
the  faith,  the  execution  of  which  grant,  because  of  the  distur- 
bances that  were  then  in  England  betwixt  the  Clergy  and  Society 
was  delayed  to  the  year  following,  and  then  decreed  on  the  5th. 
of  December  in  the  Sacred  Congregation  of  the  Holy  Inquisition. 
During  this  time  died  R.  F.  Gregory  Sayr  the  intended  prime  star 
or  sun  of  the  English  Italian  Benedidtine  Mission,  in  this  like  the 
first  Benedidtine  Mission  from  Italy  to  England,  that  as  that  was 
headed  by  an  illustrious  Gregory  who  was  hindered  in  his 
purpose  in  the  thought  he  had  of  personally  labouring  in  it,  so 
was  also  this  likewise  headed  by  an  illustrious  Gregory,  who  was 


46  CHAPTER     THE     SEVENTEENTH. 

also  frustrated  of  his  purpose  and  intention,  which  was  executed 
by  his  two  brethren  R.  F.  Thomas  Preston  and  R.  F.  Anselm 
Beach  (alias  of  Manchester)  who  landed  at  Yarmouth  in  the  year 
1603  where  he  spent  that  winter,  and  at  Mr.  Francis  Woodhouse 
of  Cisson  near  Wendlam  found  the  Reverend  Dom  Sigebert 
Buckley,  the  only  monk  left  of  the  old  monks  of  Westminster 
whom  King  James  a  few  months  before  had  ordered  to  be  freed 
from  his  prison  at  Fromegham  (Framlingham).  From  which  time 
he  and  F.  Thomas  Preston  took  care  of  the  old  man  till  his 
happy  exit  from  this  world. 

The  English  Spanish  Benedictines  did  not  tarry  long  after, 
but  forth  came  to  open  the  way  to  the  rest,  R.  F.  Austin 
Bradshaw  and  R.  F.  John  Mervin.  And  Mr.  George  Blackwell 
was  ordered  by  his  Holiness  Clement  VIII  (Pontificatus  sui  anno 
11,  5°  Octobris)  not  to  think  of  extending  the  jurisdiction  of  his 
Archpriesthood  over  these  new  missioners  or  other  regulars,  but 
solely  to  watch  over  the  Priests  who  had  been  brought  up  in 
the  Seminaries. 

Their  faculties  were  enriched  with  several  important 
privileges  added  to  those  which  before  had  been  granted  to  the 
Jesuits  and  at  this  time  particularly  conferred  on  the  Bishop  of 
Vasoniensis  who  this  year  took  his  way  for  Scotland,  and 
afterwards  by  Urban  VIII  to  F.  Edmund  Gavel  of  the  Order 
of  Saint  Francis,  and  to  Thomas,  Archbishop  elect  of  Cassel 
in  Ireland,  which  I  took  notice  of  to  show  that  those  ample 
privileges  which  other  orders  enjoy  for  the  English  Missions  were 
almost  all  posterior  to  those  granted  to  the  monks  of  the  Italian 
and  Spanish  Congregation. 

They  had  not  been  long  in  the  mission  when  they  found 
they  should,  whether  they  would  or  no,  be  a  continual  impedi- 
ment to  each  other,  unless  they  were  united  into  one  body ;  for 
that  they  saw  their  concord  being  no  better  than  that  of  confed- 
erates, could  not  be  of  any  durance,  except  they  did  conspire 
into  a  union,  not  only  of  persons,  but  much  more  of  laws  and 
superiors.  For  where  the  heads  are  different  the  members  must 
necessarily  be  divided,  and  where  different  laws  which  draw 
different  or  perhaps  contrary  ways  are  in  force,  no  uniform 


CHAPTER     THE     SEVENTEENTH.  47 

government  can  be  built  upon  them.  Wherefore  after  they  had 
for  a  long  time  deliberated  upon  it,  and  could  not  come  to  a 
resolution,  at  last  that  Wisdom  which  reaches  from  end  to  end 
and  makes  both  one,  inspired  them  to  raise  up  children  to  their 
brethren  and  to  lay  down  whatsoever  power  else  they  had 
separate,  to  receive  a  joint  and  larger  authority  from  the  ancient 
English  Congregation,  which  still  survived  in  the  person  of  the 
Rev.  F.  Sigebert  Buckley  upon  whom  was  devolved  and  in 
whom  preserved  inviolate  all  the  privileges  of  the  old  English 
Benedictine  Congregation.  And  to  this  they  were  mightily 
urged  by  R.  F.  Austin  Baker,  native  of  Abergavenny  in  Wales,  a 
most  egregious  legist  as  any  of  his  times,  and  who  thereby  might 
have  risen  to  the  higher  preferments  of  the  Kingdom,  but  one 
day  "  returning  home  from  a  journey,  his  servant  that  attended 
"  him  left  him  out  of  sight  and  he  being  in  some  profound 
"  thoughts  and  not  marking  the  way  instead  of  going  on  forward 
"  to  a  ford  by  which  an  impetuous  river  might  be  safely  passed, 
"  he  suffered  his  horse  to  conduct  him  by  a  narrow  beaten  path, 
"  which  at  last  brought  him  to  the  middle  of  a  wooden  foot 
"bridge,  large  enough  at  the  first  entrance  but  growing  still 
"  more  and  more  narrow  and  of  an  extraordinary  height  above 
"  the  water.  He  perceived  not  his  danger  till  the  horse  by  stop- 
"  ping  suddenly  and  trembling  awaked  his  rider  who  soon  became 
"  sensible  of  the  mortal  danger  into  which  he  was  engaged.  It 
"  was  impossible  for  him  to  go  forward  or  return  back ;  and  to 
"  leap  into  the  river  which  being  narrower  there  was  both 
"  extreme  deep  and  violent  in  its  course,  (besides  the  greatness  of 
"  the  precipice)  seemed  to  him  (who  could  not  swim),  all  one  as 
"to  leap  into  his  grave.  In  this  extreme  danger,  out  of  which 
"neither  human  prudence  nor  any  natural  causes  could  rescue 
"  him,  necessity  forced  him  to  raise  his  thoughts  to  some  helper 
"  above  nature,  whereupon  he  framed  in  his  mind  such  an  inter- 
"  nal  resolution  as  this.  '  If  ever  I  escape  this  danger,  I  will 
"'  believe  there  is  a  God  who  .hath  more  care  of  my  life  and 
"  '  safety  than  I  have  had  of  his  love  and  worship.'  Thus  he 
"  thought :  and  immediately  thereupon  he  found  that  his  horse's 
"  head  was  turned  round  and  both  horse  and  man  out  of  all  dan- 


40  CHAPTER     THE     SEVENTEENTH. 

"ger.  This  he  plainly  saw,  but  by  what  means  this  was 
"  brought  to  pass  he  never  could  imagine.  However  he  never 
"had  any  doubt  but  that  his  deliverance  was  supernatural."* 
Upon  this  he  sought  God  in  good  earnest,  was  reconciled  to 
the  Church  and  became  a  monk  at  St.  Justina  at  Padua  in 
1 605,  but  wanting  health  the  fathers  dismissed  him  with  a  very 
liberal  viaticum,  and  testimony  of  his  religious  behaviour,  and 
offered  him  a  permission  to  be  professed  in  any  of  their  monaste- 
ries, or  recommendation  to  any  other  Congregation.  All  along  the 
way  a  secret  blind  impulse  vehemently  urged  him  home,  at 
which  he  often  wondered  not  being  able  to  give  any  reasonable 
account  of  it ;  and  it  was  so  strong,  that  against  his  settled  reso- 
lution of  going  leisurely  home  that  he  might  curiously  survey 
the  nature  and  fashion  of  the  countries  through  which  he  was 
to  pass,  he  never  ceased  posting  till  he  came  to  London,  where 
at  his  arrival  he  was  entertained  with  the  sad  news  that  his 
father  lay  sick  of  an  infirmity  from  which  he  was  never  like 
to  recover.  Then  he  perceived  that  the  abovesaid  secret  impulse 
was  sent  by  God  as  a  messenger  to  hasten  him  that  he  might 
assist  his  father  at  his  death,  as  he  did  to  his  great  joy  and 
comfort,  easily  obtaining  the  old  man's  consent  to  quit  the 
heresy  wherein  he  had  lived.  Having  buried  his  father  and 
settled  his  affairs,  he  was  professed  by  the  English  Italian  monks 
in  the  Mission. 


*  R.  F.  Serenus  Cressy  in  the  preface  he  designed  to  the  abridgment  he  made  of  this  Father 
Baker's  works  and  printed  imder  the  title  of  "  Sancta  Sophia." 


49 


CHAPTER  THE   EIGHTEENTH. 

RENOVATION    OF    THE    OLD    BENEDICTINE    CONGREGATION 

OF    ENGLAND. 


FATHER  BAKER  being  then  commissioned  by  them  to  treat 
with  F.  Buckley  about  this  business  of  aggregation,  which  he  had 
demonstrated  both  by  ancient  and  more  modern  laws  and  Canons 
was  a  thing  which  might  be  done,  made  it  his  principal  care 
that  nothing  illegal  should  pass  in  it ;  so  that  if  anything  was 
done  ignorantly  or  not  so  legally  (which  notwithstanding  was 
afterwards  supplied  by  his  Holiness  in  his  Bulls  and  other 
Rescripts)  that  was  done  without  or  against  F.  Baker's  counsel. 
And  the  day  of  the  aggregation  was  the  2ist  of  November,  1607, 
and  mightily  he  sought  to  know  from  the  venerable  old  man  the 
way  of  living  of  both  the  elder  and  the  later  monasteries  of 
England,  but  he  could  tell  nothing  of  older  times  of  his  own 
experience  and  as  for  what  passed  in  Westminster  in  Queen 
Mary's  days  as  the  house  was  but  resettling  it  had  scarce  received 
the  first  tracts  or  delineations  of  monastic  discipline.  They  rose 
at  midnight,  eat  flesh,  and  sat  in  the  refectory  face  to  face  on 
both  sides  the  table,  four  to  every  mess,  as  they  do  in  the  Inns  of 
Court.  At  supper  first  came  a  dish  of  cold  sliced  powdered  beef, 
and  next  after  a  shoulder  of  mutton  roasted;  which  seemed 
strange  diet  to  rise  with  at  midnight,  when  Father  Baker  called 
to  mind  that  the  Italian  monks  rising  at  midnight  eat  no  flesh. 


CHAPTER   THE   NINETEENTH. 

THE    CHIEF    BENEDICTINE    MONASTERIES   OF    ENGLAND. 


AND  now  because  some  miserable  troublesome  men  have 
pretended  there  was  no  other  Congregation  in  England  of  Black 
Benedictine  monks  than  that  of  Cluny  it  will  be  much  to  the 
purpose  to  particularize  here  the  houses  of  both  the  Congrega- 
tions with  the  rates  at  which  they  were  undervalued  at  their 
suppression,  that  the  poor  public  weal  might  not  be  sensible  of 
the  illustrious  Charities  it  was  then  most  sacrilegiously  robbed  of ; 
to  all  which  estates  the  monks  have  renounced  (their  claims)  as 
shall  be  shown,  how  and  when  and  where  in  the  continuation  of 
these  notes. 

The  chief  monasteries  and  houses  only  of  the  old  Benedictine 
Congregation  of  England. 

I.  The  renowned  Abbey  of  St.  Alban's  in  Hertfordshire 
which  had  yearly  £2510  sterling;  which  had  eleven  Priories 
subject  to  it  as  follows  : 

1.  Beaulieu  in  Bedfordshire. 

2.  Belvere  or  Belvoir  in  Lincolnshire ;  its  yearly  income 
£135  sterling. 

3.  Bingham  in  Norfolkshire  consisting  of  16  monks,  £160 
per  annum. 

4.  Hatfield  Peverel  in  Essex,  £83  sterling  yearly. 

5.  St.  James'  in  Hertford,  £88  sterling. 


CHAPTER     THE     NINETEENTH.  51 

6.  Pembroke  or  Monkton  in  Wales. 

7.  Redburn  in  Hertfordshire. 

8.  St.  Trinity  of  Wallingford,  Berks. 

9.  Tynemouth  Priory,  Northumberland. 

10.  The  Nunnery  of  Berkgate,  Bedfordshire,  and 

1 1.  Our  Lady  of  Sopewell,  (a  nunnery)  founded  in  Hertford 
by   Godfrey  Abbot   of  St.   Albans,   £68   sterling.      St.   Alban's 
Abbey  had  also  two  hospitals  standing  just  by  the  Abbey. 

II.  Our    Lady  of  Abingdon  in  Berkshire    £2042    sterling 
yearly.     Its  Priory  of  our  Lady  of  Coin  in  Essex  £175  sterling, 
with  a  cell  at  Edwardeston.     It  had   also  St.  Prides wide's  nun- 
nery at  Oxford  which  was  given  to  this  Abbey  and  not  much 
regarded,   lastly   fell   to   the  Canons    Regular. 

III.  The  famous  Abbey  of  St.  Austin  at  Canterbury  £1412 
sterling  yearly. 

IV.  St.  Martin  of  Battle  in  Sussex,  £987  sterling.     It  had 
two   Priories,  the  first  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  at  Brecon,  the 
other  of  St.  Nicholas  at  Exeter  which  had  £154  sterling. 

V.  St.  Oswald  of  Bardney  in  Lincolnshire  £429  Sterling. 

VI.  St.   John   of  Colchester,  with  cells  at  Barrow  in  Essex, 
and  Wickham  Skeyth  and  Snapes  in  Suffolk. 

VII.  St.     Guthlac     of    Crowland   in   Lincolnshire  £1217 
sterling.     With    Priories  at  Freston,  and  Holland,    Lincolnshire, 
and  at  Cambridge. 

VIII.  Our  Lady  and  St.  Edburg  of  Evesham  in  Worcester- 
shire £1268  sterling.     With  Priories  at  Penwortham,  Lancashire 
and  Alcester,  Warwickshire. 

IX.  Our  Lady  of  York,  £2085  sterling  yearly.    It  had  nine 
Priories. 

1.  St.  Bees  in  Cumberland,  £149  sterling. 

2.  Neddrum  in  Ireland. 

3.  St.  Mary  Magdalen  at  Lincoln. 

4.  St.  Trinity  of  Wetherall  in  Cumberland. 

5.  Sandtoft  and  Haines  in  Lincolnshire. 

6.  Warmington  in  Northumberland. 

7.  Marsh,  in  Nottinghamshire. 

8.  Romburgh,  in  Suffolk. 


52  CHAPTER     THE     NINETEENTH. 

9.     St  Martin's  at  Richmond  in  Yorkshire. 
X.     The  renowned  Abbey  of  St.  Edmund,  King  of  the  East 
Angles  and  Martyr,  in  Suffolk  £233^  sterling. 

And  its  nunnery    of  Thetford  in  the  same  Shire  founded 
by  its  Abbots  £50  sterling  yearly. 

XL  The  egregious  sanctuary  of  our  Lady  of  Glastonbury 
in  Somersetshire  £3508  sterling.  It  had  cells  at  Bristol; 
Basselech,  Monmouthshire  ;  Lammana  in  Cornwall,  and  at 
Kilcumin  and  Ocymild  in  Ireland. 

XII.  St.   Peter  of  Gloucester  £1550  sterling.     It  had  these 
cells  : 

1.  St.   Michael   and  St   Nicholas  at  Ewyas  Harold,  Here- 
fordshire. 

2.  St.  Guthlac  in  Hereford. 

3.  Broomfield  in  Shropshire. 

4.  Kilpeck,  Herefordshire. 

5.  Ewenny,  Glamorganshire. 

6.  St.  Leonard  at  Stanley  in  Gloucestershire. 

XIII.  SS.    Peter    and    Paul    of  Hyde   in   Hampshire   near 
Winchester  £865  sterling. 

XIV.  St.  Bennet  of  Hulm  in  Norfolk  £677  sterling. 

XV.  St.   Aldhelm   of  Malmesbury  in  Wiltshire,  £803  ster- 
ling.    It  had  two  Priories  ;    St.  Michael  of  the  Mount  in  Devon- 
shire  and   our  Lady   of  Pilton   in   the  same    Shire,  which    had 
£56  sterling. 

XVI.  Peterborough  in  Northamptonshire  £1972  sterling. 

XVII.  St.  James   of  Reading  in  Berkshire  £2116  sterling, 
which  had  the  Priories  of : 

St.   James  of  Leominister  in  Herefordshire,    May  and  Rindelgros 
in  Scotland. 

XVIII.  The  glorious  Abbey  of  Our  Lady  and  St.  Benedict 
of  Ramsey  in  Huntingdon,  which  had  yearly  £1983  sterling,  and 
in  the  same  Shire  the  Priories  of  St.  Ive  and  Modney. 

XIX.  SS.  Peter  and  Paul  of  Shrewsbury  £615  sterling,  with 
the  Priory  of  St.  Gregory  at  Morfield  in  Shropshire. 

XX.  St.  German's  of  Selby  in  Yorkshire  £8 1 9  sterling,  with 
a  cell  at  Snaith  in  the  same  county. 


CHAPTER     THE     NINETEENTH.  53 

XXI.  Our  Lady  of  Tavestock  in  Devonshire  £702  sterling. 

It  had  Priories  at 
j.     Cowick  near  Exeter. 

2.  Modbury,  and 

3.  St.  Nicholas,  at  Trescaw  in  Scilly. 

XXII.  Our    Lady    of  Thorney    in    Cambridgeshire    £508 
sterling,  with  a  cell  at  Deping,  Lincolnshire. 

XXIII.  St.  Peter  of  Westminster  in  Middlesex  near  London 
£3977  sterling.     It  had  two  Priories : 

1.  Our  Lady  of  Hurley  in  Berks  £I34  sterling. 

2.  St.  Bartholomew  of  Sudbury  in  Suffolk  £122  sterling. 

XXIV.  Our    Lady    of  Winchelcomb    in    Gloucestershire, 
£759  sterling. 

All  the  Abbots  of  these  Abbeys  had  their  places  in  the  House 
of  Lords  or  Parliament  as  Barons  and  Peers  of  the  Realm. 
Those  of  the  Abbeys  which  follow  were  also  counted  among  the 
Spiritual  Barons  and  Peers  of  the  Realm  but  had  not  the  pre- 
rogative of  seat  in  Parliament. 

I.  S.  Peter  of  Abbotsbury  in  Dorsetshire  £485  sterling. 

II.  Our  Lady  and  St.  John  Baptist  of  Alchester  in  War- 
wickshire   >£ioi    sterling;     afterwards    made    a    Priory     under 
Evesham. 

III.  Athelny  in  Somersetshire  £209  sterling. 

IV.  Our  Lady  and  St.  Modwen   of  Burton-on-Trent  ^35^ 
sterling. 

V.  SS.  Mary,   Peter  and  Benedict  of  Cerne  in  Dorsetshire 
£623  sterling. 

VI.  St.   Peter  of  Chertsey  in  Surrey  ^744  sterling.     It  had 
a  Priory  at  Cardigan  in  Wales  £13  sterling. 

VII.  Our  Lady  and  St.  Eadburg  of  Eynsham  in  Oxfordshire 
£421  sterling. 

VIII.  St.  Saviour  of  Feversham  in  Kent  £286  sterling. 

IX.  Our  Lady  and  St.  Michael  of  Middleton  in  Dorsetshire 
£720  sterling. 

X.  St.  Peter  of  Muchelney  in  Somersetshire  £498  sterling. 

XI.  Our  Lady  of  Pershore  in  Worcestershire  £666  sterling. 

XII.  Our  Lady  of  Sherbourne  in  Dorsetshire  £682  sterling. 


54  CHAPTER     THE     NINETEENTH. 

It  had  two  Priories  : 

1.  Kidwelly  in  Carmarthenshire  £29  sterling. 

2.  Horton  in  Dorsetshire. 

XIII.  Our  Lady  of  Tewkesbury  in  Gloucestershire 
sterling.     It  had  these  Priories  : 

1.  St.  James'  at  Bristol. 

2.  Cranburn  in  Dorsetshire, 

3.  Derehurst  in  Gloucestershire. 

4.  Goldcliffin  Monmouthshire. 

5.  Cardiff  in  Glamorganshire. 

XIV.  Whitby,  otherwise  St.  Hilda  of  Strenshall  in  York- 
shire, £805  sterling.     It  had  these  Priories  in  Yorkshire : 

1 .  Hackness. 

2.  Middlesborough. 

3.  Gotheland,  and 

4.  All  Saints  at  York. 

XV.  St.  James  of  Walden  in  Essex  £406  sterling. 

XVI.  St.  Wereburg  in  the  City  of  Chester  £1073  sterling. 

XVII.  Wymundham  in  Norfolk. 

XVIII.  Our  Lady  and  St.  Peter  at  Humbersteyn  in  Lin- 
colnshire. 

Now  follow  the  Cathedral  Priories  whose  Abbots  were  their 
Bishops,  there  being  at  those  Cathedrals  none  but  Benedictine 
monks  to  compose  their  Chapters  as  Canons  do  now-a-days  in 
other  places. 

I.  The  Archiepiscopal  Priory  of  the  Primate  and  Mother 
Church  of  all  England,  St.  Saviour  of  Canterbury  £2489  sterling. 
It  had  three  Priories  depending  on  it: 

1.  Risbury  (Bucks)  of  14  monks.  (?) 

2.  at  Dover  £232  sterling. 

3.  Canterbury  College,  Oxford.   It  had  also  other  Priories. 

II.  Coventry   whose    Prior    was  a  Baron    and  Peer  of  the 
Realm  and  had  place  in  Parliament. 

III.  Durham,  £1615   sterling,    and  its   College  at  Oxford 
£  1 15  sterling.     It  had  moreover  these  Priories  or  Cells. 

1.  Coldingham  in  Scotland. 

2.  Finchall  £146  sterling. 


CHAPTER     THE     NINETEENTH.  $$ 

3.  Lindisfarne  £60  sterling. 

4.  St.  Leonard's  of  Stamford  in  Lincolnshire  £36  sterling. 
5  &  6.     St.  Peter  at  Wearmouth   and  St.  Paul  at  Jarrow, 

which  had  been  the  monasteries  of  St.  Bennet  Biscop  and  the 
School  of  Venerable  Bede,  Do&or  of  the  English  Church  ;  the 
first  rated  at  only  £26  sterling  a  year,  the  other  at  £40  sterling. 

7.  Lynch,  and 

8.  Warkworth  in  Northumberland. 

IV.  Ely  in  Cambridgeshire  £1301  sterling. 

V.  Norwich  £1041  sterling.     It  had  these  Priories  : 

1 .  St.  Leonard's  by  Norwich. 

2.  Aldeby. 

3.  Lynn. 

4.  Yarmouth. 

5.  North  Eltham,  in  Norfolk,  and 

6.  Hoxne,  in  Suffolk. 

VI.  Rochester  in  Kent  £486  sterling.     It  had  a  Priory  at 
Felixstowe  in  Suffolk. 

VII.  Worcester  £1386  sterling. 

VIII.  Winchester  £1507  sterling. 

IX.  Bath    in    Somersetshire   £695   sterling.     It  had  these 
Priories  or  Cells  : 

1.  Dunster  in  Somersetshire,  and 

2.  Waterford,  Cork,  Legan  and  Youghal  in  Ireland. 

And  here  I  take  notice  that  the  Schism  has  made  or  erected 
Bishoprics  in  three  of  the  former  Abbeys,  viz,  Peterborough, 
Gloucester  and  Chester.  Now  follow  the  chief  Priories  of  this 
Congregation  which  were  immediate  by  themselves  not  subject 
to  any  Abbeys  or  Cathedrals. 

I.  Our  Lady  of  Bradwell  in  Buckinghamshire. 

II.  Birkenhead  in  Cheshire  jT  102  sterling. 

III.  Rowland  in  Lancashire  £65  sterling. 

IV.  Our  Lady  of  Hatfield   Brodoke  or  Bradstock  in  Wilt- 
shire £170  sterling. 

V.  Our  Lady  of  Luffield  in  Buckinghamshire. 

VI.  St.   Mary   Magdalen   of  Monk   Bretton  in    Yorkshire 
£322  sterling. 


56  CHAPTER     THE     NINETEENTH. 

VII.  Our  Lady  of  Great  Malvern  in  Worcestershire  £375 
sterling.     It  had  a  cell  at  Avecot  in  Warwickshire. 

VIII.  Lesser  Malvern  in  the  same  Shire  £102  sterling. 

IX.  Pill    in    Pembrokeshire    which    had    belonged    to   the 
famous  Benedictine  reform  of  Tyrone  in  France  £52  sterling. 

X.  Sneshal  in  Buckinghamshire  £24  sterling. 

XI.  St.  Nicholas  of  Spalding  in  Lincolnshire,  which  had 
belonged  to  St.  Nicholas  of  Angers  in  France  £878  sterling. 

XII.  Sandwell  in  Buckinghamshire  £38  sterling. 

XIII.  Candwell  or  Caldwell  in   Bedfordshire,  (which  Speed 
through  a  mistake  assigns  to  Black  Canons)  £148  sterling. 

The  most  remarkable  nunneries  (for  the  others  are  omitted) 
which  were  not  only  visited  by  the  Bishops  but  also  by  the 
Visitors  chosen  at  the  General  Chapter  of  the  Congregation. 

I.  St.  Eadburg  of  Barking  in  Essex.     £1684  sterling. 

II.  St.  Trinity  of  Ellenstow  in  Berkshire  £325  sterling. 

III.  Godstow  near  Oxford  £319  sterling. 

IV.  Rumsey  in  Hampshire  £528  sterling. 

V.  Holiwell  at  London  £347  sterling. 

VI.  Our  Lady  in  Clerkenwell  £282  sterling. 

VII.  Sheppy  in  Kent  >£I29  sterling. 

VIII.  The  noble   nunnery   of  Shaftesbury    £1329  sterling. 
Moreover  the  Congregation  had  a  famous  College  at  Oxford 

now  known  by  the  name  of  Gloucester  Hall  (Worcester  College) 
and  another  at  Cambridge  called  Monks'  College  and  Bucking- 
ham College  (St.  Peter's)  because  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  had 
been  a  great  benefactor  to  it.  These  Colleges  were  common  to 
those  houses  of  the  Congregation  which  had  not  places  of  study 
in  those  Universities. 

The  Congregation  frequented  for  its  General  Chapters 
chiefly  St.  Andrew  of  Northampton  because  it  standing  in  the 
middle  of  the  kingdom  was  of  easier  access  to  the  Congregation, 
and  Bermondsey  in  Southwark  in  London,  because  there  the 
Fathers  were  out  of  the  noise  of  the  Court  which  stood  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river  at  Westminster.  Both  these  houses  belonged 
to  the  Congregation  of  Cluny  which  signified  nothing  to  this 
Congregation  which  regarded  solely  its  conveniency  in  election 


CHAPTER     THE      NINETEENTH. 


57 


of  place.  These  Cluny  Monks  were  brought  in  by  William 
Earl  of  Warren,  son-in-law  to  King  William  I,  about  the  year 
1077  and  enjoyed  there  no  other  monasteries  than  (these)  which 
follow  and  were  but  Priories. 


H 


CHAPTER   THE   TWENTIETH. 

THE    MONASTERIES   OF    THE    CLUNIAC    CONGREGATION 

IN    ENGLAND. 


I.  St.  Pancras  of  Lewes  in  Sussex  of  which  the  yearly  value 
was  £109 i  sterling. 

II.  St.  Saviour  of  Bermondsey   above  mentioned  £548   st- 

III.  St.  Andrew  of  Thetford  in  Norfolk  £418  sterling. 

IV.  St.  Andrew  of  Northampton  £334  sterling. 

V.  Our   Lady   in  the    fields    at   Northampton,   a  nunnery, 
£119  sterling. 

VI.  St.  John    the    Evangelist   of  Pontefraft    in   Yorkshire 
£472  sterling. 

VII.  St.  Milburg  of  Wenlock  in  Shropshire  £434  sterling. 

VIII.  St.    Trinity     of  Lenton    in    Nottinghamshire    £417 
sterling. 

IX.  Farley  in  Wiltshire  £2 1 7  sterling. 

X.  SS.  Peter  and  Paul  of  Montague  in  Herefordshire  £524 
sterling. 

XI.  Castleacre  in  Norfolk  £324  sterling. 

XII.  Our  Lady  and  all  Saints  in  Westacre   £308  sterling. 

XIII.  Messingham. 

XIV.  St.  James  near  Exeter  in  Devon. 

XV.  St.  James  in  Derbyshire. 

XVI.  Stangate  in  Essex.   £43  sterling. 

XVII.  Dudley  in  Staffordshire. 


CHAPTER     THE     TWENTIETH,  59 

XVIII.  Kirby  Beller,  £178  sterling. 

XIX.  Mendham  in  Bucks,  £23  sterling. 

XX.  St.  Helen  in  the  Island  of  White. 

XXI.  St.  Maur  of  Clifford  in  Herefordshire,  £65  sterling. 

XXII.  Carswel  in  Dorchester. 

XXIII.  Horksley  in  Essex,  £27  sterling. 

XXIV.  Hagham  in  Lincolnshire. 

XXV.  St.  Clare  of  Malpasse  in  Wales,  £14  sterling. 

XXVI.  Normansbery. 

XXVII.  Aldermanshave.         ? 

XXVIII.  Cockersand  in  Lancashire,  £2 1 8  sterling. 

XXIX.  Tivardreath  in  Cornwall,  £151  sterling. 

XXX.  Pritwell  in  Essex,  £194  sterling. 

XXXI.  Newton  Longville  in  Norfolk. 

XXXII.  St.  Mary  of  Wangford  in  Suffolk  £30  sterling. 

XXXIII.  Our  Lady  of  the  Rock  in  Wilts,  £278  sterling. 

XXXIV.  St.  Sepulchre  of  Bromholme  in  Norfolk,  £144  st. 

XXXV.  St.  Mary  Magdalen  in  Barnstaple  Devon,  £129  st. 

XXXVI.  St.  John  Evangelist  of  Horton,  >fni  sterling. 

XXXVII.  Tekeford  in  Bucks,  £126  sterling. 

XXXVIII.  St.  Austin    of  Daventry    in    Northamptonshire, 
£238  sterling. 

The  Abbey  of  Cluny  itself  had  two  Manors,  Ledcombe  and 
Offord,  and  moreover  the  Cluny  Monks  had  three  hospitals  at 
London  :  St.  Giles  by  Cripplegate,  another  by  Aldgate,  and  the 
third  in  the  suburbs  of  Holborn.  Cluny  had  nothing  more  in 
England,  and  upon  the  Wars  of  Henry  V  with  France  they  were 
not  suffered  to  have  any  communication  with  their  brethren  out 
of  England  ;  upon  which  several  of  them  took  new  Titles  of 
Foundation  and  joined  themselves  to  the  Congregation  here 
exposed  in  these  notes  particularly ;  as  Lenton  and  Daventry  had 
done  long  before. 

Ingenious  Mr.  Pitts,  the  learned  Jesuit  Possevin  and  the 
laborious  Benedictine  Wion  have  made  great  mistakes  in  ascrib- 
ing to  the  Cluny  monks  in  the  Province  of  England,  both  men 
and  monasteries  which  never  belonged  to  them.  The  ground  or 
cause  of  their  mistake  was  that  they  found  houses  styled  of  Cluny 


60  CHAPTER     THE     TWENTIETH. 

and  modelled  of  Cluny  reformation  because  they  had  taken  on 
them  that  sort  of  reform ;  but  they  never  incorporated  in  the 
Congregation  or  Order  of  Cluny.  And  of  this  the  famous  Abbey 
of  St.  James  at  Reading  is  an  illustrious  example  as  the  Apostola- 
tus  evidences  (p.  152  TracT:.  2)  and  the  same  book  gives  other 
examples  (p.  101,  ibid)  of  monasteries  taking  on  them  certain 
reforms  without  incorporating  in  them. 

But  now  concerning  the  aggregation  to  the  old  Benedictine 
Congregation  of  England.  He  (  F.  Sigebert  Buckley)  aggre- 
gated but  two  at  first,  to  which  he  afterwards  added  as  I  find  no 
less  than  ten  more.  The  first  person  aggregated  the  said  2ist  of 
November  was  the  V.  R.  Father  Vincent  Sadler  (called  also 
Robert  Walter  or  Faustus  Sadleir  or  Sadler)  born  in  Warwick- 
shire at  a  place  called  Collier's  Oak  in  the  parish  of  Fillongley 
( Hillongley)  who  forsaking  his  office  under  Sir  Walter  Mildmay 
then  Secretary  of  State  to  Queen  Elizabeth  and  going  a  pilgri- 
mage to  Rome  was  there  after  he  had  studied  for  some  years 
ordained  Priest  by  Pope  Paul  V.  and  by  him  sent  into  the  English 
Mission,  where  he  joined  himself  to  the  English  Italian  monks 
and  became  a  member  of  their  Congregation,  and  was  now 
incorporated  into  the  old  Benedictine  body  of  England  and  made 
a  monk  of  Westminster.  (Nov.  2ist  1607.) 

The  second  was  R.  F.  Edward  Maihew  or  May  ( he  shews 
them  to  be  the  same  names  in  his  Trophies  speaking  of  St. 
Osmund, )  of  Dinton  in  Wiltshire  not  far  from  Salisbury,  who 
after  twelve  years  spent  in  the  mission  there  took  the  habit  of  St. 
Benedict  at  the  hands  of  Dom  Anselm  of  Manchester,  and  at  the 
end  of  his  Noviceship  was  the  said  2 1  st  of  November  ( 1 607) 
professed  by  Father  Buckley  at  that  time  through  I  know  not 
what  occasion  detained  in  the  Gatehouse  prison  at  Westminster. 
He  mightily  admires  the  day  of  the  aggregation  because  it 
proved  to  be  the  same  with  that  of  the  restoration  of  the  Abbey 
by  D.  Feckenham  in  the  time  of  Queen  Mary  on  which  circum- 
stance none  of  them  thought  or  reflected  till  all  the  ceremony 
and  business  was  over.  Moreover  he  protests  that  the  good  old 
Father  Sigebert,  though  almost  consumed  with  misery  and  age 
yet  enjoyed  his  sight  to  the  end  of  his  holy  work,  which  done, 


CHAPTER     THE      TWENTIETH.  6l 

he  became  quite  blind ;  "  I  write  "  saith  he  "  what  I  know  for 
certain,  for  that  day  at  my  profession  he  helped  to  put  on  me 
my  religious  habit. " 

This  aggregation  was  entertained  by  His  Holiness  Pope  Paul 
V.  and  approved  as  the  first  dawning  of  a  full  and  entire  union. 
And  in  effect  it  was  so  happy  a  beginning  that  a  union  without  it 
could  never  have  found  place  amongst  men  of  such  different 
bodies  and  pretentions  that  they  scarce  ever  would  have  found 
where  to  lay  the  corner  stone.  But  before  they  could  arrive  at 
the  wished  for  union,  many  difficulties  were  to  be  waded  through 
which  could  be  cleared  but  by  little  and  little. 


62 


CHAPTER  THE  TWENTY-FIRST. 

THE     BEGINNING     OF     DoUAY     CONVENT. 


THE  land  was  sorely  disposed  in  regard  of  Catholics  when 
the  new  monastic  missioners  arrived,  and  the  effusion  of  Priests' 
blood  which  cruel  Queen  Elizabeth  had  began  still  continued  ; 
but  after  that  in  1605  the  execrable  attempt  of  Gunpowder 
Treason  was  broken  out  the  condition  of  Catholics  became  very 
sad  and  unsafe  :  (and  hence  it  is  very  credible  happened  Father 
Buckley's  present  imprisonment,)  that  affair  having  been  the 
design  of  a  few  seduced  Catholics  decayed  in  their  temporal 
estates,  and  therefore  apt  for  any  desperate  chance,  but  imputed 
to  the  whole  body  of  Catholics  by  those  who  probably  contrived 
the  business  for  that  purpose.  Wherefore  F.  Austin  Bradshaw, 
Vicar  General  of  the  English  Spanish  Benedictine  Missioners 
seeing  such  a  dismal  storm  found  himself  in  a  necessity  of  with- 
drawing out  of  the  land  ;  and  fearing  the  violent  cruelties  in 
force  would  soon  bereave  his  mission  of  a  continued  succession 
unless  they  could  procure  some  refuge  both  to  shelter  themselves 
in  when  such  violent  storms  broke  out,  and  a  nursery  for  the 
education  of  such  as  the  Spirit  of  God  should  dispose  to  such  a 
vocation,  for  both  which  purposes  Spain  was  too  remote,  he  went 
to  Douay  where  he  obtained  a  Dormitory  in  Anchin  College. 
Thither  he  called  some  of  the  English  Fathers  of  that  Congrega- 
tion who  were  intended  and  designed  immediately  for  England, 
he  gave  order  likewise  to  such  of  his  Obedience  that  were  there 


CHAPTER     THE     TWENTY-FIRST.  63 

already  to  send  over  some  youths  to  be  educated  in  this  new 
obtained  place.     (End  of  November   1605). 

A  year  or  two  after  finding  this  habitation  too  straight  and 
incommodious  for  his  much  larger  designs  he  removed  from 
thence  into  a  quarter,  near  and  belonging  to  the  Trinitarians, 
and  which  he  rented  of  those  Fathers,  which  they  found  proper 
enough,  and  themselves  sufficiently  numerous  (but  five  with  a 
lay  brother)  to  venture  upon  Conventual  duties ;  kept  choir  and 
took  novices.  In  this  house  Brother  Peter  was  clothed  and 
merited  by  his  fortunate  labours  the  favour  of  the  town  and  the 
first  considerable  charity  they  did  them.  The  tenant  of  the 
house  before  (they  took  it)  was  accused  of  stamping  and  counter- 
feiting money  ;  his  process  was  made  before  Magistrates,  he  was 
found  guilty,  condemned  and  put  to  death.  His  friends  to  vin- 
dicate his  and  their  own  honour  appealed  to  the  Court  of 
Mechlin,  pleaded  the  party's  innocence,  charged  the  magistrates 
(with)  either  misinformation  or  malice,  called  for  a  review  of  the 
accusation  and  justice  upon  his  judges.  In  fine,  the  magistrates 
found  themselves  so  pressed  and  the  evidence  so  imperfect,  that 
they  expected  every  day  a  nulling  of  their  own  sentence  and  a 
severe  amend  upon  themselves  ;  when  Brother  Peter  digging  in 
the  garden  made  a  discovery  ( very  advantageous  to  them  and  a 
manifest  justification  of  their  proceeding)  of  forges,  moulds  and 
other  instruments  that  coiners  use  ;  in  acknowledgment  of  which 
good  service,  the  town  in  1607  released  them  (from  payment  of) 
the  maltot  till  it  was  recalled  in  1645. 

Some  years  they  lived  in  this  low  and  obscure  condition,  still 
practising  austerities  greater  than  their  necessity  before  they  were 
taken  notice  of  or  so  much  as  known  to  Philip  Cavarel  Abbot  of 
St.  Vaast.  This  charitable  Abbot  and  munificent  prelate  was 
busy  at  this  time  in  building  a  College  for  the  Jesuits  in  Arras. 
As  he  went  one  day  to  see  how  the  building  advanced,  he  met 
there  an  old  Welshman,  John  Ishel,  chaplain  of  our  Lady's,  who 
was  very  seriously  gazing  upon  the  work.  The  Abbot  asked 
him  what  he  thought  of  it.  The  Chaplain  replied  that  it  was 
a  stately  fabric  and  not  misapplied,  yet  it  was  his  opinion  that 
his  Lordship  would  do  better  to  begin  his  charity  towards  his 


64  CHAPTER     THE     TWENTY-FIRST. 

own  Order,  and  that  there  were  at  Douay  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  English  Benedidlines  that  had  not  a  house  to  put  their 
heads  in,  or  wherewithal  to  subsist.  This  news  made  some 
impression  on  the  Abbot's  mind,  who  besides  a  natural  tendency 
to  do  good  to  all,  had  a  singular  tenderness  for  the  Order  of 
which  he  was  so  considerable  a  member  and  ornament. 

A  fortnight  afterwards,  F.  Bradshaw  not  knowing  what  had 
passed  went  over  from  Douay  to  present  a  petition  to  him  in 
behalf  of  his  distressed  brethren.  The  Abbot  entertained  him 
very  coldly,  not  so  much  as  admitting  him  to  his  table,  and 
despatched  him  the  next  day  with  an  inconsiderable  alms. 


CHAPTER  THE  TWENTY-SECOND. 

THE     BEGINNING     OF     DlEULWART     CONVENT. 


YET  during  these  miseries  and  hardships  this  F.  Bradshaw 
obtained  a  place  for  a  Convent  in  Lorraine  ;  for  the  better 
understanding  of  which  affair  we  must  trace  the  business  a  little 
higher.  In  1602  a  Primatial  Church  was  erected  at  Nancy  in 
Lorraine  by  the  authority  of  Pope  Clement  VIII,  to  which  the 
Canons  of  a  Collegiate  Church  in  a  place  called  Dieulwart, 
situated  on  the  Moselle  in  the  territory  of  the  Bishop  of  Verdun, 
and  in  the  diocese  of  the  Bishop  of  Tulle  ( both  Princes  of  the 
Sacred  Empire)  were  transferred  together  with  all  their  revenues. 
Sometime  after  F.  Bradshaw  upon  notice  of  the  vacancy  of  this 
old  Collegiate  Church,  made  all  the  interest  he  could  to  obtain 
it.  The  gift  of  it  was  in  the  Cardinal  Prince  Charles  of  Lor- 
raine ( now  Primate  of  the  new  erected  Primatial  Church  at 
Nancy,)  the  Venerable  Dean  and  Canons  thereof  as  also  of 
Prince  Eric  of  Lorraine,  Bishop  of  Verdun  and  of  the  Very 
Reverend  John  Mallaneus  a  Procellettis,  Bishop  of  Tulle. 

The  chief  person  in  obtaining  this  grant  was  one  Mr.  Arthur 
Pitts,  an  English  clergyman  who  was  very  powerful  with  his 
said  Eminence,  and  was  then  Canon  and  Theologal  of  the  noble 
Abbey  of  Remiremont,  and  wonderfully  zealous  for  the  English 
Benedictine  Mission.  He  then  obtained  it  (the  old  Collegiate 
Church  of  St.  Laurence  at  DieufwartJ  of  the  Cardinal  (and)  the 
Dean  and  Canons  of  Nancy  for  Father  Bradshaw  in  behalf  of  the 


66  CHAPTER     THE     TWENTY-SECOND. 

English  Benedictines.  The  grant  bears  date  the  2nd  of  Decem- 
ber 1606,  and  Father  Bradshaw  being  at  Verdun  got  the  grant 
confirmed  by  the  Bishop  of  that  City,  with  his  orders  to  the 
officers  of  Dieulwart  for  to  take  legal  possession  of  it  December 
5th.  1606;  and  immediately  that  very  day  gave  a  procuration 
before  a  notary  in  due  form  from  Verdun  to  the  said  Mr.  Arthur 
Pitts,  by  virtue  of  which,  with  the  solemnity  used  on  such 
occasions  he  was  put  into  possession  of  the  said  Church  and  all 
that  was  granted  with  it,  by  the  officers  of  the  town  of  Dieulwart, 
for  and  in  behalf  of  the  English  Benedictines,  2 6th.  of  December 
1606.  Now  it  is  to  be  noted  that  though  those  countries  were 
then  subject  to  the  crown  of  France  subdued  by  King  Henry  II 
yet  this  donation  needed  no  confirmation  from  France,  for  that 
Dieulwart  had  been  part  of  an  estate  of  a  Prince  of  the  house  of 
Lorraine,  who  taking  to  the  Church,  gave  to  the  Cathedral  of 
Verdun  of  which  he  became  Bishop,  the  little  territory  of  Dieul- 
wart ;  and  though  long  before  the  country  was  become  subject 
to  France  as  I  said,  yet  when  this  Collegiate  Church  was  thus 
given  to  these  Fathers,  the  laws  of  France  did  not  speak  law 
there.  Their  force  in  those  parts  is  of  later  date  than  the 
English  Benedictine  establishment  at  Dieulwart.  This  I  have 
here  noted  because  Louis  the  Great  in  1707  questioned  their 
establishment  as  not  having  had  his  royal  approbation  according 
to  an  order  he  put  out  many  years  before  about  building  and 
founding  new  monasteries. 

But  to  return  to  the  donation.  The  Bishop  of  Tulle  con- 
firmed it  April  the  i8th  in  1609.  The  original  of  these  acts  are 
kept  in  the  archives  of  Dieulwart.  The  two  Congregations  of 
Italy  and  Spain  were  excluded  from  the  benefit  of  this  gift  as 
appears  by  many  acts,  which  for  a  testimony  of  the  zeal  of  those 
who  by  this  sought  the  reconversion  of  England  and  the  re- 
establishment  of  the  Order  of  Saint  Benedict  in  the  said  king- 
dom, still  remain  in  the  said  archives.  And  Mr.  Pitts  in  his  acts 
adds  that  the  Very  Reverend  FF.  Austin  Bradshaw  and  Leander 
of  St.  Martin  had  promised  him  in  their  letters  to  him,  ( the 
better  to  move  his  charity  in  this  affair, )  that  Dieulwart  should 
be  the  head  of  the  English  Congregation  and  the  chief  residence 


CHAPTER     THE     TWENTY-SECOND.  67 

of  the  President  General  thereof,  an  article  agreed  to  by  the  said 
two  RR.  Fathers  upon  several  other  occasions  as  their  letters 
still  extant  at  Dieulwart  make  appear. 

And  the  Spanish  Congregation  upon  information  of  the 
necessities  of  their  English  Brethren  obtained  letters  in  their 
behalf  from  the  King  of  Spain  to  Albert  Archduke  of  Austria 
and  Governor  of  the  Low  Countries,  to  whom  also  the  Most 
Reverend  General  Perez  writ,  as  likewise  the  English  Bene- 
didlines  in  Spain  ;  the  Archduke  in  1606  recommended  them  to 
Abbot  Cavarel  as  to  the  common  Father  of  his  country  and 
particularly  of  the  afflicted.  Also  the  Archbishop  of  Damascus, 
His  Holiness'  Nuncius  at  Brussels  writ  to  the  same  effecl:.  And 
the  magistrates  of  Douay  gave  an  ample  testimony  dated  1 607  of 
the  English  Fathers'  good  behaviour  and  religious  conversation. 
The  Magnificus  Retfor  in  a  paper  signed  by  him  ( Marontus 
Comes )  said  no  more  than  that  such  persons  had  been  admitted 
to  live  quietly  in  the  University. 

After  this  the  Abbot  seriously  took  them  into  his  protection, 
bought  a  little  house  for  them  and  ground  about  it  sufficient  to 
build  a  more  convenient  habitation ;  and  while  he  was  laying 
the  designs  and  providing  materials,  the  Fathers  now  grown 
more  in  esteem  found  means  to  get  lessons  in  Marchin  College, 
an  habitation  and  maintenance  of  several  English  pensioners,  and 
sent  for  more  of  their  brethren  out  of  Spain  and  took  novices  at 
home ;  and  no  small  encouragement  to  the  Abbot  of  Arras  in 
his  designs  for  the  distressed  Community  was  the  following 
letter  of  Cardinal  Montalt,  Protestor  of  the  Congregations  of 
Mount  Cassin  and  Valladolid. 

Admodum  Reverende  Pater, 

Ad  prote&ionis  munus  quod  Congregationis 

turn  Cassinensis  turn  Vallisoletanas  sustineo,  attinere  videtur  ut 
omnia  verae  charitatis  officia  quibus  R.P.V.  earundem  Congrega- 
tionum  Monachos  Anglos  in  Belgio,  ac  praesertim  pro  monasterio 
in  civitate  Duacensi  aedificando  conficiendoque  prosequitur  grata 
acceptaque  habeam,  in  id  certe  incubiturus  ut  nullam  unquam 
pragtermittam  occasionem  qua  illis  rebusque  suis  esse  adjumento 
queam.  Quandoquidem  vero  ipsos  monachos  apud  Paternitatem 


68  CHAPTER     THE     TWENTY-SECOND. 

vestram  haudquaquam  nova  commendatione  indigere  certus  sum, 
tan  turn  hisce  adjiciam,  quicquid  eorum  commodis  accessum 
fuerit  mihimetipsi  aeque  ac  si  proprium  esset  perpetuo  fore  jucun- 
dissimum.  Ceterum  illam  benevalere  et  a  Deo  prospera  omnia 
consequi  desidero. 

Roma?  die  X  Maii.  MDCVIII. 
Paternitatis  vestras 

uti  Prater  Card.  Montaltus. 

Which  for  those    who  are  strangers    to  Latin    I  have  thus 
Englished  : 

Very  Reverend  Father, 

It  seems  to  belong  to  the  charge  of  Protector- 
ship which  I  exercise  in  regard  of  the  Congregations  of  Mount 
Cassin  and  Valladolid  that  I  gratefully  accept  all  your  charitable 
offices  to  the  English  Monks  of  the  said  Congregations  in 
Flanders  and  particularly  in  rearing  them  a  monastery  at  Douay. 
I  shall  let  no  occasion  escape  in  which  I  may  ever  be  able  to 
render  you  any  service  in  your  affairs  ;  and  as  I  am  certain  those 
said  Monks  need  no  new  commendation  to  your  Paternity  I  shall 
only  add  that  whatever  kindnesses  are  done  to  them  I  shall  take 
as  done  to  myself.  As  to  the  rest  I  wish  your  Paternity  perfect 
health  and  all  prosperity  from  God. 

From  Rome  on  the  loth  of  May   1608, 
Your  Paternity's  Brother 

Cardinal  Montalt. 


69 


CHAPTER   THE   TWENTY-THIRD. 

THE     FIRST     NOVICES     OF     DoUAY. 


THEIR  first  Novice  was  R.  F.  Joseph  Haworth  (a  Sancta 
Maria)  a  Lancastrian  who  made  an  oblation  of  himself  to  the 
Order  on  the  i8th  of  July  1607,  and  by  a  solemn  oath  vowed  to 
R.  F.  Bradshaw  that  he  would  take  the  holy  habit  which  he 
faithfully  performed.  And  as  in  1608  Dieulwart  took  the  form 
of  a  convent  by  the  monks  who  began  that  year  to  live  there 
conventually  and  Douay  was  but  a-hatching  he  was  professed  for 
Dieulwart ;  and  in  1624  on  the  24th  of  June  died  at  St.  Male's 
not  without  the  opinion  and  signs  of  great  sanctity.  For  many 
diseased  and  infirm  persons  visiting  his  sepulchre  in  the  chapel  of 
Clermont  where  he  lay  buried,  obtained  their  desired  health, 
whereof  they  gave  a  public  testimony  under  their  hands  and 
seals. 

The  second  was  Nicholas  Fitzjames  of  Redlinch  in  Somerset- 
shire, a  secular  Priest,  May  I2th  1607,  professed  in  1608  on  the 
1 5th  of  May  for  the  convent  of  Dieulwart  of  which  for  some 
years  he  was  afterwards  Prior.  He  was  also  Novice-Master  in 
which  office  he  had  the  honour  of  having  Dr.  Gifford  Dean  of 
Lisle  and  afterwards  Archbishop  of  Rheims  for  one  of  his 
novices,  who  then  took  the  name  of  Gabriel  of  St.  Mary,  which 
he  kept  to  his  dying  day  even  in  his  Archiepiscopal  dignity ; 
however  in  these  notes  I  shall  use  the  name  of  Gifford.  Though 
he  may  be  esteemed  a  Founder  of  Dieulwart  for  that  his  money 


JO  CHAPTER     THE     TWENTY-THIRD. 

gave  it  the  form  of  a  Convent,  he  was  past  fifty  when  he  . 
became  a  monk  and  had  been  Theologal  to  nothing  less  than  the 
holy  Cardinal  St.  Charles  Borromeus  Archbishop  of  Milan 
which  is  one  of  the  first  Sees  in  Christendom,  yet  Father  Nicholas 
with  his  undaunted  spirit  in  a  diminutive  body  was  so  zealous  in 
the  exact  practice  of  the  Holy  Rule  which  is  so  particular  about 
trying  of  spirits,  that  when  the  Doctor  returning  from  a  sermon 
he  had  been  sent  to  preach  did  not  reach  home  time  enough  and 
therefore  went  into  a  garden  to  excuse  himself  to  his  master  who 
was  there  at  recreation  with  the  community,  he  ordered  him  to 
prostrate  though  the  ground  was  covered  with  snow,  and  bidding 
him  rise  said  aloud,  "There  lay  the  print  of  a  Doctor;"  all 
which  the  venerable  Doctor  took  with  that  spirit  which  St. 
Benedict  requires  in  those  which  profess  his  discipline  when  he 
desires  they  may  be  learned  in  suffering  affronts  and  injuries  that 
they  may  enjoy  the  happiness  in  sharing  in  the  opprobrium  of 
the  Cross  of  Christ.  As  to  Father  Nicholas,  after  many  years  of 
very  commendable  behaviour  in  the  Mission  he  died  at  Stourton, 
the  i6th  of  May,  1652,  aged  92. 

The  third  was  R.  F.  Boniface  Wilford  of  London  who  was 
professed  the  8th  of  September,  1 609,  and  died  (on)  the  1 2th  of 
March.  1646,  on  the  Solemnity  of  his  house  (St.  Gregory's)  in 
the  prison  of  Newgate  at  London  where  he  lay  condemned  for 
the  truth  of  the  Orthodox  Faith  expecting  every  day  to  be 
executed  at  the  age  of  fourscore  and  ten. 

The  4th  on  their  Register  is  F.  Columban  Malon  of  Lanca- 
shire who  was  clothed  by  the  R.  F.  Leander  of  Saint  Martin  the 
2nd  of  September  1608  at  the  great  monastery  of  St.  Remigius  at 
Rheims,  where  the  said  Father  Leander  had  in  charge  the  novices 
and  young  Religious  of  that  great  house  to  form  them  in  piety,  so 
wonderfully  were  the  monks  of  that  place  charmed  with  his  great 
abilities  and  capacity.  Moreover  they  gave  him  leave  to  bring 
up  as  we  here  see  English  youths  with  theirs  for  his  own  Con- 
gregation. This  Father  Columban  is  the  first  that  I  can  find 
downright  positively  of  the  house  of  Douay,  and  was  professed 
1 3th.  of  September  1609  ;  a  person  of  a  most  innocent  life  and 
of  great  example  in  all  kinds  of  virtues,  an  exact  observer  of 


CHAPTER     THE     TWENTY-THIRD.  Jl 

regular  discipline,  a  constant  pradliser  of  rigorous  penance  and 
severe  mortification,  and  yet  of  a  most  pleasing  and  pleasant 
conversation.  He  passed  from  the  offices  of  Professor  of  Philos- 
ophy, Sub-Prior  of  Douay,  Secretary  of  the  President  &c.,  to  be 
Prior  of  Dieulwart,  where  in  the  second  year  of  his  government 
he  saintlike  slept  in  our  Lord  on  the  feast  of  All  Saints  1623. 

Next  follows  Mark  Crowder  of  Shropshire  professed  in  1609 
who  after  he  had  lived  long  in  holy  conversation  at  Douay  and 
Dieulwart  was  sent  into  England  where  he  endured  half  a  year's 
imprisonment  for  the  faith,  and  afterwards  died  at  Lambspring  in 
Germany. 

Then  Father  Thomas  Monnington  of  Herefordshire  professed 
in  1610,  and  with  him  (Brother)  Peter  Huitson  of  Ashburn  in 
Derbyshire  after  two  years  noviceship  which  delays  commonly 
happen  when  their  temporal  estates  and  concerns  are  hard  to  be 
settled,  or  friends  won't  assent  to  a  profession.  F.  Thomas  was 
a  very  learned,  pious  and  devout  man  and  a  good  preacher,  who 
after  he  had  laudably  executed  the  offices  of  Master  of  Novices, 
Defmitor,  &c,  died  most  holily  in  the  Mission  on  the  I2th  of 
June,  1642. 

After  these  the  same  year  professed  Father  Gregory  Hungate 
of  Yorkshire,  who  after  he  had  well  employed  his  time  in  sacred 
studies  was  sent  into  the  mission  where  he  successfully  laboured 
till  his  dying  day. 

Lastly  Father  Anselm  Crowder  of  Montgomeryshire  clothed 
the  1 5th.  April  1609,  and  professed  the  3rd.  of  July  1611.  He 
was  brother  to  the  above  named  F.  Mark  Crowder  and  the  last 
that  I  find  on  their  records  before  they  were  placed  in  Abbot 
Cavarel's  foundation. 


CHAPTER   THE    TWENTY-FOURTH. 

CRUEL    OPPOSITION   TO    THE    ESTABLISHMENT    OF    ST.   GREGORY'S 

CONVENT    AT    DOUAY. 


Now  those  enemies,  or  some  others  of  the  same  spirit  who  so 
vigourously  opposed  the  fathers'  first  taking  the  Habit  of  St. 
Benedict  in  Spain,  and  about  this  time  the  first  appearance 
between  them  of  a  union  at  Rome,  were  no  less  diligent  to 
obstruct  their  settling  and  growth  at  Douay.  To  which  end 
they  spared  neither  them  nor  themselves,  neither  their  credit  nor 
their  own  conscience,  painting  them  out  for  vagabonds,  danger- 
ous men  and  counterfeit  monks  ;  and  seeing  all  this  artifice  did 
not  succeed  according  to  their  desire  they  got  a  surreptitious  Bull 
from  Rome  directed  to  the  Archduke  and  nuncio  Bentivoglio,  to 
break  up  their  conventicle  and  expel  them  the  University  under 
pain  of  excommunication  if  they  obeyed  not  within  twenty  four 
hours  after  the  intimation,  and  then  to  employ  the  assistance  of 
the  secular  arm  and  compulsion. 

The  Nuncio  (  1 6 1  o )  cited  Fr.  Bradshaw  the  Superior  to 
Brussels ;  he  upon  advice  of  Abbot  Cavarel  did  not  appear. 
Second  orders  came  which  were  not  regarded.  At  last  came  a 
formal  precept  full  of  threats.  Father  Bradshaw  made  report 
thereof  to  the  Abbot  of  Arras  and  demanded  again  his  advice. 
The  Abbot  answered  that  he  saw  their  enemies  were  too  strong 
for  them,  and  that  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  fix  at  Douay ; 
told  them  it  was  indifferent  to  him  where  he  placed  them,  and 


CHAPTER     THE     TWENTY-FOURTH.  73 

called  for  his  book  of  maps  to  seek  for  a  convenient  place  in 
some  other  town.  While  he  was  turning  the  book  Father 
Leander  entered  with  a  letter  from  Rome  directed  to  the  Supe- 
rior, or  in  his  absence,  to  the  most  ancient  of  the  English  Fathers 
in  Douay.  It  was  from  a  Benedictine  Cardinal ;  the  only  one 
that  then  was,  (Annas  d'Escars,  O.  S.  B.  Cardinal  Archbishop  of 
Metz)  to  inform  them  that  such  a  Bull  had  been  surreptitiously 
obtained  much  to  their  prejudice.  Out  of  love  to  his  Order  and 
justice,  he  gave  them  notice  of  it;  and  upon  any  question  about 
it  they  should  if  need  were,  produce  his  letter. 

The  Abbot  much  rejoiced  at  this,  and  looking  upon  it  as  a 
singular  providence,  (as  indeed  it  was),  commanded  Fr.  Bradshaw 
and  Fr.  Leander  to  make  presently  to  Brussels,  and  without 
permitting  them  to  return  (to  Douay]  himself  furnished  their 
expenses. 

As  soon  as  they  arrived  there  and  presented  themselves  before 
the  Nuncio,  he  expostulated  with  them  in  very  high  terms  for 
their  demurs  and  disobedience  to  his  orders.  They  pleaded  (and 
justly)  indigence  and  want  of  money  to  make  such  a  journey. 
"Well"  replied  he  "to  be  short  you  must  disperse  and  quit 
"  Douay.  Such  is  His  Holiness'  pleasure."  Father  Leander 
who  by  the  Abbot's  orders  was  Dux  verbi  (he  that  spoke)  begged 
the  favour  of  his  Lordship  to  see  the  date  of  the  Bull.  "  Do  you 
take  me  then  for  an  impostor,"  answered  the  Nuncio  in  great 
indignation,  "this  shall  not  serve  your  turn."  (Then  he)  com- 
manded the  original  to  be  brought.  Father  Leander  having 
seen  the  date  and  compared  it  with  the  Cardinal's  letter,  begged 
pardon  for  asking  a  question  in  appearance  so  uncivil  but  withal 
so  important,  produced  his  letter  of  a  later  date,  which  maintained 
that  the  Bull  was  surreptitious,  and  asked  the  Nuncio  if  he  knew 
the  hand.  "Yes"  says  he  "and  the  persons  too",  (and)  read  the 
letter  much  surprised :  and  told  them  he  saw  they  had  been 
injured  and  himself  abused ;  bade  them  return  home  and  be 
secure  that  he  would  never  trouble  them  with  any  summons 
till  he  had  better  warrant  for  them,  and  had  first  heard  what 
the  Fathers  of  Douay  could  say  for  themselves. 

They  came  home  in  triumph  without  any  opposition  from 

K 


74  CHAPTER     THE     TWENTY-FOURTH. 

the  town  or  University.  But  this  storm  was  scarce  blown  over 
before  another  no  less  furious  began  to  rise  against  them.  Their 
adversaries  seeing  their  malicious  designs  frustrated  on  this  side, 
applied  themselves  to  the  Archduke,  produced  their  pretended 
Bull,  begged  his  assistance  towards  the  ejection  of  a  company  of 
vagabonds  who  under  the  mask  of  a  religious  habit  machinated 
disturbance  in  the  State  and  Academy. 

The  Duke  tired  with  their  importunities  and  not  suspecting 
so  much  as  that  they  were  the  same  persons  whom  he  had  for- 
merly recommended  to  the  Abbot  of  Arras,  gave  order  to  an 
Hussar  of  Mechlin  to  expel  them  the  town  without  possibility 
of  returning.  The  Officer  presently  prepared  for  his  journey  and 
was  ready  to  take  horse,  but  knowing  that  the  Abbot  of  Arras, 
his  benefactor,  was  at  Brussels,  went  first  to  receive  his  commands 
for  those  parts.  The  Abbot  asked  him  the  occasion  of  his  jour- 
ney ;  and  having  heard  it,  desired  him  to  stay  an  hour  or  two  till 
he  writ  some  letters.  He  went  to  Court,  had  audience  of  his 
Highness,  asked  the  reason  why  his  Highness  had  issued  out  such 
a  commission  against  men  of  an  unblameable  life  whom  he  had 
formerly  commended,  and  for  whose  behaviour  himself  (the 
Abbot)  was  ready  to  answer.  The  Duke  replied  that  they  were 
not  the  same  persons  whom  he  had  heretofore  recommended  to 
the  Abbot's  charity,  "  Those  were  members  of  the  Spanish  Con- 
"  gregation,  these  wanderers  and  no  Benedictines."  But  being 
disabused  and  better  informed  by  the  Abbot  he  promised  they 
should  live  unmolested  for  the  future,  encouraged  the  Abbot  to 
build  for  them,  gave  his  consent  for  their  establishment  with  an 
obligation  of  an  anniversary  Mass  for  himself  and  the  Archdukes 
for  ever. 

After  things  thus  settled  abroad  Abbot  Cavarel  began  to  lay 
the  foundation  of  his  noble  Gregorian  Convent  and  College. 

And  during  these  difficult  beginnings  at  Douay  in  1608, 
R.  F.  George  Gervase  born  of  noble  and  Catholic  parents  at 
Bosham  in  Sussex,  and  who  had  taken  the  habit  of  St.  Benedict 
privily  at  the  hands  of  R.  F.  Austin  Bradshaw  when  he  came  out 
of  the  English  Seminary  at  Douay  to  go  missioner  for  England, 
preferring  the  confusion  of  the  Cross  before  the  lustre  of  his  birth, 


CHAPTER     THE    TWENTY-FOURTH.  75 

and  despising  all  those  advantages  of  education  and  learning 
as  dust  to  gain  Christ  and  win  to  him  an  acceptable  people, 
the  followers  of  good  works,  became  a  victim  of  the  true  Faith 
giving  up  his  life  for  the  same  with  an  undaunted  courage  at 
London  (April  nth,  1608). 

The  year  after,  to  wit  in  1609  on  the  i4th  of  April  died  in 
Lancashire  R.  F.  Andrew  Sherley  a  monk  of  Najar  in  Spain,  a 
missioner  of  rare  zeal  and  modesty. 

The  same  year  (1609)  April  the  23rd,  (as  we  learn  from  a 
decree]  in  the  archives  of  St.  Gregory  at  Douay,  Pope  Paul  V 
decreed  for  the  English  Benedictines,  against  whom  the  Jesuits 
had  demanded  sentence  of  excommunication  if  they  exhorted  the 
youths  of  the  Seminaries  to  embrace  their  Order;  that  as  the 
Jesuits  should  not  under  pain  of  excommunication  hinder  by 
dissuading  the  said  youths  from  entering  into  the  Order  or  any 
other  that  was  approved,  so  the  Benedictines  under  the  same 
penalty  should  not  dissuade  any  of  their  youths  from  entering 
into  the  Society  or  any  other  approved  Religion. 


CHAPTER   THE   TWENTY-FIFTH. 

THE     DEATH     OF     THE     V.     R.     F.     SlGEBERT     BUCKLEY     AND 
THE     MARTYRDOM     OF     F.  ROBERTS. 


ON  the  22nd  of  February  1610,  at  the  age  of  93,  died  R. 
F.  Sigebert  Buckley,  and  because  the  heretics  would  not  let 
him  be  buried  in  the  Churchyard,  F.  Anselm  of  Manchester 
and  Father  Thomas  Preston  buried  him  in  an  old  Chapel  or 
country  hermitage  near  Ponshall  the  seat  of  Mr.  Norton  in 
Surrey  or  Sussex.  They  much  wished  that  his  body  might  be 
placed  more  honourably  for  that  they  did  not  doubt  but  that 
he  was  a  very  good  old  man  and  of  great  merit  who  had 
endured  for  the  Catholic  Faith  forty  years  persecution,  always 
shut  up  in  some  prison  or  other. 

The  same  year  (  1610)  December  loth.  S.  V.  suffered  the 
Reverend  Father  John  Mervin  alias  Roberts.  He  entered  the 
Congregation  of  Valladolid  in  1598  say  his  printed  Acts  (  R.  F. 
Baker  on  the  Mission  says  in  1599,  in  the  company  of  F.  Brad- 
shaw  who  entered  with  the  order  of  Priesthood)  and  by  order  of 
his  Superiors  was  made  Priest  in  1600  and  the  same  year  sent  to 
the  Mission.  But  I  think  this  a  mistake  for  that  all  that  I  have 
hitherto  been  able  to  see  excepting  this,  maintain  the  Congre- 
gation of  Mount  Cassin  first  entered  the  Mission,  and  we  have 
seen  it  was  not  before  1603.  But  to  return  to  Father  Mervin. 
He  was  of  Merionethshire  in  Wales,  a  man  of  admirable  zeal, 
courage  and  constancy,  the  first  who  out  of  a  monastery  after  the 


CHAPTER     THE     TWENTY-FIFTH.  JJ 

suppression  of  Monasteries  in  England  attacked  the  Gate  of  Hell 
and  provoked  the  prince  of  darkness  in  his  usurped  kingdom 
which  he  overcame  like  his  great  Master  the  pattern  of  Martyrs 
by  losing  his  life  in  the  conflict.  Neither  the  raging  fury  of  the 
plague  that  happened  a  little  before  could  make  him  quit  the 
flock,  nor  his  own  pestilent  adversaries  whose  souls  were  worse 
infected  than  others  bodies,  could  hinder  him  entering  again 
though  often  banished,  till  he  had  lost  his  life  where  he  had 
saved  the  souls  of  so  many.  They  would  have  saved  his  life  if 
he  would  but  have  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance, 

His  quarters  were  thrown  into  a  pit  under  the  gallows 
of  Tyburn,  and  sixteen  malefactors  there  executed  at  the  same 
time  were  cast  in  upon  them  ;  yet  two  nights  after  one  of  his 
brethren  with  some  Catholics  got  them  out  at  midnight  with 
those  of  Mr.  Wilson  a  secular  Priest  who  for  the  same  cause 
suffered  with  him.  But  by  break  of  day  by  London,  the 
watch  of  the  town  being  in  the  way,  one  of  these  pious 
thieves  that  he  might  more  certainly  escape  let  fall  a  leg  and 
thigh  of  Father  Mervin  which  was  carried  to  cruel  George 
Abbot,  titular  Bishop  of  London  who  stood  with  great  vehe- 
mency  against  Father  Mervin  at  his  trial,  animating  the  judge 
against  him  ;  he  ordered  them  to  be  buried  in  the  Church  of 
St.  Saviour  (St.  Mary  Overy,  near  London  Bridge}  to  hinder 
the  Catholics  from  recovering  them.  The  rest  were  carried 
off  to  Douay  and  into  Spain,  one  bone  ( being )  given  to  his 
intimate  friend,  the  famous  Spanish  Benedictine  Annalist  the 
most  Reverend  Abbot  Yepez,  and  one  of  his  arms  carried  to 
St.  Martin's  at  Compostella  where  he  had  been  professed,  as 
the  said  Abbot  testifies  in  his  Annals,  speaking  very  honourably 
of  F.  Mervin  ( Tom.  IV.  p.  70  in  the  French  version  of  them 
printed  at  Tull  1 649.) 

Bucelin  a  German  Benedictine  relating  in  the  Benedictine 
Menologe  ( Veldtkirchii  anno  1665),  on  the  loth  of  December 
the  glorious  triumph  of  this  zealous  missioner,  assures  that  Pope 
Gregory  XIII  of  blessed  memory,  so  respected  the  relics  of  such 
as  suffered  thus  in  England  for  the  Orthodox  Faith,  that  he 
declared  that  they  might  be  made  use  of  in  the  consecration  of 


70  CHAPTER    THE     TWENTY-FIFTH. 

Altars.  Behold  the  words  of  Bucelin  :  "  Qui  et  aliis  plures 
"  Angliae  Martyres  etsi  nondum  sint  canonizati  tamen  iisdem 
"  Gregorium  XIII  felicis  recordationis  Pontificem  Maximum  con- 
"  stat  detulisse  ut  declaraverit  illorum  Reliquias  in  consecrandis 
"  altaribus  adhiberi  posse  loco  Reliquorum  sanctorum  canoniza- 
"  torum  cuj usque  declarationis  mentio  fit  ab  Episcopo  Tarrasone 
"in  Hist.  Mart.  Angl." 

Also  the  same  year  under  James  ist.  Nicholas  Sadler  and 
Nicholas  Hutton  both  Benedictine  Monks  suffered,  as  attests 
F.  Sadler  quoting  John  Molanus,  Corcag  and  Menardus  for 
witnesses,  but  where  and  for  what  he  says  he  cannot  find. 

The  Gregorian  Convent  of  Douay  was  so  far  advanced  in 
1611  that  F.  Bradshaw  presented  an  address  to  the  Chapter  of 
the  Cathedral  of  Arras  (that  See  being  then  without  a  Bishop) 
to  have  leave  to  transfer  their  altar  from  the  Trinitarians,  tene- 
ment to  their  new  Convent.  The  place  was  visited  by  the 
Dean  of  Douay  (deputed  by  the  Archdeacon)  and  found 
convenient  and  decent  upon  which  they  were  licensed  to 
celebrate  the  Divine  Office  publicly,  erect  Altars,  ring  their 
bells,  &c. 


79 


CHAPTER  THE  TWENTY-SIXTH. 

THE    BEGINNFNG    OF    ST.    MALo's    CONVENT. 


AND  this  said  year  1611  Father  Bradshaw  having  sent  F. 
Gabriel  of  St.  Mary  (  formerly  Dr.  Gifford  Dean  of  Lisle  )  to 
Spain  to  obtain  help  from  the  Spanish  Congregation,  his  com- 
munity of  Dieulwart  being  become  very  numerous  without 
having  wherewithal  to  live,  and  he  tarrying  at  St.  Malo's,  with 
Father  John  Barnes  expecting  the  opportunity  of  shipping,  an 
English  gentleman  then  free  citizen  of  St.  Malo  entertained 
them,  and  the  wind  standing  contrary  held  them  there  some 
time,  in  which  visiting  the  Bishop  the  Reverend  Lord  William 
Le  Governeur,  he  became  so  charmed  with  their  learning  and 
piety  that  he  began  to  persuade  them  to  let  the  thoughts  of 
Spain  alone  and  remain  there.  Several  of  the  chief  citizens 
expressed  the  same  desire,  delighted  with  Dr.  GifFord's  sermons  ; 
who  hereupon  writ  to  Fr.  Bradshaw.  He  presently  sent 
them  many  able  men  who  arrived  there  the  same  year  in  the 
months  of  August  and  September,  of  whom  I  shall  here  give 
an  account  as  they  were  the  first  beginners  of  the  Convent. 

i.  R.  F.  Placid  Hilton  alias  Musgrave,  who  earnestly  and 
courageously  promoted  this  affair  ;  and  going  from  hence  after- 
wards into  the  mission  he  was  present  (October  the  24th.  on 
Friday,  1623)  at  the  unfortunate  fall  of  an  upper  chamber  at 
Hunsdon  House  in  the  Black  Friars'  at  London,  where  a  great 
number  of  Catholics  were  assembled  (Sir  Richard  Baker  sayeth 


80  CHAPTER     THE     TWENTY-SIXTH. 

about  300  men  and  women),  when  about  the  middle  of  the  ser- 
mon a  great  part  of  the  floor  broke  and  fell  down  with  such 
violence  that  it  broke  down  the  next  floor  under  it.  The  preacher 
and  almost  one  hundred  of  his  auditory  perished  in  the  fall  and 
about  as  many  more  were  hurt.  Father  Hilton  came  to  no  harm 
and  was  a  most  compassionate  helper  and  comforter  of  these  poor 
distressed  Catholics,  whom  the  protestants  hereupon  with  much 
bitter  foolishness  frivolously  insulted  as  if  it  were  an  argument 
that  the  Catholic  Religion  was  reproved  by  God,  because,  accord- 
ing to  the  Scriptures,  by  this  affliction  he  was  pleased  to  try  the 
piety  and  patience  of  his  servants.  This  gave  occasion  to  the 
Catholics  to  exercise  the  press  with  writings  on  the  manifold  ways 
by  which  God  tries  his  elect.  As  to  the  rest,  Father  Hilton  was 
a  zealous  and  excellent  preacher  and  ended  his  days  in  Middlesex 
on  the  2Oth.  of  February  1626.  He  was  professed  at  Dieulwart. 

2.  Father    Mellitus    Babthorpe    afterwards  an     industrious 
Missioner,  in  which   function  he   died  in  the  North.     He  was 
Brother  to  Father  Thomas  Babthorpe  of  the  Society. 

3.  Father  Thomas  Green,    Monk  of  St.  Benedict's  in  Valla- 
dolid,  Licentiate  in  Divinity  ;  who  having  profitably  spent  many 
years  in  teaching  his  Brethren,  was  sent  into  the  Mission,   where 
after  long  imprisonments   and   many   hardships   endured  for  the 
Truth  he  preached,   he  ended   his   days  in  peace  in  1624.     He 
made  a  formal  recantation  of  what  he  had  written  in  defence  of 
the  Oath. 

4.  Father  Boniface  Kemp   otherwise  Kipton,   professed  of 
Montserrat,  who  with  F.  Ildephonse  Hesketh  in  1 644  in  the  civil 
wars  of  England  were  taken  by  Parliament  soldiers  and  driven  on 
foot  before   them   in   the   heats  of  summer,  by  which  cruel  and 
outrageous  usage  they  were  so  heated  and  spent,  that  they  either 
forthwith  or  soon  after  died.  (July  26th.  1643.) 

5.  F.  Columban  Malon  of  whom  we  have  spoken. 

6.  F.  Bennet   D'Orgain  then  a  brother  (entituled  a  Sancto 
Johanne)  a    noble  Lorrainer   who    leaving    all  to  follow    Christ 
became   a  monk    of  Dieulwart ;    a  truly  apostolical   man,    most 
zealously    preaching    about  the    villages  and    by  his  powerful 
doctrine    and    example    bringing    many    to    embrace    piety    and 


CHAPTER     THE    TWENTY-SIXTH.  8 1 

virtue  ;  a  most  punctual  observer  of  the  holy  Rule  which  he 
endeavoured  to  practise  to  the  rigour  of  the  letter.  He  writ 
several  devout  books  for  the  use  of  the  poorer  sort  of  people  in 
French.  At  last  to  avoid  the  wars,  with  leave  of  his  Superiors 
he  went  forth  of  his  monastery  and  came  to  the  great  Abbey  of 
Cluny,  where  he  died  not  without  the  opinion  of  sanctity.  His 
dead  body  being  according  to  the  ancient  custom  of  that  holy 
place  stretched  forth  upon  ashes,  shined  with  an  extraordinary 
brightness  and  whiteness  to  the  eyes  of  the  admiring  spectators, 
who  there  buried  him  with  much  honour  ;  the  Abbot  saying 
and  writing  back  to  his  Superiors  of  Dieulwart  that  Providence 
had  guided  him  thither  that  his  bones  might  lie  by  them  of  their 
many  Saints.  He  died  on  the  feast  of  St.  Mayolus,  Abbot  of 
Cluny  (  which  is  the  i  ith.  of  May, )  1636. 

Such  were  the  beginners  of  St  Male's  English  Benedictine 
Convent.  They  were  placed  in  the  house  of  the  Theologal, 
which  dignity  the  Bishop  conferred  on  Dr.  GifFord,  and  on 
Father  Hilton  the  Preceptorial  which  was  to  teach  the  children 
of  the  town.  This  was  done  with  great  contentment  to  all  that 
were  concerned  therein,  as  the  Dean,  Chapter  and  people  of  St. 
Malo.  Now  as  Mr.  Towtin  about  the  same  time  had  given  them 
his  house  and  chapel  of  Clermont,  a  place  out  of  the  town  on 
the  Continent,  part  of  them  followed  duty  there,  while  the 
others  remained  at  the  Theologal's  to  help  the  citizens  ;  where- 
fore by  the  said  Bishop's  appointment,  Father  Barnes  taught 
Casuistry  in  the  Cathedral,  and  the  others  sweated  in  the  Con- 
fessionals and  pulpits ;  and  as  it  began  in  drudgery  so  it  continued 
on,  for  the  city  of  St.  Male's  was  scant  of  Religious  and  needed 
such  helps,  the  Cathedral  itself  was  but  a  poor  business ;  and  the 
English  Benedictine  Monks  formed  two  Benedictine  nunneries  in 
the  city  besides,  at  the  request  of  the  Bishop. 


82 


CHAPTER  THE  TWENTY-SEVENTH. 

OF     THE     GLORIOUS     MARTYRDOM     OF     FATHER     MAURUS     SCOT, 

AND     OF     THE     DIVINE     VENGEANCE     ON     A     HETERODOX 

ENEMY     OF     THE     CONGREGATION. 


ANNO  1612  suffered  Father  Maurus  alias  William  Scot  noblv 

j 

born,  bred  up  to  the  Civil  law  in  Trinity  Hall  at  Cambridge  and 
converted  to  the  Catholic  Faith  by  Catholic  books.  He 
became  a  monk  of  Saint  Benedict's  at  Sahagun  in  Spain  from 
whence  returning  to  the  Mission,  at  his  arrival  at  London  he 
beheld  the  Priest  who  had  reconciled  him  hurried  away  to  death 
for  the  Faith,  and  he  himself  three  days  after  was  cast  into  prison 
for  the  same  and  there  held  a  year.  After  this  he  was  banished 
and  so  went  to  Douay,  from  whence  returning  again  to  England, 
he  was  soon  taken  and  pursued  to  death  by  the  aforementioned 
George  Abbot,  titular  Bishop  of  London,  to  whom  he  was 
carried  to  be  examined. 

The  chief  proof  of  his  priesthood  urged  against  him  was  that 
as  he  came  by  water  from  Graves  End,  that  he  might  not  be 
discovered  he  flung  into  the  Thames  a  little  bag  where  his 
Breviary,  faculties,  medals  and  crosses  were,  which  a  fisherman 
catching  in  his  net,  carried  to  George  Abbot,  Titular  Bishop  of 
London  (  now  become  )  Titular  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

As  soon  as  Father  Maurus  heard  the  fatal  sentence,  he 
answered  with  a  loud  voice  "  Thanks  be  to  God,  never  any  news 
"  did  I  ever  more  wish  for,  nor  were  there  ever  any  so  welcome  to 


CHAPTER     THE     TWENTY-SEVENTH.  83 

"  me.  "  Then  turning  to  the  people  :  "  I  have  not  yet  confessed 
"  myself  a  Priest,  that  the  laws  might  go  on  of  course,  and  that 
"  it  might  appear  whether  the  judges  would  offer  to  condemn 
"me  upon  such  mere  presumption  and  conjectures  which  you 
"  see  they  have  done.  Wherefore  to  the  glory  of  God  and  all 
"  the  Saints  in  Heaven  I  confess  I  am  a  monk  of  the  Order 
"  of  Saint  Benedict  and  Priest  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
"  But  be  you  all  witness  I  pray  you,  that  I  have  committed 
"  no  crime  against  his  Majesty  or  the  Country :  I  am  only 
"  accused  of  Priesthood  and  for  Priesthood  condemned. " 
This  said  he  returned  to  his  prison  as  unconcerned  as  if 
nothing  had  been  done  against  him,  whereas  the  said  Titular 
Bishop  George  Abbot,  who  had  sat  with  the  Judges  to  hear 
him  condemned,  withdrew  from  the  company  like  a  man 
possessed  with  Orestes'  furies. 

R.  F.  Maurus  gave  up  his  life  on  Whitsun  Eve  on  the 
9th.  of  June  (  1612)  very  courageously  with  Mr  Newport  a 
Secular  Priest.  And  George  Abbot  his  persecutor  hunting 
afterwards  in  a  park  and  shooting  at  a  deer,  his  arrow  by 
mischance  glanced  and  killed  a  man,  upon  which  fact,  sayeth 
Sir  Richard  Baker,  it  was  much  debated  "whether  by  it  he 
"were  not  become  irregular,  and  ought  to  be  deprived  of  his 
"  archiepiscopal  function,  as  having  hands  imbrued  ( though 
"  against  his  will)  in  blood.  But  Andrewes  Bishop  of  Win- 
"  chester  standing  much  in  his  defence,  as  likewise  Sir  Henry 
"  Martin  the  King's  advocate  gave  such  reasons  in  mitigation  of 
"  the  fact,  that  he  was  cleared  of  all  imputation  of  crime  and 
"  thereupon  adjudged  regular  and  in  state  to  continue  his  archi- 
"  episcopal  charge  ;  yet  himself  out  of  a  religious  tenderness  of 
"mind  kept  the  day  of  the  year  in  which  the  mischance 
"  happened  with  a  solemn  fast  all  his  life  after. " 

However  he  afterwards  fell  entirely  into  the  disgrace  of 
Charles  the  1st  who  succeeded  James  the  1st,  and  so  endured 
involuntary  pain  for  the  voluntary  butchery  of  Priests  while  he 
voluntarily  afflicted  himself  for  the  involuntary  murder  of  a  man. 
And  though  he  may  pretend  his  disgrace  at  Court  was  on  good 
account,  his  bloody  barbarity  is  easily  answered.  Had  he  been  a 


84  CHAPTER    THE     TWENTY-SEVENTH. 

harmless,  innocent  soul  such  sufferings  might  have  brought  him 
a  crown  of  justice ;  but  to  him  an  alien  from  the  Church,  and 
shedding  the  blood  of  the  Priests  of  the  Church,  his  vexations 
were  the  just  punishments  in  part  of  his  guilt,  the  rest  being 
reserved  to  the  last  moments,  when  due  penance  is  not  rightly 
performed  but  in  the  union  of  the  Church.  The  Eternal  Wisdom 
of  God  by  many  ways  scourges  sinners  with  rods  of  their  own 
making  while  he  leaves  them  in  their  wilful  blindness,  and  they 
persuade  themselves  vainly  that  they  a<ft  with  God  and  for  God 
when  in  the  end  they  will  see  they  have  basely  deluded  them- 
selves and  their  part  will  be  with  those  to  whom  he  will  say 
"  I  know  you  not."  Though  they  tell  him  they  have  done  won- 
ders in  his  name,  they  will  hear  "  Go  ye  accursed  into  everlasting 
"  fire."  But  to  return  to  our  Chronological  Notes. 


CHAPTER  THE   TWENTY-EIGHTH. 


FURTHER  TROUBLES    AND    OPPOSITION    AGAINST    THE 
CONVENT   OF   ST.  GREGORY   AT    DOUAY. 

>  *••»  < 


THE  license  of  celebrating  publicly  Divine  Service  given 
by  the  Chapter  of  Arras  to  the  new  Convent  of  St.  Gregory  at 
Douay  was  confirmed  afterwards  by  John  Richardot  who  was 
promoted  to  that  See,  and  being  from  thence  translated  to  Cam- 
bray  he  gave  a  testification  hereof  on  the  3Oth  of  March,  1613, 
his  successor  making  some  difficulty  about  it.  Upon  this  unques- 
tionable testimony  of  his  metropolitan  and  so  eminent  a  prelate, 
he  on  the  22nd  of  April  following  continued  the  said  license  to 
the  first  of  July  ensuing,  before  which  term  he  ordered  the 
Fathers  should  evidence  to  him  their  canonical  and  lawful 
reception  and  admission  unto  that  Diocese. 

Whereby  it  seems  to  appear  that  their  enemies  whoever  they 
were,  after  they  had  missed  of  their  aim  in  circumventing  the 
Pope's  Nuncio  and  (the)  Archduke,  endeavoured  to  fix  their 
imposture  on  their  Bishop  and  engage  the  Ordinary  to  prosecute 
their  uncharitable  designs.  For  unless  he  had  been  prejudiced 
by  misinformation,  how  should  he  be  inclined  to  call  into 
question  their  admittance  which  had  been  consented  to  by  the 
University,  approved  by  the  Magistrates,  confirmed  by  the  Arch- 
duke, and  even  desired  by  his  Catholic  Majesty  ?  So  that  their 
enemies  made  use  of  a  graduation  contrary  to  that  which  is 


86 


CHAPTER     THE     TWENTY-EIGHTH. 


a  lower 


observed  in   other  appeals,  which  are  ordinarily  from 
court  to  an  higher. 

But  it  seems  the  Bishop  too,  received  satisfaction,  especially 
after  the  king  of  Spain's  letters  were  produced  which  perhaps 
arrived  not  before,  dated  March  2ist,  1613,  directed  to  the  Arch- 
duke Albert,  and  Cardinal  Bentivoglio  writ  to  the  Bishop  in 
their  behalf. 


CHAPTER   THE    TWENTY-NINTH. 

OF     THE     EDIFICATION     GIVEN     BY     THE     ENGLISH     MONKS 

IN    THE    Low    COUNTRIES. 


WHAT  edification  they  gave  in  the  Low  Countries  appears 
from  the  following  writing  (in  the  archives  of  St.  Gregory  in 
Douay)  of  the  Rev.  Abbot  of  Marchin,  Jean  de  Foucquoi,  signed 
with  his  own  hand  and  dated  October  4th,  1614. 

"Ego  infrascriptus  tester  et  fidem  facio  mihi  certo  constare. 
turn  ex  personarum  fide  dignissimarum  frequenti  relatione  turn 
etiam  ex  authenticis  testimoniis  et  instrumentis  mihi  saepe 
exhibitis  sub  regimine  Reverendissimi  et  venerabilis  Patris,  Fratris 
Leandri  de  Sancto  Martino  in  Sacra  Theologia  Magistri  et  Supe- 
rioris  Collegii  S.  Gregorii  Duaceni  fundati  a  Reverendissimo 
Domino,  Domno  Philippe  de  Cavarell,  Benedictinorum  Anglo- 
rum  Professorum  Vicarii  Generalis  in  Congregatione  Hispanica 
et  adtu  viventium  sub  obedientia  illius,  odtoginta  plus  minus 
monachos  Deo  famulari  summa  cum  pietate  erga  Deum,  qui 
utilitatem  Reipublicag  litterarias  et  Ecclesia?  Catholics  haud  vul- 
garem  quotidie  afFerunt  et  litterarum  professione  et  religiosissima 
conversatione  et  particulatim  mihi  constat  ex  pradi&o  numero 
monachorum  quam  plures  esse  Dodlores  in  Sacra  Theologia  et 
Artibus  et  Licentiates;  nonnullos  scriptis  utilissimis  et  doctissimis 
hereticos  exagitasse,  quorum  libros  non  sine  gaudio  legisse  tester 
et  ob  experientiam  summae  illorum  Religionis  recepi  in  Collegium 
meum  Marchianense  odto,  qui  summa  omnium  satisfac~lione  et 


00  CHAPTER     THE     TWENTY-NINTH. 

laude  aut  versantur  in  professione  philosophica  aut  continuis  stu- 
diis  se  disponunt  ad  illas.  In  Collegio  item  S.  Gregorii  multi 
sunt  monachi  quorum  alii  professione  Theologicas  egregie  vacant, 
alii  omnes  aut  Theologive  auditores  sunt  aut  Philosophicis  studiis 
intenti.  Denique  certo  constat  omnes  ex  supradidlo  numero,  aut 
sacerdotes  esse,  aut  sacerdotio  initiandos ;  studiorum  theologico- 
rum  et  philosophicorum  curriculo  perfunftos,  aut  illi  insudantes 
esse  ;  quique  ut  honestius  sese  alant  et  pro  Anglicana  messe  sese 
praparent  continuis  confessionibus,  prasdicationibus  et  piis  exem- 
plis  jugiter  exercentur  in  locis  ubi  degunt,  iisque  quibus  prassunt 
mirifice  prosunt.  Fratres  vero  qui  in  Angliam  praedicandi  Evan- 
gelii  ergo  migrarunt  fructus  fecisse  non  vulgares  in  conversione 
animarum  bonorum  omnium  constantissima  fama  nobis  persuasis- 
simum  est.  Novem  carceribus  mancipati,  aliqui  crudelitate 
hasreticorum  in  custodiis  absumpti,  quatuor  glorioso  martyrio  pro 
Fide  Catholica  perfuncTi,  concursus  piissimorum  Catholicorum 
Anglorum  pro  spirituali  ope  et  solatio,  quid  aliud  possunt  persua- 
dere  nisi  quod  Angli  Benedicliini  professionis  Hispanicae  Sedis 
Apostolicas  auctoritatem  et  Fidem  Catholicam  in  Anglia  mirabi- 
liter  fulcient." 

The  same  in  English  for  those  who  are  not  accustomed  to 
Latin. 

I  ( the )  under  written  witness  and  assure  that  I  know  for 
certain  as  well  from  the  frequent  relation  of  persons  most  worthy 
of  credit,  as  from  authentic  testimonies  and  instruments  often 
shown  me,  that  under  the  government  of  the  most  Reverend  and 
Venerable  Father,  Brother  Leander  of  Saint  Martin,  master  in 
Divinity  and  Superior  of  the  College  of  Saint  Gregory  at  Douay 
( founded  by  the  most  Reverend  Lord,  Lord  Philip  Cavarel, ) 
and  Vicar  General  of  the  English  Benedictines  professed  in  the 
Congregation  of  Spain,  who  actually  live  under  his  obedience. 
There  live  in  the  service  of  God  about  fourscore  monks  most 
piously  afFeclioned  towards  God,  who  not  at  a  common  rate 
advance  learning  and  the  cause  of  the  Church  of  God,  by  their 
religious  conversation  and  profession  of  letters.  And  I  certainly 
know  that  out  of  the  said  number  of  monks  there  are  several 


CHAPTER     THE     TWENTY-NINTH.  89 

of  them  Doctors  in  Divinity  and  arts,  and  Licentiates.  Some  of 
them  have  much  vexed  the  heretics  by  most  useful  and  learned 
writings,  whose  books  I  have  read  with  joy  ;  and  for  the  expe- 
rience I  have  had  of  their  extraordinary  religious  comportment  I 
have  received  eight  of  them  into  my  College  of  Marchin,  who 
either  by  their  continual  studies  prepare  themselves  to  teach 
Philosophy  or  actually  do  teach  it,  to  the  very  great  satisfaction 
of  all  and  their  own  commendation.  Likewise  in  the  College  of 
Saint  Gregory  there  are  many  of  the  monks  of  whom  some  are 
egregious  professors  of  Divinity,  the  others  learn  it  or  Philosophy. 
In  fine,  it  is  certain  that  all  of  the  said  number  are  either  Priests, 
or  to  be  ordained  such,  have  done  their  studies  of  Philosophy  or 
Divinity  or  are  actually  in  them  ;  and  the  better  to  maintain 
themselves  and  prepare  themselves  for  the  English  Mission  exer- 
cise themselves  continually  in  hearing  confessions,  preaching  and 
pious  examples  in  the  places  where  they  live,  and  are  wonder- 
fully profitable  to  those  who  are  under  their  care.  By  the 
constant  relation  of  all  good  men,  we  are  entirely  persuaded 
that  those  who  have  been  sent  to  preach  the  Gospel  in  England 
have  done  much  good  in  the  conversion  of  souls;  nine  have  been 
imprisoned,  and  some  of  them  through  the  cruelty  of  heretics 
have  died  in  prison  ;  four  have  died  glorious  martyrs  for  the 
Faith.  The  concourse  of  the  most  pious  English  Catholics  for 
spiritual  help  and  comfort,  what  can  it  else  persuade  but  that  the 
English  Benedictines  of  the  Spanish  Congregation  wonderfully 
maintain  the  authority  of  the  See  Apostolic,  and  the  Catholic 
Faith  in  England."  Thus  the  said  Abbot. 

The  first  who  taught  in  his  Marchin  College  was  F.  Torqua- 
tus  Latham  who  read  six  courses,  F.  Barnes  who  read  three,  to 
him  succeeded  F.  Anselm  Crowder ;  F.  Leander  had  the  Cate- 
chistical  lesson  &c,  and  they  continued  in  this  employment  with 
great  applause  till  the  Abbot  of  Marchienne  became  so  enamoured 
of  the  Jesuits  that  he  put  out  his  English  Brethren  and  took  away 
his  own  Monks,  and  totally  abandoned  to  the  Society  the  said 
College,  about  the  same  time  that  the  English  Monks  began  to 
teach  publicly  in  the  College  of  St.  Vaast  where  Abbot  Cavarel 
placed  those  the  Abbot  of  Marchienne  had  put  off.  Here  F. 
Clement  Rayner  was  the  first,  with  F.  Rudesind  and  F.  Leander. 

M 


9o 


CHAPTER    THE   THIRTIETH. 

THE     ENGLISH     BENEDICTINES    OF    THE    SPANISH    OBEDIENCE 
BROUGHT    TO    PARIS    A.  D.    1615. 


ANNO  1615  the  English  Monks  of  the  Spanish  obedience 
thus  reached  Paris  :  Dom  Bernard,  Prior  of  Cluny  College  at 
Paris,  much  esteemed  in  that  great  city  for  his  learned  and  pious 
sermons,  hearing  of  the  wonderful  abstemious  life  of  the  Monks 
of  Dieulwart  recommended  them  to  the  Abbess  of  the  royal 
nunnery  at  Chelles  near  Paris.  Then  few  Religious  houses  of 
St.  Benedict's  Order  in  France  were  reformed,  and  Her  Highness 
(  for  she  was  a  Princess  of  the  house  of  Lorraine  )  being  totally 
bent  upon  the  reformation  of  her  nunnery  knew  not  where  to 
find  men  to  help  her  in  such  a  work,  but  directed  as  is  said,  (by 
the  Prior  of  Cluny  College]  Father  Francis  Wai  grave,  clothed  at 
Dieulwart  in  1608  and  professed  the  year  following  by  Father 
Bradshaw,  was  by  him  in  1 6 1 1  sent  to  Her  Highness  with 
several  other  monks  of  the  same  Spanish  Obedience  to  be  Con- 
fessor to  her  community  and  perform  the  duties  she  should  desire 
of  them  :  for  her  nunnery  like  the  other  great  nunneries  of 
France,  used  to  have  a  little  community  of  Monks  for  its  service. 
In  1612  F.  Bradshaw  himself  followed  him  thither  to  help  him 
and  they  admitted  some  English  youths  to  the  Habit.  And  the 
Abbess  was  so  pleased  with  their  religious  behaviour  that  she 
resolved  to  procure  them  a  settlement  in  Paris,  where,  having 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTIETH.  9! 

finished  their  studies,   they  might  either  be  sent  into  the   English 
mission  or  live  at  Chelles  in  the  ministry  of  her  community. 

This  year  then  (1615)  she  obtained  from  Dieulwart  six  monks 
for  Paris ;  namely 

1.  Father  Clement  Reyner  descended  of  an  ancient  family 
in  Yorkshire.      He  became  a  monk  at  Dieulwart,  did  his  studies 
at  Douay,  taught  there   as   hath  been  said,   and   passed   Doctor; 
was  the  Procurator  of  the  Congregation  in  Germany  and  twice  its 
President  General.     Half  a  year  he  was  Superior  of  Rintelen  in 
Germany,  where  he  had  a  famous  dispute  with    Dr.  Stechman, 
Superintendent  of  Hesse,  a  man  esteemed  by  his  Calvinists  very 
learned ;  he  was  so  confounded  that  he  died  for  grief  a  few  days 
after,  crying  to  his  last  moment  "  O  Clement  thou  hast  killed  me." 
Nor  was  less   extraordinary  his  second  dispute  there    with  Dr. 
Gisenius,  Superintendent  of  the  Lutherans  of  Brunswick;  it  lasted 
three  days  together,  and  the  heresiarch  was  just  a-going  to  be 
covered  with  as  much  confusion  as  the  former,  when  the  city  was 
taken  by  Gustavus  Adolphus'  army,  which  spoiled  the  dispute,  and 
the   monks   had  but   time   to  save   themselves   across   the   river 
( the  Weser )    and    so  escaped.       The    soldiery    pursued    them 
but  could  not  get  over  the  river  after  them.     R.  F.  Townson  who 
has  writ  the  history  of  Lambspring  says  the  mitre  of  the  great 
monastery  of  St.  Peter  de  Monte  Blandinio  just  by  Ghent,  worth 
80,000  imperialists,  was  offered  him ;    which  he  refused  and  re- 
turned to  Germany  and  set  up  Lambspring  of  which  he  was  the 
first  Abbot.     He  was  indeed  so  dear  to  them  at  Ghent  whom  he 
reformed,  that  I  have  seen  a  letter  whereby  it  appears  the  Fathers 
of  this  Congregation  seriously  and  in  great  earnest  were  in  great 
concern  how  to  get  that  Abbey  to  let  him  return  freely  home  to 
his  Congregation  which  had  never  intended  more  than  to  lend 
them  his  help,  but  would  not  abandon  the  right   they  had  to  him 
themselves.       He  lived  very  much  considered  in   Germany  and 
died  at  Hildesheim,  27th.  of  March  1651   S.  N,  from  whence  his 
bones  were  brought  to  Lambspring  in  169 2  and  there  buried   in 
the  body  of  the  Church. 

2.  F.  Nicholas  Curre  who  after  many  labours  in  the  mission 
happily  ended  his  life  at  Weston  in  Warwickshire  in  1649  (Aug. 
5*).  ' 


92  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTIETH. 

3.  Father  George  Sayer. 

4.  F.  Alban   Roe  nobly  born,  who  after  a  long  practice  of 
religious  virtues  in  the  Monastery,  many  labours  and  persecutions 
in  the  Mission,  gave  up  his  life  for  the  Faith  with  an  undaunted 
courage  at  Tyburn  in  the   6oth.  year  of  his  age,  (January  2ist.) 
1642,  after  17  years  imprisonment.     His  execution  is  printed  in 
the  Annte  EenedWne  &c. 

5.  Brother  Placid  Gascoign,  son  to  a  Baronet,  professed  at 
Dieulwart   before   he   was  sixteen   (the  term  fixed  for  religious 
profession  by  the  holy  Council  of  Trent;)  informed  of  the  mistake 
he  renewed  his  profession,  and  profited  so  in  studies  at  Paris  that 
he  passed  the  examen  for  Doctor  and  was  admitted,  but  the  disputes 
that  were  then  on  foot  betwixt  the  Regulars  and  the  Bishop  of 
Chacedon  hindered  him  of  the  honour  of  the  Doctoral  bonnet.  He 
spent  sixteen  years  in  the  mission  very  profitably  and  advantage- 
ously to  the  Church,  in  great  danger  of  his  life  in  a  violent  persecu- 
tion.    After  which  he  governed  the  Congregation  four  years  (as) 
President  General,  and  from  thence  totally  betook  himself  to  the 
government  of  his  Abbey  of  Lambspring  giving   great  examples 
of  humility,  patience  and  sweetness.       He  was  very  exact  in  that 
part  of  his    Rule  which  commands   the  Abbot  to   first  practise 
himself  what  he  commands  others  to  do,  and  show  by  his  actions 
what  is  not   to    be  done.     From  the   beginning  of  his  abbatial 
dignity,  he  cast  the  care  of  the  temporals  of  his  Abbey  on  R.  F. 
Joseph   Sherwood  whom    he    obtained  for  his  co-adjutor;    and 
spending  all  his  time  in   holy  exercises,  he   died   in    1681  (July 
24th.)  at  the  age  of  83,   professed  66,   Priested  57,  of  his  abbatial 
dignity  3 1  ;  and  lies  buried  in  his  Abbey  Church. 

6.  Brother  Dunstan  Pettinger,  surnamed  afterwards  Captain 
Bold  and  White,  a  painful  labourer  and  zealous  preacher  for  a 
long  time  in  the  mission,  wherein  he  died  at  London   in  Drury 
lane,  as  it  was  supposed  of  the  plague  in  1665  (at  the  age  of  79), 
the  1 5th.  of  August. 

These  were  all  professed  of  the  house  of  Dieulwart.  The 
Abbess  placed  them  in  the  suburbs  of  St.  James,  in  the  hotel  of 
St.  Andrew,  where  afterwards  the  Union  was  agreed  on,  and 
where  now  the  Visitation  nuns  are  established.  The  rent  came  to 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTIETH.  93 

£60  sterling  a  year  to  which  for  their  subsistence  she  further 
gave  every  year  >Tioo  sterling  and  besides  sent  them  from 
Chelles  frequently  provisions  of  bread,  wine  and  meat.  This  resi- 
dence totally  depended  on  Father  Walgrave  whom  the  Reverend 
General  of  Spain  had  appointed  Superior  over  the  Religious  at 
Chelles  in  1614  where  they  were  six  or  seven ;  and  F.  Bradshaw 
was  Superior  of  it  till  the  next  year,  namely  1616,  in  which  he 
was  called  to  reform  Longueville  in  Normandy  where  he  died. 

Anno  1616  September  29th.  in  the  General  Congregation  of 
the  Holy  Inquisition,  Pope  Paul  V  very  favourably  assented  to 
the  humble  request  of  the  Spanish  Congregation  declaring  that 
the  English  of  that  Congregation  having  finished  the  time  of  study 
set  down  in  Clement  VIII's  Brief  might  take  the  degrees  of 
Doctor  with  leave  of  the  Cardinal  Protector  pro  tempore  and  their 
Superiors  only,  when  they  have  studied  more  in  their  cloisters 
than  in  the  Seminaries  in  which  case  there  would  be  no  need  of 
the  leave  of  the  Rectors  of  the  Seminaries. 

Father  Parsons  the  Jesuit  had  obtained  of  Clement  VIII  a 
Brief  which  commanded  that  no  Englishman  should  pass  Doctor 
in  Divinity  till  after  a  course  of  four  years  in  the  study  of  Divinity, 
and  four  years  added  to  that  again  to  perfect  them  therein  and 
render  them  thorough  Divines. 


94 


CHAPTER   THE   THIRTY-FIRST. 

THE    UNION. 


BUT  it  is  now  time  to  consider  the  progress  made  towards 
the  so  much  desired  union  of  the  English  monks  of  the  three 
Congregations,  to  wit,  Mount  Cassin,  Valladolid,  and  the 
English  ;  ( for  Father  Sadler  and  Father  Mayhew  aggregated 
by  Father  Buckley,  had  professed  several  persons, )  in  order  to 
have  but  one  Benedictine  Congregation  in  England  which  should 
be  the  old  English  Congregation  renewed  ;  which  was  found 
very  hard  to  be  effected.  Many  meetings  there  had  been  about 
it,  many  articles  conceived  and  proposed  about  the  manner,  and 
great  expenses  there  had  been  in  journeys  upon  this  account. 
And  these  treaties  and  doings  had  continued  many  years,  and 
notwithstanding  all  this  seemed  every  day  farther  off  than  before. 

Some  of  the  monks  were  in  prison,  as  F.  Thomas  Preston, 
Superior  of  the  Italian  mission;  others  beyond  sea,  as  F.  Bradshaw 
Superior  and  Vicar  General  of  the  Spanish,  laying  the  foun- 
dation of  Douay  and  Dieulwart,  and  the  rest  scattered  in  England 
as  sheep  without  pastors,  lying  in  covert  from  the  fury  of  the 
persecution. 

But  it  happened  by  a  secret  conduct  then  not  well  under- 
stood, but  soon  after  discovered,  that  Fr.  Bradshaw  diverted  to 
Rheims  to  confer  with  Dr.  Gifford  then  Rector  of  the  University 
of  Rheims,  and  with  Fr.  Leander  of  St.  Martin,  then  at  the  royal 
Monastery  of  St.  Remigius,  concerning  the  new  foundations  and 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST.  95 

of  the  present  state  of  their  Order  in  England.  It  was  soon 
agreed  amongst  them  that  it  was  impossible  to  regulate  the 
mission  well  unless  they  entered  upon  a  stricter  alliance  between 
the  members  of  the  Congregations  ;  and  while  they  were  deli- 
berating upon  the  means  how  to  bring  it  to  pass,  Father  Thomas 
Preston  came  in  ;  and  so  came  in,  that  while  one  of  them  said 
he  wished  Father  Thomas  Preston  were  there,  he  that  was  wished 
for  being  exiled  out  of  England,  knocked  at  the  door  to  enquire 
for  them.  His  coming  so  unexpected  and  so  seasonable  was 
regarded  by  them  all  as  a  certain  sign  of  the  Divine  Will,  and  no 
light  argument  that  the  union  they  were  meditating  was  accep- 
table and  pleasing  to  Him  whose  Providence  so  happily  brought 
them  together,  and  whose  honour  they  zealed. 

It  was  hard  to  please  the  Spanish  Congregation  which 
expected  to  give  the  law  in  this  affair  as  having  many  more 
Missioners  in  England  than  the  Congregation  of  Mount  Cassin 
which  yet  liked  to  have  carried  it,  when  after  much  for 
and  against  the  Union,  F.  Anselm  of  Manchester  compiled 
several  articles  which  the  Pope  ratified,  and  presently  they  were 
despatched  to  the  Pope's  Nuncios  at  Paris  and  Brussels,  who 
without  delay  intimated  them  to  all  the  monks  in  Flanders, 
France  and  Lorraine,  and  strictly  commanded  them  to  be  put  in 
execution.  But  as  they  were  found  grounded  on  a  mistake,  Dr. 
GifTord,  Prior  of  St.  Malo's  and  Preacher  then  at  Paris,  obtained 
space  to  communicate  ( on )  the  affair  with  the  Spanish  Vicar, 
Father  Leander  of  St.  Martin,  who  acquainted  his  Reverend 
General  with  what  had  passed.  The  General  commanded  him 
in  virtue  of  Holy  Obedience  to  go  to  Rome  himself  or  send  an 
intelligent  person  to  rescind  the  contract  and  break  off  the  Union. 
Father  Leander  had  no  sooner  received  this  command  but  he  was 
cited  to  Brussels  by  the  Legate,  then  Archbishop  of  Rhodes, 
afterwards  Cardinal  Bentivoglio,  to  intimate  to  him  His  Holiness' 
orders  to  publish  the  Union.  He  humbly  desired  to  be  heard, 
for  his  General  had  charged  him  with  an  express  command  to 
that  end.  His  reasons  were  found  such  that  Father  Bennet  of 
St.  Facundus  was  sent  with  them  to  Rome  as  Procurator  to 
dissolve  the  Union  and  reduce  such  of  their  Spanish  subjects  in 


96  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST. 

France   who  under  pretence  of  this  Union  had  withdrawn  from 
the  obedience  of  their  former  Superiors. 

The  English  Congregation  sent  Fr.  Sigebert  the  younger  to 
plead  their  right  and  stop  the  attempt  of  the  adversary.  He 
joined  in  commission  with  Father  Anselm  Beech  of  Man- 
chester whose  power  in  Rome  and  experience  in  such  affairs  was 
no  small  advantage  to  his  side,  (and)  vigourously  pursued  the  union 
both  by  opposing  Fr.  Bennet  and  presenting  frequent  informations 
to  the  Congregation  of  Cardinals. 

This  Father  Anselm  of  Manchester  after  he  had  been  four 
years  in  the  mission,  was  sent  to  Rome,  as  Father  Baker  observes 
(in  his  Treatise  of  the  Mission)  "there  to  negotiate  the  affairs 
"  of  the  mission  for  his  Congregation,  and  there  remained 
"for  a  great  many  years  and  never  returned  to  England,  but 
"  growing  to  be  extreme  old  went  thence  to  the  Monastery  of  St. 
"  Justina  (at  Padua]  where  he  had  taken  the  habit  and  professed, 
"  and  there  after  two  or  three  years  died  and  made  a  good  end. 
"  I  never  knew  any  man  in  Mission,"  continues  Father  Baker, 
"whom  for  my  part  I  should  have  judged  fitter  for  the  Mission 
"  than  he  was,  all  qualities  considered,  nor  do  I  know  any  man 
"  that  succeeded  better  for  the  good  of  others  for  the  time  he 
"was  there." 

And  besides  these  opponents  (of  the  Spanish  party),  on  this 
side  the  Alps  the  monks  of  Chelles,  who  were  all  English  of 
the  Spanish  Obedience,  were  as  zealous  to  maintain  the  said  union 
as  they  were  willing  to  accept  it ;  and  their  Superior,  Father 
Walgrave,  relying  on  the  protection  and  favour  of  the  illustrious 
Abbess  of  Chelles,  obtained  letters  of  divers  persons  of  the  highest 
quality  in  the  Kingdom  in  behalf  of  his  cause.  But  for  all  this 
so  unbiassed  were  the  judgments  of  that  supreme  Court  of  Rome, 
and  so  unregarding  of  persons  and  interests,  that  the  reasons 
of  the  Spanish  Vicar  prevailed  and  a  decree  was  made  for  the 
suspending  the  execution  of  the  articles,  and  for  commanding 
such  as  had  accepted  them  to  return  to  their  former  obedience, 
and  order  given  that  they  should  be  benignly  received  by  their 
former  Superiors. 

This   Decree  was  drawn  Feria  V,    I5th.  of  January,  1615,  in 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST.  97 

the  General  Congregation  of  the  Holy  Inquisition,  and  the 
promulgation  of  this  Decree  was  particularly  pressed  upon  those 
of  Chelles  ( who  seemed  the  most  likely  to  fall  out )  with  threats 
of  having  recourse  to  more  efficacious  remedies  if  they  would 
not  submit.  And  to  reduce  the  said  Father  Walgrave  and  his 
subjects  to  their  former  obedience,  there  were  sent  from  Douay 
by  the  Vicar  General,  Father  John  Barnes  his  assistant  and 
Father  Paul  Grineus.  Yet  they  were  excusable  in  that  they 
rendered  obedience  to  the  Superior  of  the  English  Congregation 
only  upon  the  Pope's  command,  and  refused  to  withdraw  it  till 
they  had  acquainted  the  said  Superior  with  the  business  and 
represented  (to)  His  Holiness  their  reasons ;  and  to  this,  obtained 
a  letter  from  the  Nuncio  at  Paris,  [  Episcopus  erat  Politianus  ] 
dated  the  ist.  of  July,  1615. 

But  though  this  form  of  Union  did  not  please  his  Holiness 
yet  he  saw  a  great  necessity  of  the  Union  itself,  and  he  laid  it  to 
heart  so  much  and  judged  it  so  necessary  for  the  conversion  of 
our  country  that  he  directed  a  command  to  Father  Leander  by 
his  Nuncio,  either  to  send  up  another  Procurator  or  send  to  him 
that  was  there  a  new  commission  to  treat  of  a  more  solid  union 
according  as  his  Holiness  should  find  most  convenient. 

But  those  who  were  in  England  aggregated  by  Fr.  Buckley 
to  the  English  Congregation,  seeing  that  this  commotion  was 
chiefly  raised  upon  their  account,  namely  towards  the  uniting  the 
rest  to  that  Congregation  whereof  they  as  yet  were  the  whole, 
thought  themselves  obliged  by  charity  to  their  brethren  and  by 
duty  to  our  Holy  Father  the  Pope,  to  ease  them  both  from 
further  solicitude  by  proposing  an  accommodation  more  agree- 
able to  all  sides;  wherefore  the  same  year  (1615)  on  the  nth  of 
June  they  present  a  request  to  his  Holiness  humbly  showing 
that  the  underwritten  having  by  many  evident  proofs  experienced 
the  great  zeal  of  his  Holiness  for  the  good  of  our  country  and 
conversion  of  souls  and  paternal  solicitude  for  our  mission  and 
a  Union  betwen  the  religious  of  the  Order  of  St.  Benedict  destined 
by  their  Superiors  to  that  end,  over  which  his  Holiness  watched 
as  a  common  and  to  them  as  a  particular  Pastor  and  Father,  and 
having  maturely  pondered  what  advantage  or  disadvantage  may 


98  CHAPTER    THE     THIRTY-FIRST. 

arise  if  the  manner  of  the  union  be  convenient  and  by  all  equally 
approved,  or  inconvenient  and  only  acceptable  by  some  few  as  the 
last  method  presented  to  his  Holiness  (for  all  desire  a  union  as  to 
the  substance  but  differ  upon  the  manner),  they  most  humbly 
desire  his  Holiness  not  to  take  any  new  measures  till  he  had 
strictly  and  under  censures,  commanded  all  the  fathers  of  the  three 
Congregations  to  choose  by  plurality  of  suffrages  nine  Definitors 
without  regard  to  Congregation  but  promiscuously  as  the  votes 
should  run  out  of  all  three  or  any  two  or  one  of  them,  which 
Definitors  meeting  together  should  also  by  plurality  of  suffrages 
agree  upon  the  nature  and  form  of  the  Union  and  present  it  to 
his  Holiness  to  be  approved,  and  after  the  approbation  thereof 
should  proceed  by  the  same  Apostolic  authority  to  constitute  the 
regimen  and  laws  of  the  united  Congregation. 

A  proposition  so  rational  and  moderate  as  this,  and  coming 
from  such  as  had  an  equal  interest,  yet  no  party  hitherto  in  the 
differences  which  shaked  the  rest,  could  not  be  excepted  against 
by  any  side  unless  they  would  declare  themselves  abettors  of 
dissension  ;  it  was  also  well  received  in  the  court  and  congrega- 
tion of  Cardinals  of  the  Inquisition  as  appears  by  Cardinal  Bel- 
larmine's  letter  to  Father  Leander  (22nd  of  May,  1616) ;  though 
writ  after  Father  Sigebert's  arrival  at  Rome,  wherein  the  holy 
Cardinal  assures  him  that  all  things  had  a  very  good  appearance 
and  face  of  peace  and  union.  He  feared  only  some  opposition 
on  Father  Anselm's  side,  which  nevertheless  he  thought  would 
not  be  of  any  great  effect ;  and  if  that  he  and  his  body  would  not 
conspire  to  promote  the  common  concern  of  the  Mission,  it  was 
the  Cardinal's  judgment  that  it  imported  not  much  if  the  Cassin 
Congregation  were  utterly  excluded  as  being  so  far  from  Eng- 
land, and  the  other  Cardinals  were  of  his  opinion. 

The  Spanish  Vicar  confirmed  Father  Bennet  in  his  procurator- 
ship  and  sent  him  a  new  and  more  ample  commission  with 
instructions  for  his  behaviour  in  the  affair ;  and  this  with  the 
unanimous  consent  of  the  Religious  in  France  of  the  Spanish 
Obedience. 

And  Father  Anselm  was  continued  by  the  Italian  Congrega- 
tion both  Superior  and  Procurator  of  the  English  Congregation 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST.  99 

which  hitherto  lay  in  covert  under  the  shadow  of  the  Cassin  Con- 
gregation and  as  yet  was  in  its  minority,  negotiating  nothing  but  by 
the  Cassins'  hands  ;  yet  now  it  sent  as  its  Procurator  apart  Father 
Sigebert  (whose  surname  was  Bagshaw),  and  as  he  was  intituled 
to  Westminster  Abbey,  to  distinguish  him  from  Father  Buckley 
he  is  often  in  writings  called  Father  Sigebert  or  Father  Sebert  the 
younger.  This  was  by  commission. and  even  invitation  of  Father 
Anselm  in  his  letter  to  them  assembled  at  Dieulwart,  dated  the 
/th  of  May,  1 6 1 6  ;  for  Dieulwart  was  properly  the  house  of  the 
English  Congregation,  for  not  only  Mr.  Pitts  got  it  for  that  end 
as  hath  been  said,  but  also  he  was  the  person  who  proposed  the 
Reverend  FF.  Sadler  and  Mayhew  for  the  aggregation  who  soon 
after  were  associated  and  appropriated  to  the  house  of  Dieulwart, 
from  which  two  that  place  laid  its  claim  to  Westminster  and 
expect  it  yet  if  ever  it  be  restored;  though  this  Congregation  as 
I  shall  say  in  its  place  hath  renounced  the  lands  and  estates  of  the 
Abbeys,  &c.  But  to  return  to  the  affair  of  our  Union.  These 
things  being  thus  far  advanced,  the  Procurators  met  at  Rome 
made  a  joint  protestation  that  they  would  sincerely  and  what  in 
them  lay  efficaciously  treat  of  and  procure  the  desired  union  ; 
setting  chiefly  before  their  eyes  the  conversion  of  our  country  by 
the  labours  of  the  Apostolical  Mission,  and  (in)  the  next  place  the 
recovering  and  re-establishing  the  ancient  English  Benedictine 
Congregation. 

His  Holiness  expedited  a  Brief,  the  i9th  of  May,  1616,  wherein 
he  commands  nine  Definitors  to  be  chosen  out  of  the  whole  body 
of  the  English  Benedictine  Mission  without  any  respect  of  Con- 
gregations, but  such  only  as  shall  be  judged  by  the  electors  to  be 
in  sanctity,  virtue,  prudence,  and  religious  practice,  more  remark- 
able and  fit.  In  the  election  all  should  have  a  vote  that  were 
professed,  and  that  person  should  ipso  faSlo  be  chosen  who  had 
more  suffrages  according  to  the  manner  and  form  the  Nuncio  of 
France  should  prescribe  ;  that  the  Definitors  elect  should  have 
power  to  constitute  and  enact  such  ordinances  and  rules  as  they 
should  judge  proper  for  the  present  and  future  state  of  the  mis- 
sion, habit,  office,  ceremonies,  &c,  to  nominate  officers  and 
Superiors  to  their  Communities ;  that  such  laws  as  they  should 


IOO  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST. 

pass  should  be  sent  to  the  City,  and  presented  to  the  Congrega- 
tion of  the  Inquisition,  and  that  the  said  laws  should  not  be  in 
execution  till  they  were  corroborated  by  the  Apostolic  approbation. 

The  publication  of  this  Brief  was  imposed  on  the  Nuncio  of 
France  Cardinal  Ubaldin  who  intimated  it  the  4th  of  August 
following  and  communicated  copies  to  the  persons  concerned ; 
requiring  moreover  that  the  suffrages  of  each  person  should  be 
secret,  according  to  conscience,  unbiassed  by  interest  or  persua- 
sion, and  that  they  should  be  sent  to  him  as  scrutator  within 
three  months,  and  that  such  nine  as  he  should  collect  out  of 
plurality  of  suffrages  he  declares  Definitors  and  that  he  would 
appoint  the  time  and  place  where  they  should  meet  that  they 
might  agree  on  what  should  be  judged  necessary  for  the  perfec- 
tion of  the  Mission  and  Union  of  the  Congregations. 

As  soon  therefore  as  the  Superiors  of  the  Spanish  and  English 
Congregations  had  received  the  Brief,  on  their  part  they  commu- 
nicated copies  to  all  their  subjects  and  others  of  the  English 
Mission  within  and  out  of  England  ;  and  the  Cardinal  Benti- 
voglio  succeeding  Ubaldin  in  the  Nunciature  of  France,  there 
were  sent  to  him  all  the  suffrages  of  the  monks  of  the  Spanish 
and  English  Congregations  excepting  at  the  most  five  or  six  who 
either  would  not  vote  or  their  votes  miscarried  in  the  way  as  it 
may  easily  happen  at  such  a  distance  and  in  such  difficulties  of 
times,  and  'tis  more  strange  that  more  did  not  than  that  so  few 
did  miscarry. 

After  his  Eminence  had  compared  the  suffrages  according  to 
the  orders  given  by  His  Holiness  to  Cardinal  Ubaldin,  he  pro- 
nounced Definitors  the  nine  that  had  most  suffrages,  who  were 
as  follows : 

i .  R.  F.  Leandcr  of  St.  Martin,  Vicar  General  of  the  Spanish 
Congregation.  His  surname  was  Jones  descended  of  the  noble 
family  of  the  Scudamores  of  Kentchurch  in  Herefordshire.  At 
scarce  a  year  old  he  was  carried  from  Wales  where  he  was  born 
into  England  to  suck  in  the  language  together  with  his  nurse's 
milk.  After  some  time  spent  in  some  country  schools  he  was 
committed  to  that  famous  one  of  Westminster  at  London,  where 
giving  extraordinary  token  of  a  great  genius,  he  was  sent  to  the 


Mea/agt 

LIBRARY  * 


*  * 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST.  IOI 

College  of  St.  John's  at  Oxford.  Here  he  gave  himself  chiefly 
to  the  study  of  the  Civil  Law  and  made  such  progress  that  it 
exposed  him  to  the  envy  of  his  companions,  as  on  the  other  side  his 
steadiness  in  the  Catholic  faith  exposed  him  to  the  fury  of 
Calvin's  followers ;  wherefore  to  avoid  the  consequences  thereof 
he  was  forced  to  return  to  London.  There  he  found  his  family 
afflicted  with  the  plague,  so  that  his  parents  and  brethren  died  all 
of  them  a  few  days  after  his  arrival.  Upon  this  he  went  to  the 
English  College  of  Valladolid  the  better  to  instruct  himself  in  his 
religion  and  learn  divinity.  After  some  years  thus  spent  he 
entered  into  the  Order  of  St.  Benedict  in  the  Monastery  of  St. 
Martin  at  Compostella  in  Spain  ;  and  from  thence,  to  form  him 
in  all  sorts  of  learning  that  might  any  ways  help  him  against  the 
Sectaries  of  England,  he  was  sent  up  and  down  to  many  of  the 
monasteries  of  Spain,  and  lastly  was  sent  to  the  Mission.  But  as 
he  took  his  journey  through  France,  at  the  great  monastery  of 
St.  Remigius  at  Rheims  they  most  earnestly  entreated  him  to  lend 
them  his  company  for  a  few  months  to  form  in  learning  and 
piety  their  novices,  which  he  did  to  their  very  great  satisfaction. 
From  hence  his  brethren  called  him  to  rather  help  them  who  most 
needed  him  in  their  new  settlements  ;  wherefore  he  went  to 
Douay  and  afterwards  to  Dieulwart,  charming  all  the  monasteries 
wherever  he  came  with  the  great  renown  of  his  learning  and 
piety.  From  Lorraine  where  he  taught  Divinity  he  was  called 
to  be  Prior  of  Douay  ;  afterwards  he  was  constituted  President 
General  of  the  English  monks  of  the  Spanish  Congregation  resid- 
ing out  of  Spain.  He  spent  in  the  University  of  Douay  almost 
twenty  four  years  in  teaching  Divinity  and  the  Hebrew  tongue, 
of  which  he  was  a  public  professor  before  he  passed  Doctor  of 
Divinity,  nor  did  he  give  it  over  till  his  dying  day.  During  the 
said  twenty  four  years  he  corrected  many  books  and  caused  them 
to  be  printed  very  exactly  and  with  all  this  was  so  modest  and 
humble  that  he  suppressed  many  very  fine  things  both  in  prose 
and  verse  of  his  own  doing  and  would  never  but  against  his  will  let 
them  be  known  for  his.  He  was  so  skilled  in  all  the  oriental 
languages  that  few  were  superior  to  him  in  those  sciences,  and 
enjoyed  so  prodigious  a  memory  that  in  a  short  time  he  could  learn 


102  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST. 

any  of  them  in  perfection  if  he  did  but  once  fix  his  resolution  to 
set  itself  after  it ;  an  accomplished  rhetorician,  poet,  grecian  and 
latinist.  Twice  was  he  Prior  of  Douay  and  twice  President  of  the 
Congregation  after  the  Union,  which  offices  he  performed  most 
nobly  and  worthily,  and  was  by  the  Congregation  designed  Abbot  of 
Cismar.  He  rendered  the  Catholic  cause  great  services  when 
upon  the  marriage  of  Charles  I  with  Henrietta  of  France  there 
appeared  an  aurora  of  England's  conversion,  the  Queen  being 
Catholic  and  attended  with  a  Chapel  splendidly  served  by  a  great 
retinue  of  Priests  both  Secular  and  Regular ;  the  King  inclining 
and  the  famous  Dr.  Laud,  that  renowned  protestant  archbishop  of 
Canterbury  ( the  best  of  them  who  have  occupied  that  See  since 
error  hath  prevailed  in  England),  steering  his  course  directly 
to  the  old  and  only  Faith,  guided  and  directed  by  his  dear 
friend  and  old  intimate  acquaintance  the  R.  F.  Leander,  to  whom 
he  gave  a  College  in  Kent.  They  had  been  colleagues  together 
at  Oxford,  and  not  only  this  Reverend  Father  was  so  highly 
prized  by  Dr.  Laud  but  also  by  others  of  that  heterodox  misery, 
so  that  more  than  once  in  most  desperate  times  he  had  a  special 
Royal  grant  or  leave  to  go  into  England.  The  last  time  he  went 
he  was  called  by  the  aforesaid  good  friend  Dr.  Laud  who  wanted 
to  confer  with  him  about  some  points  of  controversy.  But  he 
had  not  been  long  in  England  when  he  fell  sick  and  died  the 
z/th  of  December  1635,  and  made  a  good  end,  saith  Father 
Baker,  having  had  a  good  warning  and  assurance  of  his  death 
near  at  hand  in  his  last  sickness  that  was  long  and  made  him 
keep  his  bed.  He  died  about  the  yoth  year  of  his  age  and  was 
much  lamented  and  very  nobly  attended  by  many  great  persons 
to  his  grave  which  was  the  first  made  at  Somerset  Palace  in  the 
Queen's  chapel,  consecrated  but  four  days  before,  I  should  have 
specified  amongst  other  his  church  dignities,  that  of  his  being 
Cathedral  Prior  of  Canterbury  ;  and  yet  nothing  of  all  this  could 
alter  or  change  or  disturb  his  incomparable  meekness  and 
affability. 

2.  Reverend  Father  Vincent  Sadler,  President  of  the  English 
Congregation,  whose  story  hath  been  related. 

3.  Dr.  Gifford,  Prior  of  St.  Malo's.     Both   Father   Mayhew 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST.  103 

and  Mr.  Pitts  ( de  Scriptoribus )  agree  his  extraction  was  very 
illustrious  and  splendid,  descended  by  his  father  of  the  old  noble 
Giffords  of  Normandy,  and  by  his  mother  of  the  most  illustrious 
Throckmortons.  He  was  born  in  1555,  and  during  his  childhood 
a  person  gave  a  cross  to  his  mother,  advising  her  to  keep  it  for  her 
son  William  ( for  that  was  his  name  in  Baptism )  he  being 
destined  to  an  high  dignity  in  the  Church.  His  father  dying 
while  he  was  in  the  flower  of  his  youth,  his  most  pious  mother 
kept  him  four  years  at  the  University  of  Oxford,  from  whence  to 
enjoy  the  freedom  of  Catholic  religion  he  went  with  his  Tutor 
to  Louvain.  Here  he  passed  Doctor  of  Arts  and  spent  four  years 
in  Divinity,  for  the  most  part  under  the  learned  Fr.  Bellarmine 
(who  was  afterwards  Cardinal  Bellarmine)  and  passed  Bachelor  in 
Divinity.  Louvain  becoming  almost  abandoned  through  the  civil 
wars  in  Flanders,  he  went  to  Paris  to  continue  his  Divinity,  and 
not  long  after  William  Allen,  President  of  the  English  College  at 
Rheims  and  in  process  of  time  Cardinal,  called  him  to  him  to 
Rheims,  and  sent  him  to  finish  his  studies  at  the  English  College 
at  Rome,  at  the  end  of  which  he  called  him  again  to  Rheims  and 
placed  him  Professor  of  Divinity  at  the  English  College.  And 
that  he  might  acquit  himself  thereof  with  greater  authority  he 
sent  him  to  Pont-a  Mousson  in  Lorraine,  no  contemptible  Univer- 
sity, and  there  he  passed  Doctor  in  Divinity,  the  I4th.  of 
November  1584,  with  great  applause,  and  returning  to  Rheims 
he  there  taught  Divinity  with  as  great  commendation  for  the 
space  of  eleven  years  during  which  time  he  had  many  for  his 
scholars  who  afterwards  shed  their  blood  for  the  Faith  at  the 
gibbets  of  England. 

Hence  it  came  that  the  government  of  England  bore  him 
such  hatred  that  he  could  never  return  hither  but  very  privately, 
whereby  he  lost  his  inheritance  which  God  even  then  began  to 
repay  him;  for  he  raised  him  great  friends  in  the  persons  of 
Henry  Duke  of  Guise  and  Governor  of  Champaign  and  Lewis 
his  brother,  Archbishop  of  Rheims  and  Cardinal,  who  gave  him 
yearly  as  long  as  they  lived  an  honourable  pension  of  200  pieces 
of  gold  (Ducentos  aureos);  but  they  perishing  at  Blois  and 
France  beginning  to  flame  with  civil  war,  Dr.  Gifford  went 


104  CHAPTER    THE    THIRTY-FIRST. 

again  to  Rome.  I  find  he  voyaged  thrice  into  Italy,  and  in  one 
of  them  he  had  the  honour  and  blessing  of  living  in  the  family 
of  that  incomparable  prelate  of  Milan  St.  Charles  Borromeus, 
as  his  Theologal.  In  his  last  voyage  to  Italy  he  adhered  and 
kept  to  his  good  old  friend  Cardinal  Allen  in  the  same  quality 
of  Theologal,  and  the  Deanery  of  Lisle  in  Flanders  by  Pope 
Clement  VIII  was  conferred  upon  him  through  the  means  of  the 
said  Cardinal  Allen.  He  held  this  considerable  benefice  very 
honourably  for  the  space  of  ten  years,  keeping  open  house  to 
virtue,  especially  when  banished  for  religion  sake.  But  as  his 
inclinations  were  altogether  French  and  no  ways  Spanish,  he 
was  forced  to  quit  his  Deanery  of  Lisle  then  in  the  Spanish 
Dominions  and  return  to  Rheims  again  where  he  became  Redtor 
of  that  University,  and  acquitted  himself  of  the  charge  with 
great  applause.  Then  leaving  all  and  becoming  a  monk  at 
Dieulwart,  after  his  profession  he  taught  his  brethren  and  was 
Preacher  to  the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  very  exact  to  all  religious 
duties  and  austerities,  and  so  humble  notwithstanding  his  great 
parts  and  abilities  that  it  soon  exalted  him  to  the  first  place 
of  the  house,  where  he  stayed  not  long,  when  he  was  sent  as 
hath  been  said  to  Saint  Malo's.  Here  his  fame  so  spread  that  he 
became  Visitor  of  the  most  famous  and  noble  Abbey  of 
Fontevrault,  which  great  charge  he  performed  egregiously  for 
some  years ;  and  his  affairs  obliging  him  to  resort  to  Paris, 
he  was  there  so  followed  for  his  sermons,  that  though  an 
Englishman  he  was  honoured  with  the  chief  pulpits  of  that 
renowned  city,  and  so  esteemed  one  of  its  best  preachers  that 
the  most  Christian  King  Louis  the  XIII  and  the  chief  of  the 
court  and  many  other  great  men  were  frequently  of  his 
auditory.  He  was  very  expert  in  that  useful  faculty  having  often 
made  Latin  orations  before  many  Princes ;  as  at  Lisle  at  the 
inauguration  of  Albert  and  Isabella,  Sovereign  Princes  of  the 
Low  Countries,  and  at  Rheims  before  the  Cardinals  of  Bour- 
bon, Vendome,  Guise,  Vaudmont,  and  the  Dukes  of  Guise, 
D'Aumale  &c.  In  all  he  spent  fourteen  years  in  preaching 
at  Paris,  so  universally  applauded  that  he  acquired  to  himself 
through  the  excellency  of  his  merits,  the  name  of  Le  Pere 


CHAPTER     THE       THIRTY-FIRST.  105 

Benedidtin,  the  Benedictine  Father.  Of  this  preaching  a  pleasant 
thing  is  assured  which  deserves  mention.  His  practice  was  not 
only  loyal,  but  his  public  discourses  tended  altogether  to  inspire 
the  same  virtue  into  the  public  which  then  was  somewhat  off 
the  hinges.  Notice  was  given  him  to  take  heed  or  else  he 
would  be  pistolled  ;  but  he  persisting  intrepidly  in  his  duty,  one 
day  a  coach  stopped  at  the  door  where  the  Fathers  lived,  and  an 
unknown  person  demanding  him,  gave  him  a  bag  full  of  gold  pis- 
toles, praying  him  to  continue  on  his  lessons  of  loyalty.  Coming 
upstairs  he  told  his  brethren  he  was  pistolled,  but  to  ease  them 
of  their  grief  he  presently  showed  how.  The  Abbess  of  Chelles 
made  such  account  of  him  that  to  contribute  to  his  credit  and  to 
give  credit  to  the  house  she  had  begun  at  Paris  for  the  English 
Fathers,  she  would  needs  have  him  to  be  Superior  of  it  while  his 
sermons  held  him  in  town. 

In  the  misunderstandings  which  happened,  as  I  have  above 
related,  betwixt  the  Secular  Clergy  and  Society  in  England,  the 
Jesuits  were  mightily  offended  with  this  Dr.  Gifford,  insomuch 
that  they  obliged  him  to  appear  before  the  Pope's  Nuncio  in  the 
Low  Countries,  where  they  learnt  to  have  a  better  opinion  of 
him  ;  for  the  Nuncio  declared  him  wronged ;  and  they  were  forced 
to  ask  his  pardon  for  yielding  so  much  to  their  suspicions  as  to 
persuade  themselves  that  he  was  the  hinges  in  part  on  which 
those  disturbances  turned. 

In  1608  being  Reclor  of  the  university  of  Rheims  he  took 
the  habit  on  the  nth.  of  July  from  the  hands  of  R.  F.  Leander 
of  St.  Martin,  in  the  great  Abbey  of  St.  Remi  at  Rheims,  for  the 
house  of  Dieulwart,  where  in  1609  on  the  iith.  of  July  he  was 
privately  professed  in  the  Chapter  house  in  presence  of  Father 
Nicholas,  and  gave  to  the  house  a  great  number  of  books  and 
much  household  stuff. 

4.  R.  F.  Robert  Haddock,  Superior  in  England  of  the  Spanish 
Mission.     His  other  name  was  Benson.      After  a  long  time  spent 
with  great  success  in  the  Mission,  he  died  full  of  years  in  Stafford- 
shire in  1650.   (Feb.  8th.) 

5.  R.  F.  Rudesind  Barlow,  Prior  of  St.  Gregory's  at  Douay. 
He  was  descended  of  an  ancient  and  noble  family  in  Lancashire, 

o 


IO6  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST. 

and  coming  as  I  have  said  from  Spain  to  Douay,  became  there 
another  Gamaliel  in  regard  of  the  Low  Countries.  For  he 
taught  there,  (as)  first  Professor  of  Divinity  so  long  at  the  College 
of  St.  Vaast  with  the  applause  and  admiration  of  all,  that  he 
formed  almost  all  the  Bishops,  Abbots,  and  Professors  that  flour- 
ished in  those  parts  for  some  time  after.  He  was  esteemed  the  first 
or  chief  of  the  Scholastic  Divines  or  Casuists  of  his  time  and  in 
knowledge  of  the  Canon  Law  inferior  to  no  one  of  his  time  or 
the  age  before.  Hence  it  came  that  he  was  consulted  like  an  oracle 
out  of  all  the  provinces  of  the  Christian  commonweal,  even  by 
such  as  were  esteemed  the  greatest  Divines  of  the  world  at  that 
time.  The  dignity  of  Abbot  and  Bishop  his  egregious  humility 
rejected  more  than  once ;  and  it  was  thought  he  would  have 
refused  that  of  Cardinal  which  was  said  to  have  been  a-preparing 
for  him.  This  is  certian,  he  was  most  highly  acceptable  and 
even  dear  to  the  Cardinals  Bellarmine,  Bentivoglio  and  Ubaldin, 
and  others  of  that  illustrious  purple  senate,  and  even  to  the  Pope 
himself:  witness  that  when  after  the  death  of  the  Catholic  Bishop 
who  governed  the  Catholics  of  England  under  the  title  of  Chal- 
cedon,  the  English  clergy  much  coveting  another  under  the  same 
title,  the  Pope  ordered  F.  Rudesind  to  propose  in  the  name  of 
himself  and  his  brethren  that  person  whom  he  thought  most 
proper  to  preside  over  the  English  Catholic  Church.  This  is  so 
very  certain  that  the  Protestants  themselves  knew  the  whole 
detail  of  this  business  ;  witness  that  virulent  book  called  "  The 
Popish  Royall  Favourite"  printed  at  London  in  1 643,  which  has 
the  letter  Father  Rudesind  writ  to  the  Cardinals  de  Propaganda  to 
obtain  that  Episcopal  dignity  for  Dr.  Smith ;  and  when  he  was 
so  unworthy  after  this  as  to  rise  against  the  monks  who  had  set 
the  mitre  on  his  head,  F.  Rudesind  with  as  great  courage  exerted 
the  force  of  his  pen  against  him,  and  the  Pope  and  the  senate  of 
the  Church  maintaining  him,  the  said  Prelate  was  forced  to  desist 
from  his  attempts  and  pretended  jurisdiction  of  ordinary  of  Great 
Britain,  which  caused  such  distractions  in  England  that  protes- 
tant  historians  of  those  times  take  notice  of  them. 

On  the  death  of  this  renowned  monk,  a  Bishop  sent  to  the 
Fathers  of  Douay  to  offer  them  an  Establishment  if  they  would 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST.  IOJ 

but  make  him  a  present  of  the  said  Father's  writings.  But  in 
vain  they  were  sought  for,  for  they  were  destroyed  by  an  enemy. 
St.  Austin  sayeth  that  as  he  never  knew  better  men  than  good 
monks  so  he  never  knew  worse  than  bad  monks.  And  that  now 
and  then  there  be  found  some  bad  ones  ought  not  to  scandalize 
any  one,  seeing  how  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  declared 
that  among  his  twelve  Apostles  one  of  them  was  a  devil,  meaning 
Judas.  For  therefore  the  bad  are  many  times  among  the  good 
either  to  purify  them  by  patience  from  the  dross  of  their  imper- 
fections, or  to  become  purified  themselves  by  a  serious  return 
from  their  wickedness  to  the  goodness  of  God.  But  to  return  to 
Father  Rudesind ;  he  lies  buried  in  the  Choir  of  St.  Gregory's  at 
Douay  before  his  stall  with  this  epitaph  : 

"  Sub  hoc  lapide  recondita  jacent  ossa  R.  A.  P.  Rudesindi  Barloe, 
Ecclesias  Christi  Cantuariensis  totius  Anglias  Matricis  Prioris 
Cathedralis,  sacrae  Theologiae  Doctoris  ejusdemque  per  quadra- 
ginta  annos  professoris  eximii;  qui  postquam  39  an.  vel  totius 
Congregationis  Praesidis  vel  Definitoris  aut  hujus  conventus 
Prioris  officiis  laudabiliter  perfunctus,  tandem  in  senectute  bona 
19  Sep.  Anno  Dni.  1656  mortuus  est,  aetatis  suas  72,  conversionis 
monasticae  51,  Sacerdotii  48. 

Requiescat  in  sancta  pace." 

Englished  thus  :  "Under  this  stone  lie  buried  the  bones  of  the 
Very  Reverend  Father  Rudesind  Barloe,  Cathedral  Prior  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  at  Canterbury,  the  Mother  Church  of  all 
England,  Doctor  of  Divinity  and  an  egregious  professor  of  the 
same  for  forty  years  together :  who  after  thirty  nine  years  laudably 
spent  in  discharging  either  the  duty  of  President-General  or  of 
Definitor  of  the  Congregation  or  of  Prior  of  this  Convent  ( of 
Douay  )  died  in  a  good  old  age,  Sep  19,  1656  ;  the  72nd  year  of 
his  age,  the  5ist  of  his  Monachism,  and  48th  of  his  Priesthood. 
May  he  rest  in  holy  peace." 

6.  Reverend  F.  Edward  Maihew,  whose  history  we  in  short 
already   delivered.     (  page  60.) 

7.  R.  F.  Bennet  Jones,   assistant  of  the   Spanish  Vicar  in 
England :    he   was    otherwise    named   William   Price,   and   died 
Cathedral   Prior   of  Winchester    at  London,  October  19(8.  V.) 


108  .CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST. 

1639,  after  he  had  commendably  performed  the  offices  of  Procu- 
rator at  Rome  and  Superior  in  the  mission.  He  was  one  time 
chosen  President  General  but  did  not  cross  the  seas  to  execute 
the  charge,  and  when  he  died  he  was  designed  the  Vice  President 
in  England.  He  contributed  much  to  the  beginning  of  the 
English  Benedictine  Nunnery  at  Cambray ;  and,  tried  by 
imprisonments  for  his  Faith,  was  found  just.  He  was  professed 
of  St.  Facundus'  in  Spain. 

8.  R.  F.  Torquatus    Latham,   Professor    of  Philosophy    at 
Douay,  where  he  died  December  i9th,  1624. 

9.  R.  F.  Sigebert  Bagshaw,  monk   of  the  English  Congre- 
gation.    He  was  a  man  of  singular  zeal  and  industry,  who   after 
he  had   most  laudably   and  successfully  performed  the  offices  of 
Procurator  in  the  Roman  Court,  of  Prior  of  Paris,   and  lastly,  of 
President  of  the  Congregation,  departed  this  life  at  Douay  during 
the  time  of  General  Chapter,  anno  1633. 

These  were  the  nine  Defmitors  all  men  of  great  esteem  for 
their  learning,  piety  and  experience  in  the  affairs  of  the  English 
mission,  and  seemed  to  be  picked  out  not  without  a  particular 
providence,  considering  that  in  so  great  a  number  of  votes  there 
were  some  that  were  averse  from  all  manner  of  Union,  others  too 
much  wedded  to  their  interests  or  Congregation;  but  they  placed 
their  votes  so  judiciously  and  faithfully  as  if  they  had  been  men 
without  passion  or  bias  and  no  difference  had  ever  been  among 
them,  and  were  of  one  heart  and  mind  as  of  Order  and  Profession. 

The  Nuncio  was  much  rejoiced  at  the  election,  and  for  the 
place  of  the  Definitory  made  choice  of  the  house  they  had  at 
Paris,  St.  Andrew's  in  the  Suburb  of  St.  James.  He  appointed 
their  meeting  on  the  first  day  of  June,  1617  and  cited  them 
according  to  form  to  appear  at  the  place  and  time. 

They  obeyed,  met,  entered  the  Definitory  and  were  several 
times  visited  by  the  Cardinal  while  they  were  upon  the  matter, 
where  after  invocation,  and,  as  we  piously  confide,  particular 
assistance  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Pope's  Decree  and  the  Cardinal's 
citation  were  publicly  read ;  after  which  the  Fathers  as  acting  by 
a  delegated  authority  from  the  See  Apostolic  (to  whose  censure 
and  correction  they  preliminarily  submit  all  their  resolutions),  and 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST.  109 

as  representing  the  whole  body  of  the  English  Benedictine  Mis- 
sion, (by  whose  common  suffrages  they  were  chosen),  unanimously 
and  as  one  man  they  enacted  and  framed  an  entire  body  of  laws 
and  Constitutions  which  are  extant  in  R.  F.  Leander's  own  hand, 
whose  pen  they  made  use  of  'Twould  be  an  unnecessary  labour 
to  give  an  account  of  them,  since  they  are,  as  to  the  gross,  still  in 
force  and  re-established  by  the  last  compilation  An.  1661.  But 
I  will  not  deny  my  reader  the  satisfaction,  nor  this  reverend  assem- 
bly the  honour  due  to  their  zeal  and  prudence  in  pronouncing 
against  the  takers  and  abettors  of  the  oath  of  allegiance  or  any 
suspected  or  pernicious  doctrine.  Thus  they  speak,  Chap.  I. 
Art.  i  and  2. 

"Since  the  Benedictine  monks  of  several  Congregations  who 
by  the  authority  of  the  See  Apostolic  labour  in  the  Mission,  have 
hitherto  exercised  their  functions  independent  of  one  another,  it 
seems  necessary  to  us  all  that  those  of  the  Spanish  Congregation 
from  this  time  forward  be  united  into  one  body  or  Congregation, 
that  their  endeavours  towards  the  conversion  of  souls  may  be  more 
faithful  and  that  they  may  fight  the  battle  of  our  Lord  orderly. 
And  because  this  Union  is  principally  intended  that  the  Catholic 
and  Roman  Faith  may  be  propagated  and  rooted  in  the  kingdom 
of  England,  as  far  as  it  shall  please  God  to  make  use  of  our  labours; 
therefore  it  is  our  will,  that  this  Union  be  not  agreed  upon  in 
any  other  manner  than  that  all  and  every  one  of  such  as  are  to 
be  united,  do  conform  themselves  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Church ;  as  well  generally  in  all  matters  that  concern 
either  belief  or  manners,  as  specially  and  in  particular,  in  accept- 
ing and  submitting  to  the  Decrees  of  our  Holy  Father  Pope 
Paul  V  touching  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  authority  and  juris- 
diction of  the  Church  and  holy  Apostolic  See.  But  with  others 
(if  there  be  any  such)  who  dissent  from  those  articles  or  Decrees, 
we  do  by  no  means  intend  to  strike  up  an  Union  or  hold  com- 
munion, unless  within  six  months  after  a  sufficient  admonition 
thereof  by  their  Superiors,  they  purge  themselves  from  such  impu- 
tation and  give  sufficient  satisfaction  to  the  said  Superiors  of  this 
Congregation. 

"  If  any   President,  Provincial,  Definitor,  Prior,  Counsellor  or 


MO  CHAPTER    THE    Til  IKTV-  FI  UST. 

any  other  Superior,  Capitular  person  of  this  Congregation  do  turn 
heretic,  as  God  forbid,  or  schismatic,  or  commit  any  great  or 
public  scandal  to  Catholic  religion,  he  shall  by  this  constitution 
be  judged  deposed  from  and  deprived  of  his  office  and  Capitular 
dignity.  But  if  any  one  teach,  disperse  or  defend  any  temerarious 
or  dangerous  doctrine,  or  that  sounds  ill,  or  is  offensive  to  pious 
ears,  either  against  Faith  or  against  good  manners,  or  against 
the  Apostolic  See,  or  any  sentiment  or  opinion  prohibited  or 
branded  by  the  said  See  ;  or  is  a  manifest  and  voluntary  contemner 
and  prevaricator  of  the  Rule  of  our  Holy  Father  Saint  Benedict 
as  it  is  explicated  by  our  Constitutions  approved  by  the  See  Apos- 
tolic, or  be  found  so  remiss  and  negligent  in  correcting  such 
offenders,  that  such  his  prevarication  and  negligence  is  prudently 
judged  to  tend  towards  the  destruction  of  the  Congregation  and 
dissolution  of  regular  observance,  let  him  be  admonished  even 
to  the  fourth  time  to  correct  himself,  by  the  President,  Provin- 
cials or  Judges  of  Causes  respectively  ;  and  if  he  does  not  amend 
after  such  admonition,  let  him  be  admonished  to  lay  down  his 
office.  If  he  refuse,  his  faults  being  proved  against  him,  let 
him  be  deposed  by  sentence  of  the  President  or  Judges  of 
causes  respectively,  if  he  be  their  inferior  ;  or  by  sentence  of  all 
the  Definitors  if  he  be  President;  or  by  sentence  of  the  President 
and  the  rest  of  the  Definitors  if  he  be  one  of  them,  and  another 
chosen  in  his  place." 

This  is  the  basis  and  pillar  upon  which  the  English  Benedictine 
Congregation  renewed  is  a-new  built  and  by  which  it  is  supported 
'tis  its  mums  and  antemurale,  its  walls  and  its  bulwark  by  which  it 
is  defended  against  all  the  impressions  of  its  enemies ;  and  like 
a  castle  built  upon  a  rock,  the  winds  and  the  waves  may  beat  upon 
it,  but  cannot  subvert  it,  for  it  is  founded  on  that  rock  which  has 
a  promise  from  Truth  itself  that  the  gates  of  Hell  (which  are 
errors  in  Faith  and  manners)  shall  never  prevail  against  it.  And 
the  modern  successors  to  the  authority  and  virtues  of  this  wise 
and  holy  assembly  so  faithfully  obey  the  Prophet's  advice  (Isaias 
51.  i.)  in  "attending  to  the  rock  from  which  they  are  hewn  and  on 
"which  they  are  founded,"  since  in  their  General  Chapter  in  1681 
they  set  before  their  own  and  their  subjects'  eyes  (at  which  time 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST.  Ill 

the  Nation  was  desperately  inflamed  against  Catholics)  this  Con- 
stitution and  in  effect  renew  it ;  depriving  ipso  fafto  of  their 
missionary  faculties  any  and  all  such  as  shall  any  way  abet  and 
favour  this  oath  that  has  nothing  of  allegiance  but  the  name, 
which  it  deserves  as  ill  as  those  deserve  the  name  of  Catholic  that 
take  it.  We  conceive  there  are  other  forms  of  expressing  our  alle- 
giance to  a  Christian  prince  than  by  such  a  one  as  endangers  our 
Christianity  ;  and  for  those  that  press  it  upon  us  we  have  no  other 
answer  than  that  of  the  Apostles  (Acts.  v.  29).  "  We  ought  to  obey 
"  God  rather  than  men ;"  nor  for  those  that  endeavour  to  allure 
us  to  it  by  mitigating  interpretations  than  that  of  the  Doctor  of 
the  Gentiles  and  not  improbably  the  first  Apostle  of  Great  Britain, 
"Walk  cautiously  and  do  not  give  credit  to  every  spirit."  (Eph. 
v.  15.).^ 

Thirdly,  they  oblige  all  and  every  one  of  the  members  of  this 
Congregation  under  the  severest  punishments  to  be  inflicted  by 
the  President,  that  no  one  design  or  counsel,  speak  or  write  any- 
thing which  may  savour  of  sedition,  contempt,  or  injury  against 
the  Kingdom,  state,  or  civil  magistrates,  or  concern  himself  in 
politic  affairs  or  whatsoever  may  concern  the  states ;  but  that 
all  tread  the  plain  and  apostolic  way,  and  that  though  they 
converse  among  heretics  they  are  to  remember  they  are  sent 
"like  sheep  amongst  wolves."  (St.  Matth.  x.  16.)  Let  them 
therefore  have  a  care  that  they  do  not  set  upon  their  adver- 
saries like  wolves,  and  let  them  be  convinced  of  the  truth  of 
that  admirable  doctrine  of  St.  Chrysostom,  "  As  long  as  we 
"  are  sheep  we  shall  overcome.  Though  a  thousand  wolves 
"  surround  us  we  surmount  them,  and  the  victory  is  ours, 
"  whereas  if  we  become  wolves  we  shall  be  vanquished,  for 
"  then  we  become  destitute  of  the  help  of  our  Pastor,  who 
"feeds  lambs  not  wolves." 

They  decree  that  the  Constitution  of  this  Congregation  is  to 
be  governed  by  one  President,  who  during  the  Schism  is  to  reside 
beyond  sea,  and  by  two  Provincials  immediately  in  England,  and 
by  the  Priors  of  Convents  out  of  it.  Also  by  five  Definitors  till 
the  growth  of  the  Congregation  require  more,  the  number  of 
which  cannot  exceed  nine  :  of  which  the  three  chief  are  to  be 


112  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST. 

the  judges  of  causes  and  grievances,  to  whom  the  Religious  may 
appeal  from  sentence  of  the  President  ;  and  from  them  only  to 
the  General  Chapter. 

They  subject  this  Congregation  to  the  Spanish  General  no 
further  than  to  give  him  the  title  of  General  of  both  Congrega- 
tions ;  that  is,  he  might  style  himself  General  of  the  English 
Congregation  as  he  did  that  of  Spain.  Likewise  they  allowed  he 
might  visit  any  convent  of  the  English  Congregation  seated 
within  the  Spanish  dominions  ( proceeding  according  to  the  tenor 
of  the  English  Constitutions,)  as  also  they  left  to  him  to  give 
license  to  the  members  of  this  English  Congregation  to  receive 
degrees  of  Doctorship  in  Universities,  and  to  make  choice  of 
which  he  pleased  of  the  two  whom  the  English  Congregation 
presented  to  him  for  their  President. 

For  what  concerns  elections,  the  power  of  the  President, 
Vacancy  and  successions,  appeals,  regular  discipline,  visits,  the 
Divine  Office  &c,  I  refer  the  reader  to  the  acts  themselves  which 
were  laid  together  and  digested  by  the  R.  R.  Fathers  Leander  of 
St.  Martin,  Edward  Maihew  and  Sigebert  Bagshaw  deputed  by 
the  rest  for  that  end,  and  for  the  most  part  were  extracted  out  of 
the  Constitutions  of  Valladolid,  printed  at  Madrid  in  1612. 

They  conclude  with  a  declaration,  that  this  Definitory  of 
theirs  had  ( the  )  full  power  and  force  of  a  General  Chapter,  and 
that  the  laws  and  constitutions  therein  compiled  are  no  less 
obligatory  than  Definitions  passed  in  such  Chapters;  whereto  they 
subjoin  an  humble  supplication  to  His  Holiness  to  confirm  the 
same  by  his  Supreme  authority,  to  supply  all  defeats  Juris  et 
fadti ;  and  that  immediately  after  such  approbation,  should  ensue 
the  election  of  the  President  and  other  officers  of  the  Congrega- 
tion. 

To  the  offices  respectively  were  nominated : 

R.  F.  Gabriel  Gifford,  President. 

R.  F.  Leander  of  St.  Martin,  second-elect  President. 

R.  F.  Gregory  Grange,  Provincial  of  Canterbury. 

R.  F.  Vincent  Sadler,  Provincial  of  York. 

R.  F.  Francis  Atrobos,  Prior  of  Douay. 

R.  F.  Jocelin  Elmer,  Prior  of  Dieulwart. 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST.  113 

R.  F.  Paulin  Greenwood,  Prior  of  St.  Male's. 

R.  F.  Thomas  Monington,  Prior  of  Paris. 

R.  F.  Sigebert  Bagshaw,  Procurator  at  Rome. 

R.  F.  Columban  Malon,  Secretary  to  R.  F.  President. 

And  here  I  can't  but  take  notice  of  the  singular  blessings  that 
have  come  to  this  body  from  the  holy  Apostle  St.  Andrew,  which 
ought  to  endear  very  much  his  holy  memory  to  them. 

1.  Under  the  banner  and  Cross  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ,  St.  Austin  brought  to  the  English  nation  from  his 
Monastery  of  St.  Andrew   at  Rome,   the  holy  Gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ  our  God  and  Lord,  together  with  the  holy  Rule  of  his 
servant  Saint  Benedict  of  Nursia. 

2.  The  life  of  St.  Wilfrid,   the  great  Bishop  of  York,  shows 
how   by   the  intercession   of  this  holy   Apostle,  his  dulness  and 
backwardness   in   learning  was  transformed  into  such   a  capacity 
and  vivacity  that  he   proved   to  be  a  most  singular  ornament  of 
both  the  English  nation  and  Benedictine  Order. 

3.  St.  Boniface  the  Apostle  of  Germany,    that  splendid  astre 
of  the  English  Benedictine  firmament,  on  St.  Andrew's  solemnity 
darted   his   glorious  rays  amongst  the  higher  orbs  of  the  Church, 
through  the  Episcopal  consecration  he  received  that  day. 

4.  The   life  of  St.  Dunstan,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and 
glorious  pillar  and  support  of  Benedictine  monachism  in  England, 
exposes  the  great  favours  he  received  from  St.  Andrew. 

5.  On    this   solemnity    Cardinal   Pool  broke  the  Schism  of 
England  by  reconciling  it  to  the  Holy  See  again,  and  therefore 
ordered   it   to   be   kept  as   one  of  the  greatest  in  the  year.     This 
reconciliation   reconciled   the   English   Nation  to  the  Order  of  its 
first  Apostle  St.  Austin,  and  again  the  Benedictine  habit  was  seen 
in    Westminster   Abbey  under  the  worthy  Dr.  John  Fecknam, 
after  its  long  eclipses  under  the  cruel  tyrannical  dotage  of  Henry 
VIII.  and  the  childish  reign  of  his  son  Edward  VI. 

6.  And   now  for  the  further  advancement  of  the  Catholic 
Church,   in  a  house  under  the  protection  of  St.  Andrew  at  Paris, 
like  an  eagle  the  English  Benedictine  body  totally  renewed  itself, 
in   the   union   of  St.    Andrew's    Cross,   to   preach  and  testify  the 
orthodox  faith  of  Christ,  till  the  two  great  witnesses  come,  ( as  is 

P 


114  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST. 

piously   to  be  hoped, )   who  are  to  prepare  the  world  for  its  last 
catastrophe  and  final  conclusion. 

The  news  of  this  Union  so  long  desired  and  at  last  concluded 
between  the  Fathers  of  the  English  Mission,  was  joyfully  received 
by  all  their  friends  both  in  England  and  in  France ;  but  especially 
by  their  worthy  patron  the  Archbishop  of  Rhodes,  who  with 
open  arms  accepted  of  the  Constitutions,  praised  them,  and  sent 
them  up  to  Rome  whither  himself  soon  after  went,  and  gave  a 
great  lustre  to  them  by  his  authority.  The  Definitors  and  even 
the  Nuncio  himself  gave  an  account  to  the  Spanish  General  of 
their  proceedings  and  begged  his  consent,  and  the  ratification  of 
their  Mother  the  illustrious  Congregation  (  of  Valladolid  ). 

The  most  Reverend  Father  General,  Maestro  Antonio  de 
Castro,  having  communicated  the  affair  with  the  Definitors  and 
Fathers  of  that  body,  rendered  an  answer  October  following,  and 
(which  is  a  most  ample  approbation  and  confirmation  of  all  the 
adls  of  the  Definitors),  at  the  same  time  despatched  letters  to  his 
Procurator  at  Rome  to  use  all  diligence  and  all  the  power  he 
had  in  the  court,  to  procure  the  reception  thereof  and  his  Holiness' 
final  confirmation. 

But  the  expected  issue  at  Rome  was  not  so  soon  obtained.  The 
Union  had  only  appeased  all  civil  tumults  within  themselves,  and 
laid  asleep  those  differences  which  had  so  long  rent  the  mission 
and  much  obstructed  its  fruits ;  but  it  no  ways  qualified  their 
enemies  without:  such  angry  spirits  as  appear  well  pleased  with  the 
tempest  themselves  have  raised,  and  (men)  that,  like  soldiers  who 
grow  insolent  when  they  see  they  are  something  feared,  will 
admit  of  no  articles  but  such  as  themselves  propose  and  for  them- 
selves, with  very  little  regard  of  the  suffering  party. 

The  Definitory  yet  sitting  had  voted  that  Father  Bagshaw 
who  had  before  been  so  vigilant  and  successful  in  promoting  the 
Union,  should  go  again  to  Rome  to  labour  as  faithfully  for  the 
conclusion  of  it.  To  Rome  he  was  no  sooner  come  but  he 
found  the  whole  Cassin  Congregation  united  against  this  Union 
and  conspiring  to  break  it,  either  judging  it  prejudicial  to  their 
body  or  suprised  into  such  a  design  by  some  misinformation  given 
them  by  some  one  or  more  of  their  own  members  who  preferred 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST.  115 

their  private  liberty  and  independence  before  the  public  good. 
Yet  there  appeared  a  much  more  formidable  party  in  France  itself 
where  this  Union  was  framed,  who  had  gained  the  French  ambas- 
sador at  Rome  to  interpose  in  his  master's  name  and  protest  against 
the  A<fts  and  Constitutions  which  he  was  informed  did  contain 
points  contrary  to  the  Laws  and  prejudicial  to  the  Gallican  State. 

Moreover  the  agent  of  Philip  Cavarel,  Abbot  of  St.  Vaast  in 
Arras,  President  of  the  exempt  Abbeys  of  the  Low  Countries,  and 
Pay-master  General  of  the  Spanish  Forces  in  the  Netherlands,  the 
most  worthy  patron  and  founder  of  the  College  or  Convent  of  St. 
Gregory  in  Douay,  publicly  appeared  against  this  Union,  and  even 
stood  out  after  the  Brief  was  given  in  behalf  thereof;  using  all 
means  to  make  it  be  recalled  as  derogatory  and  prejudicial  to  such 
ultramarine  Abbeys  as  had  formerly  possessions  in  England.  So 
that  amidst  the  greatest  appearance  of  a  calm  and  in  sight  of  the 
harbour,  there  arises  of  a  sudden  the  most  violent  tempest  and 
commotion  that  ever  shook  the  Congregation  and  almost  split  it 
when  it  seemed  the  nearest  its  quiet  and  security.  Three  of  the 
most  powerful  bodies  of  the  West,  the  whole  Benedidline  Order 
in  Italy,  the  civil  State  of  France,  the  whole  power  of  the  Low 
Countries  which  was  in  Abbot  Cavarel's  hands,  as  in  the  common 
Father's  of  the  Country,  leagued  against  an  infant  and  inconsider- 
able body,  whose  pretensions  lay  far  off  in  another  nation,  and 
which  each  of  them  severally  might  be  able  to  crush  even  when 
arrived  at  its  greatest  height.  But  the  Providence  of  God  who 
often  chooses  the  weak  and  contemptible  things  of  this  world  to 
confound  the  strong,  and  perfects  His  praise  out  of  the  lips  of 
infants,  checked  the  winds  and  the  storms,  and  there  followed  a 
great  tranquillity  such  as  even  the  enemies  that  opposed  it  were 
forced  to  admire.  For  Father  Bagshaw  aquitted  his  office  with 
such  dexterity  and  vigour  that  the  adversaries  soon  dispersed,  and 
after  two  years'  conflict  and  resistance  a  free  field  was  left  him  to 
prosecute  his  pretensions,  The  Cassin  Congregation  pleaded 
nothing  that  he  did  not  fully  satisfy,  offering  them  an  equal  share 
in  the  Union  and  fruits  thereof  if  they  would  come  in. 

The   French  Ambassador,  having  no  particular  orders  from 
the  State  or  better  informed,  surceased. 


Il6  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST. 

Abbot  Cavarel  commanded  his  agent  silence,  and  was  satisfied 
with  the  last  clause  of  the  Brief  which  professes  that  by  conces- 
sion thereof  it  does  not  intend  that  any  prejudice  should  arise 
to  any  other  Congregation. 

In  a  word,  His  Holiness  and  the  Congregation  of  Cardinals 
were  confirmed  in  their  former  judgment  and  the  Brief  found 
clear  from  all  just  and  grounded  exceptions,  and  delivered  to  the 
English  Procurator  and  by  him  sent  to  those  that  employed  him. 

When  the  Brief  came  to  their  hands,  they,  out  of  peculiar 
respect  or  thinking  themselves  not  wholly  mancipated  from  the 
Spanish  Obedience,  thought  fit  before  they  published  it,  to  send  it 
to  the  Reverend  General  of  Spain  that  it  might  be  done  with  his 
consent  and  benediction,  and  themselves  discharged  of  that  part 
of  their  duty.  The  Very  Reverend  General  with  his  Definitors 
consulted  upon  it  some  days  and  then  remitted  it  with  full  license 
and  authority  to  accept  of  it  and  publish  it,  and  to  incorporate 
into  this  thus  erected  Congregation  all  such  missioners  as  depended 
on  the  Spanish  Congregation  if  they  would  consent  thereunto  ; 
and  nevertheless,  such  as  refused  he  subjected  them  to  R.  F. 
Leander  as  his  Vicar  General.  This  was  in  1619,  R.  F.  Leander 
being  President,  having  succeeded  in  1 6 1 8  to  the  first  elect  R.  F. 
Gabriel  GifFord  who  was  then  seated  amongst  the  Princes  of  the 
Church,  consecrated  the  lyth.  of  September  Bishop  of  Archidal 
(Archidapolitanus)  and  made  Suffragan  of  Rheims. 

There  was  nothing  wanting  now  to  the  entire  perfection  of 
this  great  work,  but  the  publication  of  the  laws  and  Constitutions 
on  which  it  was  built,  and  the  Supreme  Pastor  of  the  Church's 
Confirmation  thereof.  And  it  was  the  first  business  of  the  Presi- 
dent to  issue  out  his  orders  to  that  effect,  which  he  did  the  third 
of  September  following ;  and  out  of  his  subjects  he  chose  persons 
eminent  for  learning  and  fidelity  and  created  them  Apostolic 
Notaries  according  to  the  privileges  and  practices  of  other  Reli- 
gious, in  order  to  the  publication  of  such  acts  and  writings  as 
concern  their  Orders.  This  was  solemnly  performed,  first  at 
Douay  in  St.  Gregory's  Convent  and  in  Marchin  College,  next  at 
Paris,  Chelles,  St.  Male's,  (and)  Dieulwart,  according  to  the  form 
prescribed  by  the  R.  Fr.  President  which  was 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST.  llj 

That  in  Chapter  where  all  the  Religious  then  residing  were 
to  be  present 

i  st.  Should  be  read  the  writing  of  the  Rev.  General  of  Spain 
whereby  he  approved  of  the  form  of  the  Union  and  the  acts  of 
the  Definitors  in  Paris. 

2ndly.  His  command  for  publishing  the  Apostolical  Brief 
and  the  said  General's  orders  to  accept  of  it. 

3rdly.  The  decree  of  the  said  General  and  also  the  consent 
of  the  Definitors  and  deputies  to  accept  of  the  Union. 

4thly.     The  Apostolical  Brief  itself. 

5thly.  The  election  of  the  five  Definitors  and  the  oath  of 
some  of  them  made  before  their  respective  communities. 

6thly.  The  election  of  himself,  R.  F.  Leander,  to  the  office 
of  President  to  the  English  Congregation,  and  his  confirmation 
from  the  Rev.  General  of  Spain. 

/thly,  And  lastly,  the  Superior  of  the  community  should 
record  the  day  of  the  promulgation  and  the  names  of  all  the 
Fathers  that  accepted  of  and  submitted  themselves  to  the  said 
Union,  that  accordingly  they  might  be  able  to  proceed  to  the 
election  of  conventual  Superiors ;  for  the  Rev.  Father  promises 
all  kindness  and  good  usage  to  such  conventuals  or  others  that 
excuse  themselves  from  accepting  the  Union  yet  he  decrees  that 
the  elections  are  not  to  be  made  but  of  them  that  accept  it,  as 
to  the  rest,  each  one  enjoying  all  the  rights  and  privileges  that  he 
ever  used  to  do  or  could  pretend  to. 

All  of  this  side  the  sea  subscribed  excepting  three ;  and  these 
orders  having  been  executed  in  all  the  Convents  and  the  Mission, 
the  execution,  signed  and  authenticated  by  Apostolic  Notaries, 
was  sent  to  the  President  and  Definitors  convened  at  Douay,  as  it 
was  before  agreed  upon  in  the  Definitory  at  St.  Andrew's  ;  and 
with  (the)  subscription,  the  suffrages  also  for  the  election  of 
Conventual  Priors.  The  original  acts  of  this  Regimen,  are  sub- 
scribed with  the  President's  and  Definitors'  own  hands  and  contain 
four  articles  : 

i.  That  as  soon  as  ever  sufficient  privileges  are  obtained  of 
the  Pope,  especially  exemption  from  the  Ordinaries,  the  Union 
shall  be  published  and  the  laws  thereof  introduced. 


Il8  CHAPTER    THE    THIRTY-FIRST. 

2.  That  the  Ceremonies,  subscribed  with  the  President's  and 
Definitors'  names,  together  with  the  Calendar  of  Saints,  should  be 
received. 

3.  That  whosoever  of  the   Definitors  could  not  be   present 
at  the  election  of  conventual  Priors,  should  signify  their  will  by 
letters,  upon  which  letters  those  that  were  present  might  validly 
proceed. 

4.  That  nunc  pro  tune  was  chosen  Secretary  to  the  President 
Father  Paul   Greenwood,  and  after  the  publication  of  the  Bull 
and  other  writings  above  named,  the  Regimen  proceeded  to  the 
elections  related. 

So  that  the  decrees  of  the  Union  were  almost  four  years  a- 
putting  in  execution ;  two  years  their  affairs  were  in  suspense 
at  Rome  ;  the  next  and  some  part  of  the  latter  was  taken  up  in 
settling  the  affairs  of  the  Residences  and  making  the  Visits  ;  and 
towards  the  middle  of  1620  the  President  despatched  his  letters 
patent  to  England,  France,  and  Lorraine  to  appoint  the  following 
Chapter  and  inform  those  that  were  to  be  convened  at  Douay  the 
2nd  of  July  1621,  a  little  before  which  he  received  an  advan- 
tageous declaration  of  the  General  Chapter  of  Spain  whereby 
that  renowned  body  did  approve  of  these  Fathers'  proceedings 
and  the  conduct  of  the  General  in  all  the  said  affairs. 

Thus  then  this  great  and  important  work,  which  was  as 
zealously  embraced  by  his  Holiness,  promoted  by  the  Court  of 
Rome,  desired  by  the  whole  Western  Church,  and  as  maliciously 
impugned  by  the  enemy  of  mankind  (and  some  others  who  had 
more  zeal  than  knowledge),  as  if  thereon  depended  the  conversion 
of  England  and  the  restoring  three  kingdoms  to  the  Catholic 
Church,  was  at  length  brought  to  its  last  perfection;  and  the 
Divine  Hand  which  was  the  chief  architect  thereof,  fenced  it  in  on 
all  sides,  established  it  in  the  beauty  of  peace,  gave  it  rest  from  its 
neighbours  round  about  ;  nor  was  there  anything  of  wicked  or 
adverse  to  rise  against  it.  The  Convents  flourished  with  regular 
discipline  and  eminent  practices  of  the  contemplative  life  ;  the 
missions  abounded  with  the  fruitful  labours  and  sufferings  of  the 
active ;  and  when  any  storm  arose  'twas  only  to  revive  their  spirits 
and  give  the  world  more  manifest  arguments  of  their  courage. 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIRST.  119 

What  access  was  made  to  the  Catholic  Church  by  those  painful 
missioners  in  converting  of  souls,  what  wonderful  edification  and 
example  given  to  the  ancient  Catholics  by  the  unwearied  patience 
and  long  imprisonment  of  others  of  them ;  what  a  fruitful  harvest 
promised  her  by  the  seed  which  others  of  them  sowed  in  their 
country  and  which  never  fails  to  bring  forth  a  hundred  fold, 
which  is  the  blood  of  martyrs,  we  may  more  fully  learn  from 
men  than  books.  The  increase  and  succession  of  the  English 
Catholics  till  this  day  are  so  many  witnesses  of  their  zeal,  trophies 
of  their  victories,  and  fruits  of  their  planting.  Not  that  we  deny 
much  less  envy,  the  labours  and  success  of  other  members  both  of 
the  Regular  and  Secular  Clergy  which  we  joyfully  see  and  con- 
gratulate, but  only  that  the  Benedictine  Order  which  had  a 
double  share  in  the  pains,  may  at  least  reap  an  equal  one  in  the 
glory. 


120 


CHAPTER  THE   THIRTY-SECOND. 

CONTAINING     NOTICES     OF     SEVERAL     FATHERS     OF     THE     CoN- 
GREGATION     WHO     DIED     ABOUT     THIS     Tl'ME. 


The  said  year  of  the  Union  on  the  izth  of  July  (1617)  at 
Harding  in  Flintshire,  R.  F.  Thomas  Minshall  admitted  to  the 
habit  in  the  mission,  a  man  very  diligent  in  the  performance  of 
his  apostolical  duty  and  highly  charitable  towards  his  neighbour, 
«nded  his  labours  by  a  happy  death. 

The  next  year  at  Longueville  in  Normandy  died  Fr.  Bradshaw, 
where  Fr.  Walgrave  put  the  ensuing  epitaph  on  his  grave. 

D.    O.    M.    S. 

"  Venerandae  memoriae  viro,  Domno  Johanni  Bradshaw,  diclo 
Fratri  Augustino  de  San&o  Johanne,  Wigorniensi  Anglo,  S.  Martini 
Compostellae  in  Hispania  monacho  primo  gentis  Anglorum  a 
schismate  post  S.  Augustinum  ejusdem  Ordinis  Apostolo,  invictis- 
simo  Haereseon  protagonistae,  vigilantissimo  Monachorum  Patri- 
archae,  augustissimo  missionis  Benedidlinas  in  Angliam  auspici, 
fausto  felicique  disciplinae  monastics  apud  Anglos  instauratori, 
sex  eorum  in  Gallia,  Belgio  et  Lotharingia  Collegiis  et  Conventi- 
bus  institutis,  qui  quatuor  monachorum  suorum  in  Anglia  marty- 
rum,  quinquaginta  et  amplius  confessorum,  decennio  quo  Missione 
praefuit  coronis  insignitus,  huic  tandem  loco,  sasculi  injuria  rude- 
ribus  suis  obruto,  planeque  sepulto  disciplinae  regularis  negle<5tu, 
obsolete  prorsus  ac  squalido  a  clarissimo  Domino  de  Bellieure 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-SECOND.  121 

ejusdem  Priore  commendatorio  expetitus,  dum  iJle  mcenium  hie 
de  morum  restitutione  satagunt,  carus  suis  et  patriae  ob  insignem 
pietatem,  clarus  sibi  et  Ordini  ob  praeclara  facinora,  Deo  atque 
Sandtis  carissimus  ob  eximiam  sandtitudinem,  suis,  eheu  !  prae- 
propere  ad  luctum,  sibi  ter  feliciter  ad  coronam,  vix  biennio  sub- 
prioris  functus  officio,  de  hac  luce  raptus  est  IV  Nonas  Maii, 
1618,  astatis  sui  42  ;  nutu,  necnon  sumptibus  prafati  cl.  domini, 
pietatis  atque  gratitudinis  ergo,  ponendum  curavit  Prater 
Franciscus  a  Walgravio,  pii  patris  humilis  ex  habitu  conversionis 
films,  indignus  in  officio  successor." 

Englished  : 

"  Sacred  to  God,  most  Good,  most  Great. 
To  the  Venerable  Memory  of  Mr.  John  Bradshaw,  called 
Br.  Austin  of  St.  John,  native  of  Worcester  in  England,  monk  of 
St.  Martin  of  Compostella  in  Spain,  the  first  apostle  in  England 
after  St.  Austin,  monk  of  the  same  Order,  since  the  Schism  ;  a 
most  invincible  champion  against  heresy,  a  most  vigilant  monas- 
tic patriarch,  the  most  august  guide  of  the  Benedictine  mission 
into  England,  the  happy  and  prosperous  repairer  of  Monastic 
discipline  amongst  the  English,  having  in  France,  Flanders  and 
Lorraine  instituted  for  them  six  colleges  or  Convents  ;  during  the 
ten  years  he  governed  the  English  mission  ennobled  with  the 
martyrial  crowns  of  four  of  his  monks  and  the  confessorial  of 
about  fifty  others  ;  the  most  illustrious  Monsieur  de  Bellieur 
commendatory  Prior  of  this  place  besought  him  to  succour  it 
almost  buried  in  its  ruins  through  the  injuries  of  time,  and 
become  ugly  and  abandoned  through  neglect  of  regular  dis- 
cipline ;  and  while  he  was  busy  to  repair  its  walls  and  Father 
Austin  to  repair  its  manners,  the  said  Father  was  snatched  out  of 
this  light  on  the  4th  of  May,  1618,  to  his  own  great  happiness, 
but  alas !  over  speedily  for  his  monks  ;  dear  to  his  Congregation 
and  country  for  his  great  piety,  illustrious  in  his  Order  for  his 
egregious  deeds,  highly  acceptable  to  God  and  his  Saints  for  his 
sanctity  of  life,  he  had  scarce  performed  the  office  of  Sub-prior 
two  years,  being  but  forty  two  years  of  age  ;  with  the  good-liking 
and  at  the  cost  of  the  said  illustrious  Commendatory  Prior, 
Brother  Francis  Walgrave  out  of  piety  and  gratitude  to  him  who 


122  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-SECOND. 

had  clothed  him  in  religion,  and  to  whom  though  unworthy  he 
succeeded  in  the  office,  took  care  to  place  this  monument." 

This  Fr.  A  ustin  became  known  to  old  Cecil  of  Salisbury  and  so 
allayed  his  fury  against  Catholic  religion  that  he  resolved  for  as 
much  as  he  could  hinder,  a  Benedictine  should  never  more  be  put 
to  death  in  England  for  the  Roman  Faith. 

The  same  year  on  the  3oth  of  October  R.  F.  Nicholas  Becket 
a  monk  of  Onia  in  Spain,  having  laudably  performed  the  offices 
of  Novice-master  at  Dieulwart  and  of  Prior  at  Douay,  and  done 
the  duty  of  an  apostolical  man  in  the  mission,  left  this  life  at 
Cank  in  Staffordshire. 

In  1619,  April  i8th  died  in  the  mission,  R.  F.  Gregory 
Grange,  monk  of  St.  Martin  in  Gallicia,  a  man  very  well  versed 
in  divine  and  human  learning  and  full  of  religious  virtue  and 
piety,  the  first  Provincial  of  England  after  the  Union,  wherefore 
by  his  death  R.  Fr.  Vincent  Sadler  became  first  Provincial  (i.e. 
of  Canterbury),  and  Father  Bede  (  Helme )  of  Mountserrat  suc- 
ceeded in  the  place  of  Fr.  Sadler  for  the  Province  of  York. 

Anno  1621  died  Pope  Paul  V.  who  was  as  the  second  parent 
of  this  English  Benedictine  Congregation  and  most  loving  nurse ; 
a  Pontiff  of  most  incorruptible  manners  who  so  carefully  tendered 
the  Church,  that  she  spread  her  branches  from  sea  to  sea,  and  from 
Tyber  to  the  end  of  the  earth.  In  India  he  erected  several 
bishoprics ;  in  Great  Britain  he  enlarged  the  mission  and  resus- 
citated the  old  Venerable  Benedictine  Order  in  the  persons  of  this 
Congregation.  He  sat  fifteen  years  and  nine  months. 

The  same  year  died  Philip  III,  king  of  Spain  astat.  43,  regni 
23,  who  recommended  the  Fathers  of  Douay  to  the  Arch-Duke 
Albert,  who  also  died  the  same  year  ast.  62,  much  lamented  by 
the  Flemings.  How  much  the  Congregation  is  indebted  to  his 
piety  for  the  establishment  of  Douay  Convent  is  already  said. 

Likewise  went  off  from  the  stage  of  this  mortality  in  Barbican 
in  London,  through  a  cruel  fit  of  the  stone,  the  V.  R.  Fr.  Vincent 
Sadler(2istof  June,  1621)  as  he  was  intending  to  retire  to  his  mon- 
astery at  Dieulwart  in  Lorraine,  with  his  nephew  Mr.  Thomas 
Vincent  Sadler,  the  last  of  his  many  converts,  but  the  first  and  only 
one  ot  his  own  family  and  blood,  leaving  behind  him  a  great  opinion 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-SECOND. 


of  his  sandtity,  as  he  was  a  person  of  a  most  exemplary  life  and 
wonderful  industry,  governing  the  English  Congregation  before 
the  Union  in  quality  of  President.  Mr.  Arthur  Pitts  was  the 
person  who  proposed  him  and  Fr.  Maihew  for  the  aggregation. 


124 


CHAPTER  THE   THIRTY-THIRD. 

THE     SECOND     GENERAL     CHAPTER,      1 62 1. 


THE  second  General  Chapter,  (for  the  Union  with  reason 
passes  for  the  first  since  the  renovation  of  the  old  Benedictine 
body  of  England),  began  also  this  same  year  on  the  2nd  of  July 
at  Douay. 

The  way  of  their  sitting  in  Chapter  was  then  after  this  manner: 

The  President  in  the  middle. 

On  each  side  of  his  Reverence,  the  Definitors  as  in  a  Choir ;  after 
them  in  like  manner  the  ex- Presidents. 

Then  on  the  right 

The  Provincial  who  was  eldest  in  the  habit. 

The  Vicar  of  France. 

The  Cathedral  Prior  of  Winchester. 

The  Prior  of  Douay  who  claimed  St.  Alban's 

The  Prior  of  St.  Malo  who  claimed  Glastonbury. 

A  Magister  Generalis  whose  task  is  to  read  in  the  Convents 
Philosophy,  Divinity,  &c. 

The  Secretary  of  the  President. 

One  of  the  Procurators  of  England. 

The  Procurator  of  Rome. 

on  the  left 

The  other  Provincial. 

The  Cathedral  Prior  of  Canterbury. 

The  Prior  of  Dieulwart  who  claimed  Westminster. 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-THIRD.  125 

The  Prior  of  Paris  who  claimed  St.  Edmund's. 

A  Predicator  Generalis,  that  is  such  a  one  who  is  licensed  by 
the  Congregation  to  preach  publicly. 

The  other  Procurator  of  England ;    these  were  Procurators  of 
the  Provinces  of  Canterbury  and  York. 

The  Vicar  or  Confessarius  of  the  Nuns. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Chapter. 

But  in  the  last  review   of  the   Constitutions   this  order  was 
established. 

Rev.  Father  President;          And  on  the  right 

The  actual  Definitors. 

Abbots. 

Ex-Presidents  ;    the  Provincial  of  Canterbury. 

The  Cathedral  Prior  of  Canterbury, 

The  Cathedral  Prior  of  Durham. 

The  Prior  of  Douay. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Male's. 

Ex-Definitors. 

Magistri  Generales. 

The  Procurator  of  Rome. 

One  of  the  Procurators  of  England. 

The  Vicar  of  the  Nuns. 

On  the  left. 

The  actual  Definitors. 

Abbots. 

Ex- Presidents. 

The  other  Provincial. 

The  Cathedral  Prior  of  Winchester. 

Cathedral  Priors. 

The  Prior  of  Dieulwart. 

The  Prior  of  Paris. 

Ex-Definitors. 

Predicatores  Generales. 

The  Secretary  of  the  President. 

The  other  Procurators  of  England. 

Next,  if  any  prelate  be  deposed  from  his  office,  or  his  deputy, 
and  the  Secretary  of  the  Chapter  in  the  middle. 


126  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-THIRD. 

In  this  Chapter  of  1621  R.  F.  Rudesind  Barlo  was  chosen 
President. 

R.  F.  Thomas  Torquatus  Latham,  second  elected  President 
who  succeeds  when  the  first  fails  within  the  Quadriennium,  for 
the  General  Chapters  of  this  Congregation  are  held  every  four 
years  ;  which  I  specify  for  those  who  are  not  acquainted  with 
such  things. 

Provincial  of  Canterbury,  R.  F.  Joseph  Prater. 

Provincial  of  York,  R.  F.  Robert  Haddock. 

Vicar  of  France,  R.  F.  Bernard  Berington. 

Prior  of  St.  Gregory's,  R.  F.  Leander  of  St.  Martin. 

Prior  of  Dieulwart,  R.  F.  Columban  Malon,  who  dying  within 
the  quadriennium  R.  F.  Laurence  Reyner  succeeded. 

Prior  of  St.  Male's,  R.  F.  Paulin  Greenwood. 

Prior  of  Paris,  R.  F.  Sigebert  Bagshaw. 

Procurator  at  Rome,  R.  F.  Robert  Sherwood. 

Secretary  to  the  Rev.  President,  R.  F.  Clement  Reyner. 

The  1 7th  of  September  following  (1621)  died  the  famous 
Cardinal  Bellarmine,  aet.  79,  who  espoused  the  interest  of  the 
Union,  and  had  taught  formerly  the  Bishop  of  Archidal,  R.  F. 
Gabriel  Gifford. 


I27 


CHAPTER   THE   THIRTY-FOURTH. 

THE     DIFFICULTIES     ATTENDING     THE    FOUNDATION    OF    THE 
MONASTERY   OF    ST.    BENEDICT    AT    ST.    MALO  ;    REFORMS 
IN    FRANCE  ;    THE    ROMAN   COLLEGE   OF    SAINT    GREGORY. 


BUT  now  St.  Male's  affairs  call  us  to  them.  The  Fathers 
had  not  seen  the  end  of  1616,  but  the  Cathedral  Chapter  was 
grown  jealous  of  them  and  resolved  to  force  them  out  of  the 
town,  thinking  the  rising  Convent  so  much  taken  off  from  their 
necessitous  circumstances.  But  the  good  Bishop  and  the  citizens 
stood  by  those  they  had  called  in,  and  who  spared  no  pains  to 
serve  them.  Wherefore  that  same  year  (  Nov.  16  )  Father 
Gifford  in  the  name  of  himself  and  his  Brethren  bought  a  house 
and  garden  in  the  town,  and  transferred  his  little  yet  laborious 
Community  from  the  Theologal  mansion  to  the  new  acquisition, 
which  he  sought  by  such  unwearied  industry  to  render  yet  more 
convenient  by  means  of  alms  given,  that  he  justly  deserves  the 
title  and  honour  of  being  Founder  of  that  Monastery. 

The  Canons  again  in  1617,  sought  anew  to  disturb  them, 
but  in  vain;  and  they  'again  in  1618  added  another  house  and 
garden  to  what  they  had  already  bought.  This  so  exasperated 
the  Canons  that  to  appease  them  R.  F.  Gifford,  now  consecrated 
Bishop  and  constituted  Suffragan  of  Rheims,  came  in  great  haste 
from  thence  ;  but  he  was  no  sooner  returned  when  he  saw  his 
journey  had  been  to  no  purpose,  Upon  which  in  the  name  of 


128  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FOURTH. 

himself  and  his  Brethren,  he  petitioned  the  Bishop  to  favour 
them  as  he  had  hitherto  done,  and  permit  them  to  have  a  house 
in  which  they  might  live  conventually,  and  a  chapel  in  which 
they  might  celebrate  Mass  and  the  Divine  Office,  hear  Confes- 
sions, catechise,  and  bury  their  own  ;  all  which  the  good  Bishop 
most  easily  and  freely  granted.  Yet  the  said  Canons  were  very 
troublesome.  Notwithstanding  all  which  oppositions,  this  year 
1621,  November  the  2ist.  ( a  memorable  day  to  the  English 
Benedictine  Congregation  ),  the  Fathers  reared  up  on  the  ground 
they  had  got  together,  a  wooden  cross  in  token  of  possession 
taken,  and  that  that  ground  was  consecrated  to  God  in  honour  of 
St.  Benedict,  and  presently  built  a  little  chapel  with  boards,  and 
on  the  solemnity  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury,  the  29th  of  De- 
cember following,  honoured  it  for  the  first  time  with  the  Holy 
Sacrifice  of  the  Mass. 

This  same  year  (  1621 )  Pope  Gregory  XV  gave  power  to  the 
Cardinal  of  Rochefoucault  to  reform  the  Order  of  St.  Benedict  in 
France,  with  the  Congregations  of  Cluny  and  Citeaux,  and  the 
Order  of  St.  Austin.  He  had  seen  the  happy  success  under  his  im- 
mediate predecessor  Pope  Paul  V,  of  the  renewed  English  Bene- 
dictine Congregation,  which  in  those  days  when  the  reformers  of 
France  were  not  risen,  made  a  great  figure.  Living  strictly  to  the 
Rule,  and  bringing  to  France  the  novelty  of  a  reformed  education,  it 
drew  after  it  the  eyes  of  the  better  sort  where  they  lived  in  France 
and  Flanders.  We  have  seen  how  the  Bishop  of  St.  Male's 
coveted  their  establishment  in  his  city,  Fr.  Bradshaw  reforming 
Longue-Ville  in  Normandy,  (a  house  founded  by  the  ancestors  of 
his  Grace  R.  F.  Gabriel  GifFord,  Bishop  of  Archidal),  and  R.  F. 
Reyner  occupied  in  reforming  the  great  Abbey  at  Ghent;  and 
other  places  upon  that  account  the  Fathers  might  have  had  but 
they  excused  themselves,  for  that  their  vocation  was  the  English 
Mission  not  the  reformation  of  foreign  Monasteries. 

Likewise  this  year  (1621)  the  said  Pope  Gregory  XV  having 
begun  at  Rome  at  the  instance  of  the  famous  Sicilian  Abbot 
Cajetan,  a  college  for  the  whole  universal  Order  of  St.  Benedict, 
by  the  means  of  the  said  Abbot  the  English  Benedictine  Congre- 
gation was  in  for  its  share  with  the  rest;  and  as  the  said  Abbot 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FOURTH.  129 

while  he  lived  had  always  some  of  the  English  Fathers  with  him, 
he  at  last  devolved  this  college  on  them,  and  at  his  death  bequeathed 
to  them  his  Library  which  is  said  to  be  very  copious.  But  the 
greatest  favour  of  this  liberal  Pope  was  in  1622,  when  recalling 
all  the  grants  that  had  been  made  by  his  predecessors  by  word  of 
mouth  only,  he  excepted  those  which  the  Cardinals  had  ascer- 
tained to  have  been  so ;  as  if  on  purpose  he  had  sought  that  no 
damage  might  arrive  to  the  English  Congregation  from  such 
revocation,  seeing  the  coalition  of  it  was  built  on  several  gratious 
grants  delivered  to  Cardinals  only  by  word  of  mouth  from  Pope 
Paul  V  of  happy  memory.  And  moreover  he  gave  this  same 
year  to  the  renewed  Congregation  of  the  Order  of  St.  Benedict  in 
England  by  the  mediation  of  the  Cardinal  Du  Sourdis,  all  the  in- 
dulgences and  privileges  which  to  that  day  were  enjoyed  by  the 
two  Congregations  of  Italy  and  Spain. 

And  to  the  great  grief  of  all,  Regulars  especially,  this  good  Pope 
died  in  1623  after  he  had  sat  but  two  years  and  three  months ;  to 
whom  succeeded  Urban  VIII. 

And  the  same  year  died  Dom  Didier  De  la  Cour,  author  of  the 
reformed  Congregation  of  St.  Van  (SS.  Vitonis  et  Hydulphi)  in 
Lorraine,  November  I4th.  ast.  72. 

Anno  1624,  April  I3th.  (  S.  V.)  died  William  Bishop  the 
first  Titular  Bishop  of  Chalcedon  given  by  the  Holy  See  to  the 
Catholics  of  England,  where  he  behaved  himself  with  such  moder- 
ation and  discretion  that  he  was  by  all  both  Clergymen  and  Regu- 
lars most  dearly  beloved  and  honoured ;  and  after  imprisonments, 
banishments  and  all  sorts  of  afflictions  patiently  tolerated  for  the 
true  religion,  he  expired  near  London  ;  and  his  memory  is  justly 
recorded  here  by  reason  of  the  singular  affection  he  bore  to  the 
English  Congregation.  He  was  of  a  noble  family  in  Warwick- 
shire and  brought  up  at  Oxford,  but  out  of  love  to  Catholic 
religion  he  left  his  parents  and  despised  the  hopes  of  a  large  estate 
and  became  a  Priest  at  Rome.  Betwixt  this  Bishop  and  the 
Catholic  Bishops  of  England,  I  find  but  two  Arch-priests ;  the 
first,  Mr.  Blackwel,  who  though  very  cautious  and  very  coura- 
geous in  danger,  yet  taken  by  the  king's  officers  yielded  to  them 
in  what  they  demanded  of  him  concerning  the  Oath  of  Fidelity 


130  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FOURTH. 

and  drew  many  Priests  and  Lay-men  into  the  same  misery  along 
with  him ;   a  terrible  example  of  human  frailty.* 

The  other  is  Mr.  William  Harrison  who  the  23rd  of  July, 
1615,  obtained  such  faculties  and  privileges  as  were  granted  to 
the  first  English  Benedictine  Missioners  coming  from  Mount 
Cassin  and  Spain  in  1603,  and  which  were  afterwards  granted  to 
the  Dominicans  in  1627. 

The  charitable  compassion  of  the  great  Abbot  of  Arras,  Cavarel, 
was  such  to  the  English  nation,  that  besides  what  he  did  for  it  in 
the  foundation  of  St.  Gregory's  at  Douay,  he  lent  to  the  English 
Clergy  the  College  of  his  Monastery  which  stood  at  Paris  near 
St.  Victor's  gate.  To  Dr.  William  Bishop,  Dr.  Anthony  Champney, 
Dr.  William  Smith  and  Dr.  William  Reyner  the  first  concession 
was  made  in  1613  only  for  three  years ;  that  term  expired  it 
was  renewed,  in  1616;  and  again  in  1623  extended  till  1631. 

The  said  year  1624,  Br.  Epiphanius  Rhodadelphus  Stapylton, 
sub-deacon,  monk  of  Douay,  died  on  the  25th  of  July  in  a  village 
not  far  from  Perone  in  France  as  he  was  on  his  journey  to  Paris. 
He  was  clothed  on  the  i7th  of  April  1616,  but  not  professed 
till  the  5th  of  May  1620  for  want  of  age. 


*  The  History  and  antiquities  of  Oxford  say  that  Mr.  George  Birket  succeeded  to  Mr.  Blackivell 
in  the  dignity  of  Arch-priest,  An.  1608. 

Mr.  Blackwell  had  been  a  Sociua  of  Trinity  College.     [Note  in  original.] 


CHAPTER   THE   THIRTY-FIFTH. 

THE     EXTRAVAGANCES     OF     F.     BARNES     AND     F.     WALGRAVE. 


AT  this  time  also  the  clamors  of  Fr.  John  Barnes  and  Fr. 
Francis  Walgrave  being  grown  very  loud  against  the  Union, 
( which  Fr.  Walgrave  could  not  now  relish  at  all ),  they  denied 
that  there  ever  was  so  much  as  an  English  Congregation  hereto- 
fore, and  affirmed  that  the  late  one  was  chimerical,  and  the  Bull 
of  confirmation  surreptitious.  The  Fathers  of  Douay  (as  the 
chief  ministers  and  members  of  the  new  united  body),  soon  took 
the  alarm,  and  replied  with  such  strength  of  reason  and  elo- 
quence, that  the  adversary  was  forced  to  fly  to  his  usual  arms  of 
calumny  and  libels,  which  had  no  further  efFed:  than  to  awaken 
the  zeal  of  all  good  Christians  to  appear  for,  and  give  testimony 
to  justice  :  and  particularly  the  worthy  Abbot,  founder  of  Saint 
Gregory's,  in  a  public  writing  set  out  this  1624,  gave  a  full 
account  of  his  own  proceeding  and  the  motives  he  had  to  found 
them  a  house  at  Douay ;  of  the  good  service  they  had  done  the 
Church  of  God  by  their  exemplary  life  and  singular  learning  ; 
that  the  Union  had  been  promoted  by  himself  as  well  as  by  other 
respective  Superiors  of  the  English  Monks,  and  that  no  means 
were  used  to  circumvent  the  See  of  Rome,  but  that  his  Holiness 
after  a  faithful  information,  and  great  deliberation  had  imposed 
the  last  hand  to  that  great  work. 


132  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-FIFTH. 

The  Bishop  of  Archidal,  now  Archbishop  of  Rheims,  gave  in 
1625  tne  following  declaration  on  those  affairs  in  Latin,  which  I 
only  relate  in  English,  but  from  the  original. 

"  Gabriel  of  St.  Mary,  by  the  grace  of  God  and  the  Apostolic 
See,  Archbishop  and  Duke  of  Rheims  and  first  Peer  of  France, 
to  all  the  faithful  Christians  of  the  Catholic  Church,  happiness  in 
the  Author  of  all  happiness,  Christ  our  Lord. 

'Tis  the  proper  office  and  charge  of  our  dignity  and  vocation 
to  bear  witness  to  Truth,  especially  for  the  domestics  of  our  Faith, 
against  all  such  as  calumniate  and  attack  the  said  truth.  For  to 
that  end  Christ  has  placed  us  in  the  watch  tower  of  his  Church, 
as  faithful  daily  watchmen  diligently  and  carefully  to  announce  to 
his  faithful  obedient  servants,  our  fellow  servants,  when  any  dan- 
ger arises  from  false  doctors  and  the  enemies  of  sincere  truth  and 
religious  piety.  Wherefore  whereas  the  English  Benedictine 
Congregation  (over  which  we  once  presided  as  President,  and  at 
whose  establishment  not  only  we  were  present  with  the  other 
Definitors,  but  even  governed  when  its  Constitutions  and  laws  were 
agreed  on,  and  upon  Paul  V's  apostolical  command  promulgated 
by  his  most  illustrious  Nuncios,  now  Cardinals  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Church,  the  most  excellent  prelates  Ubaldin  and  Bentivoglio),  is 
resisted  by  some  few  monks,  men  of  no  certain  obedience,  by 
books  put  out  which  the  Church  has  condemned,  and  in  which 
books  those  said  men  have  unworthily  usurped  our  authority  in 
some  respects  ;  we  have  thought  it  belonging  to  the  dignity  of 
our  charge  to  make  known  to  all  pious  persons  that  we  were 
taken  out  of  the  bosom  of  this  Congregation  to  this  high  state  of 
ecclesiastical  authority,  and  that  not  only  we  honoured  its  Con- 
stitutions and  laws  with  our  consent,  but  also  dictated  them,  and 
that  even  now  we  approve  them  ;  and  that  of  many  years  we 
have  known  the  Superiors  and  monks  of  the  said  Congregation 
for  religious,  pious,  learned,  grave  men,  earnest  desirers  of  quiet 
and  union,  observers  of  regularity.  Moreover,  we  testify  that  we 
have  seen  and  read  many  mandates  and  letters  patents  of  the 
Generals  of  the  Spanish  Congregation,  and  of  the  General  Chap- 
ter of  the  said  Congregation  several  acts,  by  which  all  things 
were  approved  and  confirmed  that  had  been  done  by  these  monks 


CHAPTER      THE      THIRTY-FIFTH.  133 

of  the  English  Mission  in  concluding  the  erection  of  the  said 
English  Congregation,  and  the  monks  of  the  mission  commanded 
to  be  obedient  to  its  laws.  We  also  testify  that  we  know  for 
certain,  for  that  we  were  there  present,  that  the  Definitors 
assembled  by  the  Pope's  orders  in  the  first  Chapter,  no  ways 
built  on  the  pretended  antiquity  of  the  English  Congregation  of 
Wearmouth  as  the  adversaries  suppose,  but  that  all  (excepting 
only  one  man)  rejected  that  antiquity,  and  all  unanimously  adhered 
to  the  antiquity  derived  from  Pope  Innocent  Ill's  Constitution 
which  is  in  the  body  of  the  Canon  Law,  Chapter  In  singulis  ; 
and  that  they  did  not  offer  to  the  Pope  any  titles  and  merits  of 
the  old  Congregation  thereby  to  move  His  Holiness  to  confirm 
their  proceedings,  but  simply  offered  the  Holy  See,  as  it  had 
commanded,  the  acts  and  constitutions  made  in  the  Definitory  to 
obtain  their  approbation,  and  asked  that  the  Union  they  agreed 
on  (after  the  manner  and  form  contained  in  the  said  laws  and 
which  they  called  the  English  Congregation  )  might  be  con- 
firmed, and  that  name  given  to  the  said  Union,  and  the  same 
power  which  is  allowed  to  other  Congregations,  and  all  the  pri- 
vileges hitherto  granted  to  the  Spanish  Congregation  and  to  the 
old  English  Congregation  however  and  whatever  it  was  ;  and 
that  in  this  their  union,  that  said  old  English  Congregation 
might  be  restored  and,  if  need  were,  new  creeled.  To  this  nar- 
rative we  testify  that  the  Brief  of  Pope  Paul  answers,  and  that 
therefore  as  'tis  the  opinion  of  all  Doctors,  according  to  this  nar- 
rative or  petition,  to  which  we  also  subscribed,  proofs  may  and 
ought  to  be  exacted  ;  and  that  against  this  signify  nothing  the 
objections  of  some  under  the  name  of  John  Andrew,  or  "  Exami- 
nation of  the  trophies  of  the  English  Congregation,  "  or  "  Gram- 
matopoeia"  or  "Syllabus,"  whether  they  be  in  Latin  or  French, 
we  know  and  declare  ;  as  also  we  testify  this  to  be  our  sentiment 
concerning  these  debates,  by  these  our  letters  to  all  who  shall 
read  them;  and  which  we  publish  not  out  of  hatred  or  favour  but 
out  of  zeal  of  truth  and  justice  and  the  conservation  of  religious 
discipline,  as  becomes  Archiepiscopal  authority,  which  though 
undeserving,  we  desire  no  longer  to  enjoy  than  we  employ  our 
power  to  defend  and  maintain  truth  and  piety. 


CHAPTER    THE    THIRTY-FIFTH. 

Given  at  Rheims  in  our  archiepiscopal  palace,  under  our 
lesser  seal,  on  the  loth,  of  April  1625. 

Gabriel  Archbishop  and  Duke  of  Rheims. 
The  place  of  the  seal. 

Here  it  is  necessary  to  give  some  account  of  this  Father 
Barnes  for  of  Fr.  Walgrave  we  have  spoken  and  have  yet 
further  to  say. 


'35 


CHAPTER  THE   THIRTY-SIXTH. 


THE     TROUBLES  CAUSED     BY     FR.     BARNES.       THE     BEGINNING  OF 

ST.    EDMUND'S    CONVENT    AT    PARIS.     THE   LITERARY 
LABOURS   OF    FATHER    AugUSTINE    BAKER. 


FATHER  BARNES  was  clothed  in  St.  Benedict's  of  Valladolid 
on  the  1 2th  of  March,  1 604,  and  professed  the  next  year  on  the 
2ist  of  March  and  made  Priest  on  the  2Oth  of  September  1608, 
and  presently  placed  by  his  Reverend  General  in  a  curateship  or 
some  such  like  business  which  depended  on  that  Congregation. 
We  have  seen  him  in  the  beginnings  of  Douay  and  St.  Malo ;  and 
in  1613  in  the  General  Chapter  in  Spain  he  was  assigned  first 
assistant  of  the  English  Mission.  Now  after  the  Union  and  con- 
secration of  Father  GifTord,  upon  his  departure  from  Paris  to 
Rheims,  the  Abbess  of  Chelles  and  the  monks  there  signified  to 
those  of  Paris  that  they  desired  they  would  leave  St.  Andrew's 
and  go  to  another  place  more  convenient  to  establish  a  convent 
and  bought  expressly  for  them.  But  because  they  did  not  so 
presently  comply  they  were  complained  of  to  R.  Father  Leander 
(become  President  by  the  elevation  of  R.  Father  GifFord),  upon 
which  Father  Leander  sent  them  an  order  to  obey.  They  ex- 
posed the  just  exceptions  they  had  reason  to  make  against  the 
new  house,  so  he  recalled  his  order  (April  9th,  1619)  being  then  at 
Rheims  with  the  said  Lord  Bishop  GifFord,  and  appoints  R.  F. 
Berington  to  succeed  R.  F.  Matthew  Sandeford  in  the  superiority 


136  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-SIXTH. 

of  the  Paris  house  on  the  I5th  of  May,  1619;  Father  Matthew 
being  to  attend  his  Grace  as  he  did,  living  with  him  at  Rheirns. 
The  worthy  Bishop  who  had  now  wherewithal,  having  upon 
all  occasions  continually  sought  the  good  and  advantage  of  his 
brethren,  so  now,  thinking  it  derogatory  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
Union  to  have  the  monks  who  had  engaged  in  it  at  Paris  to  depend 
any  longer  on  Fr.  Walgrave  and  his  at  Chelles,  he  at  his  own 
expense  placed  them  in  another  house,  and  the  Abbess  she  with- 
drew her  pension  and  spent  it  on  those  she  had  at  Chelles.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  the  Convent  at  Paris  which  is  now  entitled 
to  St  Edmund,  King  of  the  East  Angles  and  Martyr ;  and  Father 
Walgrave  fretting  and  vexed  that  he  could  not  make  things  ply 
to  his  humour,  incorporated  himself  in  the  said  year  1619  into  the 
Congregation  of  Cluny  without  leave  of  his  superiors.  This 
caused  many  disputes  before  the  Abbot  of  Cluny  and  Parliament 
of  Paris,  &c,  during  all  which  time  he  and  his  adherents  did  all 
they  could  to  bring  the  English  Congregation  under  the  Con- 
gregation of  Cluny  or  force  the  English  monks  from  Paris.  And 
Father  Barnes  in  1622  being  got  to  him  at  Chelles  they  united 
their  malice  to  attack  with  all  the  vigour  they  could  the  quiet  of 
their  brethren,  and  take  upon  them,  in  virtue  of  titles  worn  out 
of  date,  and  for  certain  absolutely  extinguished  and  abolished  by 
the  Union,  to  excommunicate  the  English  Benedictine  Com- 
munity at  Paris  which  did  not  depend  on  them.  I  can't  find 
exactly  the  time  of  this  criminal  attempt  but  if  I  may  conjecture, 
R.  F.  Rudesind's  letter  to  Father  Berington  dated  the  3rd  of 
November  1623  argues  it  to  have  been  about  that  time.  In 
which  letter  that  Venerable  Father  tells  the  other  that  the 
excommunication  of  those  men  was  of  as  much  force  as  that  of 
the  Protestants  when  they  excommunicated  Sixtus  V,  and  their 
scandalous  impudence  forces  him  to  lay  them  forth.  "  The 
reason, "  sayeth  he,  "  why  these  Fathers  proceed  so  irreligiously 
"  and  inhumanly  is  because  it  is  necessary  that  they  should 
"  always  be  a-brawling  and  a-scolding.  Who  can  say  that  Father 
"  Francis  ever  lived  quietly  ?  When  he  was  in  Spain  did  he  not 
"  behave  himself  so  seditiously  that  he  was  expelled  the  Colleges  ? 
"  At  Dieulwart  was  he  not  burdenous  to  all  his  brethren  ?  Have 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-SIXTH.  137 

"  not  all  sorts  of  men,  religious,  clergy  and  seculars  experienced 
"  his  rudeness  since  he  has  been  at  Chelles  ?  But  what  wonder 
"  when  he  came  to  religion  that  he  might  not  starve  in  the  world. 
"  He  seeks  the  world  here  and  like  a  worldling  despises  religious 
"  men.  As  to  the  other,  Father  John  ( Barnes),  he  is  never  well 
"  than  when  upon  some  rash  act  or  other;  for  from  the  time  that 
"  he  first  apostatized  (i  e.from  the  Order]  and  like  an  apostate  was 
"  received  in  Chapter,  his  arms  naked  and  crossed,  holding  his 
"  hands  full  of  rods,  he  seems  to  have  hated  both  religious  and 
"  claustral  life.  God  grant  him  a  sound  brain,  for  many  think 
"  him  out  of  his  wits,  otherwise  he  could  never  do  as  he  does,  i° 
"  apostatizing ;  2ndly,  living  a  worldling  nine  years;  3rdly,  writing 
"  famous  libels  against  his  brethren  for  filthy  lucre's  sake ;  4thly, 
"  apostatizing  again  ;  5thly,  returning  to  the  Congregation  he  left 
"  without  saying  anything  to  the  Superiors  ;  6thly,  feigning  causes 
"  against  his  conscience  to  excommunicate  his  Superior.  Do  not 
"  these  things  argue  madness  and  furiousness  ?  I  could  say  more 
"  upon  this  thing  but  I  am  forced  to  break  off  here  abruptly. 
"  Adieu. 

"The  3rd.  of  November  1623. 
Your  Brother 

"  Rudesind." 

This  Father  Barnes  also  engaged  in  the  Congregation  of 
Cluny  without  leave,  and  the  Reverend  General  of  Spain  writ  to 
them  both  on  the  I5th  of  February,  1624,  a  severe  letter  where 
after  greeting  he  adds  "et  spiritum  obedientia?"  (and  the  spirit  of 
obedience)  ;  and  R.  F.  Rudesind  the  same  year  on  the  2ist.  of 
June  commissioned  R.  F.  Bernard  Berington  and  R.  F.  Sigebert 
Bagshaw  to  proceed  against  Father  Barnes. 

Father  Barnes  thus  vigourously  pursued  by  all  Superiors  both 
Spanish  and  English,  thought  to  have  sheltered  himself  at  Saint 
Martin's  of  Pontoise  near  Paris  ;  but  Monsieur  Duval  a  most 
famous,  holy,  orthodox  Doctor  and  professor  of  Sorbonne  routed 
him  thence,  letting  the  commendatory  Abbot  know  that  a  certain 
author  whose  books  had  been  condemned  and  censured  by  the 
Pope  was  withdrawn  thither  ;  whereupon  he  strictly  commanded 
the  community  and  his  officers  to  expel  him  thence.  Yet  at  last 

s 


138  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-SIXTH. 

the  Rev.  General  of  Spain  writ  a  long  but  very  fine  letter  laying 
forth  the  extravagant  conduct  of  these  men,  blaming  their  libels 
which  he  specifies,  and  declares  the  excommunication  they  had 
so  ridiculously  darted  to  deserve  nothing  but  contempt,  and 
commands  them  back  to  their  duty,  to  which  summons  if  they 
yield,  he  remits  them  all  punishment  and  disgrace. 

What  they  did  upon  this,  I  cannot  find  ;  what  follows, 
evidences  Fr.  Barnes  persisted  in  his  criminal  condition  ;  and  Fr. 
Walgrave  either  got  leave  to  remain  in  the  Congregation  of 
Cluny  or  did  the  same,  for  we  shall  see  him  relieved  by  that  said 
Congregation  after  he  was  driven  from  Chelles.  But  to  end 
with  Fr.  Barnes  :  I  have  gathered  many  letters  which  show  him 
to  have  tampered  much  with  the  State  of  England  to  become  its 
pensioner,  to  mince  the  Catholic  truths  that  the  Protestants 
might  digest  them  without  choking,  and  so  likewise  to  prepare 
the  Protestant  errors  that  Catholic  stomachs  might  not  loathe 
them.  He  was  hard  at  work  in  the  prosecution  of  this  admir- 
able project  in  the  years  1625  and  1626. 

He  took  upon  him  in  a  letter  to  a  nobleman  of  England, 
which  is  without  date  of  year  or  month,  to  maintain  out  of  true 
divinity  the  separation  of  England  from  the  court  of  Rome  as 
things  then  stood,  and  the  oath  of  fidelity  of  the  English  Com- 
munion, to  be  lawful  and  just  according  to  the  writers  of  the 
Roman  Church.  And  he  says  at  the  beginning  of  this  wonder- 
ful letter,  that  he  had  been  about  eight  years  at  work  to  get  an 
opportunity  of  insinuating  himself  into  His  Majesty's  knowledge. 

And  the  fine  letters  that  were  writ  to  him  from  England 
upon  such  happy  dispositions  (when  his  mooncalfship  was  seek- 
ing to  make  the  world  the  same  sport  the  mountain  did  when  it 
brought  forth  a  ridiculous  mouse )  were  directed  to  Fr.  Barnes  at 
the  lodgings  of  my  Lord  the  Prince  of  Portugal  near  the  Cor- 
deliers at  Paris.  These  are  of  the  date  of  1626. 

The  English  Fathers  having  patience  no  longer  with  a  con- 
duct grown  so  criminal  and  which  so  directly  thwarted  the  very 
foundations  of  the  renewed  Congregation  which  I  have  specified 
in  the  article  of  the  Union,  where  they  declare  they  will  never 
have  to  do  with  men  who  are  not  sound  in  their  faith,  they 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-SIXTH.  139 

acquainted  His  Holiness  with  these  extravagances  ,  and  such 
order  was  taken  that  Fr.  Barnes  was  seized  on  and  sent  up  to 
Rome  to  the  Inquisition  ;  but  acting  moderately  with  the  wretch 
and  not  letting  things  run  to  that  extremity  they  might  have  done, 
he  was  only  imprisoned  there  to  his  dying  day,  which  happened 
in  August  1 66 1.  "If  he  was  in  his  wits,"  (writ  R.  F.  Leander 
Norminton  from  thence)  "he  was  a  heretic  ;  but  they  gave  him 
Christian  burial  because  they  accounted  him  rather  a  madman." 

Dr.  Leyburn  in  his  encyclical  answer  to  an  encyclical  epistle 
sent  to  the  clergy  of  England,  which  he  printed  at  Douay 
the  year  this  Father  died,  proposes  him  as  an  example  for  to 
teach  men  to  beware  of  novellism.  "  Besides,"  saith  he,  "Dr.  Ellis 
is  not  ignorant  of  our  English  Benedictines'  zealous  proceeding 
unto  securing  and  punishing  of  that  learned  man  of  their  Order 
Fr.  John  Barnes  as  soon  as  they  were  fully  acquainted  with  his 
wicked  designs  to  broach  dangerous  tenets  to  the  destroying  of 
souls.  And  indeed  that  famous  man  of  their  Order  Fr.  Rudesind 
Barlo  himself  told  me  that  the  securing  of  the  said  Fr.  John 
Barnes  cost  the  Order  ^3°°  sterling." 

Now  while  these  miserable  men  thus  sought  the  destruction  of 
the  Congregation  by  disparaging  it,  they  procured  it  one  of  the 
greatest  advantages  that  ever  yet  befell  it.  For  Father  Baker  fell  to 
searching  the  antiquities  of  England  to  invincibly  prove  how  the 
old  English  Benedictine  Congregation  of  which  we  have  said  so 
much,  never  depended  on  that  of  Cluny.  The  learned  antiquary  Mr. 
Selden,  a  Protestant  to  whom  he  communicated  the  absurd  proposi- 
tion, accounted  it  a  pretension  so  groundless  and  withal  so  dishon- 
ourable to  England  (namely  that  so  many  royal  monasteries  as  were 
in  England  should  owe  subjection  to  a  foreign  Congregation),  that 
he  intended  to  write  a  confutation  of  such  absurdities,  himself  hav- 
ing been  entreated  thereto  by  the  then  Lord  Treasurer,  and  had 
really  done  it  if  Father  Baker  had  not  told  him  that  some  of  the 
English  Benedictine  monks  were  already  employed  about  it. 

The  places  which  afforded  Father  Baker  the  best  proofs  were 
the  Tower  of  London  and  the  famous  Library  of  Sir  Robert  Cotton; 
many  journeys  likewise  he  made  into  several  counties  where  he 
could  hear  of  any  ancient  records ;  so  that  with  incredible  pains 


140  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-SIXTH. 

and  the  expenses  of  almost  two  hundred  pounds  sterling  out  of 
his  maintenance,  (which  he  freely  gave  to  serve  his  Congregation 
in  such  affairs),  he  furnished  all  or  most  of  the  remarkable  instru- 
ments and  writings  which  render  the  book  entitled  "  Apostolatus 
Benedictinorum  in  Anglia"  so  esteemed  both  at  home  and  abroad. 
At  the  same  time  he  prepared  memorials  for  a  universal  history 
of  the  Church  of  England,  all  which  extracts  of  the  old  manu- 
scripts &c,  which  were  taken  from  the  monasteries  at  their 
suppression,  now  enrich  the  archives  of  St.  Gregory's  at  Douay. 

Moreover  he  was  not  content  to  send  such  things,  but  he 
also  shewed  the  advantages  that  several  passages  of  the  said 
records  presented  to  prove  the  truth  of  the  English  Congre- 
gation and  likewise  to  demonstrate  that  St.  Gregory  the  Great 
and  the  monks  sent  by  him  to  convert  England  were  all  of  the 
Order  of  St.  Benedict.  So  that  his  collections  and  discourses  alone 
were  sufficient  for  the  compilation  of  that  work  of  which  indeed 
he  may  be  well  esteemed  the  principal  author,  having  had  the 
chief  hand  in  it,  and  next  to  him  the  V.  R.  Father  Leander  of 
St.  Martin  who  put  it  into  Latin  and  polished  it,  though  they  left 
it  to  come  out  under  the  name  of  R.  F.  Clement  Reyner.  And 
Father  Leander  being  in  England  during  the  said  searchings  re- 
fused not  to  be  the  scrivener;  and  often  afterwards  admired  not  only 
Fr.  Baker's  solid  judgment,  but  also  his  good  memory;  for  one 
day  leaving  off  in  the  midst  of  a  sentence  or  a  period,  when  two 
or  three  days  after  Father  Leander  with  his  papers  returned  to 
him  again,  Father  Baker  continued  on  where  he  had  left  off,  as 
if  he  had  but  just  then  given  over.  This  will  appear  much  more 
wonderful  if  one  consider  the  high  intellectual  contemplation  he 
was  happily  endowed  with,  and  how  during  all  the  time  of  these 
searches  he  was  in  a  continual  exercise,  after  a  more  particular 
manner  than  ordinary,  of  this  said  intellectual  affective  contempla- 
tion. And  yet  this  occupation  caused  him  no  distractions,  though  he 
applied  himself  to  it  as  to  his  only  affair,  as  likewise  at  the  same 
time  to  his  recollection  as  if  he  had  attended  to  nothing  else  :  an 
example  so  rare  that  it  can  scarce  be  parallelled. 

And  though  it  may  seem  not  appertaining  to  my  affair  here, 
yet  because  nothing   ought    to    be  prized  by    men    like    truth, 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-SIXTH. 


for  the  instruction  of  posterity  I  shall  here  add  a  passage  of 
which  he  was  both  eye  and  ear  witness  when  he  was  gathering 
these  things,  as  the  writers  of  his  life  assure,  at  Sir  Robert 
Cotton's  Library ;  the  which  was,  says  Father  Cressy  "  that  he 
"  heard  a  discourse  between  the  said  knight  and  Mr.  Cambden 
"  about  a  chest  of  papers  which  had  belonged  to  Sir  Francis 
"  Walsingham,  Secretary  of  State  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  containing 
"  most  of  the  principal  business  of  state  during  his  secretaryship. 
"These  had  been  lately  bought  for  a  small  sum  by  Sir  Robert 
"  who  told  Mr.  Cambden,  and  made  it  good  by  the  same  papers, 
"  that  he  had  had  very  false  information  of  many  passages  in  his 
"history  of  Queen  Elizabeth;  and  particularly  from  the  same 
"  letters  (it)  appeared  that  the  insurrection  in  the  North  under 
"the  Earl  of  Westmoreland  &c,  had  been  contrived  by  the  said 
"  Secretary  of  State ;  whereupon  Mr.  Cambden  exclaimed  ear- 
"  nestly  and  loudly  against  his  false  informers  and  wished  that 
"that  history  had  never  been  written." 


142 


CHAPTER   THE   THIRTY-SEVENTH. 

THE    FOUNDATION    OF    THE    MONASTERY    OF    OUR    LADY 

OF    CONSOLATION    FOR    THE    ENGLISH    BENEDICTINE 

DAMES   AT    CAMBRAY. 


IN  the  year  1625  on  tne  ^rst  of  January,  nine  young  English 
gentlewomen,  ( brought  to  Cambray  by  the  Fathers  to  begin 
there  an  English  Nunnery  of  the  Order  under  the  care  of  the 

O  / 

Congregation,)  made   their  solemn  profession  ;  namely 

1.  Dame   Gertrude,   otherwise   Hellen   More,   daughter  to 
Mr.  Crisacre   More,   little   grandson   in  dired:  line  to  the  famous 
Sir  Thomas  More,  High  Chancellor  of  England  ;  for  he  was  son 
to   Thomas,   who  was   son   to  John  the  only  son  and  heir  of  the 
said  most  worthy  Lord  Chancellor  of  most  glorious  memory. 

2.  Dame  Lucy,   otherwise  Margaret  Vavasour,   daughter  to 
Mr.  William  Vavasour  of  Hazlewood  in  Yorkshire. 

3.  Dame  Benedict,   otherwise  Anne  Morgan,   sister  to  Mr. 
Thomas  Morgan  of  Weston  in  Warwickshire. 

4.  Dame  Catherine  Gascoign,  daughter  to  Sir  John  Gascoign 
of  Barnlow  in  Yorkshire,  one  of  those  that  are  called  Scotch 
Baronets. 

5.  Dame  Agnes,  otherwise  Grace  More,  and 

6.  Dame    Ann    More,     near    Cousins    to  Dame  Gertrude, 
descended  also  from  Sir  Thomas  More  by  younger  brothers  of  the 
same  family. 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-SEVENTH.  143 

7.  Dame  Marv,  otherwise  Frances  Watson  daughter  of  Mr. 
Richard  Watson  of  Parke  in  Bedfordshire. 

8.  Sister  Mary  Hoskins,  and 

9.  Sister  Martha   otherwise  Jane  Martin.     These  two  were 
for  the  services  of  the  Community,  and   the   others  for  the  duty 
of  the  choir. 

They  had  been  altogether  solemnly  and  publicly  vested  the 
year  before  (1624)  on  the  3ist  of  December,  Sunday,  by  the 
renowned  Archbishop  of  Cambray  Vander  Burgh,  who  very  freely 
and  generously  exempted  this  new  rising  Nunnery  from  himself 
and  his  successors  and  committed  it  to  the  English  Fathers 
through  whose  industry  it  began.  R.  F.  Rudesind  Barlo  assisted 
at  their  Clothing. 

Their  house  was  the  refuge  of  the  Abbey  of  Ferny  of  the 
Order  of  St.  Benedict,  a  monastery  not  far  from  Cambray  which 
was  begun  by  English  but  then  lay  utterly  ruined  through  the 
wars ;  nor  was  the  said  refuge  in  a  much  better  condition,  for  there 
was  only  four  walls  standing,  without  any  partitions,  and  the  walls 
cleft  open  from  top  to  bottom  in  several  places,  so  that  before  they 
could  make  it  a  dwelling-house  it  cost  them  five  hundred  pounds 
sterling. 

At  first  it  was  only  lent  them  and  they  were  according  to 
agreement  to  leave  it  at  six  months'  warning  and  the  money  paid 
for  the  reparations  to  be  reimbursed  to  them  when  they  should  be 
warned  out  of  the  house  which  the  workmen  said  could  not  stand 
past  thirty  years ;  yet  it  has  stood  above  these  fourscore  years  by 
the  help  of  other  buildings  joined  to  it.  In  1638  Anthony  of 
Monmorency,  ^bbot  of  St.  Andrew's  (to  which  monastery  Ferny 
was  then  annexed,)  consented  that  the  said  refuge  should  be  given 
to  the  English  Dames  for  ever;  which  Pope  Urban  VIII.  approved 
by  a  Bull  granted  the  1 8th  of  January  the  same  year.  And  further 
in  1639  the  Abbot  confirmed  and  approved  the  said  donation  to 
the  English  Dames  by  an  ad:  dated  the  27th  of  January.  And  in 
1 640  the  abovesaid  worthy  Archbishop  confirmed  it  upon  condi- 
tion that  when  regular  discipline  should  be  established  at  Ferny, 
the  Dames  should  pay  to  the  house  of  Ferny  three  thousand  five 
hundred  florins  money  of  Flanders. 


144  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-SEVENTH. 

Since  their  establishment  there  they  have  purchased  houses 
and  gardens  to  the  value  of  one  thousand  pounds  English  to 
enlarge  their  enclosure  ;  the/  have  disbursed  for  buildings  and 
reparations  above  three  thousand  eight  hundred  pounds  sterling 
at  several  times ;  and  it's  esteemed  that  the/  have  lost  at  several 
times  in  England  and  in  Flanders  by  several  misfortunes  occasioned 
by  war  &c,  above  eight  thousand  pounds  sterling,  most  of  it  money 
for  the  portions  of  several  of  the  religious.  By  these  losses  the 
house  hath  been  reduced  at  divers  times  to  great  poverty  and  many 
thought  they  must  disperse  during  the  unhappy  civil  wars  of  Eng- 
land, but  the  English  Fathers  who  have  ever  been  very  tender  of 
them,  relieved  them  and  put  them  into  a  method  (when  Rev.  Fr. 
Benedict  Stapylton  was  President,  who  mightily  took  to  heart  the 
prosperity  of  this  house)  of  putting  out  the  value  of  £200  sterling 
upon  every  head  professed  in  the  Convent  by  which  means  the 
yearly  income  increases;  and  another  help  is  the  taking  of  pen- 
sioners ;  yet  this  would  not  prove  sufficient  to  support  the  house 
if  the  Divine  bounty  did  not  now  and  then  cast  them  in  alms, 
through  whose  merciful  Providence  they  live  without  the  affliction 
of  being  anyways  indebted  to  any  one,  decently  provided  of  all 
necessaries  as  well  in  sickness  as  in  health  out  of  the  common  purse; 
so  that  the  use  of  particular  pensions  or  anything  savouring  of  pro- 
priety is  unknown  in  the  monastery  where  all  is  in  common  and  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Superior  as  the  Rule  and  Constitutions  ordain. 
They  have  always  said  Matins  at  midnight  and  do  so  still,  and  ob- 
serve the  holy  Rule  of  St.  Benedict  as  it  is  moderated  by  the  Consti- 
tutions written,  approved,  and  delivered  to  them  by  the  RR.  Fathers 
of  the  Congregation  in  General  Chapter. 

They  entered  this  place  on  the  24th  of  December  ( Sunday)  1 623 
and  the  worthy  Archbishop  Vander  Burgh  honoured  their  entry  with 
his  presence  and  opened  their  chapel  with  saying  the  first  Mass  that 
ever  was  said  there.  They  called  their  said  house  "  Our  Lady  of 
Comfort"  of  which  they  keep  a  particular  feast  on  the  4th  of  July. 
The  Fathers  had  provided  them  of  three  virtuous  English  Dames 
of  the  Order  of  St.  Benedict  from  Brussels,  namely  Dame  Frances 
Gawen  who  became  first  Abbess  of  this  place ;  (for  though  the 
Superioress  be  elective  every  four  years,  yet  she  is  styled  Abbess) : 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-SEVENTH.  145 

Dame  Potentiana  Deacons  and  Dame  Viviana  Yaxley.  These 
were  to  form  them  in  religion,  and  soon  after  good  Fr.  Rudesind 
gave  them  an  excellent  interior  director  the  R.  F.  Augustine 
Baker  who  founded  them  so  admirably  into  an  interior  sort  of 
life  that  the  aforesaid  Archbishop  took  some  of  them  to  reform  a 
nunnery  in  Cambray,  which  had  very  good  success  and  highly 
contented  that  noble  prelate,  who  from  the  first  day  he  knew 
them  to  his  last  moment  continued  them  the  honour  and  favour 
of  his  friendship.  Some  of  them  have  lived  in  such  eminent 
san&ity  that  their  lives  have  been  written. 


INI,      CONSOLAM1NI  !       «3jj]  , 


i46 


CHAPTER    THE  THIRTY-EIGHTH. 

THE    THIRD    GENERAL    CHAPTER,    1625.         THE    SEMINARY 

OATH. 


THE  third  General  Chapter  on  the  2nd  of  July  1625  was 
held  at  Douay,  where  neither  the  first  elected  President  R.  F. 
Justus  Edner  nor  the  2nd  elected  R.  F.  John  Harper  would  take 
the  charge  on  them.  Wherefore  R.  F.  Rudesind  was  continued 
in  the  office  with  the  title  of  President  administrator,  not  with 
that  of  President  absolutely. 

I  cant  get  to  know  the  names  of  the  Provincials  of  Canter- 
bury and  York. 

The  Vicar  of  France  was  again  R.  F.  Bernard  Berington  of 
St.  Peter. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Gregory  at  Douay,  R.  F.  Rudesind  Barlo. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Laurence  at  Dieulwart,  R.  F.  Laurence 
Reyner. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Benedict's  at  St.  Malo's,  R.  F.  Jocelin  Elmer. 

The  Prior  of  Paris,  R.  F.  Sigebert  Bagshaw. 

The  Abbess  of  Cambray,  Dame  Frances  Gawen. 

The  Procurator  at  Rome,  R.  F.  Austin  Hungate. 

Secretary  to  the  President,  R.  F.  Clement  Reyner. 

On  the  1 4th  of  September  following  died  at  Cambray  the 
Vicar  of  the  Nuns,  R.  F.  Edward  Maihew,  and  lies  buried  in  the 
parish  Church  of  St.  Vaast.  Besides  his  "  Trophies,"  he  hath 
written  a  book  entituled  "The  grounds  of  the  new  and  old 
religion." 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-EIGHTH.  147 

And  this  year  1625  by  order  of  the  Pope  as  'twas  said,  the 
Cardinals  de  Propaganda  published  an  oath  to  be  taken  by  all 
Seminarists  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years  old,  that  they  will  not 
enter  any  Monastery  till  they  have  spent  three  years  in  the 
mission.  This  oath  hath  been  since  extended  to  all  their  life 
time,  all  the  world  standing  astonished,  even  the  learned,  at  the 
tenor  of  such  a  strange  oath.  This  was  because  many  of  them 
became  monks  ;  and  the  other  Priests  and  Jesuits  who  tutored 
the  Seminaries,  maintained  it  was  unreasonable  that  they  who 
had  been  brought  up  at  the  cost  of  the  Church  left  her  service 
to  hide  themselves  in  cloisters  ;  and  yet  the  English  Congrega- 
tion stands  bound  to  the  mission  as  much  as  they,  but  with  this 
difference  ;  that  the  monks  do  not  send  so  hastily  as  the  Semin- 
aries, taking  more  time  to  perfect  those  they  design  for  so  great 
a  work. 

Anno  1626,  March  4th,  S.  V.  full  of  days  and  good  works 
died  at  London  R.  F.  John  Richardson  a  pious  and  industrious 
man,  obliging  all  he  could  with  his  civilities  and  benefits.  He 
became  a  monk  in  the  mission  and  patiently  there  endured  several 
imprisonments  and  persecutions. 

And  His  Holiness  on  the  23rd  of  May  stopped  the  mouths 
of  those  who  calumniated  the  Congregation,  declaring  by  the 
Cardinals  interpreters  of  the  Council  of  Trent  that  there  had 
been  formerly  in  England  and  was  then,  an  English  Benedictine 
Congregation,  notwithstanding  whatever  any  could  chatter  to  the 
contrary;  and  that  the  Brief  of  Pope  Paul  V  of  the  23rd  of 
August,  1607  ascertained  the  same.  Moreover  a  little  while  after 
because  the  adversary  party  would  have  made  it  pass  for  surrepti- 
tious, he  declared  that  assertion  false,  and  renewed  it  and  gave 
another  confirming  the  Union  agreed  on  in  the  Definitory  of 
Paris. 

And  by  his  confirmation  of  the  foundation  at  Douay  Convent 
we  will  take  a  final  view  of  that  affair. 


148 


CHAPTER   THE   THIRTY-NINTH. 

A     FINAL     ACCOUNT     OF     THE     FOUNDATION     OF     ST.     GREGORY'S 

MONASTERY   AT   DOUAY.     THE    DEVOTION   OF    THE    BONDAGE 

OF    THE    B.   VIRGIN. 


IT  doth  not  appear  that  the  commendation  of  the  King  of 
Spain  procured  to  them  any  more  from  the  Archduke  than  his 
recommendation  to  Abbot  Cavarel,  besides  a  mortis sement  of 
the  ground  whereon  the  house  stands,  and  privileges  that  other 
Colleges  of  the  University  enjoy.  And  this  was  sufficient;  for 
the  charitable  Abbot  upon  the  first  petition  presented  to  him  by 
the  Fathers  Rudesind  Barlo,  Leander  of  St.  Martin  and  Bennet  of 
St.  Facundus  on  the  1 4th  of  September,  1 6 1 6,  in  order  to  obtaining 
a  stable  foundation  (for  his  first  allowance  was  not  settled  and  came 
to  only  five  pounds  English  a  quarter  in  money  and  such  a  quan- 
tity of  corn  at  first,  afterwards  something  increased),  bestowed  on 
them  2000  florins  a  year  of  perpetual  rent.  And  because  the 
Fathers  in  the  petition  had  offered  to  take  upon  them  great 
rigour  of  discipline,  choir,  abstinence,  &c,  the  Abbot  took  occa- 
sion to  deliver  their  Constitutions. 

The  next  year,  1617,  was  the  long  desired  Union,  and  as  R. 
F.  Leander  was  one  of  the  deputies  that  compiled  the  Constitu- 
tions, and  that  with  Father  Rudesind  he  was  one  of  the  nine 
Definitors,  they  had  occasion  to  strengthen  what  the  Abbot  had 
ordained  to  their  satisfaction  and  obtain  an  address  to  him  to 


CHAPTER    THE    THIRTY-NINTH.  149 

change  what  they  disliked.  Wherefore  soon  after  their  return 
they  fell  again  to  petitioning  their  foundation  which  they  pru- 
dently judged  was  not  so  strongly  bottomed  and  so  well  laid  as  it 
ought  to  be,  because  the  consent  of  the  Convent  (  of  St.  Vedast 
at  Arras  )  had  not  yet  been  obtained  nor  so  much  as  asked  by  the 
Abbot.  The  Convent  consenting  very  freely  and  joyfully,  he 
resolved  to  try  for  one  year  what  1 200  florins  would  do,  and  the 
next  year  added  to  that  sum  200  florins  more. 

The  term  of  the  allowance  being  expired  with  the  year 
another  petition  was  to  be  presented  which  they  did  on  the  27th, 
of  September  1619  with  so  much  more  earnestness  and  entreaties 
for  a  perpetual  rent  as  they  perceived  every  year  this  way  more 
burthensome  and  unsecured  (as  depending  on  the  Abbots  or 
mutability  of  a  man's  mind),  and  with  more  confidence  as  they 
had  already  gained  the  grand  Prior  M.  Nizar  and  the  Sub-prior's 
good  liking ;  who  assured  them  there  was  no  difficulty  in  the 
thing,  and  to  whom  particularly  the  Abbot  had  commended  the 
considering  of  it. 

And  accordingly  this  wise  prelate  seeing  that  important  affair 
concluded,  in  expectation  of  which  perhaps  he  deferred  so  long  to 
make  the  settlement  which  he  had  designed  from  the  beginning; 
viz,  the  confirmation  of  the  Union  and  Constitutions,  and,  which 
he  no  less  desired  and  the  rest  of  his  convent,  an  entire  exemption 
from  all  ordinaries  whatsoever,  the  Abbot  presently  proceeded, 
with  consent  and  approbation  of  his  Chapter,  to  a  foundation  more 
ample  than  the  former  and  such  as  comprehended  all  the  addi- 
tions and  expunged  whatsoever  the  Definitory  of  Paris  and  the 
Fathers  of  Douay  did  desire. 

For  this  munificent  and  liberal  foundation,  in  the  name  of  the 
whole  Convent  (of  Douay]  and  Congregation,  thanks  were  given 
by  a  public  instrument  drawn  and  signed  by  R.  F.  Leander, 
President,  whereby  he  accepted  thereof  with  all  its  conditions 
&c,  which  we  will  specify  by  and  bye  from  the  Bull  which 
confirmed  the  transaction. 

But  there  was  a  very  ticklish  clause  inserted  in  the  foundation, 
that  every  new  Prior  at  his  entry  should  ask  of  the  Abbot  of 
Arras  or  his  Convent  the  continuation  of  their  College  or  habita- 


I  JO  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-NINTH. 

tion  ;  a  condition  not  only  very  burthensome,  but  also  such  an 
one  as  obliged  only  the  petitioner  and  not  the  convent  of  St.  Vaast 
or  Abbot  thereof  to  grant  such  petition.  Wherefore  the  Abbot 
upon  redress  made  to  him  by  Father  Leander,  explained  it  by  a 
codicil  added  to  the  letters  of  Foundation,  having  first  communicat- 
ed and  deliberated  on  the  point  with  the  councillors,  of  his  Abbey, 
and  declared  that  as  the  Prior  was  to  ask  the  said  continuation,  so 
it  was  to  be  granted  always  as  long  as  the  English  monks  kept  to 
the  conditions  of  the  foundation  according  to  what  a  sincere, 
prudent,  and  pious  judge  might  determine  they  did. 

The  year  after,  which  was  1620,  the  Abbot  published  a  writ- 
ing of  this  his  foundation  and  its  accceptance,  and  declared  the 
revenue  was  to  rise  from  the  money  himself  had  formerly  put 
out  upon  the  states  of  Artois  to  be  paid  at  two  terms  and  received 
by  M.  Le  Mercier  and  his  successors,  regents  of  the  new  College 
of  St.  Vaast  (at  Douay). 

Not  long  after,  (it  was,  namely,  in  1621)  the  Abbot  of 
Marchin  put  out  of  the  College  of  Marchin  his  own  religious  and 
the  English  Fathers,  where  they  had  so  long  supported  the 
honour  of  their  Nation  and  Order,  as  being  inferior  in  learning  to 
none  in  the  whole  university  ;  and  their  ejection  (not  for  any 
demerits,  but  to  make  way  for  the  Jesuits  to  whom  the  Abbot 
would  give  that  place)  had  been  much  lamented  had  it  not  been 
so  timed  by  Providence  that  the  new  College  of  St.  Vaast  was 
ready  to  receive  them  with  open  arms,  whither  they  returned  by 
the  Abbot  Cavarel's  orders  and  drew  a  great  number  of  their 
scholars  after  them  though  the  schools  of  St.  Vaast  were  not 
opened  without  great  resistance  of  the  University.  The  whole 
process,  the  Abbot's  and  the  English  Fathers'  replies,  with  the 
Arch-duke's  patents,  are  all  on  record  in  the  College  of  St.  Vaast. 
But  upon  occasion  of  this  proceeding  of  the  Abbot  of  Marchin, 
V.  R.  Father  President  thought  he,  had  a  happy  opportunity  of 
discovering  what  he  had  long  concealed  in  his  breast  and  was  in 
appearance  disgustful  to  the  founders  but  necessary  to  the  founded. 

Wherefore  another  petition  was  drawn  wherein  he  humbly 
proposed  to  his  Lordship's  consideration  and  fatherly  providence, 
that  in  succeeding  times  such  might  be  found  as  would  be  willing 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-NINTH.  15! 

to  make  it  a  question  whether  they  fulfilled  the  conditions  of  the 
foundation,  and  therefore  desired  the  said  articles  might  be  razed 
out.  The  Abbot  who  was  alwa\s  ready  to  condescend  to  R.  F. 
President's  desires,  yet  not  to  disoblige  his  Brethren  who  had 
purposely  inserted  such  restringent  clauses  to  make  the  English 
Fathers'  dependence  on  them  the  greater  and  closer,  remitted  the 
petition  to  the  perusal  and  sentiment  of  M.  Nizart  then  Sub- 
Prior  of  St.  Vaast,  and  reader  of  Scripture  in  their  College  at 
Douay,  and  to  M.  Mercier,  Regent  of  the  said  College  ;  and 
having  heard  their  opinion  and  that  of  the  other  principal  officers 
of  his  Abbey  (  who  as  may  be  seen  above  were  earnest  promoters 
of  the  foundation  )  which  was  favourable  to  the  supplicant,  he 
added  another  codicil  to  the  foundation,  dated  5th  of  November, 
1622,  wherein  he  declares  that  it  neither  was  nor  never  has  been 
his  intention  that  the  religious  or  convent  should  be  deprived  of 
their  dwelling  at  the  free  will  and  pleasure  of  himself  and  his  suc- 
cessors as  long  as  they  satisfied  the  conditions  &c  ;  that  clause  was 
only  inserted  to  oblige  the  said  religious  to  remember  the  respect 
and  friendship  due  from  them  to  those  of  Arras  and  that  there 
might  be  for  ever  a  right  understanding  betwixt  them,  with  love 
of  regular  discipline  and  learning,  especially  a  serious  study  i  f 
philosophy  and  divinity. 

There  remained  nothing  now  but  that  our  Holy  Father  the 
Pope,  who  had  made  ample  provision  for  the  establishment  of 
the  Congregation  in  general,  should  be  inclined  to  extend  his 
fatherly  care  to  St.  Gregory's  College  in  particular,  and  ratify  by 
apostolic  authority  the  charitable  and  prudent  institution  thereof 
by  the  worthy  founder.  Therefore  in  1625  a  petition  was  drawn 
by  consent  and  approbation  of  the  Abbot,  who  finding  it  not 
penned  in  the  style  of  that  Court,  gave  order  it  should  be  sent  to 
the  Procurator  at  Rome  together  with  a  transcript  of  the  letters 
of  the  foundation,  whose  business  should  be  to  see  it  worded  and 
framed  better,  and  if  he  found  it  difficult  to  connect  and  express 
all  the  articles  of  the  foundation,  that  he  should  insert  the  said 
letters  of  foundation  word  for  word ;  and  this  so  much  the  rather 
because  such  information  would  fall  under  motu  proprio,  or  ex 
ccrta  cognition.:,  a  style  that  carries  with  it  more  authority  than 


152 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-NINTH. 


a  simple  confirmation  ;  which  was  accordingly  and  faithfully 
performed  by  R.  F.  Paulin  Greenwood,  then  Procurator  of  the 
English  Congregation,  and  by  the  Abbot's  agent  as  appears  by 
the  exacl:  and  entire  enumeration  of  all  the  material  clauses, 
ordinations  and  articles  of  the  letters  of  foundation  mentioned  and 
comprised  in  the  Bull  gratiously  accorded  by  Urban  VIII  on 
the  3rd  of  June  1626,  in  the  third  year  of  his  Pontificate. 

The  Fathers  finding  the  building  too  great  for  their  use, 
obtained  it  might  be  divided,  and  offered  half  of  it  to  the 
Founder,  which  with  some  other  buildings  constituted  the 
College  of  Arras ;  and  they  upon  this  have  obliged  themselves  to  all 
reparations  of  the  whole  fabric  and  Church  of  which  they  have 
likewise  the  use,  but  do  not  keep  choir  in  it  but  in  the  day  time 
on  Sundays  and  holidays  with  the  English  Fathers.  Wherefore 
the  Bull  after  the  delineation  of  the  division  of  the  house  tells  us 
the  Abbot's  foundation  is  only  for  twelve  Monks  of  the  English 
Nation.*  And  for  their  expenses  and  necessaries  he  allows  them 


*   Though  Abbot    Cavarel'a  foundation   was  for  twelve  monks  the  actual  Community    uxtA 
always  in  excess  of  that  number.     The  following  fiyures  may  be  of  interest  to  our  readers. 


Ckn.  Chapter. 


The  Community  of  St.  G'm/ory'a  Monastery  at  Douay. 


Priests. 


1621 

13 

1625 

15 

1629 

22 

1633 

19 

1639 

11 

1641 

14 

164S 

17 

1649 

13 

1653 

14 

1657 

18 

1661 

14 

1666 

13 

1669 

10 

1673 

11 

1677 

16 

1681 

12 

1685 

14 

1689 

13 

1693 

15 

1697 

15 

1701 

12 

1705 

11 

1710 

13 

Choir-refiyious. 

14 
23 
10 

5 

8 

3 

8 

6 


o 

8 

5 

6 

10 

14 

7 

5 

10 

11 

5 


Lay-brothers. 


Total. 


2   . 

29 

2   . 

40 

2   . 

34 

1 

25 

1 

20 

1   .   . 

18 

1 

26 

1   . 

20 

1 

23 

1 

24 

1   .   . 

22 
15 

15 



19 

21 

18 

2   . 

26 

3   . 

30 

3   .   . 

25 

4 

25 

5   . 

27 

5   . 

27 

5 

23 

CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-NINTH.  153 

a  yearly   revenue   of  2000  florins  to  be  paid  at  four  times  in  the 
year  quarterly. 

In  token  that  the  Abbot  and  Convent  of  St.  Vaast  are  abso- 
lute lords  of  this  rent  and  dwelling,  and  likewise  in  token  of 
gratitude,  the  President  of  the  Congregation  or  the  Prior  of 
Douay  on  the  appointed  day  and  at  the  appointed  place,  with 
declaration  that  they  do  it  by  way  of  thanks,  are  to  offer  or 
present  a  white  wax  candle. 

Likewise  all  new  Priors  are  to  acknowledge  as  much  in  writ- 
ing in  presenting  a  petition  to  the  Abbot  and  his  successors  to 
desire  the  confirmation  and  renewing  of  this  favour,  and  testify 
that  could  they  have  it  otherwise  from  some  other  power,  that 
yet  they  would  not  take  it,  and  their  petition  is  to  be  granted. 

They  are  to  add  to  their  vows  of  religion  a  fourth  Vow  of 
the  English  mission. 

The  Abbot  takes  on  him  the  ordering  the  solemnity  (and 
such  like)  of  the  Divine  Office,  their  victuals,  abstinence,  fasts, 
studies  &c,  and  they  are  to  have  always  some  able  to  teach  phil- 
osophy, divinity  and  even  the  lesser  Schools.  These  are  to  be 
totally  at  the  devotion  of  the  Abbot  and  his  successors  who  may 
place  them  and  displace  them  as  they  please  ;  and  they  are  none 
of  them  to  be  sent  anywhither  unless  there  be  others  whom  the 
Abbot  and  his  successors  shall  judge  as  capable,  and  none  are  to 
take  degrees  in  the  University  but  with  the  Abbot's  leave.  And 
if  it  be  the  fault  of  the  Convent  that  it  hath  not  such  men,  there 
may  be  taken  from  it  out  of  the  annual  rent,  fifty  florins  for  each 
regent  or  teacher  so  wanting,  but  no  more  and  never  upon  any 
other  account. 

The  Convent  is  to  be  governed  by  the  Prior  and  his  Coun- 
sellors, but  the  Regent  of  the  College  of  St.  Vaast  or  the  Abbot's 
deputy  is  to  take  place  of  him  out  of  his  conventual  acts. 

The  Priests  of  St.  Vaast  in  choir  are  to  take  place  of  the 
English  Fathers,  and  so  the  brothers  of  the  brothers  of  the 
English  Convent. 

The  suffrages  for  the  election  of  a  Prior  are  to  be  presented 
to  the  Abbot  and  his  successors  ;  out  of  them  he  chooses  three, 
one  of  which  the  English  General  Chapter  is  to  choose  and  con- 

u 


154  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-NINTH. 

stitute  Prior,  or  else  they  are  to  present  him  three  chosen  by  the 
Convent  and  he  pronounces  ;  and  he  can  make  use  of  either  of 
these  ways  as  he  pleases. 

When  any  of  the  twelve  places  are  vacant,  the  persons  to  be 
admitted  must  be  presented  by  the  Prior  to  the  Abbot  ;  and  if 
the  Prior  has  a  mind  to  take  others  beyond  that  number  he 
must  be  sure  that  each  man  he  will  so  admit  has  at  least  a  pen- 
sion of  thirty  ducats  yearly  ;  and  so  with  the  leave  and  conseut 
of  the  Abbot  he  may  take  them  whether  they  be  English  or 
Flemings  ;  likewise  he  may  take  other  Religious  as  boarders  or 
guests  with  a  pension  or  without,  desiring  to  study,  but  so  that 
every  one  of  them  so  admitted  shall  take  his  oath  before  whom 
the  Abbot  shall  depute  for  that  purpose,  that  he  will  maintain 
the  honour  of  the  said  Abbot,  and  that  he  will  not  by  any  means 
seek  to  extort  upon  the  accompt  of  the  said  foundation  anything 
from  him  or  his  monastery  further  than  what  is  established. 
Moreover  he  must  promise  not  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
Convent  or  seek  to  change  to  worse  the  Laws  of  it,  or  seek 
absolution  from  the  said  oath  or  take  it  if  offered ;  and  that  if 
he  offend  in  any  of  these,  he  will  undergo  the  penalty  enjoined 
or  to  be  enjoined,  all  liberty  left  of  appeals  to  the  Holy  See,  or 
his  Nuncio  having  the  powers  of  Legate  a  Latere. 

Of  the  said  twelve  there  are  never  to  be  fewer  in  the  convent 
than  ten  or  nine  to  perform  rightly  the  Divine  Office. 

The  Prior  cannot  dispose  of  the  Religious  in  other  cases  with- 
out the  Abbot  and  his  successors'  knowledge ;  and  as  for  those 
the  Abbot  has  chosen  to  teach,  they  must  not  be  disposed  of 
without  his  consent,  besides  what  is  said  of  their  place  being 
supplied. 

During  his  life  only  as  Founder,  they  were  subject  to  his 
Visits  and  correction ;  and  he  could  send  to  live  amongst  them, 
paying  a  pension,  any  of  his  Religious  of  St.  Vaast,  either  by  way 
of  penance,  or  for  recollection,  or  for  any  other  cause. 

Every  week  the  Procurator  is  to  give  his  accounts  to  the 
Prior  of  the  house,  and  the  Prior  every  year  to  the  Abbot  and  his 
successors.  If  it  become  indebted,  .neither  the  Monastery  of 
Arras,  nor  the  said  revenue  it  has  from  the  Abbey,  become  any 


CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-NINTH.  155 

ways  concerned  in  the  solution  of  the  debts. 

Whatever  accessions  or  augmentations  happen  from  Bene- 
factors of  that  Province,  or  through  the  portions  of  Novices  of 
that  said  Province,  they  are  all  to  be  counted  in  the  Foundation. 
But  whatever  the  English  bring  out  of  England  during  the  Schism 
or  otherwise  add,  are  to  be  united  after  the  same  manner;  but 
when  they  restore  the  place  (for  they  can't  hold  it  when  Catholic  re- 
ligion is  restored  in  England),  they  may  take  back  to  England  what 
they  have  brought;  all  things  else,  goods  and  persons,  remaining 
in  the  power  of  the  Abbot  and  his  successors. 

Lastly  whatever  is  here  said  of  the  Abbot,  in  case  that  Abbey 
became  commendatory  or  that  abbatial  seat  vacant,  was  to  be 
understood  of  the  Prior  and  Convent  of  St.Vaast. 

Moreover  the  Religious  are  to  say  a  certain  number  of  Masses 
for  the  Abbot  and  his  successors ;  and  when  it  shall  please  God 
to  make  England  Catholic  again,  they  are  to  receive  at  Oxford 
whom  the  Abbot  and  his  successors  shall  send  from  the  Abbey  of 
Saint  Vaast. 

And  now  I  end  this  mention  of  Douay  with  the  liberal 
Founder's  tacking  another  appendix  to  the  Charter  of  Foundation, 
wherein  he  bestowed  on  his  Gregorian  Community  a  country 
house  conveniently  situated  at  Esquerchin,  a  village  about  a  league 
out  of  Douay,  with  a  large  garden  adjoining,  enclosed  on  one 
side  with  the  river  Escerbien  and  on  the  other  with  a  wall :  which 
place  he  designed  for  a  retreat  for  the  Religious  upon  occasion  of 
sickness,  divertissement  or  recollection  ;  and  that  the  said  man- 
sion and  fruits  thereof  should  be  proper  and  peculiar  to  the  English, 
yet  without  exclusion  of  the  Religious  of  St.  Vaast  when  they 
had  a  mind  to  return  thither ;  and  that  the  said  Manor  and 
inheritance  should  be  annexed  unalienably  to  the  foundation  and 
with  it  return  to  the  Abbey  of  St.  Vaast  when  the  English  parted 
with  it.  The  house  was  plucked  down  and  timber  brought  away 
by  the  then  Prior  of  St.  Gregory  (  R.  F.  Joseph  Frere)  in  the 
great  consternation  and  apprehension  the  country  was  in  when 
the  French  took  Arras.  ( 1640.) 

On  the  loth  of  June  (1626)  died  R.  F.  Francis  Atrobos,  pro- 
fessed of  Onia  in  Spain,  a  man  of  a  most  meek  and  gentle  dispo- 


156  CHAPTER     THE     THIRTY-NINTH. 

sition  who  had  laudably  executed  the  offices  of  greatest  concern 
in  the  Congregation  and  had  suffered  imprisonment  and  exiles  for 
the  Faith,  and  was  waxed  white  in  the  apostolical  labours  of  the 
Mission. 

On  the  jrd  of  August  the  illustrious  Francis  Vander  Burgh, 
Archbishop  of  Cambray,  approved  the  devotion  called  "  the  Bon- 
dage of  the  Blessed  Virgin,"  (  Mancipium  B.  Virginis  Marias). 
Also  Paul  Boudot,  a  Doctor  of  Sorbonne  and  Bishop  of  Arras 
approved  the  same,  and  some  canonized  Saints  not  weighing  how 
far  the  term  of  bondage  struck,  have  been  taken  up  with  the 
thoughts  of  this  devotion.*  Wherefore  no  wonder  if  the  R.R. 
Benedictines  Anselm  Crowder  and  Thomas  Vincent  Sadler  have 
in  their  devotions  to  our  Lady  given  in  to  the  same  thing.  But 
the  Bishop  of  Tournay  (Gilbert  Choiseul)  in  a  choice  pasto- 
ral letter  (of  June  yth,  1674,  and  printed  anew  at  Lisle  1689), 
declares  that  by  the  decree  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Holy 
Office,  approved  by  the  Holy  See,  'tis  severely  condemned  and 
whatever  has  any  rapport  to  it.  Behold  the  words  of  the  decree. 

"  Ut  ritum  et  quodcumque  aliud  ad  mancipatum  ejusmodi 
pertinens  statim  rejiciant. 

Ut  novus  hie  Beatae  Virginis  mancipatus  omnino  aboleatur 
contrariis  quibuscumque  non  obstantibus." 

We  are  not  properly  to  call  ourselves  the  slaves  of  any 
creature  not  even  of  the  most  glorious  Mother  of  God,  in  taking 
that  word  it  its  natural  sense ;  for  that  a  slave  (according  to  the 
notion  that  men  have  formed  to  themselves  of  the  thing  they 
understand  by  the  word  slavery),  is  so  in  the  power  of  his  master 
that  he  depends  on  him  without  any  restriction,  which  belongs  to 
God  alone,  who  by  the  rights  of  creation  and  redemption  can 
dispose  of  us  as  a  potter  the  vessel  he  hath  made,  as  St.  Paul  saith 
in  the  9th  Chapter  of  the  Romans. 

Anno  1627,  His  Holiness  gave  leave  to  the  President  of  the 
English  Benedictine  Congregation  to  give  power  to  his  Religious 
to  read  forbidden  books  and  absolve  the  cases  in  the  Bulla  Coence. 

•  George  Colveneritu,  to:  Kalend.  Mariani. 


CHAPTER   THE   FORTIETH. 

THE    LIBERALITY    OF    THE    CONGREGATION    OF    BuRSFELD 
TO    THE    ENGLISH    CONGREGATION. 


THE  Emperor  (  Ferdinand  II.)  having  recovered  a  great  trad: 
of  ground  from  the  heretics,  on  which  stood  many  monasteries  of 
the  Order  of  St.  Benedict,  the  English  Fathers  knowing  the 
Bursfeldian  Congregation  to  want  monks  to  put  into  them,  peti- 
tioned them  to  consider  fraternally  the  case  of  their  affliction  and 
exile,  and  charitably  to  stretch  their  arm  to  help  them.  The 
worthy  Abbot  of  Arras,  Philip  Cavarel,  writ  to  the  same  effect  to 
the  prelates  of  the  German  Congregation  of  Bursfeld,  who  on 
the  1 8th  of  May  1628,  gave  them  the  Abbey  of  Cismar  in  the 
Diocese  of  Lubeck  and  Dukedom  of  Holsace  with  all  its  goods, 
rights  and  privileges  upon  these  conditions. 

1.  That  they  should  get  it  at  their  own  cost. 

2.  That  they  should  swear  fidelity  and  dependency  on  the 
Union  of  Bursfeld  according  to  what  is  here  expressed. 

3.  That  when  they  had  recovered  the  monastery  they  should 
contribute  with  the  other  monasteries  to  the  supporting  of  the 
burthens  of  the  Union;  but  this  demand  they  mitigated  afterwards. 

4.  That   they   should  give   assurances  that    when   England 
returned  to  the  Faith   they   would   restore  the  monastery  to  the 
Union,  with  all  that  it  might  then  be  worth. 

5.  That  they  will  do  nothing  to  its  prejudice  by  sales,  aliena- 
tion &c,  without  the  consent  of  the  President  of  the  Union  of  the 
annual  Chapter. 


158  CHAPTER     THE     FORTIETH. 

6.  That  they  should  specify  which  of  the  English  monasteries 
they   expected,   which    when  they   had  obtained,   they  would  let 
Cismar  go  back  to  the  Union  of  Bursfeld.      To  this  article  was 
answered  Canterbury  Cathedral  and  St.  Alban's  Abbey. 

7.  Then   they  exacted  that  they  should  send  to   the  next 
annual  Chapter  an  exact  account  of  the  income  of  the  house. 

8.  Lastly,  that  they  should  give  assurances  and  swear  they 
would  not  act  against  these  conditions,  and  that  if  they  did,  ipso 
facto  they  should  forfeit  all  right  to  the  monastery,  &c. 

These  were  the  conditions  for  this  and  others  which  they 
afterwards  thus  lent  to  the  English  Congregation  of  their  Order, 
of  all  which  the  Fathers  have  been  able  to  retain  but  one  called 
Lambspring  and  that  with  great  difficulty,  of  which  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  say  more  hereafter. 

The  Emperor  not  only  liked  of  this  and  confirmed  this  dona- 
tion on  the  22nd  of  April,  1629,  but  he  also  consented  that  the 
neighbouring  prelates  and  others  might  confer  more  on  the 
English  Congregation. 

November  loth  (  S.  V. )  1628  died  most  piously  of  an  hectic 
fever  at  London,  Father  Amandus  Venner  alias  Farmer,  born  in 
Devonshire,  monk  of  Dieulwart,  a  sedulous  missioner  and  great 
sufferer  in  long  imprisonments  and  other  persecutions  patiently 
endured  for  the  faith. 

And  that  same  year  of  1628  (October  2ist)  at  the  famous 
Abbey  of  Chelles  by  Paris,  died  R.  F.  George  Brown,  a  man  of 
great  piety  and  adorned  with  all  sorts  of  religious  manners  and 
virtues  ;  a  diligent  promoter  of  the  residences  newly  begun  in 
France  and  Flanders. 

And  at  Dieulwart  in  opinion  of  sanctity  after  many  years 
spent  there  in  the  condition  of  a  lay-brother,  died  John  alias 
Oliver  Towtall  (or  Toudelle)  a  Lancashire  man,  of  a  truly  hum- 
ble and  obedient  spirit,  and  who  had  in  a  high  degree  that  virtue 
called  the  simplicity  of  Saints.  (January  28,  1626.) 


CHAPTER   THE   FORTY-FIRST. 

THE     DECEASE    OF     ARCHBISHOP     GlFFORD.        DEATH     OF    BR. 

HERBERT    CROFT,    FR.    CELESTINE    TREMBY    &c. 


ANNO  1629,  on  the  loth  of  April,  died  the  Reverend  Father 
in  God  , Gabriel  of  St.  Mary  (otherwise  William  Gifford,)  Arch- 
bishop and  Duke  of  Rheims,  first  Peer  of  France  and  Legate 
born  of  the  Holy  Apostolic  See. 

His  condition  of  Bishop  of  Archidal  and  Suffragan  of  Rheims 
upon  the  death  in  1621  of  the  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Rheims 
was  changed  to  that  of  Archbishop  of  Rheims.  He  behaved 
himself  in  his  episcopal  functions  like  an  apostle,  visiting  the 
diocese,  preaching  and  catechizing  in  the  villages,  sometimes  too, 
no  less  than  seven  or  eight  times  a  day  notwithstanding  that  he 
was  then  much  indisposed  and  in  a  declining  age.  A  world  of 
people  he  confirmed,  consecrated  churches,  and  in  a  word,  proved 
himself  a  real  pastor  (says  his  panegyrist  an  Augustinian  Abbot, ) 
amidst  a  people  in  great  necessity  of  such  help  that  it  had  scarce 
ever  seen  or  heard  speak  of  a  Bishop  ;  pastoral  duty  in  those 
parts  had  been  so  neglected. 

And  of  himself  the  said  Abbot  relates  as  follows  :  "I  re- 
member, Messieurs,  that  being  sent  a  boy  to  begin  my  studies  in 
the  Low  Countries,  I  heard  a  very  considerable  Englishman 
( under  whom  I  had  the  honour  to  be  brought  up  and  who  once 
did  our  Divinity  School  of  St.  Denis  the  honour  of  teaching 
there )  say  that  Mr.  Gabriel  Gifford  (for  so  he  named  him  whom 


I  60  CHAPTER     THE      FORTY-FIRST. 

since  we  have  called  our  Archbishop)  was,  it  may  be,  the  greatest 
divine  that  hath  been  since  St.  Thomas  of  Aquin  that  great  Mas- 
ter of  the  Schools.  The  sole  testimony  of  so  great  a  man  is  worth 
a  thousand  others  ;  yet  it  was  seconded  by  the  universal  consent 
of  all  the  learned.  And  in  Paris  the  most  curious,  who  often  hear 
sermons  only  to  censure  them,  used  to  say  of  Le  Pere  BenedWn 
that  they  must  needs  ingenuously  own  that  he  was  a  prodigy  of 
learning  ;  yet  with  all  this  he  was  of  a  wonderful  humble 
and  affable  carriage  and  behaviour,  familiarly  conversing  with 
the  most  ignorant  to  render  them  capable  of  his  doctrine.  "In  a 
word,"  continues  the  said  Abbot,  "the  fame  of  his  great  deserts 
spreading  far  and  near,  the  most  Christian  King  Louis  the  Just 
made  him  Archbishop  of  Rheims."  The  Abbot  is  very  eloquently 
diffusive  to  expose  that  nothing  but  his  great  virtue  and  worth 
drew  on  him  this  honour  which  no  days  altered  his  manners. 

The  more  he  advanced  in  age  the  more  infirm  he  became  yet 
his  fervour  no  ways  slackened  thereby,  and  he  still  continued,  as 
much  as  possibly  his  decrepit  age  would  permit  him,  his  pastoral 
fatigues,  and  in  his  episcopal  state  held  to  his  monastical  condition, 
wearing  constantly  his  religious  habit,  keeping  to  the  regular  fasts 
of  his  Congregation,  rising  in  the  night  to  pray  and  using  such 
severe  disciplines  that  those  who  were  most  about  him  thought 
it  piety  to  hide  those  instruments  of  penance  from  him,  which 
solely  was  capable  of  altering  the  calmness  of  his  temper,  for 
then  he  would  be  angry  till  they  were  given  him  again.  Besides 
in  those  great  feasts  to  which  his  condition  obliged  him  to  lend 
his  presence,  he  found  means  to  practise  great  mortifications. 

At  his  advancement  to  this  Archiepiscopal  See,  the  Abbey  of 
St.  Remigius  of  Rheims  was  annexed  by  consent  of  the  Pope  and 
the  King  of  France  to  the  Archbishop  mense  (that  is  to  help 
him  out  in  his  maintenance  and  table).  But  the  royal  great  and 
apostolical  consent  had  not  been  verified  in  Parliament  wherefore 
the  Duke  of  Guise  (who  died  a*t  Florence)  craved  of  the  King  that 
that  Abbey  might  be  given  to  his  son  then  called  M.  L'Abbe  de 
S.  Denis ;  but  the  king  by  the  mouth  of  Fr.  Segran  his  confessor 
signified  to  Bishop  Gifford  that  his  intent  was  to  give  him  the 
Abbey  so  annexed  to  his  Archiepiscopal  See,  and  therefore  he 


CHAPTER     THE     FORTY-FIRST.  l6l 

would  not  give  it  without  his  consent  to  M.  1'Abbe  de  St. 
Denis.  As  the  worthy  prelate  had  great  obligations  to  that 
family,  at  the  first  word  of  the  Duchess  of  Guise  to  him  upon 
the  affair,  he  gave  his  consent  and  thereby  deprived  himself  of 
40,000  livres  a  year  ;  so  that  his  revenue  considering  his  dignity 
could  not  be  very  considerable  ;  yet  of  his  little  he  was  very 
charitable,  particularly  to  the  poor  of  his  city  who  were  ashamed 
to  ask  alms  publicly,  and  he  has  been  known  to  have  given  at 
once  for  an  alms  one  hundred  crowns  and  even  two  hundred 
crowns,  nay  as  far  as  a  thousand  livres,  and  besides  this  made 
rich  presents  to  churches  and  employed  much  of  his  revenue  in 
works  of  piety  ;  and  if  in  the  streets  any  of  the  poor  asked  an 
alms,  he  would  make  his  coach  stop  and  give  it  with  his  own 
hands. 

He  knew  not  how  to  do  ill  to  any  one,  but  delighted  to  do 
good  to  all  even  to  his  very  enemies  ;  naturally  inclined  to  for- 
get injuries  he  easily  pardoned  them.  And  when  his  charge 
obliged  him  to  punish  any  one,  it  drew  tears  from  his  eyes. 
A  person  of  great  account  used  to  say,  if  he  were  to  blame  in 
anything,  it  was  because  he  did  not  punish  enough  those  who 
deserved  it. 

Yet  this  lamb  was  a  lion  against  the  enemies  of  the  orthodox 
Faith,  against  whom  he  writ  notably  and  set  others  a-writing. 
For  all  his  lifetime  he  had  but  little  leisure  himself  for  compos- 
ing of  books.  Calvin  out  of  contempt  he  used  to  call  Maitre 
Jean  :  and  used  to  weep  for  joy  when  news  was  brought  him  of 
the  King's  victories  over  that  detestable  man's  rebellious  off- 
springs. 

He  had  so  perfect  an  intelligence  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  that 
he  knew  the  better  part  of  them  by  heart,  and  would  recite 
whole  passages  without  so  much  as  opening  the  Bible. 

From  his  tender  years  he  bore  a  particular  affection  to  the 
Passion  of  our  Saviour  and  much  coveted  to  die  on  a  Good 
Friday.  Though  he  had  not  entirely  his  design  in  that,  yet  he 
had  it  in  part,  for  he  died  in  Holy  Week.  He  was  also  very 
devout  to  our  Lady,  insomuch  that  'tis  thought  she  favoured  him 
with  some  assurance  of  assisting  him  at  his  death  :  for  addressing 


1 62  CHAPTER     THE     FORTY-FIRST. 

himself  to  her  a  little  before  he  died,  he  thrice  repeated  with 
great  courage  these  words:  "  Adjuva  me,  quia  tu  promisisti  mini," 
"  Help  me  because  you  promised  me." 

Two  days  before  he  expired  he  was  absolutely  insensible  to 
all  things  but  what  immediately  regarded  his  salvation  ;  so  that 
when  he  was  spoken  to  of  God,  our  Lady  or  Eternity,  he  would 
as  'twere  revive  again,  strike  his  breast  and  lift  his  hands  to 
heaven.  To  say  all  in  one  word,  he  died  the  death  of  the  just. 
"  Mortua  est  anima  ejus  morte  justorum,  et  facia  sunt  novissima 
"  ejus  horum  similia.  " 

He  lies  buried  in  his  Cathedral  behind  the  High  Altar  under 
a  holy  water  pot,  without  inscription  or  epitaph.  His  heart  was 
carried  in  great  ceremony  to  a  famous  nunnery  of  his  Order  at 
Rheims  entitled  to  St.  Peter  and  laid  in  their  choir  before  the 
altar  of  Our  Lady,  with  this  inscription  without  date  of  the  year 
or  month: 

"  Hie  jacet  cor  Virgini  sacrum  Illustrissimi  et  Reverendissimi 
D.  D.  Gulielmi  Gifford,  Benedictini  Angli,  Archiepiscopi  Ducis 
Rhemensis  &c,  ;  non  potuit  uno  totus  condi  sepulchre,  dividi 
debuit  mortuus  qui  vixit  utilis  ubique,  quod  restat  unicum,  unice 
et  integre  consecrat  tibi,  Virgo  integerrima.  Jacuit  ad  pedes  tuos 
quod  stetit  semper  humana  supra.  Admitte  munus  Religio  D. 
Benedicto  sacra  tuas  enim  ante  infularem  dignitatem  cordi  inser- 
verat  regulas  Dignus  tanti  Patris  filius,  cor  cordi  reddit  dum 
suum  tibi  donat." 

Which  may  be  Englished  thus  : 

"Here  lies  consecrated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the  heart  of  the 
most  illustrious  and  reverend  Lord  William  Gifford  taken  from 
the  English  Benedictines  to  be  Archbishop  and  Duke  of  Rheims 
&c.  He  could  not  be  shut  up  under  one  tomb,  and  therefore  it 
was  just  he  should  be  divided  dead,  by  whom  all  profited  so 
much  wherever  he  lived.  What  alone  remains  is  solely  and 
entirely  consecrated  to  thee,  O  most  entire  Virgin,  for  it  lay  at 
thy  feet  while  it  evermore  stood  superior  to  all  human  affairs. 
Embrace  this  gift,  O  holy  religion  of  St.  Benedict,  for  before  the 
honour  of  the  mitre  his  heart  had  deeply  imbibed  your  Rules,  a 
worthy  son  of  so  great  a  Father.  He  returns  heart  to  heart 
when  he  gives  you  his." 


CHAPTER     THE     FORTY-FIRST.  163 

At  this  ceremony  of  his  heart  his  panegyric  was  made  by 
Messieur  de  Maupas,  Abbot  of  St.  Denis  at  Rheims,  from  whom 
I  have  much  of  what  I  have  here  written.  There  is  also  a  very 
honourable  account  of  him  in  Mr.  Pitt's  (  De  illustribus  Angliae 
Scriptoribus)  and  in  R.  F.  Maihew's  Trophies  which  are  dedicated 
to  his  Lordship,  and  in  his  book  of  English  Benedict ine  Writers. 
His  Grace  before  his  monachism  was  very  intime  with  William 
Reginald  or  Reinald,  a  person  reputed  a  prodigy  of  learning, 
whom  he  piously  assisted  at  his  death,  and  finished  and  published 
his  Cahino  Turcismus  which  he  had  left  imperfect.  His  other 
works  I  forbear  seeing  they  are  to  be  found  in  the  above  men- 
tioned authors.  I  only  add  that  he  was  also  with  St.  Francis  de 
Sales  very  intime  ;  and  as  that  glorious  Saint  much  honoured  the 
English  Fathers  with  his  company  when  he  was  at  Paris,  one 
day  as  one  of  them  was  to  sing  the  first  Vespers  of  his  first  High 
Mass,  to  do  him  honour  that  holy  apostolical  Bishop  of  Geneva 
stood  on  one  side  of  him  and  R.  F.  Gabriel  Gifford  then  Arch- 
bishop and  Duke  of  Rheims  stood  on  the  other,  as  a  very  vener- 
able exemplary  old  Father  who  knew  the  said  monk  assured  me. 

The  Mauritians  who  have  St.  Malo's  keep  Bishop  GifFord's 
anniversary  as  Founder  of  that  house,  on  the  23rd  of  April, 
though  an  English  monk  of  that  place  assures  us  in  notes  he  writ 
for  the  history  of  the  house  that  he  died  on  the  nth  of  April. 
At  the  library  of  the  King  of  France  in  Paris  he  is  said  to  have 
been  sent  into  England  as  an  Envoy  from  a  Prince,  but  the  rest 
of  what  is  there  noted  of  him  is  false,  as  also  what  the  Messieurs 
of  St.  Martha  relate  of  him  in  their  Christian  France  (a  book  so 
entitled).  His  original  picture  is  kept  in  the  English  Benedictine 
monastery  of  St.  Edmund's  in  Paris  and  at  the  monastery  of 
Rheims,  because  that  the  Archbishop  of  Rheims  (brother  of  Mr. 
Louvoy),  ill  informed  of  his  merit  put  it  out  of  the  gallery  of 
the  Archiepiscopal  palace  at  Rheims ;  neither  did  he  abuse  him 
alone  but  likewise  other  great  men  whose  pictures  were  there, 
upon  no  other  account  than  that  they  had  been  monks.  For 
though  he  hath  done  great  things  in  his  archiepiscopal  adminis- 
tration, yet  there  will  remain  for  ever  in  his  scutcheon  the  blot 
of  having  been  preposterously  prevented  and  prejudiced  against 


164  CHAPTER     THE      FORTY-FIRST. 

monks,  as  the  miseries  of  the  times  go,  though  he  was  a  great 
admirer  and  promoter  of  the  famous  Benedictine  Mauritian 
Antiquary  Dom  John  Mabillon  who  died  at  St.  German's  Abbey 
at  Paris  on  the  2/th.  of  December,  1707,  ast.  76. 

The  same  year  Bishop  Gifford  died,  but  on  the  roth  of  April 
at  Douay  died  Sir  Herbert  Croft  who  retiring  to  St.  Gregory's  in 
a  decrepit  age,  spent  the  rest  of  his  days  in  devotion,  and  before 
his  death  was  admitted  to  the  confraternity  of  the  Order. 

The  "  Antiquities  of  Oxford  "  thus  relate  his  history  and  epi- 
taph, speaking  of  Christ  College. 

"  Herbertus  Croft  familia  cognomini  perantiqua  apud  Castrum 
Croftorum  in  Agro  Herefordiensi  oriundus,  in  Collegio  isto  com- 
mensalis  annos  aliquot  egit,  et  in  state  matura  constitutus 
argumenti  polemici  librum  in  1 2mo  typis  mandatum  composuit, 
quern  tamen  videre  nondum  contigit,  ipsius  etiam  insciptionis  pro- 
inde  sum  ignarus.  De  authore  isto  nihil  habeo  quod  addam  prater 
quam  qua?  ex  epitaphio  ejus  in  monasterio  Anglicano  (S.  Gregorii 
Magni)  Duacensi  (ante  altare  S.  Benedicti)  comparente  innotes- 
cant ;  id  autem  sic  se  habet. 

Hie  jacet  corpus  Herberti  Croft,  equitis  aurati,  Angli,  de 
comitatu  Herefordiae,  viri  prudentis,  fords,  nobilis,  Patria?  liber- 
tatis  amantissimi,  qui  in  hoc  monasterio  in  paupere  cella  tanquam 
monachus  aliquot  annos  devote  vixit  et  pie  efflavit,  secutus  exem- 
plum  primogenitoris  sui  Dom :  Bernardi  Croft  qui  ante  sexcentos 
annos,  relicta  militari  gloria,  monachus  in  Coenobio  Benedidtino 
defunctus  est.  Obiit  10  Aprilis,  1622. 

In  pace  requiescat. 

Alia  porro  quasdam  scripsisse  dicitur  licet  fadta  mihi  haud 
dum  sit  eorum  copia.  "Hasc  Anton,  a  Wood  Hist,  et  Antiq. 
Oxonii,  1674." 

[We  may  here  imitate  our  author  and  English  what  Wood  says, 
"  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  are  not  familiar  with  latin."] 

"  Herbert  Croft  born  of  the  very  ancient  family  of  that  name 
of  Croft  Castle  in  Herefordshire,  spent  some  years  as  a  boarder  at 
this  (Christ  Church)  College  ;  and  at  a  mature  age  committed 
to  the  press  a  duodecimo  controversial  work  which  he  had  writ- 
ten, but  which  I  have  not  yet  seen ;  hence  I  am  ignorant  of  its 


CHAPTER     THE      FORTY-FIRST.  l6j 

very  title.  I  have  nothing  more  to  add  of  the  author  besides 
what  I  gather  from  the  epitaph  on  his  grave  in  front  of  St. 
Benedict's  altar  in  the  English  monastery  of  St.  Gregory  at 
Douay  ;  it  is  as  follows : 

Here  lies  the  body  of  Sir  Herbert  Croft,  Knight,  born  in  Eng- 
land in  the  County  of  Hereford,  a  prudent,  able  and  high  souled 
man,  and  a  great  lover  of  his  Country's  freedom  who  devoutly 
spent  several  years  in  a  poor  cell  in  this  monastery,  and  here  died; 
imitating  herein  the  example  of  his  ancestor  Sir  Bernard  Croft 
who  six  hundred  years  before  had  abandoned  the  renown  of  mili- 
tary fame  to  die  a  monk  in  a  Benedictine  monastery.  He  died 
on  the  loth  of  April,  1622. 

May  he  rest  in  peace. 

And  at  St.  Male's  died  the  RR.  Fathers  Celestine,  otherwise 
John  Tremby,  and  Rupert  Guillet,  a  Breton,  at  the  plague  house 
where  their  great  charity  had  placed  them  to  assist  the  infected. 
(25th.  and  28th.  October,  1629). 

But  before  their  exit  the  fourth  General  Chapter  was  held 
at  Douay  on  the  2nd.  of  July. 


i66 


CHAPTER   THE   FORTY-SECOND. 

THE    FOURTH    GENERAL    CHAPTER    1629.       NOTICE    OF 

SEVERAL    MEMBERS   OF   THE    CONGREGATION    WHO 

DIED     ABOUT    THIS    TIME. 


REV.  F.  Bennet  Jones,  elected  President,  not  coming  out 
of  England  in  due  time  for  his  installation,  Rev.  F.  Sigebert 
Bagshaw,  2nd  elected,  took  the  place  as  the  laws  of  the  Congre- 
gation require;  a  man  of  prodigious  success  against  contradiction; 
witness  what  we  have  seen  in  the  affair  of  the  Union  and  the 
disputes  which  rose  at  the  beginning  of  this  quadriennium  betwixt 
those  of  this  renewed  Congregation  and  those  of  Mount  Cassin, 
and  some  who  would  not  yet  embrace  the  Union.  But  they  were 
not  able  to  hold  the  field  against  this  President ;  for  he  produced 
the  Pope's  letters,  those  of  the  Reverend  General  of  Spain,  with 
the  decrees  of  the  Spanish  Chapter,  and  compelled  to  peace  by 
his  patience  and  doctrine  those  who  hated  peace. 

The  Provincial  of  Canterbury,  R.  F.  Claude  White. 

The  Provincial  of  York,  R.  F.  John  Hutton. 

The  Vicar  of  France,  R.  F.  Bernard  Berington. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Gregory's,  R.  F.  Leander  of  St.  Martin. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Laurence's,  R.  F.  Jocelin  Elmer. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Benedict's,  R.  F.  Adeodatus  L'Angevin,  Vice 
Prior. 

The  Prior  of  ( St.  Edmund's]  Paris,  R.  F.  Placid  Gascoign. 

The  Vicar  of  the  Nuns  at  Cambray,   R.  F.  Francis  Hull. 


CHAPTER    THE     FORTY-SECOND.  167 

Secretary  to  Rev.  Father  President,  R.  F.  Anthony  Batt. 

And  this  1629,  on  the  29th  of  August,  the  Bursfeld  Congre- 
gation gave  to  the  English  Fathers  the  monastery  of  Rintelen 
in  the  county  or  Earldom  of  Scawenburg  or  Schaumberg  and 
Diocese  of  Minden,  and  for  the  Nuns  of  this  Congregation  they 
gave  them  the  monastery  of  Stoterlingburgh  in  the  Diocese  of 
Halberstad. 

Anno  1630,  June  25,  in  his  palace  at  S.  Malo's  died  the  Rev. 
Father  in  God,  William  Le  Gouverneur,  who  persuaded  the 
English  Fathers  to  fix  there  and  continued  the  same  friendship 
to  them  to  his  last  moment. 

September  30.  S.  V.  Father  Thomas  Emmerson  professed  of 
S.  Facundus  in  Spain  died  in  England.  He  was  Dodtor  in  Divi- 
nity and  famous  for  his  sufferings  of  imprisonments  and  banish- 
ments having  endured  the  heat  of  a  smart  persecution. 

Also  this  year  the  Pope  suppressed  a  rising  order  of  Jesuitesses 
which  certain  learned  English  gentlewomen  mightily  skilled  in 
the  Hebrew  and  Greek  tongues  were  a-beginning  at  Cologne, 
Liege  &c.  The  Bishop  of  Troy  was  ordered  to  break  up  their 
houses.  The  Pope  apprehended  lest  this  institute  might  degen- 
erate into  great  evil  seeing  they  were  to  keep  no  inclosure,  but 
follow  the  same  course  of  life  as  the  Jesuits,  teaching  girls  as 
they  teach  boys,  and  voyaging  up  and  down  as  if  they  had  been 
men. 

Anno  1631,  May  the  25th.  died  R.  F.  Joseph  Prater,  a  man  of 
great  piety  and  much  beloved  and  admired  by  his  brethren,  pro- 
fessed of  Valladolid  in  Spain  and  twice  elected  Provincial  of 
Canterbury,  laudably  discharged  that  important  duty. 

June  4th  (1631)^1  Stafford  Castle,  died  R.  F.  Francis  Foster, 
own  brother  to  the  Countess  of  Stafford,  admitted  to  the  habit 
in  the  Mission,  renowned  for  his  imprisonments  and  banishments 
very  particularly  addicted  to  deeds  of  Charity  both  spiritual  and 
corporal  in  which  he  gave  away  all  that  he  had. 

August  3oth,  the  Pope  having  heard  the  Cardinals  who  have 
care  of  the  affairs  of  the  Regulars,  gave  out  a  Brief  whereby  he 
declared  he  would  maintain  the  authority  of  the  English  Bene- 
dictine Congregation,  and  therefore  commanded  its  superiors  and 


1 68  CHAPTER     THE     FORTY-SECOND. 

those  of  the  Spanish  Congregation  to  make  Father  Wai  grave 
return  to  the  Congregation  in  which  he  had  made  his  profession, 
which  was  that  of  Spain. 

The  next  year  he  sent  a  Brief  to  the  most  Christian  King  to 
whom  the  Legate  who  gave  it  supplicated  in  the  name  of  His 
Holiness  for  a  certain  and  fixed  house  for  the  English  Bene- 
dictine monks,  but  he  did  not  obtain  any  such  thing. 

Anno  1632,  May  8th,  Placid  Frier,  a  most  worthy,  witty, 
and  hopeful  young  man,  and  ( for  his  time  )  an  excellent  scholar, 
being  newly  made  Priest  and  having  sung  his  first  Mass,  died  to 
the  great  grief  of  all  his  brethren,  at  Rintelen  in  Westphalia. 
This  is  remarkable,  that  he  being  an  excellent  violist,  and  having 
a  bass  viol  hanging  in  his  cell,  the  great  string  thereof  brake 
asunder  whilst  he  was  in  his  agony  and  his  brethren  reciting  the 
Litanies  by  his  bed-side.  And  soon  after  he  expired. 

-July  6th  (  1632  ),  Placid  Muttleberry,  born  in  Somersetshire, 
changing  the  mission  for  a  monk's  habit,  came  to  Dieulwart, 
where  full  of  pleasing  qualities  which  rendered  him  highly  grate- 
ful to  all  his  brethren,  in  a  good  old  age  he  happily  ended  his 
life. 

November  the  9th,  died  Father  Michael  Blackeston  of  the 
Bishopric  of  Durham,  a  great  musician  and  esteemed  very  pious; 
and  on  the  ijth  of  November,  Father  Jerome  Porter  who  writ 
"The  Flowers  of  the  English  Saints."  They  both  returning 
home  to  Douay  from  a  journey,  fell  into  a  continual  fever 
which  carried  them  off. 

Anno  1633,  January  I4th,  died  at  Douay  whither  he  was 
sent  to  perfect  his  studies,  Brother  Celestine  de  Landres,  a  young 
noble  Lorrainer,  who  left  a  barony  to  become  a  monk  at 
Dieulwart. 


169 


CHAPTER   THE  FORTY-THIRD. 

THE     FIFTH     GENERAL     CHAPTER,      1633.  DEATH     OF     FR. 

SIGEBERT    BAGSHAW   AND    FR.  LAURENCE  *LODWICK. 


ON  the  first  of  August  1633,  was  held  at  Douay  the  Fifth 
General  Chapter. 

First  elected  President,  R.  F.  Leander  of  St.  Martin. 

Second  elected  President,  R.  F.  Clement  Reyner. 

The  Provincial  of  Canterbury,  R.  F.  Robert  Sherwood. 

The  Provincial  of  York,  R.  F.  Augustine  Hungate. 

The  Vicar  of  France,  R.  F.  Bernard  Berington. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Gregory's,    R.  F.  Joseph  Frere. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Laurence's,  R.  F.  Jocelin  Elmer. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Benedict's,  R.  F.  Adeodatus  L'A  ngevin. 

The  Prior  of  Paris,  R.  F.  Gabriel  Brett. 

The  Prior  of  Rintelin,  Rr  F.  Clement  Reyner. 

The  Abbess  of  Cambray,  Dame  Catherine  Gascoign. 

The  Procurator  at  Rome,  R.  F.  Wilfrid  Selby. 

The  Vicar  of  the  Nuns,  R.  F.  John  Meutisse. 

Secretary  to  the  President,  R.  F.  Christian  Govaerdt,  to  whom 
succeeded  R.  F.  John  Worsley. 

During  this  Chapter,  R.  F.  Sigebert  Bagshaw  fell  sick  at 
Douay,  and  obtained  the  day  before  he  died  (Aug.  i8th),  that  for 
the  future  all  Presidents  at  their  decease  should  be  prayed  for  as  if 
they  had  died  conventuals  of  every  Convent  in  the  Congregation. 
He  lies  buried  in  the  middle  of  the  Church  of  St.  Gregory's  with 
a  short  account  of  who  he  was  and  when  he  died. 

At  Stoke  in  Gloucestershire,  October  1 3th,  died  Fr.  Laurence 
Lodwick  professed  of  Dieulwart,  a  man  of  a  weak  constitution  but 
of  a  strong  faith,  and  greatly  industrious  and  charitable  in  helping 
his  neighbours.  x 


I/O 


CHAPTER   THE   FORTY-FOURTH. 


HOW    LA   CELLE     WAS     GIVEN    TO     THE     HOUSE     OF     PARIS. 

FR.  WALGRAVE    MAKES    HIS  SUBMISSION  ;     NOTICES   OF   R.  F. 

GABRIEL  LATHAM,  FELIX  THOMPSON,   GEORGE  GAIRE  &c. 


AND  now  we  must  show  how  La  Celle  belongs  to  Paris.  The 
inconsiderate,  rash,  violent,  passionate  conduct  of  Fr.  Walgrave 
with  his  associate  Fr.  Barnes  so  lost  him  at  Chelles,  that  in  the 
Holy  Week  of  1627,  the  Abbess  who  had  taken  him  in,  caused 
him  to  be  routed  out  thence,  though  she  had  devolved  the  Abbey 
on  another.  And  he  and  his  monks  were  used  with  great  seve- 
rity and  ignominy,  God  punishing  his  insolences  to  his  brethren 
at  Paris,  as  hath  been  related.  In  this  distress  after  a  great  stir  to 
no  purpose,  he  exposed  his  affair  to  Cardinal  Richelieu ;  but  he 
got  nothing  more  than  to  be  handed  over  with  his  religious  to 
the  College  of  Marmoutier  at  Paris,  which,  with  the  great  Abbey 
from  whence  it  has  its  name,  was  subject  to  the  Congregation  of 
Cluny,  and  the  Cardinal  was  head  of  that  great  body.  The  old 
monks  grew  weary  of  them  at  the  College,  and  therefore  began  to 
seek  to  get  handsomely  quit  of  them,  but  could  find  no  better 
expedient  than  to  put  them  at  an  old  venerable  monastery 
of  above  a  thousand  years'  standing,  called  La  Celle,  about  a 
good  English  mile  from  the  renowned  nunnery  of  Faremoutier  in 
Brie.  It  had  been  an  Abbey  by  itself,  but  by  a  Council  held  at 
Meaux  it  was  subjected  to  Marmoutier  that  it  might  be  reformed; 
and  now  it  was  in  a  lamentable  condition  and  scarcely  deserved 
the  name  of  a  monastery,  attended  but  by  three  or  four  monks. 
The  conditions  on  which  it  was  given  to  F.  Walgrave  on  the 


CHAPTER     THE     FORTY- FOURTH.  I  Jl 

2 8th  of  O&ober  1633  were  that  it  should  remain  subject  to  them 
as  to  the  proprietors  of  it ;  so  that  they  would  visit  it  and  know 
when  any  more  were  taken  in,  and  when  any  died  in  order  to 
pray  for  them.  And  F.  Walgrave  was  to  make  good  all  the 
rights  &c,  of  the  place  and  let  nothing  of  them  fall  or  perish. 

Father  Walgrave  at  his  entry  into  it  had  a  very  troublesome 
time  of  it  from  the  commendatory  Prior,  who  was  vexed  that 
these  new  comers  hindered  him  from  doing  there  what  he 
pleased,  and  compelled  him  by  law  to  so  many  things,  that  the 
benefice  was  not  worth  to  him  so  much  as  it  used  to  be.  This 
enraged  his  worldly  humour  so  far,  that  at  last  after  some 
extravagancies,  he  ended  in  breaking  in  upon  Father  Walgrave 
and  his  Religious  and  their  two  domestics,  and  imprisoned  them 
in  holes  there  at  La  Celle. 

Father  Walgrave  grew  now  advanced  in  years  and  was  quite 
broken  with  endless  vexations  that  continually  broke  out  on  him 
from  on  all  sides  since  his  rebellion  against  his  lawful  superiors  ; 
wherefore  now  he  sought  for  peace  from  them,  and  therefore 
would  deliver  to  the  house  of  Paris  upon  certain  conditions,  this 
business  of  La  Celle.  But  how  he  made  his  peace  with  them, 
I  could  never  yet  find,  yet  certainly  he  did  about  this  time,  for  I 
find  that  he  had  for  his  procurator  here,  the  first  professed  monk 
of  Paris,  (1622)  R.  F.  Gabriel  Latham,  a  Lancastrian,  who  in  1 634 
(or  1635)  endeavouring  to  pass  a  boat  over  a  certain  dam  there  at 
La  Celle,  perished  in  the  stream.  Others  say  he  was  drowned 
in  endeavouring  to  save  a  poor  boy  that  was  fallen  into  a  deep 
hole  which  is  at  the  corner  of  the  Abbot's  garden  and  looks 
towards  Guerard. 

The  said  year  1634  April  2nd  (S.  V.),  died  Rev.  Fr.  Felix 
Thompson,  illustrious  for  his  imprisonments  and  banishments 
wonderfully  obliging  to  all  and  charitable  to  the  poor ;  he  him- 
self being  very  poor  in  spirit,  to  whom  of  right,  according  to  the 
word  of  the  Son  of  God,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  appertains. 
He  was  a  monk  of  St.  Malo's. 

November  2ist,  R.  F.  George  Gaire,  a  monk  of  Dieulwart, 
also  famous  for  his  enduring  of  imprisonments  and  several  afflic- 
tions for  his  faith,  died  in  the  mission. 


172  CHAPTER     THE     FORTY-FOURTH. 

This  same  year  the  President  of  the  Congregation  was  empow- 
ered from  Rome  to  give  all  the  faculties  for  missioners  that  used  to 
be  given  to  the  subjects  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  and  to  lessen 
and  augment  them  as  he  saw  convenient.  Also  all  Benedictine 
monks  whatever  who  laboured  in  the  mission  of  England  were  to 
labour  under  his  Presidentship  excepting  those  of  Mount  Cassin. 

At  St.  Male's  died  R.  F.  Romuald  D'Anvers  (August  i5th. 
1634).  He  had  been  a  minister  and  richly  beneficed,  which  he 
left  for  his  conscience,  or  rather  was  deprived  of  it  for  professing 
the  Catholic  Faith  ;  and  being  cast  into  into  prison,  was  with 
others  banished  and  became  a  Priest  of  the  Seminary  of  Douay, 
which  he  left  to  become  a  monk  at  St  Gregory's  in  the  same 
town,  where  he  professed  on  the  24th  of  June  1620.  In  which 
Convent  this  1634  on  St.  Gregory's  solemnity  there  were  three 
novices  professed  who  were  brothers,  namely  Gregory,  Maurus, 
and  Placid  Scroggs  of  the  Diocese  of  Chichester  in  the  county 
of  Sussex. 

And  at  Madrid  died  R.  F.  Boniface  of  St.  Facundus,  a  man  of 
singular  piety  and  a  most  religious  conversation,  who  for  many 
years  was  procurator  of  the  Congregation  of  England  in  Spain,  in 
which  he  continued  so  long  that  he  was  become  as  a  native  of 
the  country.  (March  22nd.  1634) 

Anno  1635,  April  13.  S.  V.  in  Oxfordshire,  died  suddenly  Rev. 
Fr.  Justus  Rigg  otherwise  Edner,  professed  of  Valladolid,  a  person 
of  great  learning  and  talents,  who  let  fall  the  charge  of  President- 
ship as  I  have  already  said. 

In  the  same  Shire  likewise  died  R.  F.  Maurus,  otherwise  John 
Curr  (June  2oth,  1635)  a  painful  missioner,  who,  banished  by 
the  King's  edicl:  yet  returned  again. 

Anno  1636,  (January  8th.)  Father  Anselm  Williams  and 
Brother  Leander  Nevill,  both  professed  of  Dieulwart,  being  sent 
by  their  Superiors  to  charitably  assist  a  lady  of  quality  in  Lorraine, 
were  met  by  certain  soldiers  belonging  to  the  heretical  army  of 
Saxon  Waymar,  near  S.  Miel  and  there  by  them  cruelly  murdered 
and,  (as  may  be  supposed),  in  hatred  of  their  religion,  hanged  on  a 
tree  in  the  wood  in  their  religious  habit. 

This  year    swept  off  several    very    exemplary    Religious    at 


CHAPTER     THE     FORTY-FOURTH.  173 

Dieulwart,  the  plague  raging  there  at  this  time  ;  R.  Fr.  Jocelin 
Elmer,  a  very  holy  and  worthy  Superior,  strengthened  them  with 
the  holy  Sacraments  of  the  Church  and  his  pious  exhortations. 

Also  this  year  died  R.  F.  Bennet  of  the  Most  Holy  Trinity, 
otherwise  Edward  Smith,  a  man  of  a  most  religious  conversation. 
He  was  sent  to  Chelles,  thence  into  England,  where  he  was  made 
tutor  and  governor  of  A.  Brown,  the  son  and  heir  of  the  Lord 
Viscount  Montacute,  with  whom  he  travelled  &c,  and  lastly  ended 
his  earthly  pilgrimage  at  Madrid  in  Spain,  doing  the  office  of 
Procurator  for  the  Congregation  (July  21  St.). 


174 


CHAPTER   THE   FORTY-FIFTH. 

THE    DEATH    OF    ABBOT    CAVAREL,    CuTHBERT    FuRSDEN   &C. 
THE    ROMAN    COLLEGE    OF    ST.    GREGORY. 


AND  now  behold  we  are  arrived  at  the  exit  of  the  great 
Abbot  of  Arras,  the  singular  patron  of  this  Congregation.  The 
last  ten  years  and  remainder  of  this  excellent  prelate's  life  were 
spent  by  him  in  perfecting  the  building  of  the  new  College  of 
St.  Vaast,  settling  the  schools  and  discipline,  and  defending  it 
from  the  frequent  attempts  of  the  University,  which  by  endeav- 
ouring to  exclude  it  from  the  number  of  her  members,  for 
many  years  impugned  her  own  felicity.  Within  this  term  also 
he  founded  a  convenient  house  for  the  Austin  Friars  at  Bassec, 
largely  contributed  towards  the  setting  up  the  English  Franciscan 
Friars  at  Douay,  and  support  of  other  communities  elsewhere, 
and  amidst  such  charitable  works  ( to  which  he  prefixed  neither 
number  nor  limit )  having  at  length  arrived  to  the  desired  period 
to  his  personal  life  ( for  that  of  his  good  actions  is  as  endless  as 
the  felicities  they  have  merited  for  him ),  and  that  period  too, 
being  to  give  a  fuller  course  to  his  munificence,  being  procras- 
tinated to  a  very  old  age,  his  last  breath  was  full  of  blessings  in  a 
particular  manner  to  his  beloved  convent  of  St.  Gregory.  His 
testament  was  a  new  foundation  to  it,  and  his  last  will  as  liberal 
as  if  he  then  first  had  begun  to  provide  for  it.  He  gave  Almighty 
God  thanks  that  Divine  Providence  had  pleased  to  make  use  of 
him  as  an  instrument  to  so  great  a  work  so  much  to  the  honour  of 
his  Creator  and  ornament  and  benefits  of  his  blessed  Mother 


CHAPTER    THE     FORTY-FIFTH.  175 

the  holy  Roman  Church  ;  he  humbly  begs  of  the  same  goodness 
to  continue  the  blessing  hitherto  so  plentifully  bestowed  on  it, 
and  as  a  pledge  of  his  'sincere  and  unalterable  affeclion,  he 
bestows  on  the  Convent  a  double  legacy ;  the  one  of  a  thousand 
florins  of  perpetual  rent  to  be  added  to  the  Foundation  of  six 
hundred  florins  a  year,  to  the  Church  of  St.  Gregory  exemption 
from  all  expenses  upon  the  fabric,  charging  the  College  (of  St. 
Vaast)  with  all  reparations  ;  the  other  of  his  heart  which  he  desired 
might  be  interred  among  the  Fathers  where  it  had  dwelt  so  many 
years ;  and  that  it  might  find  a  place  among  them  after  its  death 
which  had  given  them  a  place  where  to  live.  And  as  having  now 
completed  the  number  of  his  merits,  sent  before  him  to  Heaven 
an  unperishable  treasure,  (and)  secure  of  an  eternal  mansion  in 
lieu  of  all  those  he  left  on  earth  to  pious  uses,  he  calmly  breathed 
forth  his  soul  into  the  hands  of  his  Creator  in  the  84th  year  of  his 
age,  two  hours  after  he  had  signed  the  forementioned  writing. 
(December  ist,  1636). 

He  was  a  person  in  whom  the  perfections  of  the  body  and 
soul  seemed  to  dispute  which  should  outvie  each  other,  on  whom 
nature  had  conferred  such  excellent  parts,  that  an  addition  could 
not  be  but  supernatural,  and  which  he  enjoyed  in  an  eminent 
degree.  His  stature  was  of  the  middle  size,  fitted  for  any  condi- 
tion, neither  distinguishing  him  from  others  by  too  large  a  port 
in  a  private  life,  nor  causing  disrespect  if  Providence  placed  him 
in  a  higher  station.  His  countenance  was  such  as  spoke  him  a 
gentleman;  his  tongue  an  orator;  his  complexion  full,  without 
burthen  or  repletion  ;  his  comportment  affable,  free,  accessible, 
such  as  begot  both  love  and  resped:  before  acquaintance  and  fami- 
liarity. His  soul  was  endowed  with  moral  virtues  as  a  proper 
foundation  for  supernatural,  all  of  which  seemed  to  have  an  equal 
share  in  him,  but  charity  predominant.  'Tis  hard  to  say  whether 
he  was  a  better  subject  or  superior,  religious  or  statesman.  And  as 
in  his  conducl:  he  verified  the  maxim  that  no  one  knows  well  how 
to  govern  that  has  not  first  learned  to  obey,  so  he  gave  an  ample 
proof  that  a  politician  may  be  a  Christian.  The  civil  powers 
reposed  in  his  hands  did  not  make  him  forget  he  was  an  Abbot, 
nor  command  that  he  was  a  father,  nor  confidence  with  the  prince 


Ij  CHAPTER     THE     FORTY-FIFTH. 

that  he  was  a  subject.  The  settling  of  the  States  of  Artois  whereof 
he  was  President  did  not  obstruct  his  pastoral  solicitude  of  the 
Abbey,  the  most  beautiful  part  whereof  he  built  from  the  ground; 
and  the  riches  which  flowed  into  his  coffers,  hindered  not  the 
growth  of  monastic  discipline  nor  the  observance  of  poverty.  He 
reaped  nothing  but  what  his  own  hands  had  sown,  and  that  with 
the  sweat  of  his  brows  ;  where  he  found  not  one  penny,  he  left 
thousands,  and  yet  gave  as  liberally  as  if  he  had  intended  to  leave 
nothing.  He  found  that  promise  literally  verified  upon  himself, 
that  what  we  leave  for  God  in  renouncing  the  world  we  shall 
receive  an  hundredfold  even  in  this  world.  The  millions  he 
expended  upon  others  did  not  at  all  impoverish  his  family  of 
Religious,  to  whom  he  was  as  much  a  second  founder  as  he  was 
a  first  to  externs. 

His  largesses  were  not  at  any  man's  cost  but  his  own ;  and 
what  he  spared  out  of  many  embassies,  deputations,  employments 
&c,  was  the  only  method  he  used  in  fulfilling  the  Evangelical 
precept,  giving  alms  of  what  was  superfluous,  as  himself  professes 
in  his  last  testament,  and  the  chapter  of  that  royal  Abbey  ingenu- 
ously confesses.  As  Abbot  he  was  a  great  example  at  home 
and  abroad  that  superiors  ought  to  command  more  by  actions 
than  by  word ;  as  President  of  the  exempt  Abbeys  of  the  Low 
Countries  he  was  a  true  law-giver,  beginning  the  execution  of 
the  excellent  statutes  he  framed  from  the  forming  his  own  house- 
hold and  domestics.  As  President  of  the  States  he  was  the  father 
of  his  country  and  right  hand  of  his  Prince.  He  managed  busi- 
ness with  as  much  success  as  prudence  and  honesty,  and  such 
counsels  were  held  suspected  which  were  not  approved  by 
Cavarel.  His  wisdom  very  much  contributed  towards  the 
peace  with  Holland,  and  at  last  concluded  it  in  quality  of  Pleni- 
potentiary. To  perform  so  considerable  a  work  and  bear  so 
illustrious  an  office,  he  refused  to  do  heresy  that  respect,  that 
injury  to  himself,  as  to  meet  it  in  disguise  and  without  his  habit 
as  the  rebels  did  desire  before  they  saw  him.  But  when  he 
arrived  the  habit  and  person  so  became  each  other  that  they  both 
forced  a  veneration  from  the  spectator;  while  it  was  hard  to  deter- 
mine whether  the  person  made  the  habit  respected  or  the  habit  the 


CHAPTER     THE     FORTY-FIFTH.  177 

person.  He  was  the  husband  of  widows,  the  father  of  orphans,  a 
refuge  of  the  afflicted  and  shelter  of  exiles.  Such  as  he  patronized 
he  richly  founded  either  by  a  settled  subsistence,  or  no  less  secure 
protection.  He  was  one  of  those  admirable  prophets  sent  by 
God,  not  to  pluck  down  and  destroy  but  to  build  and  establish  ; 
one  of  those  more  than  ordinary  Saints  who  did  wonders  in  his 
life  not  by  curing  the  deaf,  the  dumb,  and  the  blind  in  the 
literal  sense,  but  in  the  spiritual,  which  is  certainly  as  more  emi- 
nent a  gift  of  miracles  as  the  effects  are  nobler ;  as  spiritual  cures 
surpass  the  corporal  and  more  resemble  the  Divine  nature  and 
savour  of  his  operation.  In  a  word,  his  whole  life  seems  to  have 
been  only  one  continual  act  of  charity  as  that  of  the  Blessed,  (and 
among  them,  as  we  piously  confide)  is  in  heaven;  and  if  the  effect 
did  not  every  where  appear  'twas  only  by  defect  of  an  object  of 
his  compassion:  as  we  experience  the  sun  doth  warm  more  or 
less  or  not  at  all  according  as  there  is  body  to  reflect  his  light; 
and  in  this  exercise  his  Great  Master  found  him,  when  by  death 
he  cited  him  to  give  an  account  of  his  stewardship,  and  though 
men  do  not  know  what  passed  in  that  rigorous  calcule,  we  are 
abundantly  certain  that  blessed  is  the  servant  whom  his  Master 
finds  thus  doing. 

His  body  was  interred  on  the  left  side  of  the  High  Altar  of 
his  Abbey,  within  the  Sanctuary;  his  bowels  at  the  English  Recol- 
lects of  Douay,  his  heart  was  carried  in  great  ceremony  to  Saint 
Gregory's  of  Douay  and  there  lies  buried  before  the  High  Altar 
under  a  great  brass  plate  on  which  is  engravened  a  heart  held  up 
by  a  monk  of  St.  Vaast  and  an  English  Benedictine  monk,  with  a 
label  containing  these  words  :  "Cor  meum  jungatur  vofos."  (Let 
my  heart  be  joined  to  you).  And  round  the  four  sides  of  the 
plate  this  inscription  :  "  Rmi  D.  D.  Philippi  Cavarel  Antistitis  S. 
Vedasti  Atrebatens:  Fundatoris  hujus  asdis  sacrae,  Conventus  Gre- 
goriani  Collegiique  Vedastini,  quae  sui  monasterii  sumptibus  a 
fundamentis  excitavit.  Cor  hie  conditum  est,  anno  1636,  19  De- 
cembris.  Obierat  Calendis  ejusdem  mensis.  Requiescat  in  pace." 
That  is:  "Here  lies,  reposed  on  the  i9th  of  December,  1636, 
the  heart  of  the  most  Reverend  Lord,  Philip  Cavarel,  Abbot 
of  St.  Vaast  at  Arras,  founder  of  this  Church  and  Convent  of  St 

Y 


178  CHAPTER     THE     FORTY-FIFTH. 

Gregory  and  of  the  College  of  St.  Vaast,  which  he  reared  up  from 
the  very  foundations  at  the  cost  of  his  Monastery,  and  died  on  the 
first  of  December  of  the  year  abovesaid." 

Anno  1637,  February  8th,  died  the  Emperor  Ferdinand  II, 
who  mightily  favoured  the  Congregation  in  Germany,  where 
besides  Cismar  and  Rintelin,  it  obtained  Dobran  in  the  Dukedom 
of  Mekelbourg,  Scharnabeck  in  the  Dukedom  of  Lunebourg, 
Weine  in  the  territory  of  Brunswick,  and  Lambspring  in  the  ter- 
ritory of  Hildesheim.  The  original  letter  of  this  Emperor  dated 
the  1 2th  of  March,  1630,  to  R.  F.  Sigebert  Bagshaw,  then  Presi- 
dent, is  yet  extant,  wherein  he  lets  him  know  he  had  confirmed 
Rintelin  and  Scharnabeck,  aud  that  Fr.  Clement  Reyner  had 
informed  him  that  his  paternity  intended  to  set  up  a  Seminary  at 
Rintelin  for  the  instruction  of  youth,  and  to  employ  in  that  design 
the  revenue  of  Scharnabeck  till,  according  to  the  Pope's  promise 
he  could  meet  with  a  more  commodious  place  ;  all  which  his 
Imperial  Majesty  does  him  the  honour  to  approve  and  applaud. 

Anno  1638,  February  2nd,  died  at  London  R.  F.  Cuthbert 
alias  John  Fursden,  noted  for  a  very  worthy  religious  and  regular 
man  in  his  Convent  and  as  charitable  in  the  Mission.  He  was  the 
happy  instrument  in  the  conversion  of  the  noble  family  of  the 
Faulkland's  and  many  others.  The  example  of  Fr.  Austin 
Baker's  great  piety  together  with  his  instructions  were  the  cause 
of  his  becoming  a  monk,  though  he  were  his  father's  eldest  son. 
Douay  he  chose  for  his  monastery  and  proved  a  faithful  imitator 
of  his  ghostly  father,  pursuing  the  conversion  of  souls  more  by 
good  example  and  by  prayer  than  by  disputing. 

The  same  year  at  Paris  died  Father  William  Gourdan  a  Scot. 
(September  14,  1638). 

And  the  famous  Sicilian  Benedictine  Abbot,  Dom  Constantine 
Cajetan  aggregated  the  English  Benedictine  Congregation  to  the 
possession,  rights  &c,  of  his  Roman  College,  which  only  brought 
great  expenses  upon  the  Congregation,  it  being  a  huge  building 
which  requires  much  repairing ;  and  so  proving  of  small  account, 
a  General  Chapter  made  it  be  disposed  of  afterwards.  As  for  the 
good  Abbot,  after  he  had  very  zealously  and  very  opportunely 
much  bestirred  himself  for  the  glory  of  the  Benedictine  Order,  he 
pied  in  the  73rd.  year  of  his  age  in  the  year  1641. 


CHAPTER   THE    FORTY-SIXTH. 

THE    GENERAL    CHAPTER  OF    1639.    NOTICE    OF    THOSE   WHO 
DIED    DURING    THE   ENSUING    TWO    YEARS. 


ANNO   1639,  the  seventh  General  Chapter   met  at  Douay;  it 
was  to  have  been  held  ^1637;   but  the  Christian  Commonweal 
was  in  such  heat  of  war,  that  those  who  were  in  office  obtained  a 
dispensation  to  delay  the  time  till  now,  when  R.  F.  Clement  Reyner, 
who  as  second  elecl:  President  had  succeeded  to  R.  F.  Leander  of 
St.  Martin  (who  had  died  Dec.  27,  1635),  called  all  by  Encyclical 
letters  to  Douay  for  the  9th  of  August.     When  they  met  they 
decreed  superiors  should  continue,  for  not  to  break  the  constant 
course  of  four  years,  and  two  years  after  the  Chapter  should  be 
held  according  to  its  custom.       At  this  the   President  and  Con- 
ventual Priors  were  uneasy  and  begged  to  be  discharged  of  their 
offices,  but  the  fathers  would  not  yield  to  them.     And  as  for  the 
President,  they  commanded  him  in  virtue  of  Holy  Obedience  to 
continue  on  his  charge.    And  because  he  pleaded  his  detention  at 
the  famous  Abbey  of  St.  Peter  at  Ghent,  they  allowed  him  a  Vice- 
President  in  England    like   to  that  of  France,  to  all    which    with 
extraordinary   humility   and     modesty    he    replied    nothing    but 
"  God's  Will  and  yours  be  done."     And  though  this  Chapter  was 
out  of  the  common  course,   yet  it  was  such   a  notable  assembly 
that  a  curious  reader  can   in  nothing  better  behold  the   counte- 
nance of  the  Congregation  than  in  the  a&s  of  this  meeting  which 
are   very  remarkable  and  deserve  special  attention.     And  here  at 
this   time  was  authenticated  their  great  Bull  "  Plantata  in   agro 


l8o  CHAPTER     THE     FORTY-SIXTH. 

Dominico,"  a  thing  of  that  consequence  to  the  Congregation  as 
nothing  can  be  more,  which  gives  it  all  its  grandeur  and  deco- 
rum and  puts  it  upon  equal  terms  with  all  the  religious  Congre- 
gations that  ever  were  or  will  be. 

And  Father  Francis  Walgrave  upon  humble  suit  obtained  an 
amnesty  for  all  his  past  misdemeanours,  and  strict  order  was 
given  that  none  of  the  Religious  should  reproach  him  with  any- 
thing of  what  he  had  done,  but  that  all  every  where  should  use 
him  civilly  and  respectfully. 

My  Lord  Windsor  was  received  into  the  Confraternity  of  the 
Congregation  ;  and  humble  thanks  with  a  civil  refusal  were 
returned  to  his  highness  the  Abbot  of  Corvey,  who  desired  the 
Father's  help  to  begin  a  University  he  designed  in  a  place 
depending  on  him. 

At  London  died  R.  F.  John  Harper  who  let  fall  the  charge 
of  Presidentship,  a  man  of  excellent  parts  and  perfections,  and  of 
a  rare  temper  of  composition  and  manners.  Imprisonments  and 
banishments  hindered  him  not  from  consummating  his  course  in 
the  mission.  He  was  a  monk  of  St.  ^milian  in  Spain.  (  Decem- 
ber ist,  1639). 

Likewise  died  R.  F.  Bernard  Berington  at  Paris,  the  Vice- 
President  of  France,  a  grave  reverend  monk,  also  professed 
in  Spain  ( November  2nd,  1639). 

Anno  1640  March  2ist.  S.  V.  died  in  Sussex,  R.  F.  Austin 
Lee  otherwise  Johnson,  who  had  vowed  to  become  a  monk  in 
Spain  sixteen  years  before  he  actually  became  one ;  a  zeal- 
ous preacher  and  promoter  of  the  Catholic  faith  and  of  a  most 
unblemished  life  and  conversation. 

In  the  prison  of  the  Clink  at  London  died  (April  3rd,  1640) 
R.  F.  Thomas  Preston.  There  are  many  books  written  concerning 
the  oath  of  allegiance  under  the  name  of  Widdrington  and  attri- 
buted to  him,  but  he  ever  more  disowned  them.  The  V.  R.  Father 
in  God  Angelus  de  Nuce,  Abbot  of  Mount  Cassin  and  consecrated 
(afterwards)  Archbishop  of  Rossano  in  Calabria,  in  his  notes  to 
the  Chronicles  of  Mount  Cassin,  magnifies  R.  F.  Gregory  Sayr 
for  his  great  sanctity  of  life  and  learning,  and  next  extols  this  Fr. 
Preston,  calling  him  first  a  most  learned  Divine,  then  admires  his 


CHAPTER     THE     FORTY-SIXTH.  l8l 

great  constancy  in  having  defended  the  Roman  Catholic  faith  in 
England  for  the  space  of  fifty  years,  whose  theological  commen- 
taries he  had  seen  in  manuscript.  See  concerning  this  father  the 
4oth  page  of  these  Notes  where  I  have  noted  some  particulars 
deserving  remembrance,  as  also  page  46. 

Likewise  died  the  worthy  and  pious  Dame  Frances  Gawen,  first 
Abbess  of  Cambray  as  hath  been  said  (  May  7th,  1640). 

And  Fr.  Swithbert  Latham,  brother  to  the  Fathers  Thomas 
Torquatus  Latham,  and  Joseph  Latham.  He  was  a  person  of 
singular  virtue  who  gave  great  edification  both  in  his  monastery 
and  in  the  mission,  where  after  he  had  laudably  executed  the 
office  of  Provincial  in  the  North,  he  ended  his  earthly  pilgrimage 
at  Mosborrow(  Dec.  I5th  1640). 

About  this  time  also  died  full  of  holiness  in  the  monastery  of 
St.  Gislen  in  Flanders,  R.  F.  Henry  Styles  who  compiled  a  pithy 
history  of  the  Martyrs  of  the  Order  of  St.  Benedict  who  suffered 
under  King  Henry  VIII.  (January  I3th.  1640). 

Anno  1641  (July  2oth)  R.  F.  Laurence  Mabbs  a  courageous 
professor  of  the  orthodox  faith,  died  in  chains  for  the  same  in  the 
prison  of  Newgate  at  London. 


l82 


CHAPTER   THE   FORTY-SEVENTH. 

THE     EIGHTH     GENERAL     CHAPTER,    164!  :     WITH     NOTICE     OF 

FATHER    AMBROSE    BARLO,    FR.    THOMAS    HILL    &c. 


ON  the  9th  of  August  began  the  8th  General  Chapter  ( held 
at  Douay )  1641.  R.  F.  Jocelin  Elmer  was  chosen  President,  a 
most  exact  observer  of  claustral  discipline  famous  for  his  sermons, 
renowned  for  his  skill  in  physic,  and  remarkable  for  his  know- 
ledge of  chymistry  ;  in  a  word,  a  saint  of  a  man  by  all  the  me- 
morials that  I  have  been  able  to  meet  with  concerning  him, 
who  in  time  of  the  plague  administered  at  Dieulwart  the 
Sacraments  with  his  own  hands  to  his  dying  Religious. 

The  Provincial  of  Canterbury,  R.  F.  Paulinus  Greenwood. 
Vicar  or  Vice- President    of  France    and   second    elect  President 
General,  R.  F.  Francis  Hull. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Gregory's,  R.  F.  John  Meutisse. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Laurence's,  R.  F.  Cuthbert  Horsley. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Benedict's,  R.  F.  Gabriel  Brett. 

The  Prior  of  Paris,  R.  F.  Francis  Cape  of  St.  Joseph. 

The  Abbess  of  Cambray,  Dame  Christina  Brent. 

The  Procuator  at  Rome,  R.  F.  John  Wilfrid  who  was  also 
named  Read  and  Selby. 

The  Vicar  of  the  Nuns,  R.  F.  Austin  Kinder. 

Secretary  R.  F.  Bernard  Ribertier,  to  whom  succeeded  R.  F. 
Andrew  Whitfield. 


CHAPTER     THE     FORTY-SEVENTH.  183 

On  the  1 9th  of  August  S.  V.  aet.  69,  at  London  died  of  the 
plague  R.  F.  Austin  Baker.  He  lies  buried  at  St.  Andrew's  in 
Holbrun  (Holborn);  he  belonged  to  Dieulwart  (1641). 

On  the  loth  of  September,  S.  V.,  R.  F.  Ambrose,  otherwise 
Edward  Barlo,  Cathedral  Prior  of  Coventry,  (brother  to  the 
renowned  Fr.  Rudesind  who  professed  him  at  Douay  for  St.  Male's,) 
by  a  cruel  death  for  the  orthodox  faith,  made  a  glorious  and 
triumphant  exit  out  of  this  world  as  may  be  seen  in  the  Annee 
Benedictine  &c,  (1641  Sep.) 

Anno  1643,  May  14,  died  Louis  XIII  surnamed  the  Just, 
most  Christian  king  of  France,  and  a  most  Christian  patron  of 
the  Congregation  by  several  favours  he  royally  conferred  upon  it. 

Anno  1644,  July  29th,  died  Pope  Urban  VIII  also  a  singular 
Patron  of  the  Congregation.  He  was  succeeded  by  Innocent  X. 

On  the  7th  of  August  died  (1644)  R.  F.  Thomas  of  Saint 
Gregory  otherwise  Thomas  Hill,  who  being  a  Priest  in  England 
received  the  habit  by  commission  from  R.  F.  Leander  of  St.  Martin 
whilst  he  was  in  prison  for  the  faith  and  condemned  to  die  in 
1612;  but  being  afterwards  freed  he  gave  great  example  in  the 
mission  as  he  was  a  person  of  singular  zeal  and  piety.  He  first 
detected  the  error  of  the  Illuminati  who  expected  the  incarnation 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  from  a  certain  young  Virgin.  And  he  died 
at  Douay,  set:  84,  of  his  priesthood  53,  of  religious  profession  33, 
of  his  labours  in  the  apostolical  mission  50.  He  was  Doctor  in 
Divinity  and  writ  a  very  devout  book  entituled  "the  Plain  Path- 
way to  Heaven." 

Likewise  this  year  in  a  good  old  age  in  the  mission,  died 
R.  F.  Placid  Hartburn  (otherwise  Foorde)  of  St.  John,  there 
received  and  professed  by  order  of  R.  F.  Rudesind  Barlo.  He 
laboured  at  least  forty  years  in  the  mission  with  great  zeal  and 
fruit,  exceeding  charitable  and  laborious,  and  often  imprisoned 
(Sep.  29,  1644). 

On  the  yth  of  September  at  Rome,  aet.  65  died  the  singular  patron 
of  the  Congregation,  the  renowned  Cardinal  Guido  Bentivoglio. 


184 


CHAPTER   THE   FORTY-EIGHTH. 

SOME     ACCOUNT     OF     FR.     WlLFRID     SELBY,    WHO     WAS     CHOSEN 

PRESIDENT    AT    THE    CHAPTER    1645  ;     THE    DONATION    OF 
LAMBSPRING  TO  THE  CONGREGATION.     VARIOUS  DEATHS. 


ANNO  1645,  the  9th  General  Chapter  was  held  at  Douay.  Rev. 
Father  Selby  was  chosen  President,  who  in  the  world  was  called 
Richard,  in  religion  Wilfrid  of  St.  Michael.  He  died  of  the 
plague  in  Rome  1657.  He  had  writ  from  Rome  to  beg  of  the 
Fathers  not  to  put  him  in  any  office;  wherefore  R.  F.  Paul 
Robinson,  upon  publication  of  the  election,  stood  up  and  in  his 
name  renounced  the  office,  producing  for  so  doing  a  commission 
of  Father  Selby  ;  which  the  Fathers  would  not  admit  of.  His 
great  learning  and  piety  appears  in  his  works  ;  besides  he  helped 
the  Reverend  Abbot  Constantine  Cajetan  in  his  edition  of  St. 
Peter  Damian's  works.  He  lived  in  high  esteem  at  Rome;  by 
all  the  great  persons  of  that  quick  sighted  court  reputed  a  saint 
while  his  own  thought  him  a  courtier ;  wonderful  ready  to  serve 
any  one  who  needed  his  assistance  ;  in  a  word,  a  man  not  born 
for  himself  but  for  the  good  of  all  mankind  ;  so  humble,  that 
though  he  was  a  most  accomplished  and  perfect  Divine,  yet  he 
obtained  that  he  might  not  take  the  degree  of  Doctor,  which  the 
Fathers  were  forced  patiently  to  bear  away  with,  because  of  the 
earnestness  with  which  he  sued  to  them  for  that  freedom  ;  and 
when  upon  the  death  of  R.  F.  Clement  Reyner  (Abbot  of  Lamb- 
spring  )  he  was  chosen  to  succeed,  he  refused  it  ;  and  obtained  a 
Brief  of  the  Pope  that  R.F.  Placid  Gascoigne  might  take  on  him 
that  Abbatial  dignity  and  continue  on  his  Presidentship  to  the  end 
of  the  Quadriennium.  But  of  all  the  favours  he  obtained  at  Rome, 


CHAPTER    THE    FORTY-EIGHTH.  185 

none  is  comparable  to  (the  Bull)  "Plantata  in  agro  Dominico." 

The  Provincial  of  Canterbury,  R.  F.  Claud  White. 

The  Vicar  of  France,  R.  F.  Paul  Robinson. 

The  Abbot  of  Lambspring,  the  V.  R.  F.  Clement  Reyner. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Gregory's,   R.  F.  John  Meutisse. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Laurence's,  R.  F.  Cuthbert  Horsley. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Benedict's,  R.  F.  Gabriel  Brett. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Edmund's  of  Paris,  R.  F.  Francis  Cape. 

Abbess  of  the  Nuns  at  Cambray,  Dame  Catherine  Gascoigne. 

The  Procurator  at  Rome,  R.  F.  Austin  Conyers. 

The  Vicar  of  the  Nuns  at  Cambray,  R.  F.  Gregory  Mallet. 

Secretary,  R.  F.  Christopher  Anderton. 

Confessor  to  the  Nuns  at  Brussels,  R.  F.  Bernard  Palmes. 

At  this  Chapter,  Lambspring,  an  old  German  Benedicline 
Nunnery  given  ( or  rather  lent,  as  hath  been  said )  to  the  Con- 
gregation for  nuns,  was  now  incorporated  to  the  Congregation 
for  an  Abbey  of  men  ;  because  the  Elector  of  Cologne  who  then 
held  Hildesheim,  and  therefore  was  Lord  in  chief  of  this  terri- 
tory, would  have  it  so.  And  because  of  its  dignity,  the  first  place 
in  the  Congregation  after  the  Rev.  President,  is  every  where 
given  by  this  Chapter  to  the  Abbot  of  Lambspring. 

At  this  place  they  have  a  bell  which  they  found  there,  which 
proves  of  wonderful  efficacy  against  thunder  when  it  is  rung  in 
time  of  tempests. 

After  great  sufferings  in  the  Civil  Wars,  died  this  year  (1645, 
August  27th),  at  Harding  Castle  in  Flintshire  R.  Father  James 
Anderton,  a  painful  and  pious  missioner,  brother  to  Christopher, 
Thomas  and  Robert  Anderton,  all  monks  of  the  Congregation. 

Item,  R.  F.  Paulin  Greenwood  of  Brentwood  in  Essex,  who 
was  the  first  professed  in  the  new  house  of  St.  Gregory's  at 
Douay  on  the  loth  of  January,  1612  ;  the  Convent  having  till 
then  resided  at  the  Trinitarian  tenement.  After  he  had  laudably 
executed  several  offices  at  home,  he  was  sent  into  the  mission, 
where  he  suffered  a  long  imprisonment  for  the  Catholic  Faith  in 
the  Gatehouse  ;  from  whence  being  at  last  freed  and  returning  to 
his  monastery,  he  was  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Congregation, 
then  Prior  of  St.  Male's  ;  and  finally  going  back  into  England 


l86  CHAPTER     THE     FORTY-EIGHTH. 

he  was  made  Provincial  of  Canterbury,  in  which  office  he  died 
at  Oxford  on  the  27th  of  November  (  1645).  He  was  a  man  of 
singular  moderation  and  who  every  where  gave  most  singular 
satisfaction  to  all  that  had  to  do  with  him. 

At  St.  Malo's  died  R.  F.  Francis  Hull,  a  most  devout  man 
and  author  of  several  pious  books  ;  but  mistaking  the  spiritual 
conduct  of  R.  F.  Austin,  caused  him  very  great  troubles  of  which 
he  sorely  repented  himself  on  his  death-bed.  He  was  the  first 
person  buried  in  the  Church  of  St.  Benedict  at  St.  Malo's,  and 
because  he  was  a  Praedicator  Generalis,  they  laid  him  by  the 
pulpit.  December  3ist  (  1645  )• 

Anno  1646  ( May  22nd  ),  at  Worcester  died  Father  John 
Moundeford,  a  rare  cantor,  and  companion  to  Brother  Richard 
Hodgson  of  St.  John  in  his  voyage  to  St.  Martin's  monastery  at 
Compostella  where  he  died  not  without  great  signs  of  sanctity. 
(February  29th,  1626). 

On  the  loth  of  July  S.  N.  most  gloriously  triumphed  over 
civil  war  and  heresy  by  a  cruel  death  for  the  holy  faith,  R.  F. 
Philip  Powel,  otherwise  Morgan,  publicly  executed  at  London  ; 
though  those  who  condemned  him  were  so  taken  with  his  modesty 
that  they  became  earnest  supplicants  to  obtain  his  life,  and  the 
executioner  abhorring  to  drive  the  cart  away  (whereby  the  person 
to  be  executed  falls  down  half  strangled)  hid  himself  and  the 
Sheriff  could  scarce  get  a  man  to  do  so  odious  an  office.  He  was 
a  monk  of  Douay,  brought  up  from  his  childhood  by  Rev.  Fr. 
Austin  Baker. 

At  St.  Malo's  died  the  Lord  Bishop  thereof,  Achilles  de  Har- 
lay,  a  great  alms  giver,  who  empowered  the  English  monks  of 
his  city  to  sing  the  office  and  bury  in  their  Church. 

Anno  1648,  January  24,  died  Fr.  Francis  Gicou,  a  Breton,  pro- 
fessed at  Paris  for  the  house  of  St.  Malo  under  the  English  obedi- 
ence. He  augmented  the  library  with  books,  the  sacristy  with  or- 
naments and  plate,  very  much  helped  on  the  building  of  the  Church, 
spent  twenty  five  years  in  hearing  confessions  and  such  like  chari- 
table works  of  a  Christian  and  religious  life,  and  governed  for  above 
three  years  very  quietly,  that  house  in  very  turbulent  times. 


1 87 


CHAPTER   THE   FORTY-NINTH. 

THE     ELECTIONS     AT     THE      GENERAL     CHAPTER      OF       1649. 

BRIEF     NOTICES     OF    SOME     OF     THE     FATHERS     WHO     DIED 

IN     THE     SUCCEEDING    QUADRIENNIUM. 


Anno  1649,    the  loth  General  Chapter  (was)  held  at  Douay. 

ist     Chosen  President,  R.  F.  Placid  Gascoigne. 

2nd     ElecT:  President,  R.  F.  Laurence  Reyner. 

The  Provincial  of  Canterbury  R.  F.  Claud  White. 

The  Provincial  of  York,  R.  F.  Laurence  Reyner. 

The  Vicar  of  France,  R.  F.  Jocelin  Elmer. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Gregory's,  R.  F.  John  Meutisse. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Laurence's,  R.  F.  Cuthbert  Horsley. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Benedict's,  R.  F.  Jocelin  Elmer. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Edmund's,  R.  F.  Francis  Cape. 

The  Abbess  of  Cambray,  Dame  Catherine  Gascoigne. 

The  Procurator  at  Rome,  R.  F.  Austin  Conyers. 

The  Vicar  (of  the  Nuns)  at  Cambray,  R.  F.  Gregory  Mallet. 

The  Secretary,  R.  F.  Placid  Gary,  to  whom  succeeded  Rev. 
F.  Hilarion  Wake. 

Anno  1650,  February  8th,  S.  N.  died  R.  F.  Robert  Haddock 
otherwise  Benson,  one  of  the  first  Benedi&ine  missioners  who  came 
from  Spain  and  had  laboured  till  now  with  great  fruit  in  the 
mission. 

Item,  May  23rd  died  R.  F.  Bennet  Cox  in  the  prison  of  the 
Clink  in  London.  He  was  a  condemned  person  and  had  long 
endured  the  imprisonment. 


CHAPTER     THE      FORTY-NINTH. 

Likewise  about  this  time  R.  F.  Francis  Blakestone,  brother 
to  F.  Michael  Blakestone,  in  the  time  of  the  long  Parliamentary 
rebellion,  assisting  such  Catholic  soldiers  as  adventured  their  lives 
for  their  king,  ended  his  days  in  the  employment,  (  March  6th 
1650);  as  did  in  attending  His  Majesty  Charles  II  in  Jersey,  R. 
F.  Dunstan  Everard  on  the  loth  of  February  (1650),  illustrious 
for  his  ingenuity,  piety  and  learning,  loyalty  to  his  King,  love  to 
his  country  and  zeal  for  the  orthodox  faith  for  which  he  had  suf- 
fered imprisonments  and  banishments,  and  disputing  often  with 
the  most  famous  heretics  had  converted  many,  amongst  which  was 
my  Lady  Faulkland,  illustrious  consort  to  Henry  Cary,  Viscount 
Faulkland  and  Viceroy  of  Ireland. 

As  King  Charles  II  much  honoured  him  with  his  favour,  and 
had  taken  a  wonderful  liking  to  him,  his  body  was  brought  with 
great  honour  from  Jersey  to  St.  Male's  the  house  of  his  profes- 
sion and  there  interred. 

Anno  1651,  Jan.  i2th,  died  Rev.  F.  Anthony  Batt,  monk  of 
Dieulwart,  a  great  promoter  and  praftiser  of  regular  discipline,  a 
famous  translator  of  many  pious  books  into  English.  He  writ  a 
most  curious  hand  and  spent  much  of  his  time  at  La  Celle  where 
there  is  a  catechism  of  a  large  size  which  he  composed  at  the 
instance  of  some  of  the  Fathers  in  the  mission. 

On  the  ist  of  July,  1651,  died  R.  F.  Jocelin  Elmer,  famous  for 
his  holy  and  severe  life  by  which  he  gave  a  great  edification 
every  where.  He  lies  interred  at  St,  Male's. 

And  in  September  King  Charles  II  losing  the  battle  of 
Worcester  was  preserved  by  R.  F.  John  Huddlestone  &c,  as  it  is 
at  large  written  in  the  ingenious  history  of  Boscobel. 


1 89 


CHAPTER  THE   FIFTIETH. 

THE      ELEVENTH     GENERAL     CHAPTER     WAS     HELD     AT     PARIS. 

THE     DEATH     OF     V.    R.    CLAUD     WHITE     AND     OTHERS.       SOME 

ACCOUNT     OF    THE     CONVERSION      OF    KlNG     CHARLES     II. 


ANNO  1653  in  July,  Brother  John  Barter,  a  novice,  son  to 
John  Barter  (who  both  coming  to  Douay  there  changed  their 
secular  warfare  to  that  of  religion)  dying  of  the  plague  (July  ist) 
and  Fr.  Christopher  Anderton  being  swept  away  in  the  same 
month  by  the  same  infection  ( July  nth),  the  President  &c, 
ordered  the  Chapter  to  be  kept  at  Paris  which  was  accordingly 
done,  and  R.  F.  Claud  White  chosen  President. 

The  second  elect  President,   R.  F.  Laurence  Reyner. 

The  Provincial  of  Canterbury,   R.  F.  Anselm  Crowder. 

The  Provincial  of  York,   R.  F.  Gregory  Hungate. 

The  Vicar  of  France,   R.  F.  John  Meutisse. 

The  Abbot  of  Lambspring,   R.  F.  Placid  Gascoigne. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Gregory's,  R.  F.  Bernard  Palmes. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Laurence's,  R.  F.  Laurence  Reyner. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Benedict's,  R.  F.  Ildefonse  ClifFe  was  chosen, 
but  at  the  petition  of  that  Convent  R.  F.  John  Meutisse  was 
placed  there,  though  he  was  chosen  Prior  of  St.  Edmund's;  where- 
upon this  was  placed  in  his  place  R.  F.  Austin  Latham,  but  soon 
giving  it  up  R.  F.  Bennet  Nelson  succeeded. 

The  Abbess  of  Cambray,  Dame  Catherine  Gascoigne. 

The  Prioress  of  the  English  Nuns  at  Paris  Dame  Brigit  More. 


190  CHAPTER     THE     FIFTIETH. 

The  Procurator  at  Rome,  R.  F.  Bernard  Palmes. 

The  Vicar  of  the  Nuns  at  Cambray,  R.  F.  William  Walgrave. 

The  Vicar  of  the  Nuns  at  Paris,  R.  F.  Dunstan  Pettinger. 

Secretary,  R.  F.  Hilarion  Wake,  who  being  taken  away  by 
the  plague  (February  2Oth,  1657),  he  was  succeeded  by  R.  F. 
Austin  Constable. 

Anno  1 654  January  6  (S.  N.),  died  at  London  in  Drury  Lane, 
R.  F.  John  Owen  a  man  of  a  flourishing  and  facetious  wit  but 
somewhat  scrupulous,  having  done  good  service  to  God  and  his 
country  in  the  mission. 

Anno  1655  January  yth,  died  Pope  Innocent  X  to  whom 
succeeded  Alexander  VII. 

October  i4th,  (1655)  at  St.  Edmund's  at  Paris  died  the 
Rev.  F.  President,  Claud  otherwise  Bennet  White  aet.  72,  of 
Priesthood  46,  of  religious  profession  50,  having  spent  36  years 
in  the  mission  where  he  endured  miserable  imprisonments ;  often 
Definitor,  often  Provincial  and  twice  President  General  with 
great  applause ;  a  person  of  rare  integrity  and  of  an  apostolical 
spirit,  powerful  in  word  and  example.  He  lived  in  England 
with  my  Lord  Windsor  and  afterwards  at  Weston  with  Mr. 
Sheldon.  His  body  was  caried  to  the  Royal  Benedictine  Abbey 
of  St.  Germain's  at  Paris  and  there  honourably  interred  in  the 
Chapel  of  St.  Margaret ;  the  Rev.  General  of  the  Congregation 
of  St.  Maur  celebrating  the  funeral,  Dom  John  Darel  by  name. 

And  now  upon  R.  F.  Laurence  Reyner's  becoming  President, 
R.  F.  Cuthbert  Horsley  became  Prior  of  Dieulwart  again. 

At  Longwood  in  Hampshire  died  R.  F.  William  Palmer, 
professed  in  Italy,  a  man  of  great  learning  and  rare  perfection  and 
of  long  and  faithful  labours  in  the  mission  (May  3ist,  1555). 

On  the  26th  of  November  S.  N.  died  Rev.  F.  Richard 
Huddlestone  ast.  72,  of  whom  thus  his  nephew  Rev.  F.  John 
Huddleston,  publishing  in  1688  his  "Short  and  plain  way  to  the 
Faith  and  Church,"  in  his  preface  to  the  reader: 

"  Please  to  know  the  book  was  long  since  composed  for  the 
medicinal  instruction  of  a  private  friend  by  my  uncle  Mr.  Richard 
Huddleston,  the  youngest  son  of  Andrew  Huddleston  of  Faring- 
ton  Hall  in  Lancashire.  He  was  born  towards  the  end  of  the 


CHAPTER     THE      FIFTIETH.  19! 

reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  ;  when  he  arrived  at  years  of  maturity 
for  studies  he  was  sent  to  Rhemes  in  France  where  he  became 
an  exquisite  proficient  in  poetry  and  rhetoric  ;  from  Rhemes  he 
went  to  Rome  where  he  passed  his  schools  of  philosophy  and 
divinity  with  an  improvement  proportionable  to  his  great  wit  and 
industry.  These  studies  completed,  that  he  might  effectually 
advance  as  well  in  piety  as  learning,  he  entered  into  a  religious 
state  and  was  professed  at  famous  Mount  Cassin,  ye  chief  mon- 
astery founded  by  the  H.  Patriarch  St.  Bennet  in  Italy.  In  this 
H.  Place  he  spent  divers  years  in  solitude,  Prayer,  Reading  ye 
Scriptures,  Councils,  Fathers,  &c,  in  which  theory  having  attained 
to  an  eminent  degree  of  perfection,  at  length  thoroughly  qualifyed 
for  an  apostolick  missioner  he  returned  into  England.  Here  like 
another  St.  Austin  endued  with  an  Evangelical  spirit  he  exercised 
his  talents  in  Preaching,  teaching,  Disputing  and  reducing  his 
stray'd  countrymen  to  the  sheepfold  of  Christ.  And  it  pleased 
ye  Divine  goodness  to  bless  his  endeavours  and  second  his  words 
with  extraordinary  successe.  In  all  as  well  publick  debates  as 
private  Conferences  he  still  came  off  a  conqueror  in  so  much  yt 
many  chiefe  families  as  those  of  ye  Irelands,  Watertons,  Middle- 
tons,  Traps's,  Thimbelby's  &c,  in  Yorkshire;  Those  of  ye  Prestons, 
Andertons,  Downs,  Straffords,  Sherbourns,  Inglebys  &c,  in  Lanca- 
shire with  numberles  others  of  all  states  and  conditions,  owe  next 
to  God  their  Respective  Reconciliacions  to  this  Worthy  Benedic- 
tine. But  I  do  not  pretend  to  frame  here  a  Panegyrick,  it  may 
suffice  in  short  to  averr;  That  ye  Purity  of  his  life  bore  equal 
measures  with  ye  Candour  of  his  Doctrine,  both  unblemish'd : 
and  yt  after  thirty  years  of  faithful  labours  in  Christ's  Vineyard, 
he  rested  in  Peace,  leaving  behind  him  a  sweet  odour  of  vertue 
to  all  Posterity.  He  writ  on  several  occurrences  several  Treatises 
of  which  one  is  this  small  but  fortunate  Book  we  now  publish, 
Fortunate  I  say  for  that,  God  so  ordaining, it  became  an  occasional 
instrument  towards  the  Conversion  of  our  Late  Soveraign  King 
Charles  II  to  ye  faith  and  unity  of  ye  Catholic  Church. 

To  explain  myself  in  this  matter ;  the  malignity  of  the  times 
and  ye  disasters  ensuing  thereupon  for  above  these  40  years  have 
been  too  pernicious  to  be  soon  forgotten.  There  are  none  so 


192  CHAPTER     THE     FIFTIETH. 

ignorant  who  have  not  heard  of  the  defeat  of  his  late  Majesty's 
army  by  the  Rebels  of  Worcester  on  ye  3rd  Sept:  1651,  and  of  ye 
then  Preservation  of  his  sacred  life  and  Person  by  the  care  and 
fidelity  of  his  Catholic  subjects,  of  whom  I  acknowledge  myself 
the  most  unworthy.  In  this  sad  Conjecture  it  was  that  the 
Desolate  King  after  having  been  harass'd  to  and  fro,  night  and 
Day  in  Continual  Fatigues  and  Perils,  from  Wednesday  the  day  of 
ye  Battle  till  Sunday  following  (ye  particulars  of  which  are  out 
of  the  sphere  of  my  present  design  to  enlarge  upon),  at  last  found 
an  assylum  and  Refuge  at  Mr.  Whitgrave's  house  at  Mosely, 
whither  Divine  Providence  not  long  before  brought  me,  and 
where  I  had  first  ye  honour  of  attending  upon  him.  During  this 
Retreat,  whilst  Mr  Whitgrave's  Lady  and  Mother  (who  alone  of 
all  ye  family  were  Privy  to  ye  secret)  were  often  busy  in  watch- 
ing and  other  discharges  of  their  Duty  toward  his  accomodacion  and 
safeguard,  His  majesty  was  pleased  to  entertain  himselfe  for  the 
most  part  with  me  in  my  chamber,  by  perusing  several  of  myBooks, 
amongst  others  he  took  up  this  present  Treatise  then  a  manu- 
script lying  on  the  Table  of  a  closet  adjacent  to  my  chamber.  He 
read  it.  He  seriously  consider'd  it  and  after  mature  deliberacion 
pronounc'd  this  sentence  upon  it  (Vizt),  I  have  not  seen  any  thing 
more  plain  and  cleare  upon  this  subject,  the  arguments  here  drawn 
from  succession  are  so  conclusive  I  do  not  conceive  how  they  can 
be  denied.  Now  that  this  was  not  any  sudden  mocion  or  super- 
ficial complement  of  his  Majesty  but  ye  product  of  a  real  and  solid 
Conviction  is  Manifest  by  the  Tenor  and  Gravity  of  ye  words 
themselves  ;  by  the  Papers  found  in  his  Closet  after  his  Decease 
under  his  own  hand,  which  seem  even  to  the  Very  manner  of 
expression  to  Breathe  the  same  spirit  and  Genius  with  yt  of  ye 
Book;  and  lastly,  by  those  truely  Christian  Catholic  Resolutions 
he  took  (albeit  thro'  frailty  late)  in  disposeing  himselfe  for  an 
happy  departure  out  of  this  world  by  an  Entire  Reconcilement 
to  God  and  the  Church." 

Anno  1657  (April  25th),  died  F.  James  Shirburn  of  Little 
Milton  near  Whally  in  Lancashire.  The  second  time  he  was 
sent  into  England  he  was  taken  at  his  landing  and  cast  into  prison 
where  he  confuted  some  ministers  who  came  to  dispute  with  him. 


CHAPTER     THE     FIFTIETH. 


'93 


On  the  3ist  of  July  (  1657 )  at  Rouen  in  Normandy  died  Fr. 
Maurus  (otherwise  Nicholas  Pritchard)  as  he  was  on  his  journey 
for  Paris  where  the  General  Chapter  was  to  meet;  he  was  a  monk 
of  Douay. 

In  August  (the  aist)  died  Fr.  Peter  Warnford,  who  being  a 
Secular  Priest  in  the  Mission,  received  the  holy  habit  in  England; 
and  together  with  himself  bequeathed  to  us,  says  Rev.  F.  Sadler, 
that  inestimable  relic  of  the  Holy  Thorn,  which  is  now  carefully 
kept  by  the  Dean  of  the  Rosary  in  London. 

This  relic  belonged  to  the  famous  Abbey  of  Glastonbury 
before  the  suppression  of  Catholic  religion  in  England. 

In  the  Parliamentary  rebellion  some  papers  of  affairs  regarding 
the  Secular  Catholic  clergy  of  England  were  taken  and  printed  at 
London  anno  1 643,  where  in  a  letter  to  the  Bishop  of  Chalcedon 
are  these  words  :  "  I  must  not  omit  to  certify  your  Lordship  that 
I  have  inserted  Mr.  Peter  Warnford's  name  amongst  those  who 
are  suggested  here  to  be  made  Canons ;  and  I  should  humbly 
desire  he  may  be  made  such  for  one  main  reason  above  others 
that  I  have  a  probable  hope  hereby  to  secure  the  Chapter  of  the 
Holy  Thorn  after  his  decease :  and  that  is  a  Jewel  which  I  am 
sure  your  Lordship  values  at  a  high  rate,  as  do  all  others  that 
know  thereof." 

As  to  the  Chapter  here  mentioned,  'tis  but  an  imagined  busi- 
ness, first  devised  by  Dr.  Bishop,  Titular  Bishop  of  Chalcedon 
and  continued  by  his  successor  Dr.  Smith,  but  could  never  get  to 
be  confirmed  at  Rome,  as  Dr.  Leyburn  declares  openly  in  his 
Encyclical  answer  in  1661. 


2  A 


CHAPTER   THE   FIFTY-FIRST. 

THE     ELECTIONS     AT    THE     GENERAL     CHAPTER  OF      1657. 

DEATH  OF  F.   MICHAEL    GASCOIGNE,    &c. 


THE  twelfth  General  Chapter  (1657)  was  kept  at  Paris  where 
R.  F.  Paul  Robinson  was  chosen  President. 

The  Provincial  of  Canterbury,  R.  F.  Anselm  Crowder. 

The  Provincial  of  York,  R.  F.  Augustine  Hungate. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Gregory's,  R.  F.  Bennet  Stapylton. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Laurence's,  R.  F.  Cuthbert  Horsley. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Benedict's,  R.  F.  Gabriel  Brett. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Edmund's,    R.  F.  Francis  Cape. 

The  Abbess  of  Cambray,  Dame  Catherine  Gascoigne. 

The  Procurator  at  Rome,  R.  F.  Bernard  Palmes. 

The  Vicar  of  the  Nuns,  at  Cambray,  R.  F.  Leander  Normington. 

Secretary  R.  F.  Austin  Constable  to  whom  succeeded  R.  F. 
Bernard  Millington. 

At  this  Chapter  Abbot  Cajetan's  Roman  College  cost  the 
Congregation  £600  sterling,  to  make  up  which  sum  each  resi- 
dence, namely  Lambspring,  Douay,  Dieulwart,  St.  Malo,  and 
Paris  gave  one  hundred  pounds. 

In  October  (  i7th,  1657)  F.  Michael  Gascoigne,  brother  to 
the  Abbot  of  Lambspring,  a  painful  missioner,  died  in  the  North, 
in  his  return  from  York  homewards. 

At  St.  Male's  died  ( August  aoth,  1657)  F.  Maurus  Roe, 
brother  to  F.  Alban  Roe  who  suffered  for  the  faith  at  London  ; 
among  other  good  qualities,  he  was  an  excellent  cantor. 


CHAPTER     THE   FIFTY-FIRST. 


'95 


In  the  North  again  died  Fr.  Robert  Hungate,  a  zealous  mis- 
sioner,  professed  in  Spain,  brother  to  R.  F.  Austin  Hungate,  who 
was  afterwards  President  (Oft.  i8th,  1657). 

Anno  1659,  R"  F.  Paul  Robinson  laid  down  his  charge  of 
Presidentship,  rinding  the  charge  too  troublesome,  which  the 
Fathers  at  the  next  Chapter  took  very  ill.  R.  F.  Cuthbert 
Horsley,  second-elect  President,  succeeded  in  the  charge. 

The  same  year  (May  25th,  1659)  died  Father  Constance 
[Nathal  alias  Mathews],  who  suffered  very  much  for  the  orthodox 
faith,  and  being  prisoner  in  London  was  wonderfully  delivered 
out  of  his  restraint  after  his  fervent  prayer.  He  was  a  painful 
Missioner  in  Norfolk. 


196 


CHAPTER   THE   FIFTY-SECOND. 


THE    I3TH    GENERAL    CHAPTER    OF    1661     WHEN   THE 

DEPENDENCE     ON     SPAIN     WAS     BROKEN. 


ANNO  1 66 1  the  thirteenth  General  Chapter  was  kept  at 
Douay  where  R.  F.  Austin  Hungate  was  chosen  President. 

Second  elecl:  President  R.  F.  Bennet  Stapylton. 

The  Provincial  of  Canterbury,  R.  F.  Anselm  Crowder. 

The  Provincial  of  York,  R.  F.  Bede  Taylard. 

In  the  residences  no  change  happened  but  at  St.  Male's  where 
R.  F.  Thomas  Anderton  became  Prior. 

The  Procurator  at  Rome,  R.  F.  Leander  Normington. 

The  Vicar  of  Cambray,  (upon  the  refusal  of  R.  F.  John 
Barter),  R.  F.  Leander  Pritchard. 

Secretary,  R.  F.  Laurence  Appleton. 

King  Charles  II  ordered  the  Fathers  to  nominate  to  him 
so  many  of  their  body  whom  he  was  resolved  to  maintain  at 
London  at  the  chapel  of  his  Queen.  In  this  affair  R.  F.  Paul 
Robinson  was  very  active  and  wonderfully  acceptable  to  his 
Majesty,  whom  he  had  the  honour  of  visiting  during  his  royal 
exile  in  the  company  of  R.  F.  Dunstan  Everard. 

The  Fathers  hitherto  had  been  very  rigid  in  exacting  of  the 
Presidents  that  they  should  neither  be  installed  in  England  nor 
live  there  during  the  time  of  their  office,  but  on  the  Continent  either 
in  Flanders,  France,  Lorraine  or  Germany.  The  first  with  whom 
they  dispensed  with  in  this  point  was  R.  F.  Claud  White  in  1653, 


CHAPTER     THE      FIFTY-SECOND.  197 

but  now  not  only  the  President  but  even  the  Definitors  were  left 
free  to  live  in  England  or  out  of  England. 

Moreover  the  Fathers  finding  it  an  excessive  trouble  to  the 
Congregation  to  expect  every  General  Chapter's  election  of  a 
President  to  be  confirmed  by  the  General  of  Spain  before  he 
could  be  installed,  upon  diligent  review  and  consideration  of 
their  great  Bull  "Plantata  in  Agro  Dominico,"  they  found  this 
Spanish  dependency  abrogated.  And  as  they  had  acquainted  the 
Spanish  General  with  the  inconveniences  the  Congregation 
endured  thereupon,  they  resolved  for  the  future  to  embrace  the 
freedom  the  Pope  had  conferred  on  them  and  not  compliment 
away  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  Congregation,  especially 
since  this  dependence  was  nothing  more  than  respectful  civility 
in  regard  of  the  Spaniards,  while  at  the  same  time  it  proved  to  the 
English  Congregation  and  mission  very  nocivous  and  perniciously 
inconvenient;  such  a  grievance,  through  Spain  being  so  far  off,  that 
it  was  enough  to  ruin  all.  Wherefore  the  Fathers  having 
maturely  weighed  all  things,  they  took  those  resolutions  which 
they  published  in  the  General  Chapter  of  1661,  namely  that 
the  English  Benedictine  Congregation  no  longer  depended  on  that 
of  Spain. 

Likewise  they  strictly  forbade  their  religious  to  concern  them- 
selves with  the  odious  fooleries  of  Blacklo  (alias  Thomas  White) 
and  will  allow  no  one  to  read  his  detestable  books  but  with  the 
express  leave  of  R.  F.  President,  under  pain  of  privation  of  active 
and  passive  voice  &c ;  they  command  them  never  to  maintain  such 
execrable  opinions,  and  with  great  constancy  the  Congregation 
hath  ever  since  very  laudably  kept  steady  to  this  judgment. 

Furthermore,  the  house  of  St.  Malo  through  the  admission  of 
French,  being  become  a  greater  trouble  to  the  Congregation  than 
it  could  manage  in  a  foreign  country  where  the  Fathers  were 
unknown  and  had  no  friends  to  support  them,  they  resolved  to 
put  it  off  the  best  way  they  could.  The  Royal  Council  of  France 
was  alarmed  at  the  establishment  of  Englishmen  bred  up  in  Spain 
fixed  in  such  a  seaport  town  in  France  ;  and  the  Parliament  of 
Brittany  was  so  contrary  to  them  on  the  said  account  that  when 
Louis  XIII  had  piously  given  his  royal  consent  that  the  Fathers 


CHAPTER     THE     FIFTY-SECOND. 


might  have  the  Abbey  of  St.  Jacut  in  the  said  province,  (the 
Abbot  and  convent  having  agreed  to  it)  they  would  never  verify 
the  agreement  or  transaction  whereby  it  had  no  effecl:. 

And  at  this  Chapter  Rev.  F.  John  Huddleston  was  made 
Cathedral  Prior  of  Worcester. 

Anno  1662  (May  i  ith.)  at  Paris,  died  F.  Basil  Cheriton,  one 
who  had  a  natural  aversion  to  all  manner  of  flesh  meats. 


CHAPTER   THE    FIFTY-THIRD. 

THE     ESTABLISHMENT  OF     THE  ENGLISH     BENEDICTINE     DAMES 

AT    PARIS,    1662.    THE    CASE    OF    F.  TRESHAM. 
VARIOUS    DEATHS. 


TIME  hath  now  brought  us  to  the  settlement  of  the  pious 
swarm  of  our  Cambray  bees  at  Paris.  The  Convent  of  Cambray 
was  fallen  into  sad  circumstances  through  losses  it  endured  in 
England  under  the  usurpation  of  Oliver  Cromwell  ;  wherefore 
after  many  thoughts  of  what  might  be  most  expedient,  ( the 
Fathers  tendered  them  like  the  apple  of  their  eye,  and  so  had 
stretched  to  the  utmost  they  were  able  to  help  them),  nothing 
was  found  so  much  to  the  purpose  as  to  try  to  begin  a  new 
house  at  Paris.  In  order  to  this,  some  worthy  Dames  they  sent 
to  Paris,  the  chief  of  which  was  the  honoured  Dame  dementia 
Cary,  daughter  to  Viscount  Faulkland,  Viceroy  of  Ireland  in  the 
reign  of  king  Charles  I,  a  lady  of  great  virtue  and  example,  as 
she  was  dear  to  the  Queen-Mother  Henrietta  of  France,  the 
royal  consort  of  the  said  king,  while  she  abided  in  her  Court. 
Her  Majesty  conserving  the  said  kind  affection  to  her,  very 
charitably  favoured  the  attempt  and  inclined  thereto  the  two 
Queens  of  France  Anne  of  Austria  and  Marie  Therese ; 
but  the  times  were  then  dreadful  even  to  the  highest  condi- 
tions. Also  the  honourable  Dames  of  the  great  Parisian  convent 
of  Mount  Carmel  and  those  of  Port  Royal  with  their  directors, 
were  very  charitable  to  them.  To  make  short,  after  the  ordinary 
inconvenience  of  beginnings,  in  change  of  lodgings  &c,  M.  de 


200  CHAPTER     THE     FIFTY-THIRD. 

Touche  on  the  solemnity  of  St.  Gregory  the  Great,  1664,  be- 
stowed a  house  on  them  in  Lark  fields  where  they  have  continued 
ever  since  ;  and  because  the  Archbishop  would  not  consent  to 
their  establishment  unless  they  were  totally  subject  to  his  autho- 
rity, the  Fathers  let  go  their  right  &c,  and  yet  gave  them  letters 
whereby  they  are  still  considered  as  Sisters  of  the  Congregation  ; 
and  ordered  the  Convent  of  St.  Edmund's  (  as  the  nearest  to  them) 
to  treat  them  as  such,  and  they  were  to  have  the  same  consider- 
ations for  the  Congregation  which  hath  been  so  kind  as  to  give 
them  out  of  its  bosom  those  for  their  Confessors  whom  they  have 
most  desired,  though  necessary  elsewhere. 

And  now  I  turn  to  obits  again.  As  last  year  at  Little  Stoke  in 
Oxfordshire  ast.  66,  died  Father  George  Bacon  (brother  to  Judge 
Bacon  and  to  an  Ignatian  of  that  name),  a  learned  and  prudent 
man  and  an  excellent  preacher:  (April  4th,  1663). 

Item,  F.  William  Johnson  otherwise  Chambers,  aet :  80  and 
more,  in  my  Lord  Dorset's  house  in  Charter-house  yard  at 
London,  an  ancient  professed  of  Spain  and  a  famous  missioner. 
(Oftober  28th,  1663): 

And  Father  Bernard  Palmes  upon  his  return  to  Rome  at 
Gratz  in  Styria,  in  a  monastery  of  the  Order,  where  he  was  very 
honourably  interred  (  Christmas  day,  1663) : 

So  likewise  this  1664,  on  the  8th  of  April  died  R.  F.  Lau- 
rence Reyner,  the  elder  brother  of  R.  F.  Clement  Reyner,  who 
after  he  had  laudably  executed  the  chief  offices  of  the  Congre- 
gation was  in  his  old  age  sent  into  the  Mission,  in  which  he 
died  in  the  North  upon  Good  Friday,  a?t.  82.  He  was  wonder- 
fully zealous  in  gaining  souls  to  heaven,  a  patient  sufferer  of 
many  persecutions  and  long  imprisonments,  and  a  great  pro- 
moter of  regular  discipline. 

On  the  1 9th  of  May  1664,  Ascension  Day,  at  Hereford,  ast. 
88,  died  blind,  R.  F.  George  Berington  a  laborious  missioner, 
brother  to  R.  F.  Bernard  Berington  the  continual  Vice-President 
of  France. 

July  2nd  (S.  N.)  Fr.  Richard  King  otherwise  Scott  died  sud- 
denly at  Sir  Francis  Dorington's  house  in  Somersetshire  in  his 
return  from  Wells  to  his  residence  at  Leighland. 


CHAPTER     THE     FIFTY-THIRD.  2OI 

August  1  3th.  died  Br.  Peter  Huitson,  the  first  lay-brother  of 
Douay,  almost  one  hundred  years  old. 

In  September  Sir  Henry  Gifford  was  interred  at  St.  Edmund's 
at  Paris  with  this  epitaph  which  stands  in  the  Church  : 

D.   O.   M. 

In  Spem  Resurreclionis 
Hie  jacet  Henricus  Gifford  de  Burstall 
In  Comitatu  Leicestriag  in  Anglia  Baronettus 
Vir  cui  laudes  addere  est  mortuum  laedere 
Quia  laudari  se  vivum  nunquam  permisit. 

Laudarunt  tamen  cuncli  et  amarunt 
Quippe  qui  turn  fide  turn  moribus  vere  Catholicus 

Vitiis  dum  vivebat  moriebatur 
Adeoque  coelo  maturus  inter  preces  Benedidtinorum  quos  adamavit 

Mortuus  est 

Parisiis  die  XXVII  Septembris,  anno  Domini  M.  D  .C.  LXIV 

suse  XXXI 


Vivit  tamen  prole  quam  Maria  Vaughan  de  Ruerden  in  comitatu  Glocester 

lllipeperit,  viamque  morte  ad  vitam  stravit. 
Peperit  quidem  ccelu  tres,  Marian,  Henricum,  et  alium  Henricum  : 

Annam,  et  Elizabetham  Deo  et  Sancto  JBenedicto. 
Johannem  non  tarn,  bonorum,  hceredem,   Patrice  et  pauperibus. 
Qui  marmor  hoc  mcerens  posuit 
Requiescat  in  Pace, 

Englished.     To  God,  most  great,  most  good. 

In  hopes  of  rising  again  here  lies  Henry  Gifford  of  Burstall  in 
Leicestershire  in  England,  Knight,  Baronet.  To  praise  him  would 
be  an  injury  to  him  since  when  living  he  would  never  suffer  it, 
though  every  one  loved  him  and  praised  him,  for  that  as  to  faith 
and  manners  he  was  a  true  Catholic  antl  died  to  vice  whilst  he 
lived,  wherefore  ripe  for  Heaven  he  expired  amidst  the  prayers  of 
Benedictines  whom  he  had  always  loved,  aged  31,  in  the  year 
1664  at  Paris  on  the  27th  of  September.  Yet  he  lives  in  his 
issue  by  Mary  Vaughan  of  Ruerden  in  Gloucestershire  who  died 
before  him  and  so  showed  him  the  way  to  Heaven  by  her  example. 
Their  three  first  children,  namely  Mary,  Henry,  and  another 
Henry  died  in  their  innocency,  Anne  and  Elizabeth  became  Bene- 
dictine Nuns,  and  John,  whom  he  did  not  leave  so  much  to 

2B 


202  CHAPTER     THE     FIFTY-THIRD. 

inherit  his  estate  as  to  serve  his  native  soil  and  befriend  the  poor ; 
who  in  his  sorrow  erected  this  monument.     Requiescat  in  Pace. 

Anno  1665,  R.  F.  Robert  Sherwood  famous  for  his  piety  and 
learning  having  discreetly  managed  the  chief  offices  of  the  Con- 
gregation died  in  the  mission  at  Kiddington  in  Oxfordshire,  aet.  77 
(Jan.  17,  1665). 

R.  F.  William  Wai  grave  died  suddenly  at  Flixton  in  Suffolk 
(January  2ist)  by  falling  down  from  a  pair  of  stairs,  ast  77  ;  he 
was  a  very  charitable  man  and  did  much  to  help  up  the  house  of 
Cambray. 

Item  (September  8th),  R.  F.  Leander  Normington  or  Nor- 
minton  who  of  a  Cambridge  scholar,  became  not  only  a  convert 
but  a  monk  of  Douay;  esteemed  a  clear  wit  and  solid  judgment, 
well  learned  and  an  excellent  poet  both  in  English  and  Latin. 

Item  R.  F.  Gabriel  Brett,  aet :  66,  who  had  behaved  himself  in 
many  offices  of  the  Congregation  and  the  mission  very  worthily 
as  became  his  birth.  He  was  son  of  Sir  Alexander  le  Brett  of 
White  Stanton  and  Somersetshire  and  became  a  monk  of  St.  Male's 
under  his  uncle  R.  F.  Gabriel  Gifford,  who  gave  him  his  name  of 
Gabriel  whereas  otherwise  his  name  was  Robert.  (Aug.  12,  1665). 

Likewise  at  London  (Aug.  15)  died  R.  F.  Dunstan  Pettinger, 
a  painful  labourer  and  zealous  preacher  for  a  long  time  in  the 
Mission. 

Anno  1666,  January  20,  died  Anne  of  Austria,  Queen  mother 
of  France  in  the  65th  year  of  her  age. 

"  Et  Soror  et  conjux  et  mater,  nataque  regum 

"  Nulla  unquam  tanto  sanguine  digna  fuit. " 

The  Convent  of  St.  Edmund's  at  Paris  is  highly  indebted  for 
ever  to  her  charity  and  piety  for  that  she  obtained  them  such  a 
great  grant  that  the  Chancellor  of  France  thinking  it  too  much 
for  strangers,  would  not  seal  it  ;  and  frequently  she  did  them  the 
honour  of  visiting  their  poor  Chapel  (which  was  then  a  miserable 
spectacle),  especially  when  her  son  Louis  the  Great  used  to  come 
and  fetch  her  Majesty  from  her  holy  retreats  at  her  royal  nunnery 
of  Val  de  Grace. 

On  the  5th  of  May  (1666)  aet.  78,  died  at  London  in  the  Old 
Bailey,  R.  F.  Anselm  Crowder  (or  Crowther)  who  was  singularly 


CHAPTER    THE    FIFTY-THIRD.  203 

devoted  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  to  whose  honour  he  set  up  a  noble 
confraternity  of  the  Rosary  at  London ;  the  Altar  was  in  honour  of 
our  Blessed  Lady  of  Power  and  it  became  a  powerful  object  of 
devotion  and  was  as  powerfully  maintained,  for  Robert,  Earl  of 
Cardigan  was  Prefect  of  the  Sodality. 

The  same  year  ( May  5th  1666  )  died  R.  F.  John  Meutisse, 
after  some  time  laudably  spent  in  the  Mission  and  several  offices 
well  executed  in  the  Congregation  ;  who  very  much  helped  the 
good  Nuns  of  Cambray  in  their  beginnings. 

While  he  ( F.  Meutisse)  was  Prior  of  Douay,  Father  Francis 
Tresham,  a  Definitor  of  the  Congregation  and  Cathedral  Prior  of 
Gloucester,  without  leave  of  his  Superiors  became  an  English 
Recollect  at  Douay;  whereupon  Fr.  Meutisse  pursued  the  Guar- 
dian for  having  so  received  him;  and  the  Provincial  of  the 
Franciscans  the  learned  Marchantius,  ordered  Father  Tresham  to 
put  on  his  Benedictine  habit  and  present  himself  before  the 
Fathers  assembled  in  their  General  Chapter  in  1 649,  to  obtain 
their  leave  for  his  change  of  habit  and  life. 


204 


CHAPTER    THE   FIFTY-FOURTH. 

THE  GENERAL  CHAPTER  OF   1666.  BRIEF  ACCOUNTS  OF  SOME 
OF  THE    FATHERS   WHO    DIED     DURING    THE  ENSUING   YEARS. 


THE  fourteenth  General  Chapter  which  last  year  should  have 
been  held  at  Douay  was  put  off  till  now,  because  the  plague  was 
very  strong  at  Douay ;  and  it  began  at  the  old  Bailey  at  London 
at  the  first  of  May,  where  the  Fathers  continued  President  R.  F. 
Austin  Hungate  and  likewise  the  second  eledT:  President,  and 
those  who  were  at  that  time  Provincials. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Gregory's,  R.  F.  Austin  Coniers. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Laurence's,  R.  F.  Cuthbert  Horsley. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Benedict's,  R.  F.  Bennet  Nelson. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Edmund's,  R.  F.  Michael  Cape. 

At  Cambray,  the  Abbess  and  Vicar  continued. 

Secretary,  R.  F.  William  Hitchcock. 

At  Lambspring died  (Dec.  nth,  1666)  Dr.  Bennet  otherwise 
Robert  Meering.  At  60  years  of  his  age  he  became  a  monk  and 
lasted  to  the  yoth  year  of  his  age.  He  had  attended  the  famous 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh  in  his  sea-voyages. 

Anno  1667  died  Pope  Alexander  VII,  to  whom  succeeded 
Clement  IX. 

Father  George,  otherwise  Bernard  Millington,  who  succeeded 
Mr.  King  or  Scott  in  his  western  employment  in  the  Mission, 
likewise  died  suddenly  in  his  return  from  Taunton  to  his  residence 


CHAPTER     THE     FIFTY-FOURTH.  205 

at  Leighland,    aged  about  40.     He  was  professed  of  Dieulwart 
(April  9th,  1667). 

R.  F.  Francis  Crathorne  professed  of  Douay,  an  excellent  poet 
and  humanist,  died  at  the  three  Sister  Cumberford's  house  in 
Warwickshire,  aged  about  69.  (April  I9th.  1667). 

Father  Swinburn,  likewise  professed  of  Douay,  a  very  devout 
and  good  religious  man,  there  ended  his  days,  aged  about  sixty 
(June  23rd  1667).  He  once  petitioned  the  General  Chapter 
that  he  might  live  a  hermit  at  the  hermitage  of  St.  Blandin  which 
belongs  to  La  Celle. 

At  Longwood  in  Hampshire,  aged  66,  on  the  6th  of  August, 
died  R.  F.  Paul  otherwise  Robert  Robinson,  descended  of  a  noble 
family,  a  famous  lawyer  before  he  came  to  religion,  a  finely  spoken 
man  and  very  polite  in  all  respects.  In  applying  himself  to  reli- 
gion (and)  to  holy  studies,  he  became  a  famous  preacher,  passed 
Doctor  in  Divinity,  was  made  Cathedral  Prior  of  Ely,  chosen  Presi- 
dent, (and  was)  designed  by  King  Charles  II  for  one  of  those  who 
were  to  have  accompanied  him  if  Sir  George  Booth's  under- 
taking had  succeeded. 

Father  John  Barter,  who  of  a  stout  soldier  becoming  a  monk 
( together  with  his  son  )  after  his  wife's  death,  was,  from  the 
Convent  of  Douay,  the  place  of  his  profession,  sent  into  the  mis- 
sion where  he  laudably  behaved  himself  and  died  by  a  fall  from 
his  horse  not  far  from  Guildford,  (  August  i  ith,  1667  ),  aged  68. 

Likewise  died  R.  F.  Godrick  Blount  of  Falley  in  Berkshire, 
Prior  of  Douay,  who  was  very  charitable  to  the  Nuns  of  Cam- 
bray.  This  triennium  ( for  the  Chapter  being  held  a  year  later 
than  ordinary,  made  it  no  more )  Douay  saw  three  Priors,  ( Sep. 
1 2th.  1667 ). 

Anno  1668,  at  London,  set:  70,  died  of  a  dead  palsy  R.  F. 
Austin  Stoker,  (or  Stocker)  commonly  called  Dr.  Stoker  by  reason 
of  his  great  skill  and  practice  in  physic  for  which  he  had  leave, 
(April  1 8th). 

At  Paris  within  a  day  of  each  other  died  the  RR.  Fathers 
Francis  Cape,  professed  of  Douay  ( Jan  30  ),  and  Michael  Cape 
professed  of  Dieulwart,  (Jan  29th,  1668).  F.  Francis  was  about 
the  age  of  66  a  very  regular,  abstemious  and  exemplary  man, 


206 


CHAPTER     THE     FIFTY-FOURTH. 


who  through  many  quadrienniums  was  Superior  of  Paris.  Father 
Michael  was  his  younger  brother  and  about  the  age  of  58,  very 
zealous  in  his  duty  and  had  been  also  Prior  of  Paris. 

At  Dieulwart  died  R.  F.  Placid  Johnson  who  acquitted 
himself  with  great  industry  of  the  office  of  Cellerarius  of  that 
convent  and  was  lamented  by  all  his  brethren  who  lost  very 
much  in  being  deprived  of  his  assistance  (November  3rd,  1668). 


207 


CHAPTER   THE   FIFTY-FIFTH. 

THE    I5TH.    GENERAL    CHAPTER     is    HELD    AT    ST.  JAMES', 
LONDON.    EVENTS    IN  THE    SUCCEEDING  QUADRIENNIUM. 


ANNO  1667,  the  I5th  General  Chapter  was  held  at  St.  James' 
London,  where  R.  F.  Bennet  Stapylton  was  chosen  President. 

The  second-elecT:  President  and  Provincial  of  Canterbury  R. 
F.  Gregory  Mallet. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Gregory's,  R.  F.  William  Hitchcock. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Laurence's,  R.  F.  Cuthbert  Horsley. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Edmund's,  R.  F.  Thomas  Anderton  but  upon 
his  refusal,  R.  F.  Joseph  Sherburne. 

The  Priory  of  St.  Male's  was  now  in  the  hands  of  the  monks 
of  St.  Maur. 

The  Abbess  of  Cambray,  Dame  Catherine  Gascoigne  again. 

Their  Vicar  R.  F.  Alexius  Caryll. 

The  Secretary,  R.  F.  Placid  Bettenson. 

R.  F.  Francis  Morgan,  nobly  born  (sometimes  I  note  this  and 
sometimes  I  have  not  minded,  for  that  true  nobility  is  solid  virtue) 
at  Weston  in  Warwickshire,  a  diligent  labourer  and  great  sufferer 
in  the  Mission,  died  in  Hampshire  about  the  age  of  sixty-seven 
(Sep.  8th,  1669). 

And  at  Dieulwart  Father  Maur  Flucot,  (  or  Flutot )  a  Lor- 
rainer,  yet  professed  of  that  house,  after  a  long  and  tedious  infir- 
mity of  the  stone  patiently  endured.  It  is  an  argument  his 
cxemplarity  was  very  remarkable,  R.  F.  Bennet  Nelson  coveting 
his  help  at  St.  Male's,  ( Oft.  2,  1669). 


2O8  CHAPTER     THE     FIFTY-FIFTH. 

Near  Paris  died  Maria  Henrietta  of  France,  Queen  mother  of 
England  who  on  all  occasions  showed  her  royal  favour  to  the 
Congregation. 

Anno  1670  died  Pope  Clement  IX  to  whom  succeeded 
Clement  X. 

Anno  1671  (April  26th)  died  Dame  Clementia  Gary  who 
led  a  most  holy  life  and  may  justly  be  esteemed  the  beginner  of 
the  English  Benedictine  Nuns  at  Paris. 

In  England  at  Sir  Francis  Hungate's  in  Yorkshire,  near  upon 
the  age  of  sixty  soon  after  his  coming  into  the  Mission,  died 
R.  F.  Thomas  Anderton  (Oct.  pth.  1671),  who  everywhere  gave 
very  extraordinary  example,  one  while  Superior  at  Paris,  another 
while  at  St.  Malo's  ta  very  charitable  missioner;  but  in  his  Con- 
vent, through  I  know  not  what  scruple,  refused  entirely  the  miti- 
gation and  kept  perpetual  abstinence. 

In  Herefordshire  died  R.  F.  Anselm  Cassy  after  he  had  for  a 
long  time  laboured  fruitfully  in  the  Mission.  (October  28th, 
1671). 

At  London  R.  F.  Gregory  Scroggs,  after  a  long  time  spent  in  4 
the   Mission  was  seized  on  by  a  sudden   apoplexy,  as  is  supposed, 
and  fell  down  in  the  street  and  immediately  expired,  aged  about 
fifty-six  (November  3rd,  1671). 

Anno  1672  January  2nd,  died  R.  F.  Austin  Hungate  pro- 
fessed at  Mount  Serrat  in  Spain,  who  was  very  much  liked  in 
Presidentship,  and  caused  the  Convent  of  St.  Malo's  to  be  put 
altogether  into  the  hands  of  the  French  Benedictines  of  the  Con- 
gregation of  St.  Maur,  for  a  certain  rent  to  be  yearly  paid  of  two 
hundred  pistoles  to  the  English  Congregation.  And  having  given 
singular  example  of  piety  and  virtue  to  all  with  whom  he  con- 
versed, he  ended  his  earthly  pilgrimage  in  Yorkshire  at  the  house 
of  the  Lady  Fairfax  his  niece  in  the  venerable  old  age  of  eighty- 
eight. 

And  Father  John  Martin,  soon  after  his  ordination  sent  to  give 
his  old  father  a  visit,  fell  sick  of  the  small  pox  in  his  way  thither,  and 
before  he  could  reach  home,  died  at  Wells  happily  assisted  by  a  very 
able  Father  of  his  own  Congregation,  and  having  sent  for  and  seen 
his  said  father  before  his  death.  (April  30,  1672). 


209 


CHAPTER   THE   FIFTY-SIXTH. 

THE    GENERAL    CHAPTER    OF    1673  ;    DEATH    OF  RR.  FF. 
SERENUS    CRESSY,    PETER    SALVIN    AND    OTHERS. 


ANNO  1673,  the  i6th  General  Chapter  was  kept  at  Douay, 
where  Dr.  Stapylton  was  again  chosen  President  General. 

Second-Elect  President,  R.  F.  Austin  Conyers. 

The  Provincial  of  Canterbury,  R.  F.  Gregory  Mallet. 

The  Provincial  of  York,  R.  F.  Bede  Taylard. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Gregory's,  R.  F.  William  Hitchcock. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Laurence's,  R.  F.  Gregory  Hesketh. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Edmund's,  R.  F.  Austin  Latham,  upon 
whose  refusal  R.  F.  Joseph  Shirburn  was  again  Prior. 

Abbess  of  Cambray,  Dame  Maura  Hall. 

Their  Vicar,  R.  F.  Placid  Shafto. 

The  Procurator  at  Rome,  R.  F.  Austin  Latham. 

Secretary,  R.  F.  Francis  Fenwick. 

Anno  1 674  (January  i2th)  ast.  30,  died  R.F.  Mellitus  Hesketh 
in  the  mission,  n?  et  nomine  Mellitus,  and  therefore  much  bewailed 
by  all  that  knew  him,  whom  he  had  exceedingly  obliged  by  all 
offices  of  charity  and  civility. 

At  East  Grinsted  Sussex  (Aug.  loth,  1674),  died  R.  F.  Serenus 
otherwise  Hugh  Cressy  of  Thorpe  Salvin  in  Yorkshire,  who  with 
four  others  professed  at  Douay  on  the  22nd  of  August  1649.  ^is 
true  name  is  Hugh  Paulin  de  Cressy.  He  was  a  protestant 
Doctor  in  Divinity,  Prebend  of  Windsor,  and  Dean  of  Leighlin 

2C 


210  CHAPTER     THE     FIFTY-SIXTH. 

in  Ireland.  R.  F.  Cuthbert  Fursden  contributed  to  his  conversion 
by  his  pious  conversation.  Fr.  Cressy  has  left  written  several 
pieces  of  controversy  and  a  remarkable  Church  history  of  Great 
Britain.  He  died  very  piously,  carried  off  with  the  stone  accom- 
panied with  a  fever  in  the  68th  year  of  his  age. 

Anno  1675  R.  F.  Peter  Salvin  of  Thornton  in  the  Diocese  of 
Durham,  after  he  had  painfully  and  profitably  laboured  for  a  long 
time  in  the  Mission,  being  withdrawn  in  his  old  age  to  Dieul- 
wart  and  there  charitably  assisting  certain  of  the  English  diseased 
soldiers  who  were  quartered  in  the  neighbourhood,  he  fell  sick  of 
a  fever  and  died  aged  about  seventy,  a  most  wonderful  candid, 
sincere  soul,  and  a  very  devout  man  ( January  22nd,). 

In  Northumberland  died  Father  Roland  Dunn  ( Aug.  2oth 
1675)  a  Scotch  monk  of  Wirtzburg  in  Germany,  aggregated  to 
this  Congregation  as  have  been  several  others  from  divers  places,  as 
Lorrainers,  Flemings,  Irish,  Scotch,  French  and  Portuguese ;  yet 
sparingly,  for  that  such  subjects  are  not  the  affair  of  this  Congre- 
gation which  might  still  have  retained  St.  Male's  if  French  had 
never  been  taken  in  there.  , 

Anno  1676  (February  21,)  Father  Austin  Kinder  an  ancient 
Missioner  and  a  virtuous  exemplary  man  died  in  Herefordshire, 
aged  about  eighty ;  and  F.  Eleyson  Thomas  another  missioner 
in  Berkshire  aged  about  sixty-six  (January  25). 

\^nd  to  Pope  Clement  X  succeeded  Innocent  XI. 

O(n  the  2Oth  of  March  in  the  Nunnery  of  Cambray  died  Mrs. 
Hall  of  High  Meadow.  She  retired  thither  two  years  before  her 
death  ;  her  life  was  very  pious  which  she  concluded  with  a  happy 
end.  She  was  a  good  friend  and  benefactress  to  that  Nunnery 
and  lies  buried  amongst  them  near  to  her  daughter  and  grand- 
daughter who  had  both  been  exemplary  religious  there ;  and  her 
youngest  daughter  who  was  Abbess  when  she  died,  lies  buried  in 
the  same  grave  with  her  with  this  following  epitaph : 

M.  S. 

OrnatissimjE  Matrons  Domnas  Annas  Hall  Angliae, 
Illustri  Marchionum  Wigornensium 
In  Anglia  stemmate  oriundae 
et 


CHAPTER     THE      FIFTY-SIXTH.  211 

D.  Benedi&i  Hall  de  High  Meadow 

In  agro  Glocestriensi  Toparchae 

Conjugi  et  viduas 

quag 

Ultima  poene  senedtute  Patrice  simul 

Et  sasculo  renuntians  ut  sibi 

Vacaret  et  Deo,  ex  hoc 

Monasterio  in  coelum 

Migravit  Mart.  20 

An.  Salutis.  1676 

JEt.  su35  79 

What  follows  is  on  the  same  stone. 

In  spem  resurredionis 

Hie  dormit 

R.  A.  D.  Catharina  Hall  hujus  Monasterii  quondam  Abbatissa. 
Fuit  insigni  patientia,  pietate  et  prudentia  ornata,  suavitate  morum 
multum  amabilis,  immortalem  animam  Patri  Creatori  san&issime 
reddidit,  mortale  quod  a  creatura  habuit  matri  in  hoc  tumulo 
jacenti,  pia  gratitudine  restituit  die  17  Martii  An.  1692. 

Requiescant  in  pace. 

Englished.  To  the  memory  of  the  most  accomplished  matron 
Mrs.  Ann  Hall  by  birth  an  Englishwoman  descended  from  the 
illustrious  Marquesses  of  Worcester  in  England,  and  consort  and 
widow  of  Mr.  Bennet  Hall,  Lord  of  High  Meadow  in  Gloucester- 
shire ;  who  in  the  extremity  of  her  age  renouncing  her  native 
soil  and  the  world  that  she  might  attend  to  God  and  herself,  from 
this  Monastery  departed  to  Heaven  on  the  2oth  of  March  in  the 
year  of  salvation  1676  and  the  79th  of  her  age. 

In  the  hope  of  rising  again  here  sleeps  the  most  Reverend 
Dame  Catharine  Hall  formerly  Abbess  of  this  Monastery, 
endowed  with  egregious  patience,  adorned  with  piety  and  pru- 
dence, very  amiable  for  the  sweetness  of  her  manners,  she  gave 
up  most  piously  her  immortal  soul  to  the  Father  Creator ;  what 
she  had  of  a  mortal  from  a  creature  she  restored  out  of  pious 
gratitude  to  her  mother  resting  in  this  tomb,  i7th  of  March  in 
the  year  1692.  May  they  rest  in  peace. 


212  CHAPTER     THE     FIFTY-SIXTH. 


The  same  year  died  Dame  Catharine  Gascoigne  honoured 
with  this  epitaph : 

Here  lies  our  venerable  mother  M.  Catherine  Gascoigne 
Abbess  forty  years  of  this  Convent  of  our  B.  Lady  of  Consolation 
of  the  holy  Order  of  St.  Benedict  and  English  Congregation,  being 
one  of  the  nine  first  that  began  this  house.  She  professed  the 
first  day  of  the  Holy  year  1625,  was  made  Abbess  1629  at  twenty 
eight  by  dispensation  from  Rome,  renewed  nine  times,  twice  more 
generally  desired.  In  her  first  cessation  from  the  Abbeyship 
1643  s^e  reformed  the  monastery  of  St.  Lazarus.  In  her  last 
1673,  she  kept  her  Jubilee  with  that  of  the  honse,  suffered  with 
remarkable  patience  grievous  infirmities  and  died  piously  the  2ist 
of  May,  1676,  the  76th  year  of  her  age  and  the  53rd  of  her  entry 
into  religion.  She  was  born  of  Catholic  and  pious  parents, 
descended  from  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  Gascoigne  who  imprisoned 
Harry  V  when  he  was  Prince.  She  was  a  most  worthy  Supe- 
rior ever  seeking  to  establish  religious  observance  by  efficacious 
exhortations  and  edifying  example :  most  especially  labouring  to 
plant  and  conserve  the  spirit  of  true  internal  prayer  and  tend- 
ance to  God,  the  faithful  and  humble  pursuit  of  which  she  incul- 
cated as  well  by  her  own  most  assiduous  practice,  as  incessant 
recommendation  living  and  dying. 

Requiescat  in  pace. 

During  the  time  of  this  Lady  Abbess  in  1633  on  the  i8th  of 
August  died  Dame  Gertrude  More :  amidst  the  disciples  of  R.  F. 
Austin  Baker  she  was  singularly  memorable  for  her  holiness  of 
life. 


213 


CHAPTER   THE   FIFTY   SEVENTH. 

SOME      EVENTS      CONNECTED      WITH     THE       MONASTERY     OF     ST. 

EDMUND     THE     KING    AT     PARIS.     THE    BENEFACTIONS     OF 
KING    Louis    THE    GREAT    TO    THE    SAME    CONVENT. 


ANNO  1677  February  28,  Shrove  Sunday  M.  L'Abbe  Noailles 
(now  Archbishop  of  Paris  and  Cardinal)  blessed  the  new  Church 
of  St.  Edmund's  at  Paris.  The  first  stone  of  it  was  laid  on  the 
29th  of  May  1674  by  the  Princess  Mary  Louise,  Daughter  of 
Philip,  Duke  of  Orleans  and  brother  to  Louis  the  Great,  King  of 
France.  Her  mother  was  Henrietta  of  England,  sister  to  the 
Kings  Charles  IT  and  James  II.  In  1679  she  became  Queen  of 
Spain  and  died  on  the  I2th  of  February  1689,  astat :  27,  after  only 
three  days  sickness  having  received  the  last  Sacraments  with 
exemplary  piety,  making  an  end  worthy  of  the  religion  and 
wisdom  the  gravity  of  Spain  had  admired  in  her  green  age.  At 
her  laying  the  said  first  stone,  M.  L'Abbe  Mountaigu,  first 
almoner  to  the  Queen  of  England,  officiated.  Louis  the  Great 
her  uncle  in  consideration  of  Henrietta  of  France,  her  grandmother 
and  his  aunt,  granted  the  English  Benedidtines  letters  of  establish- 
ment at  Paris  in  October  1650  at  Bordeaux,  on  condition  of  a 
solemn  Mass  at  the  feast  of  St.  Louis  for  the  health  and  pros- 
perity of  his  Majesty  and  his  royal  successors  for  ever. 

And  at  Versailles  on  the  9th  of  September,  1 674,  he  granted  to 
those  who  were  professed  of  the  house  of  Paris  the  grace  of 
naturalization,  giving  them  power  and  right  to  enjoy  the 


214  CHAPTER     THE     FIFTY-SEVENTH. 

benefices  of  their  Order  in  his  kingdom  as  if  they  had  been  born 
his  subjects,  and  extended  the  said  favour  to  the  rest  of  the  houses 
of  the  Congregation,  if  being  within  his  dominions  their  Super- 
iors send  them  to  the  Convent  of  Paris  and  that  they  there  go 
on  with  their  studies  as  far  as  Master  of  Arts.  He  enlarged  this 
favour  and  confirmed  it  at  the  camp  of  Nydrecassel  the  loth  of 
June  1676.  Moreover  his  majesty  gave  to  help  their  new 
building  at  Paris  seven  thousand  livres ;  and  hath  given  for  a 
long  time  about  twenty-five  pounds  English  a  year  to  the  Convents 
of  their  Congregation  at  Douay,  Dieulwart,  Paris  and  Cambray, 
which  has  only  ceased  this  1709.  And  to  Dieulwart  he  gives 
them  their  salt  free;  a  great  charity  considering  their  country 
manages.  Douay  Convent  (as  I  have  been  told  by  one  of  that 
place)  esteems  his  royal  favour  worth  to  them  about  one  hundred 
pounds  English  a  year.  So  his  royal  predecessors,  Pepin  and 
Charles  the  Great  cherished  and  protected  the  English  Benedic- 
tines of  their  times. 


2I5 


CHAPTER    THE   FIFTY-EIGHTH. 

THE    GENERAL    CHAPTER    OF    1677.    BRIEF  NOTICES   OF    RR. 

FATHERS   AUSTIN  LATHAM,    CUTHBERT  HORSLEY,    LIONEL 

SHELDON  ;  OF   BR.  WILFRID  REEVES.    THE    OUTBREAK    OF 

GATES    PLOT,     WHICH    CAUSED    THE    DEATH    OF    BR. 

THOMAS    PICKERING    AND   ARCHBISHOP    PLUNKET. 


AT  the  1 7th   General  Chapter  held  at  Douay  (1677) 

R.  F.  Stapylton  was  continued  President. 

Second  elecl:  President  R.  F.  Austin  Latham. 

The  Provincial  of  Canterbury,  R.  F.  Gregory  Mallet. 

The  Provincial  of  York,  R.  F.  Francis  Lawson. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Gregory's,  R.  F.  Austin  Howard. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Laurence's,  R.  F.  John  Girlington. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Edmund's,  R.  F.  Austin  Latham. 

The  Abbess  of  Cambray,  Dame  Christina  Brent. 

Their  Vicar  R.  F.  Placid  Shafto. 

The  Secretray  R.  F.  Bede  Tatham. 

Rev.  F.  Austin  Latham  died  on  the  I3th  of  November  follow- 
ing, to  the  great  grief  of  his  house  and  Congregation,  about  the 
age  of  fity-six.  He  had  been  chosen  one  of  the  Queen's  Chap- 
lains and  performed  the  duty  of  the  place  with  great  edification 
till  by  the  persecution  he  was  forced  to  retire  into  France.  What 
money  he  had  been  able  to  spare  from  his  allowance  at  the  Royal 
Chapel  he  left  to  his  house,(  St.  Edmund's,  Paris)which  at  this  time 


2l6  CHAPTER     THE     FIFTY-EIGHTH. 

was  in  a  low  condition  ;  and  which,  if  he  had  lived,  he  would  have 
put  into  a  very  flourishing  state  both  as  to  temporals  and  spirituals. 
He  was  the  second  person  interred  in  the  new  burying  place  at 
Paris  ;  the  first  was  one  Adrian  Coppens,  who  in  quality  of  tailor 
had  served  the  house  no  less  than  thirty  years  and  died  the  1 6th  of 
October  1676. 

At  Dieulwart  died  R.  F.  Cuthbert  Horsley  on  the  2ist  of 
December  (1677)  and  R.  F.  Thomas  Fursden  on  the  23rd  fol- 
lowing, both  very  famous  for  their  exact  claustral  observance. 
R.  F.  Cuthbert  was  aged  about  eighty,  whereof  he  had  spent 
about  fifty  in  regular  duty  without  ever  quitting  to  go  to  the 
Mission;  and  of  this  fifty  he  spent  almost  thirty  in  governing  that 
house  as  Prior,  of  which  he  had  a  sad  time  ;  for  the  country  being 
involved  in  dismal  wars  his  house  fared  ill,  which  he  bore  like  a 
Job  with  a  pleasant  and  gay  countenance ;  and  God  gave  him 
such  grace  before  the  Generals  and  commanders  of  the  soldiers 
that  though  not  a  monastery  in  the  country  was  more  alarmed 
than  Dieulwart  yet  not  one  suffered  less.  All  the  time  he  had  to 
spare  after  the  Divine  Office  and  from  his  domestic  affairs,  he 
spent  in  holy  meditations  and  writing  them  in  a  most  delicate 
hand.  His  government  was  eminently  in  the  spirit  of  meekness. 
As  for  R.  F.  Thomas  he  had  spent  above  sixty  years  at  Dieulwart 
in  religious  duty  without  ever  desiring  to  return  into  Englnad  ; 
and  died  about  the  age  of  ninety  two. 

Anno  1678,  February  2nd.  at  Paris  died  Sir  Francis  Anderton, 
a  great  benefactor  to  St.  Edmund's  which  repays  his  kindness 
with  a  solemn  anniversary,  &c.  He  is  interred  in  the  cave  and 
has  this  epitaph  in  the  Church  : 

D.  O.  M. 

In  spem  Resurrectionis 

Hie  quiescit  vir  omni  nomine  clarissimus, 

Franciscus  Andertonus  Baronettus  Lostochii  &c  Dominus. 

Nobilitas  ejus  major  quam  quae  eferri  indigeat 

Antiquiorque  quam  possit 

Crevit  tamen  conjuge  Somerseta 

Atque  inde  privato  stemmati  Decus  Regium  accessit 


CHAPTER     THE   FIFTY-EIGHTH.  21 7 

Hie  bello  domique  strenuus 

Pietate  in  Deum,  beneficentia  in  pauperes,  summa  in  adversis  con- 
En  ituit  [stantk 

Sic  fide  integer  &  christianis  virtutibus  jam  coelo  maturus 

Cum  Benedictinas  huic  familias  cui  conjunctissimus  vixerat 

Sternum  amoris  pignus  corpus  reliquisset 

Obiit  Parish's  IV  Nonas  Februarii 

An.  Domini  M.D.C.LXXVIII  statis  LI 

Hoc  marmor  Elizabetha  Somerseta  Francisci  relicta 

Mcerens  posuit 
Requiescat  in  pace. 

Englished.     To  God,  most  good,  most  great. 

In  hopes  of  the  resurrection  here  rests  a  man  in  all  respects 
illustrious,  to  wit,  Sir  Francis  Anderton,  Knight,  Baronet,  Lord 
of  Lostock  &c  ;  whose  nobility  is  greater  than  needs  to  be  laid 
forth  and  more  ancient  than  can  be  unfolded,  which  yet  was 
increased  by  his  consort  Somerset  who  was  a  royal  honour  to  his 
pedigree,  valiant  in  war  and  peace,  famous  for  his  piety  towards 
God,  liberality  to  the  poor  and  egregious  constancy  in  adversity; 
thus  through  integrity  in  faith  and  Christian  Virtues  ripe  for 
heaven,  after  he  had  left  to  this  Benedictine  family  (which  he  had 
much  affected  living)  his  body  an  eternal  pledge  of  his  love,  he 
died  at  Paris  on  the  2nd  of  February  1678,  aet.  51.  This  marble 
monument,  Elizabeth  Somerset  his  relict,  in  her  mourning  placed 
here.  Requiescat  in  pace. 

On  the  1 3th  of  October  of  a  pestiferous  sickness  got  through 
charitably  assisting  the  English  soldiers  at  Brussels,  died  at  that 
town  R.  F.  Lionel  Sheldon,  professed  of  Douay,  where  with 
applause  he  taught  philosophy  four  years  and  was  Definitor  of 
the  Congregation,  and  being  sent  into  England  was  Master  of 
Ceremonies  to  her  Majesty  in  her  Chapel,  and  afterwards  for  three 
years  Chief  Almoner  to  the  Duchess  of  York  (now  Queen 
mother  of  England) ;  lastly  banished  for  the  orthodox  faith, 
died  as  was  said  in  the  45th  year  of  his  age,  the  2  5th  of  his  pro- 
fession and  2ist  of  his  priesthood. 

2  D 


fcl  CHAPTER     THE     FIFTY-EIGHTH. 

After  the  Restoration  of  King  Charles  II  the  estates  of  the 
rebels  in  Ireland  were  given  to  the  Duke  of  York.  Now  it 
happened  unluckily  that  these  estates  had  been  taken  from  the 
poor  Catholics  and  given  to  those  rogues.  Of  this  R.  F.  Lionel 
gave  the  Duke  notice,  but  his  Highness  answered  him  again  that 
he  was  but  a  young  man  and  of  no  great  experience  in  such  mat- 
ters, for  others  thought  he  might  lawfully  take  them.  These 
who  were  of  this  opinion  endeavoured  to  justify  his  keeping  those 
estates  by  the  common  parity  of  one's  buying  goods  that  have 
been  recovered  of  pirates  without  the  right  owner's  being  able  to 
lay  claim  to  them  ;  a  comparison  too  far  stretched  in  this  case  as 
has  since  appeared  in  the  executive  sentence  of  the  Supreme  Judge 
of  all,  who  when  he  was  pleased  to  converse  in  mortality  on 
earth,  admonished  mortals  to  take  especial  care  of  just  dealings 
with  one  another,  for  that  they  should  have  the  same  measure 
returned  them  again.  This  is  what  his  own  flesh  and  blood  have 
done  to  him,  keeping  from  him  his  royal  inheritance  out  of  which 
they  have  forced  him,  and  by  authority  of  the  parliament  in  1689 
took  the  moneys  which  his  Majesty  was  known  to  have  in  differ- 
ent companies  of  merchants  to  give  to  the  protestants  who  were 
flown  out  of  Ireland  into  England  for  fear  of  being  ill  used  by  the 
Catholics  who  there  stood  for  his  Majesty.  God  punishes  in  time 
that  he  may  spare  in  eternity. 

This  1678  began  the  confusions  and  miseries  of  Gates'  plot  in 
which  many  of  the  Religious  were  hideously  calumniated  by 
detestable  miscreant  accusers,  among  which  thus  falsely  accused 
was  Mr.  Reeves  who  of  a  famous  Oxford  scholar  became  a  Catho- 
lic and  a  Benedictine  monk  at  Douay  where  he  was  known  by 
the  name  of  Brother  Wilfrid  Reeves.  Living  at  La  Celle,  a 
venerable  Canon  of  Faremoutier  one  day  read  to  him  the  follow- 
ing verses  made  on  the  Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  in  1685: 

"  Calvin  outre  de  1'Edit  qu'on  public 

La  larme  a  1'oeil  vint  dire  a  Lucifer 

Ah !  e'en  est  fait  ma  secte  est  abolie 

II  faut  songer  a  retrecir  1'enfer 

II  ne  faut  pas  que  cela  vous  chagrine, 


CHAPTER     THE     FIFTY-EIGHTH.  219 

Luy  repondtt  cet  horrible  demon, 

Le  mal  n'est  pas  si  grand  qu'on  s'imagine, 

Tous  ces  gens  la  n'ont  change  que  de  nom." 

He  presently  without  any  further  ado,  thus  echoed  them  in  Latin. 

Cum  fama  Edifti  Calvini  venit  ad  aures 

Daemona  mox  plorans  et  furibundus  adit 

Heu  !  a&um  est  pater,  inquit,  ego  et  mea  sedta  perimus 

Ilicet !  inferni  contrahe  claustra  tui. 

Subridens  Daemon,  Nate  !  inquit,  pone  dolorem 

Pone  metum,  non  est  hie  ita  grande  malum ; 

Nempe  fugat  coenam  jam  missa,  Ecclesia  templum, 

Esto,  omnes  mutant  nomina,  nemo  fidem. 

The  pious  Canon  acquainting  the  renowned  Bishop  of  Meaux, 
M.  Bossuet  with  this  passage,  his  Grace  so  admired  the  verses 
that  he  would  needs  see  the  Author,  and  thereupon  caused  his 
coach  to  roll  down  from  Faremoutier  to  La  Celle  and  took  great 
satisfaction  in  Br.  Reeves'  company  and  made  very  great  account 
of  him.  He  never  took  Orders  because  of  his  lameness  and  died 
in  England  in  the  year  1693  (Odt.  3Ist)- 

There  are  some  pieces  of  his  ingenuity  extant,  as  his  Mega- 
lesia  Sacra  on  the  Assumption,  printed  in  1677,  and  a  panegyric 
to  Cardinal  Howard  printed  in  1675,  both  pieces  of  poetry. 

Another  person  injured  in  these  false  accusations  and  with 
whom  it  went  so  far  that  he  was  tried  for  his  life,  was  R.  Father 
Corker  whom  the  judge  cleared  of  treason  and  condemned  to 
death  for  his  sacred  Order  of  Priesthood  ;  but  he  escaped  that 
anger  by  the  coming  to  the  crown  of  James  II,  till  which  time 
he  lay  in  prison  where  he  reconciled  to  the  Church  above  a 
thousand  persons  and  was  afterwards  twice  blessed  Abbot,  first  of 
Cismar  then  of  Lambspring  the  house  of  his  profession. 

But  with  Brother  ( Thomas  )  Pickering  (  a  Lay  brother  of 
Douay ),  it  went  harder,  for  he  was  irremissibly  executed,  a  poor 
harmless  soul,  whom  those  miscreants  wickedly  impeached  of 
having  designed  the  King's  death,  which  the  King  himself 
openly  declared  he  was  convinced  was  false.  But  so  violent 


22O  CHAPTER    THE    F1FTV-EIGHTH. 

were  those   times,   that  he  himself  was  constrained  for  a  time  to 
connive  at  their  wickedness  (  May  9,  1679  ). 

Anno  1679  on  the  first  of  March,  Mr.  Penrodock  died  at 
Paris  and  was  hurried  at  the  Cave  of  St.  Edmund's  with  this 
epitaph  on  his  grave  : 

Hie  jacet  Carolus  Penrodock 
Ex  antiqua  et  nobili  Familia 

Brittannorum 

Stirpe  Progenitus 

Pietate  in  Deum 

Munificentia  in  pauperes 

Comitate  in  omnes 

Fuit  insignis 
Obiit  Parisiis  I  Martii  1679 

/Etatis  suas  28. 
Requiescat  in  pace. 

Englished :  Here  lies  Charles  Penrodock  descended  of  a 
noble  and  ancient  family  of  the  old  Britons,  very  remarkable  for 
his  piety  towards  God,  his  liberality  to  the  poor  and  affability  to 
all.  He  died  at  Paris  the  first  of  March  1679,  aet.  28. 

Requiescat  in  Pace. 


221 


CHAPTER   THE   FIFTY-NINTH. 


THE     DEATH     OF      FATHER     BENEDICT     STAPYLTON. 


Anno  1680  (August  4)  died  R.  F.  Bennet  Stapylton  at  Dieo- 
wart  where  he  lies  buried  with  this  epitaph : 

M.  S. 

R.  A.  P.  Patris  Benedifti  Stapylton 
Ecclesias  Metropolitans 

Cantuariensis 
Prioris  Cathedralis 

Congregationisque  Anglo  Benediftinas 
Praesidis  Generalis 

Qui 

In  Monasterio  S.  Gregorii   Magni  Duaci  professus 

Ejusdem  bis  Prior  fuit 

Et  in  eadem  Academia 

S.  Theologize   Dodtoratum 

Et  Cathedram  adeptus  est. 

Deinde 
In  Apostolica  Angliae  Missione 

XX  Annos  impendit 

Augustissimae  Angliae  Reginae 

Sacellanus  Dornesticus 

Denique 
In  didbe  Congregationis  Generalem 


222  CHAPTER     THE      FIFTY-NINTH. 

Ter  successive  eledtus 

Quod  munus  post  quam  per  XI  annos 

Feliciter  administrasset 

Suos  moriendo  destituens 

Ingens  sui  desiderium 
Et  ingentem  suis  luctum 

Reliquit 

Obiit  in  hoc  monasterio 

Pridie  nonas  Augusti 

An.  Dom.  1680. 

JEt.  suae  58. 

Professions  38. 

Sacerdotii  34. 

Requiescat  in  Pace. 

Englished  :  Sacred  to  the  memory  of  the  most  Reverend  Fr. 
Bennet  Stapylton,  Cathedral  Prior  of  the  Metropolitan  Church  of 
Canterbury  and  President  General  of  the  English  Benedictine 
Congregation,  who  was  twice  Prior  of  St.  Gregory  at  Douay 
whereof  he  was  professed,  also  Doctor  and  Professor  of  that 
city's  University.  Twenty  years  he  spent  in  the  apostolic  Mission 
of  England  and  was  Domestic  chaplain  to  the  Queen.  Thrice 
chosen  General  of  the  Congregation,  he  performed  the  office 
eleven  years  very  happily,  and  dying  was  very  much  wished  for 
and  lamented  of  his  religious.  He  died  in  this  monastery  on  the 
4th  of  August  1680,  ast.  58.  Professed  38,  Priested  34. 

Requiescat  in  Pace. 

He  was  of  a  noble  family  and  the  eldest  son  and  left  all  to 
become  a  monk ;  indeed  he  rather  not  knew  the  world  than  left 
it ;  prevented  with  the  blessings  of  goodness  he  had  the  happiness 
of  a  gentle  soul  which  abhorred  vice  and  adhered  to  virtue,  very 
exact  in  regularity  and  very  diligent  in  his  studies,  very  ready  in 
all  exercises  of  humility  and  of  a  most  sweet  and  charming  con- 
versation, venerable  for  his  sanctity  of  life  and  wonderful  for  the 
sharpness  and  solidity  of  his  wit,  beloved  of  God  and  men.  He 
taught  philosophy  and  divinity  at  the  College  of  St.  Vaast  sixteen 
years  together,  applauded  by  all,  and  with  great  satisfaction  and 
profit  to  his  auditory.  But  what  is  most  wonderful  and  the 


CHAPTER     THE     FIFTY-NINTH.  223 

argument  most  invincible  that  can  be,  of  a  very  holy  man  and  of 
a  very  great  genius,  was  that,  when  he  was  made  Prior  of  Douay 
he  acquitted  himself  of  it  as  if  he  had  nothing  else  to  do,  and  yet 
prosecuted  his  studies  as  if  he  had  nothing  else  but  them  to 
mind,  reaching  from  one  end  to  another,  as  'tis  said  in  the  Book 
of  Wisdom,  and  sweetly  ordering  all  things.  He  resolved  to 
deserve  the  honour  of  Dodtorship  before  he  would  wear  the 
badges  of  it,  most  egregiously  and  prudently  thinking  that  title  to 
appertain  not  so  much  to  the  Degree  as  to  the  desert  of  the 
Degree.  Charles  II  upon  recovery  of  his  British  Empire  called 
him  over  and  made  him  Second  Almoner  to  his  Royal  Consort, 
and  her  First  Chaplain  (Protocapellanus)  and  even  Prefect  of  her 
Chapel.  Lastly  chosen  President  he  proved  in  all  respects  an 
egregious  Superior,  not  sparing  his  life  to  do  his  duty,  when 
Dieulwart  being  uneasy  within  itself,  to  restore  it  to  its  former 
peace  and  quietness  he  went  thither  to  visit  it  in  the  hottest 
season  of  the  year,  whereupon  he  fell  sick  and  died. 

And  the  second  elect  President  being  dead  and  Father  Sheldon 
the  first  Definitor  likewise,  and  F.  John  Worsley  the  second 
Definitor  refusing  to  take  on  him  the  charge  of  President,  it  fell  to 
the  third  Definitor,  R.  F.  Corker,  who  the  year  following  was, 
after  God,  the  entire  sole  help  and  spiritual  director  of  the  Most 
Reverend  Father  in  God,  Oliver  Plunket,  Lord  Archbishop  of 
Armagh  and  Primate  of  Ireland,  cruelly  put  to  death  through 
false  accusations  in  the  sham  plot  of  execrable  "Gates.  They  were 
then  both  in  the  same  prison  (Newgate).  The  Bishop's  quarters 
were  conveyed  to  Lambspring,  where  R.  F.  Corker  in  1693  shut 
them  up  in  the  crypt  with  this  inscription : 

Reliquiae  S.  memoriae  Oliveri  Plunket  Archiepiscopi  Archma- 
chani,  totius  Hibernias  Primatis,  qui  in  odium  Catholics  Fidei 
laqueo  suspensus,  extradtis  visceribus  et  in  ignem  projectis  Celebris 
Martyr  occubuit  Londini  i°  die  Julii  an.  Salutis  1681.  S.  V." 

Englished.        The  relics  of  Oliver  Plunket,  Archbishop  of 
Armagh  and  Primate  of  all  Ireland,  of  holy  memory,  who  in 
hatred  of  the  Catholic  Faith  was  hanged,  and  having  his  bowels 
torn  out  and  flung  into  the  fire  died  a  most  glorious  Martyr  on 
the  first  of  July  (  S.  V.)  in  the  year  of  Salvation  1681. 


224 


CHAPTER     THE     FIFTY-NINTH. 


About  the  beginning  of  this  sham  plot,  a  monk  of  Saint 
Edmund's  R.  F.  Placid  Adelham  much  addicted  to  the  reading  of 
St.  Austin,  and  who  had  formerly  been  a  protestant  minister,  was 
laid  in  chains  also  at  Newgate  and  died  in  them  for  the  same 
cause;  a  person  highly  valued  by  all  that  knew  him  (January 
1 7th.  1680). 


225 


CHAPTER   THE   SIXTIETH. 

THE    ELECTIONS    AT    THE    EIGHTEENTH    GENERAL 
CHAPTER.    A    MONASTERY    ESTABLISHED    IN    LONDON. 


IN  1 68 1  the  eighteenth  General  Chapter  was  held  at  Paris 
where  R.  F.  Joseph  Shirburne  was  chosen  President. 

Second  eledt  President,  R.  F.  Austin  Constable. 

The  Provincial  of  Canterbury,  R.  F.  Gregory  Mallet. 

The  Provincial  of  York,  R.  F.  Francis  Lawson. 

The  Abbot  of  Lambspring,  R.  F.  Joseph  Sherwood. 

The  Prior  of  Douay,  R.  F.  Jerome  Hesketh. 

The  Prior  of  Dieulwart,  R.  F.  Austin  Mather ;  but  he  refus- 
ing R.  F.  Gregson  was  chosen  Prior,  but  being  called  to  the 
Royal  Chapel  at  London,  R.  F.  James  Mather  succeeded. 

The  Prior  of  Paris  was  R.  F.  Bennet  Nelson. 

The  Abbess  of  Cambray,  Dame  Marina  Appleton. 

Their  Vicar,  R.  F.  Anselm  Carter ;  but  he  refusing,  R.  F. 
Placid  Bruning  became  their  Vicar. 

Secretary,  R.  F.  Cuthbert  Parker. 

Anno  1683  (December  iith)  Father  Bennet  Constable  died 
at  Durham  in  prison,  into  which  for  the  Faith  he  was  cast  a 
month  after  his  arrival  in  England. 

Anno  1685,  February  5th  (S.V.)  R.  F.  John  Huddleston,  who 
had  contributed  so  much  to  the  saving  of  his  Majesty  Charles  II 
after  Worcester  battle,  reconciled  him  to  the  Church,  adminis- 
tered to  him  the  last  Sacraments  and  helped  him  in  his  last 

2  E 


226  CHAPTER      THE     SIXTIETH. 

extremity  to  make  a  most  Christain,   Catholic  end,  which  hap- 
pened the  next  day. 

And  King  James  II  presently  upon  his  coming  to  the  crown, 
formed  a  convent  of  Benedictine  Monks  in  his  Palace  of  St. 
James',  placing  them  at  the  Chapel  of  his  royal  Consort,  their 
Majesties  often  resorting  thither.  Wherefore  in  1685  the  I9th 
General  Chapter  was  held  here  at  which  R.  F.  Joseph  Shirburn 
was  continued  President. 


22/ 


CHAPTER   THE   SIXTY-FIRST. 

THE    I9TH    GENERAL    CHAPTER.     CONFIRMATION    OF    THE 

BULL    "PLANTATA."     JAMES    IFs    ALLOCUTION    TO   THE 

BISHOP    AND    REGULARS. 


THE  i9th  General  Chapter  was  held  at  St.  James',  where  R. 
F.  Joseph  Shirburn  was  continued  President. 

Second  elect  President,  likewise  continued. 

Provincial  of  Canterbury,  R.  F.  Austin  Llewellin. 

Provincial  of  York,  R.  F.  Robert  Killingbeck. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Gregory's,  R.  F.  William  Hitchcock. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Laurence's,  R.  F.  Bernard  Gregson. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Edmund's,  R.  F.  James  Nelson. 

The  Abbess  of  Cambray,  Dame  Marina  Appleton. 

Their  Vicar,  R.  F.  Francis  Muttlebury. 

The  Procurator  at  Rome,  R.  F.  Corker. 

Secretary,  R.  F.  Cuthbert  Parker. 

And  now  the  Secular  Catholic  Clergy  having  had  leisure  to 
see  the  inconveniency  of  the  Bishop  of  Chalcedon's  claim  to  the 
title  of  Ordinary  of  Great  Britain,  had  obtained  from  Rome  that 
of  Vicar  Apostolic  and  now  began  to  urge  it  on  the  monks. 
This  caused  some  disputes  which  ended  not  of  some  years,  for 
that  the  Benedictines  in  virtue  of  old  rights  &c,  were  totally 
independent  of  them,  but  of  this  ample  title  came  to  have  some 
sort  of  dependence  on  them,  which  did  them  no  hurt  but  good  ; 
for  their  great  Bull  of  Plantata  being  questioned,  it  was  proved 


228  CHAPTER     THE     SIXTY-FIRST. 

an  authentic  Bull,  declared  such   and  maintained  as  such  by  the 
Cardinals  in  1695. 

Anno  1686  January  ist,  S.  V.  the  Bishop  and  Superiors  of  the 
Regulars  in  England  were  ordered  to  attend  his  Majesty  at  nine 
o'clock,  who  made  them  all  a  most  admirable  speech  to  persuade 
them  to  love  and  unity  amongst  themselves  as  being  all  concerned 
for  the  public  good ;  assuring  them  that  for  his  part  he  would 
do  as  much  as  lay  in  him  and  as  he  could  do  by  law,  to  propa- 
gate the  Catholic  Faith,  and  that  he  would  be  a  most  obedient 
child  of  his  mother  Church  and  desired  their  advice  and  counsel 
from  time  to  time  as  to  what  might  be  most  expedient  to  be 
done ;  desiring  their  conversation  might  be  such  as  might  give 
no  ill  example  to  the  enemies  of  the  Church,  not  only  in  their 
manners  but  doctrine.  For,  said  he,  there  are  some  who  out  of 
ambition  to  be  counted  great  and  learned  hold  erroneous  prin- 
ciples contrary  to  the  Catholic  Faith,  and  have  had  many  follow- 
ers, and  this  by  name  Mr.  Blacklow ;  and  advised  them  not  to 
admit  of  his  principles.  And  in  doing  other  things,  he  said  with 
much  freedom,  begging  their  prayers  that  he  might  prosper  in 
his  designs,  his  only  aim  and  design  being  the  honour  and  glory 
of  God  and  advancing  Catholic  religion. 

This  same  year  at  Lambspring  amidst  the  prayers  of  the  Reli- 
gious died  Sir  Thomas  Gascoign,  Knight,  Baronet  aet.  93;  a  person 
of  great  piety  who  in  his  younger  days  visited  the  Holy  Sepul- 
chre at  Jerusalem ;  and  flung  into  the  sham  plot  of  Gates  by  two 
of  his  servants  was  imprisoned  and  in  danger  of  his  life.  But  by 
the  goodness  of  God  being  delivered  from  these  troubles  (con- 
trary to  all  human  expectation)  and  the  Abbot  of  Lambspring 
being  his  brother,  he  withdrew  thither  and  spent  the  remainder 
of  his  life  (which  was  about  five  or  six  years)  in  devotion,  admit- 
ted to  the  Confraternity  of  the  Congregation,  and  lies  interred 
with  his  brother  in  the  same  grave. 


229 


CHAPTER    THE    SIXTY-SECOND. 

THE    CONGREGATION  RENOUNCES   ALL  CLAIM  TO  ITS  FORMER 
ESTATES  IN  ENGLAND.     VARIOUS    EVENTS    CONNECTED    WITH 

THE     CONVENT  AT  ST.  JAMES*.        THE     FATHERS     ARE 
DISPERSED    BY     THE    REVOLUTION. 


BUT  the  most  remarkable  thing  of  this  year  was  the  sermon 
of  Bishop  Ellis,  (then  Father  Ellis),  on  the  Feast  of  All  Saints  of 
the  Order  of  St.  Benedict  on  the  1 3th  of  November,  which  was 
afterwards  published  by  his  Majesty's  command,  printed  at  London 
by  his  printer  Henry  Hills  that  same  year,  in  which  are  these 
words  to  set  at  ease  the  hearts  of  such  as  were  jealous  of  their 
Church  lands  and  apprehensive  of  losing  them. 

"  But  this  posterity  of  theirs,  which  by  a  special  providence 
of  God  continues  by  an  uninterrupted  succession  to  this  very  day, 
through  all  the  revolutions  and  changes  which  have  swallowed 
up  so  many  other  Ecclesiastical  bodies  and  laid  them  in  the  dust, 
does  willingly  and  freely  renounce  all  titles  and  rights  which 
might  possibly  be  inherent  in  the  ancient  and  the  present  English 
Congregation  of  monks  who  acknowledge  by  my  mouth  that  the 
alienation  of  their  lands,  how  unjust  soever  in  the  beginning  and 
ensuing  confirmation  of  it,  is  now  fixed  by  so  full  and  incon- 
trollable  authority  both  of  Church  and  State  that  they  can  by  no 
law,  ecclesiastical  or  civil  be  wrested  out  of  the  hands  of  their 
present  possessors  or  their  heirs.  The  Church  and  in  her  name 


230  CHAPTER     THE     SIXTY-SECOND. 

the  Supreme  Pastor,  hath  quitted  all  pretentions  and  prays  that 
what  she  hath  loosed  upon  earth  may  be  loosed  in  heaven  ;  and 
that  everyone  concerned  may  enjoy  as  quiet  a  conscience,  as  they 
do  and  shall  to  the  end  of  the  world  enjoy  an  undisturbed  pos- 
session. The  Supreme  Civil  Magistrate  and  the  highest  Court  in 
this  realm  have  even  with  her  consent  passed  it  into  a  law,  which 
nothing  but  the  same  power  that  made  it  can  repeal.  As  for  the 
monks  themselves,  they,  ever  obedient  to  the  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral powers  and  tender  of  the  consciences  of  their  fellow 
Christians,  not  only  willingly  and  without  reserve  submit  to  this 
double  injunction,  but  also  add  a  separate  renunciation  of  their 
own.  They  suppose  no  judicious  person  will  question  their 
power  to  do  it  more  than  a  conscientious  person  will  question 
their  sincerity  that  they  have  actually  done  it.  That  ecclesiasti- 
cal as  well  as  secular  corporations  and  communities  can  alienate, 
is  certain.  And  lest  it  should  be  doubted  whether  they  have 
made  use  of  their  power  in  a  case  prudence  and  charity  and  even 
self  preservation  so  much  require,  they  again  solemnly  protest 
they  desire  nothing  should  be  restored  but  their  reputation  and 
to  be  thought  by  their  countrymen  neither  pernicious  nor  useless 
members  to  their  country.  And  when  I  have  in  view  the 
apostles  of  religion  in  this  kingdom,  the  planters,  the  propagators 
and  preservers  of  it,  a  Sigebert,  an  Alfred  and  an  Ethelred  and 
many  others  once  powerful  monarchs  in  this  island  who  postponed 
the  purple  to  the  cowl;  when  I  contemplate  a  St.  Erminburga,a  St. 
Eanfieda,  an  Editha,  an  Elianora,  with  many  others  once  glorious 
Queens  in  this  island  who  preferred  the  humility  of  a  monastic 
habit  and  obscurity  of  a  cell  to  the  pomp  and  spendour  of  a 
court;  when  I  behold  I  say,  so  many  royal  advocates  appearing 
in  behalf  of  their  Order,  I  will  suppose  so  just  a  cause  is  gained, 
so  reasonable  a  request  is  granted."  This  was  in  the  King's  presence. 

This  same  year  also  Dada  the  Pope's  Nuncio  was  consecrated 
Archbishop  of  Amasia  in  presence  of  the  said  King  and  the  two 
Queen^,  Mary  Beatrix  of  Modena,  Queen  of  England,  and 
Catherine  of  Portugal,  Queen  Dowager  of  England,  at  the  Chapel 
of  St.  James' (May  ist,  1687). 

At  Paris  in  1688  (February  I2th.)  died  R.  F.  Hugh  Starkey 


CHAPTER     THE     SIXTY-SECOND.  23! 

confessor  to  the  English  Benedicline  Nuns,  who  in  England  lived 
with  my  Lord  Bellasis  ;  a  very  venerable  and  reverend  Missioner. 

At  St.  James'  Chapel  after  Easter(May  6th,  1688)  R.F.  Philip 
Ellis  one  of  the  monks  of  that  royal  Benedictine  Convent  was  con- 
secrated Bishop  of  Aureliopolis.  He  was  professed  at  Douay. 

And  on  the  25th  of  Oclober  the  baptismal  ceremony  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales  was  there  also  performed ;  for  as  to  the  Sacra- 
ment it  was  administered  to  him  the  next  day  after  his  birth. 

In  December  following,  the  Orangian  Revolution  bereaved 
the  Fathers  of  their  royal  Chapel  and  Convent  and  the  house  was 
profaned  by  the  wickedness  which,  in  the  depths  of  God's  judg- 
ments, was  then  permitted  to  prevail. 

Anno  1689  died  Pope  Innocent  XI  to  whom  succeeded 
Alexander  the  VIII. 


232 


CHAPTER   THE   SIXTY-THIRD. 

THE     TWENTIETH     GENERAL     CHAPTER     IS     HELD     AT      PARIS. 
DEATH    OF     FATHER     MAURUS    NELSON     AND    ABBOT    SHERWOOD; 
THE     BUILDING     OF     LAMBSPRING     CHURCH. 


THE  twentieth  General  Chapter  was  kept  at  Paris  (1689)  in 
which  R.  F.  Shirburn  was  again  continued  President. 

Second  elecl:  President,  R.  F.  Maurus  Corker. 

The  same  Provincials  again. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Gregory's,  R.  F.  William  Hitchcock. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Laurence's  R.  F.  James  Mather. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Edmund's,  R.  F.  Francis  Fenwick. 

The  Abbess  of  Cambray,  Dame  Marina  Appleton. 

Their  Vicar,  R.  F.  Wolstan  Crosby. 

Secretary.  R.  F.  Bede  More. 

Anno  1690  (May  i/th),  at  the  English  Benedictine  nuns  at 
Paris  died  an  egregious  pattern  and  rare  example  of  virtue,  Dame 
Justina  Gascoigne,  daughter  to  the  above  named  Sir  Thomas 
Gascoigne.  She  was  professed  of  Cambray. 

On  the  3rd  of  May  died  R.  F.  Maurus  Nelson  Sub-prior, 
dvice-Master  and  Procurator  of  St.  Edmund's,  Licentiate  in 
Divinity  ;  wherefore  all  the  Licentiates  of  Sorbonne  came  to  St. 
Edmund's  and  sang  a  very  solemn  Requiem  for  him  a  little 
while  after  his  interment.  He  was  a  great  example  of  exadl  regu- 
larity and  his  death  a  great  loss  to  his  house  of  Paris. 

And  the   26th  of  June   at  Hildesheim  died  Rev.  Fr.  Joseph 


CHAPTER     THE     SIXTY-THIRD.  233 

Sherwood,  Abbot  of  Lambspring,  and  was  brought  to  this  Abbey 
the  same  day ;  a  most  industrious,  indefatigable,  and  successful 
man  in  the  temporals  of  that  house  which  owes  its  present  wel- 
fare to  his  pious  cares  ;  for  he  looked  after  all  things  for  a  great 
while  under  Abbot  Gascoigne  who  at  last  took  him  for  his  coad- 
jutor. He  was  very  acceptable  to  the  princes  of  the  country ; 
namely  :  the  elector  of  Cologne,  the  Prince  of  Neuberg,  and 
the  Bishop  of  Munster,  who  employed  him  in  England  when  he 
was  even  only  Prior  of  Lambspring,  sometimes  as  their  agent, 
sometimes  as  their  envoy  to  King  Charles  II.  He  was  a  great 
lover  of  learning  and  spared  nothing  to  promote  and  encourage  it 
in  his  religious  ;  much  given  to  hospitality  and  notwithstanding 
his  great  expenses  about  the  great  new-built  Church  and  repair- 
ing other  buildings,  he  left  fewer  debts  when  he  died  than  he 
found  when  he  was  chosen  Abbot. 

Anno  1691  died  Pope  Alexander  VIII  to  whom  succeeded 
Innocent  the  XII. 

On  the  a6th  of  May,  1670  (Feast  of  St.  Augustine  of  Eng- 
land), the  English  Fathers  laid  the  first  stone  of  their  noble 
Church  of  Lambspring  (which  has  eight  or  nine  Altars  and  an 
organ  of  forty  eight  voices),  and  on  the  z6th  of  May  this  1691, 
it  was  solemnly  dedicated  ;  and  on  the  8th  of  November  follow- 
ing, the  town  of  Lambspring  took  fire  at  four  of  the  clock  in  the 
morning  and  was  quite  consumed  in  the  space  of  six  hours  ;  by 
a  singular  providence  of  God  the  Abbey  with  its  new  Church 
escaped.  I  shall  not  here  trouble  my  reader  with  the  particu- 
larities of  the  corporal  charities  of  the  Fathers  to  the  poor  town 
folks  in  such  exigences.  But  I  can't  omit  relating  and  that  with- 
out exaggeration,  that  when  the  English  Monks  began  to  live 
there,  there  was  scarce  above  two  or  three  Catholics,  and  in  1696 
they  counted  at  Lambspring  about  three  hundred  Catholics,  if 
not  more. 


2F 


234 


CHAPTER   THE   SIXTY-FOURTH. 

THE  GENERAL    CHAPTER  OF   1693  AND  THE  CHIEF  EVENTS 

DURING    THE    QuADRIENNIUM . 


ANNO  1693,  at  the  2ist  General  Chapter,  held  at  Douay  R. 
F.  Joseph  Shirburn  was  continued  President. 

Second  elecl:  President,  R.  F.  Austin  Howard. 

The  Provincial  of  Canterbury,  R.  F.  Austin  Constable. 

The  Provincial  of  York,  R.  F.  Michael  Pullein. 

The  Abbot  of  Lambspring  R.  F.  Maurus  C  orker. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Gregory's,  R.  F.  John  Phillipson. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Laurence's,  R.  F.  Laurence  Champney. 

The   Prior  of  St.  Edmund's,  R.  F.  Placid  Nelson. 

The  Abbess  of  Cambray,  Dame  Marina  Appleton. 

Their  Vicar.  ? 

Secretary,  R.  F.  Bede  Moore. 

At  this  chapter  La  Celle  was  declared  to  make  but  one  and 
the  same  house  with  that  of  Paris,  whereas  before  it  had  carried 
itself  like  as  if  it  had  been  a  convent  by  itself. 

Anno  1694,  January  10,  died  R.  F.  Joseph  Frere  aged  ninety 
six,  and  the  Both  year  of  his  religious  profession.  The  Venerable 
Father  was  more  spent  than  they  were  aware  of  who  were  about 
him,  when  the  most  Holy  Sacrament  of  the  Altar  was  given  him, 
for  his  Viaticum ;  wherefore  being  troubled  with  phlegm  and 
going  to  evacuate  it,  contrary  to  his  expectation  the  Holy  Eu  cha- 
rist  came  along  with  it  on  the  floor ;  and  R.  F.  William  Hitch- 


CHAPTER    THE    SIXTY-FOURTH.  235 

cock,  a  devout  old  monk  (who  by  many  notable  things  has  highly 
deserved  of  his  Congregation),  with  an  heroical  courage,  a  lively 
faith,  and  flaming  charity  most  reverently  took  it  up  and  over- 
coming all  repugnancy  swallowed  it  spittle  and  all ;  a  glorious 
and  venerable  example  worthy  of  eternal  memory. 

On  the  29th  of  January  (1694)  died  the  Reverend  Mother 
Marina  Appleton,  aet :  74,  professed  5 1  ;  of  a  convert  of  consider- 
able parentage  she  became  a  nun  at  Cambray  and  gave  great 
example  of  piety  and  religion  not  only  in  her  private  condition 
but  also  in  the  dignity  of  Abbess  ;  of  which  function  she  most 
admirably  acquitted  herself  for  the  space  of  thirteen  years  together, 
having  been  four  times  chosen  to  it. 

In  Holy  Week  his  Majesty  James  II  made  a  spiritual  retreat 
at  St.  Edmund's  at  Paris,  extremely  satisfied  with  his  accommoda- 
tion though  the  house  is  but  little. 

On  the  loth  of  April  1695  (Holy  Saturday)  died  R.  F.  Bede 
(Foster)  otherwise  William  Thornton,  the  last  professed  of  the 
house  of  St.  Malo. 

October  22nd  1694  at  Paris  died  R.F.Thomas  Hesketh,  Doc- 
tor of  Sorbonne,  aged  30  ;  and  on  the  3oth  at  Rome  R.  F.  Francis 
Fenwick,  Doctor  of  Sorbonne,  a  very  fine  preacher,  in  great 
repute  with  King  James  II  who  sent  him  to  Rome  to  ad:  for 
him  at  that  Court.  These  Doctors  were  both  professed  at  St. 
Edmund's. 

This  year  (25  Maii)  for  the  first  time,  the  monks  of  St. 
Edmund's  appeared  upon  public  duty  of  the  town,  going  in 
recession,  like  the  other  convents,  to  the  Cathedral  and  to  the 
Church  of  St.  Genovefa. 

Anno  1695,  my  Lord  Lauderdale  dying  at  Paris,  was  accord- 
ing to  his  desire  buried  in  the  cave  of  St.  Edmund's ;  but  no  one 
has  laid  stone  on  his  grave  or  set  up  a  monument  in  the  Church. 

Anno  1696,  R.  F.  Corker  on  the  27th  of  July  (S.  V.)  gave 
up  the  Abbey  of  Lambspring  in  which  dignity  succeeded  Father 
Maurus,  otherwise  John  Knightley  whose  promotion  was  the 
work  of  the  Germans,  whereby  great  trouble  rose  in  that  Abbey 
which  could  not  be  ended  of  some  years ;  the  country  maintain- 
ing him,  and  the  monks  not  liking  to  be  imposed  on.  Woe  unto 


236  CHAPTER     THE     SIXTY-FOURTH. 

the  world  because  of  offences  ;  for  it  must  need  be  that  offences 
come,  but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the  offence  cometh.  Ava- 
rice captivated  Judas  though  in  the  company  of  the  twelve 
Apostles  guided  and  governed  by  nothing  less  than  Christ  him- 
self. So  no  wonder  if  in  a  monastery  an  unhappy  man  be  hurled 
away  sometimes  by  ambition.  Of  such  unhappy  falls  not  only 
the  earth  but  even  the  heavens  themselves  give  us  a  strange 
example,  to  let  us  see  that  in  truth  there  is  nothing  for  us  to  take 
scandal  at  in  such  accidents.  What  ruined  the  first  angel  in 
heaven  but  ambition  ?  But  to  return  to  R.  F.  Corker.  In  the 
time  of  King  James  he  found  means  to  rear  up  a  very  pretty 
Convent  somewhere  towards  Clerkenwell  at  London  which  the 
mob  pulled  to  pieces  at  the  arrival  of  the  Prince  of  Orange. 

In  September  this  same  year  1696,  King  James  II  of  happy 
memory  made  another  spiritual  retreat  at  St.  Edmund's.  The 
ancient  histories  of  England  shew  a  great  connection  betwixt  the 
English  purple  and  the  Benedictine  Cowl,  which  Divine  Provi- 
dence has  been  pleased  to  renew  in  these  latter  ages  ;  for  besides 
what  I  have  already  said  of  King  Charles  II,  his  said  majesty  in 
1659,  September  4,  R.  F.  Gabriel  Brett  being  Prior  of  St.  Male's, 
came  privately  to  Clermont  (a  place  on  the  continent  belonging 
to  the  Convent  of  St.  Malo's  and  making  part  of  it),  and  stayed 
there  with  the  monks  eight  days  ;  upon  which  over  their  Guest- 
room they  put  these  Verses  : 

Augustae  paupertatem  ne  spreveris  aulae 

Hospitium  Rex  hie  repperit  atque  fidem. 

Ce  lieu  quoique  petit  et  pauvre  ne  t'offense 

Puisqu'un  Roy  y  a  pris  son  git  en  assurance. 


CHAPTER  THE  SIXTY  FIFTH. 

THE     DECEASE     OF     R.     F.     SHIRBURN     AT     ST.     EDMUND^ 


ANNO  1697  April  9th,  R.  F.  Joseph  Shirburn  died  in  the 
Convent  of  St.  Edmund's  the  house  of  his  profession  in  the  69th 
year  and  46th  of  his  monachism.  Though  one  part  of  his  body 
direftly  from  his  head  to  his  toe  was  struck  with  a  dead  palsy, 
yet  he  held  with  great  example  to  the  austerity  of  the  diet  of  the 
convent.  He  industriously  reared  up  the  new  Church  and  dor- 
mitory of  St.  Edmund's  and  adorned  the  sacristy  with  church 
plate  and  ornaments,  got  his  benefice  of  Choisy  annexed  to  the 
house  as  a  perpetual  rent  and  procured  that  the  Religious  might 
be  capable  of  benefices  ;  by  which  means  and  the  charitable  piety 
of  the  faithful  the  said  convent  of  Paris  subsists.  He  was  so 
acceptable  to  the  late  King  James  II  of  glorious  memory,  that 
by  his  Majesty's  means  he  once  brought  Cardinal  Bovillon  into 
favour  again  with  his  most  Christian  Majesty,  whose  displeasure 
his  Eminency  had  then  for  something  or  other  very  much  incur- 
red, so  that  he  lived  far  from  Court. 

To  R.  F.  Shirburn   succeeded   in   the   office   R.  F.  Austin 
Howard,  the  second  elecl:  President. 


238 


CHAPTER  THE   SIXTY-SIXTH. 

THE    GENERAL  CHAPTER    OF    1697,    ELECTIONS,   DEATHS  &c. 


THE  22nd  General  Chapter  was  held  at  London  (1697)  m 
which  R.  F.  Bernard  Gregson  was  chosen  President. 

Second  elect  President,  again  R.  F.  Austin  Howard. 

The  Provincial  of  Canterbury,  R.  F.  Austin  Howard. 

The  Provincial  of  York,  R.  F.  Michael  Pullein. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Gregory's,  R.  F.  John  Phillipson. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Laurence's,  R.  F.  Laurence  Champney. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Edmund's,  R.  F.  Joseph  Johnston  who  giv- 
ing up  his  office  R.  F.  William  Hitchcock  was  Prior  of  Paris. 

The  Abbess  of  Cambray,  Dame  Scholastica  Houghton. 

Their  Vicar,  R.  F.  Cuthbert  Tatham. 

Secretary,  R.  F.  Laurence  Fenwick. 

Anno  1698  (September  22nd)  ast:  90,  at  London  in  Somerset 
house  died  R.  F.  John  Huddleston  who  was  so  instrumental  in 
saving  King  Charles  II  &c,  as  hath  been  said. 

Anno  1699,  August  the  25th  on  the  Feast  of  St.  Louis,  the  Eng- 
lish Benedictine  Bishop,  the  Reverend  Father  in  God  Philip  Ellis 
sung  the  High  Mass  in  the  French  Church  at  Rome  before  many 
Cardinals  invited  and  received  by  the  Cardinal  of  Bouillon ;  the 
Prince  of  Monacho  ambassador  of  France,  being  then  incognito 
assisted  in  a  tribune. 

On  the  third  of  September  in  the  8 1  st  year  of  his  age  and 
59th  of  religion  died  R.  F.  Bennet  Nelson.  He  was  very  zealous 
all  his  life  time  for  exact  regularity  of  which  he  was  a  great  ex- 


CHAPTER     THE     SIXTY-SIXTH.  239 

ample.  By  order  of  the  R.  F.  President  Austin  Hungate  he  put 
off  the  house  of  St.  Male's  to  the  monks  of  St.  Maur  ;  but  what 
fatigue  he  underwent  before  he  could  so  happily  conclude  that 
affair  is  almost  past  relation.  R.  F.  Hungate  was  so  satisfied  with 
him  for  this  piece  of  service  that  he  mighty  kindly  invited  him 
into  England  to  live  with  his  nephew  a  baronet  of  whom  he  had 
formerly  taken  care  ;  but  he  desired  to  be  excused,  dreading  the 
Mission  to  be  a  work  that  might  surpass  him,  wherefore  he  was 
left  to  his  freedom  and  never  quitted  his  Cloister  but  became  a 
constant  confessarius  at  the  great  Convent  of  the  Carmelite  nuns 
over  against  his  Monastery. 

In  1700,  March  4th,  Mr.  Francis  Stafford,  son  to  Viscount 
Stafford  (who  in  his  decrepit  old  age  was  most  barbarously  and 
wickedly  sworn  out  of  his  life  by  the  miscreants  of  his  days)  died 
at  St.  Edmund's  and  lies  buried  in  their  cave.  James  II  sent  him 
thither  that  he  might  be  better  able  to  prepare  himself  for  death. 

On  the  2oth  of  May,  the  Solemnity  of  the  Ascension,  James, 
Prince  of  Wales,  did  them  the  honour  of  visiting  them  for  the 
first  time. 

Anno  1701,  June  9th,  died  Philip  of  France,  Duke  of  Orleans, 
who  in  his  time  had  much  honoured  the  English  monks  of  St. 
Edmund's ;  who  repaid  him  with  a  Solemn  Requiem  for  the  rest 
of  his  soul. 


24° 


CHAPTER   THE    FIFTY   SEVENTH. 


THE    23RD   GENERAL    CHAPTER    ANNO,    1701. 


THE  twenty-third  General  Chapter  was  held  at  Douay  in 
1701  in  which  Father  Austin  Howard  was  chosen  President. 

Second  elecl:  President,  R.  F.  Augustine  Constable. 

The  Provincial  of  Canterbury,  R.  F.  Bernard  Gregson. 

The  Provincial  of  York,  R.  F.  Augustine  Tempest. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Gregory's,  R.  F.  Michael  Pullein. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Laurence's,  R.  F.  James  Mather,  upon  whose 
refusal  it  fell  at  last  to  R.  F.  Watmough. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Edmund's,  R.  F.  Anthony  Turberville. 

The  Abbess  of  Cambray,  Dame  Margaret  Swinburn. 

Their  Vicar,  R.  F.  Joseph  Berriman. 

Secretary,  R.  F.  Francis  Rookwood. 

In  the  foregoing  General  Chapter  in  1698,  the  RR.  Fathers 
decreed  that  no  President,  Provincial,  Conventual  Prior  and 
Abbess  should  be  chosen  immediately  again  to  the  same  office. 


241 


CHAPTER    THE   SIXTY-EIGHTH. 

THE    DECEASE    OF    KlNG   JAMES    II;    HIS    OBSEQUIES    AT 
ST.   EDMUND'S  MONASTERY    AT    PARIS. 


ON  the  1 6th  of  September  (N.  S.)  at  St.  Germans  en  Lay  died 
King  James  II  of  most  glorious  memory.  The  next  night  his 
body  was  brought  to  St.  Edmund's  and  laid  in  my  Lord  Cardigan's 
Chapel.  The  Benedictines  of  France  of  the  Congregation  of  St. 
Maur,  invited  by  their  English  brethren,  performed  the  royal 
services  the  next  day  ;  Dom  Charles  Petey,  Prior  of  St.  German's 
Abbey,  had  the  honour  of  singing  the  royal  Requiem,  and  his 
subprior  on  the  thirtieth  day.  In  the  meantime  till  the  forti- 
eth day,  besides  the  office  of  the  Mass,  a  Requiem  never  failed 
to  be  sung  every  day  for  the  King ;  and  during  all  that  time,  such 
being  the  rites  of  royal  funerals  in  France,  the  royal  corpse  was 
attended  night  and  day  by  a  monk  employed  in  praying  for  his 
soul,  though  it  was  thought  needless  :  all  the  world  esteeming  his 
injuries  on  earth  to  have  stood  him  instead  of  a  purgatory.  But 
before  I  go  any  further,  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  reader  I  think 
it  may  be  to  the  purpose  to  insert  the  speeches  made  when  his 
royal  corpse  was  brought  to  the  Church.  Dr.  Ingleby,  one  of 
the  King's  Chaplains,  being  then  "  in  week  ",  at  the  reposing  of 
the  royal  corpse  in  the  middle  of  the  Church,  addressed  himself 
to  R.  F.  Prior  and  the  Convent  in  these  words  : 

"  Tristi,  Reverende  Pater,  et  lugubri  admodum  fungor  minis- 
terio,  non  verbis  sed  fletibus  potius  peragendo,  dum  offero  tibi 

2  G 


242  CHAPTER      THE     SIXTY-EIGHTH. 

corpus  potentissimi,  excellentissimi,  clementissimi  Domini  mei 
Jacobi  secundi,  Regis  Magni  Britanniae.  Laudibus  ilium  cele- 
brare  non  aggredior;  lugerem  potius  ac  dicerem  cum  sapientis- 
simo  illo  regum  :  Laudent  eum  in  portis  opera  ejus.  Infirma 
enim  sunt  oratorum  eloquia,  fragiles  etiam  marmoreas  illae  tabulae 
quibus  perituri  servantur  tituli,  et  in  pulverem  sicut  illi  quos 
memorant,  cito  resolventur.  Opera  autem  sanctorum  sequuntur 
illos  et  in  aeternurn  permanent. 

Laudabit  ergo  piissimum  hunc  Principem  quamdiu  stabit, 
ecclesia;  eumque  rehgionis  non  tantum  defensorem  ac  Propaga- 
torem,  sed  et  victimam  prasdicabit.  Laudabunt  ilium  tot  victori- 
arum  suarum  monumenta  et  invictissima  ilia  animi  fortitude, 
seu  qua  hostes  victor  toties  debellavit,  seu  qua  hostibus  victus 
ignovit.  Minus  enim  miror,  Reverende  Pater,  Regem  de  hos- 
tibus triumphantem,  quam  Regem  crudelissimis  hostibus  veniam 
donantem.  Minus  ilium  miror  in  solio  sedentem,  quam  prop- 
ter  amorem  Christi  ac  defensionem  ecclesiae  e  solio  descendentem. 
Laudabunt  et  ad  ccelum  pertingent  tot  gemitus  pauperum  atque 
exulum  qui  parentem  suum  asque  ac  regem  lugent;  sed  et  lau- 
dabunt  tandem  ipsa  ingrata  atque  infausta  ilia  regna,  quae  ad 
pedes  Agni  instar  regum  Apocalypseos  deposuit  ut  fidem  servaret. 
Fidem  servavit,  et  hasc  erit  victoria  qua  vicit  mundum,  Fides 
Christi.  Utque  omnia  uno  verbo  ecclesiae  complectar,  effecit 
fides  illius  ut  prospera  hujus  mundi  despiceret  et  nulla  ejus  ad- 
versa  formidaret.  Regnavit  quippe  in  illo  pietas  ;  hocque  veluti 
firmissimo  propugnaculo  per  mundi  illecebras  et  aerumnas  asquo 
animo  pertransiit.  Praevalebat  quidem  exterius  in  diebus  hisce 
nubis  et  caliginis,  prasvalebat  ad  tempus  perduellionis  ac  tyranni- 
dis  furor,  sed  stetit  semper  interius  ac  triumphavit  inconcussum 
illud  regnum  charitatis,  quo,  ut  ait  S.  Augustinus,  persecutor  per- 
venire  non  potest  ubi  habitat  Deus  meus. 

Est  ergo,  Reverendi  Patres,  cur  vobis,  imo  et  toti  Gallic  gra- 
tulemur,  cui  pretiosissimas  has  reliquias  custodiri  concessum  est. 
Benedixit  olim  Obededom  et  omni  domui  ejus,  quia  Area  Domini 
in  eo  habitavit.  Det  Deus  ut  domus  et  Imperium  Ludovici 
Magni,  Regum  optimi  et  gloriosissimi  benedicatur,  ac  ccelestibus 
seternisque  donis  cumuletur,  qui  illustrissimum  hunc  Principem, 


CHAPTER     THE     SIXTY-EIGHTH.  243 

cujus  rcliquias  veneramur,  viventem  ac  morientem  cumulavit 
beneficiis. 

Nos  autem,  Reverend!  Patres,  dum  Ecclesiae  triumphantis 
coetus,  atque  angelici  chori  gloriam  defun<5li  Principis  ac  trium- 
phum  celebrant,  sermonem  in  nosmetipsos  ac  lu&um  totum  con- 
vertamus.  Liceat  mihi  verba  ilia  usurpare,  qua?  audire  videor  : 
"  Nolite  flere  super  me,  sed  super  vos  ipsos  flete."  Nostra  enim 
est,  quanta  quanta  sit,  ilia  jactura,  nullis  fletibus  redimenda  :  illi 
vero,  ut  saspius  insinuare  solebat,  et  vivere  Christus  erat  et  mori 
lucrum. 

Verumtamen,  si  mortem  subiisti  temporalem,  vivis  tamen, 
O  !  meritissime,  piissime,  clementissime  princeps,  vhys  et  regnas 
ante  thronum  Dei,  ubi  coronam  tandem,  non  temporalem  sed 
aeternam  comparasti.  Vivis  etiam  in  illustrissirno  filio,  vero 
meritorum  tuorum  non  minus  quam  imperii  hasrede.  Illius 
fama  ac  virtus  a  saeculo  inaudita,  nomen  tuum  ac  gloriam  in 
omne  asvum  prorogabit. 

Sed  et  vivis  semper  in  intimis  animorum  nostrorum  affectibus. 
Quot  sunt  fidelium  corda,  tot  tibi  erunt  viva  perennis  glorias  ac 
memoriae  monumenta." 

Reverend  Father  Prior  replied  : 

"  Lugubris  hac  pompa,  Sapientissime  Domine,  gemitus  et 
lacrymas  magis  quam  verba  exigere  videtur :  siquidem  deponitis 
apud  Benedictinam  hanc  familiam  serenissimi  Jacobi  II,  Regis 
Angliae,  Congregationis  nostrae  patroni  praecipui,  tristes  exuvias  ; 
imo  potius,  laetas  reliquias  sanftissimi  confessoris,  ne  dicam  inclyti 
martyris.  Quid  enim  tot  et  tantae  ejus  dum  viveret  virtutes,  quid 
pia  mors,  nisi  sandlissimum  confessorem  ?  Quid  tot  asrumnas,  tot 
injurias  ob  Christi  nomen  patientissime  tolerate  ?  Quid  tria  flo- 
rentissima  regna  propter  fidem  Catholicam  amissa,  nisi  insignem 
martyrem  praedicant  ?  Sacrum  ergo  pignus  depositum,  san&e  a 
nobis  servandum  accipimus :  reddituri  procul  dubio  fideliter, 
quando  ab  eis  quorum  interest  jussi  fuerimus.  Deum  interim 
Omnipotentem  diu  noftuque  humillimis  precibus  pro  anirme 
ejus  refrigerio  deprecaturi,  si  tamen  indiguerit.  De  caetero, 
gratias  agimus  immortales  turn  Ludovico  Magno,  turn  Serenis- 


244  CHAPTER     THE     SIXTY-EIGHTH. 

simae  Mariae,  Angliae  Regins,  quod  nos  tantillos  tanto  honore 
affecerint.  Quos  Deus,  optimus,  maximus,  necnon  et  serenis- 
simum  Jacobum  III  Anglias  Regem  diu,  non  nobis  tantum,  sed 
et  toti  Ecclesiae  suas  sandbe  incolumes  servet,  gubernet  et  pro- 
tegat. 

On  the  royal  coffin  a  brass  plate  contains  these  words : 
Icy  est  le  corps  de  Tres-Haut  &  Tres- Puissant  et  Tres  Excel- 
lent Prince  Jacques  II   par  la  Grace  de  Dieu  Roy  de  la  Grande 
Bretagne  ne  le  24  O&obre  1633.     Decede  en  France  au  Chateau 
de  St.  Germain  en  Laye  le  16  Sept.  1701. 

Part  of  the  flesh  taken  from  his  body  when  it  was  embalmed 
and  of  his^bowels  or  entrails  (of  which  the  Jesuits  of  St.  Omer's 
had  the  rest)  are  interred  in  the  parish  Church  of  St.  Germain's  en 
Lay  with  this  Latin  epitaph  which  I  give  paraphrased  by  Sr. 
Girardin. 

Regi  regum 
Felicique  memoriae 
Jacobi  II  Majoris  Britannia?  Regis 
Au  Roy  qui  fait  regner  tous  les  Rois  de  la  Terre 

Et  pour  transmettre  aux  siecles  a  venir 
Le  precieux  depot  de  1'heureux  souvenir 
Du  grand  Roy  Jacques  d'Angleterre. 

Qui  sua  hie  viscera  condi  voluit 

Conditus  ipse  in  visceribus  Christi 

Ce  lieu  saint  est  1'azile  ainsi  qu'il  1'a  prescrit 

De  ses  entrailles  venerables 

Et  lui  meme  goute  le  fruit 

De  ses  vertus  incomparables. 

Dans  Tazile  eternel  du  sein  de  Jesus  Christ 

Fortitudine  bellica  nulli  secundus 

Fide  Christiana  cui  non  par 
Nul  ne  porta  plus  haut  la  Gloire 

Qui  suit  la  parfait  valeur 
Et  par  la  pure  Foy  qui  regna  dans  son  coeur 
A  qui  ne  peut  on  pas  comparer  sa  memoire. 

Per  alteram  quid  non  ausus  ? 
Propter  alteram  quid  non  passus  ? 


CHAPTER     THE     SIXTY-EIGHTH.  245 

Est  il  quelque  chemin  aux  grandes  actions 

Ou  ne  1'ait  pas  conduit  1'ardeur  de  son  courage 

Est  il  de  coup  affreux  de  revolutions 

Qui  de  sa  piete  n'ait  etc  le  partage  ? 

Ilia  plus  quam  Heros 

Ista  prope  Martyr. 

II  remplit  d'un  Hero  les  plus  vastes  desirs 
Partout  ou  des  grands  coeurs  la  vertu  se  signale ; 
Et  dans  ce  qu'il  souffrit,  sa  Foy  fut  presque  egale 
A  la  Foy  meme  des  Martyrs. 

Fide  fortis  accensus  periculis 

Ereclus  adversis 

Fort  de  cette  force  sublime 

Son  coeur  sans  relache  agite 

Parut  dans  les  perils  toujours  plus  magnanime 

Et  plus  grand  dans  1'adversite. 

Nemo  Rex  magis  cui  Regna  quatuor 
Anglia,  Scotia,  Hibernia ;  ubi  quartum  ? 

Ipse  sibi 
Vraiment  grand  Roi !  dont  le  pouvoir  supreme 

Eut  quatre  Empires  sous  ses  Loix; 
L'Angleterre    et  1'Ecosse  et  1'Irlande  a  la  fois 

Et  quel  etoit  le  quatrieme  ? 

Celui  qui  le  rendit  sage  entre  les  grands  Rois 

L'Empire  qu'il  eut  sur  soy  meme. 

Tria  eripi  potuere,  Quartum  intactum  mansit; 

Priorum  defensio  Exercitus,  qui  defecerunt; 

Postremi  tutela  virtutes,  nunquam  transfugas. 

Des  trois  premiers  sans  peine  on  a  pu  le  priver 
Lorsqu'on  vit  ses  Troupes  Rebelles, 

Loin  de  perir  pour  le  sauver, 
Pousser  leurs  attentats  jusqu'a  se  soulever  ; 

Mais  du  dernier  les  Gardes  immortelles 
Ses  vertus,  dans  la  Paix  scurent  le  conserver 
Et  lui  furent  toujours  fidelles. 


246  CHAPTER     THE     SIXTY-EIGHTH. 

Quin  nec  ilia  tria  erepta  omnino. 
Instar  Regnorum  est  Ludovicus  hospes 
Sarcit  amicitia  talis  tanta?  sacrilegia  perfidiae ; 
Imperat  adhuc  qui  sic  exulat. 

Encore  ceux  la  quoique  envahis 
Ne  lui  furent  pas  meme  entierement  ravis  ; 
Et  dans  son  coeur  malgre  le  sacrilege  audace 
De  tant  de  crimes  inou'is 
L'hospitalite  de  Louis 
Remplit  abondamment  la  place 
Des  droits  sacrez  du  Trone  indignement  trahis. 

Les  augustes  liens  d'une  amitie  si  forte 
Dans  la  Grandeur  Royale  ont  soutenu  ses  jours 

Etre  exile  de  la  sorte 
N'est-ce-pas  regner  toujours  ? 

Moritur  ut  vixit,  Fide  plenus, 
Eoque  advolat  quo  Fides  ducit, 

Ubi  nihil  perfidia  potest. 

Enfin  sa  vive  Foy  san&ifia  sa  vie, 

Consomma  par  sa  mort  sa  tendre  Pie'te, 

Et  1'enleva  dans  la  felicite 

De  notre  Celeste  Patrie, 

Inaccessible  aux  traits  de  I'lnfidelite. 

Non  fletibus  hie  ;  canticis  locus  est, 

Aut  si  flendum,  flenda  Anglia. 

Que  de  cantiques  saints  ce  Tombeau  retentisse, 

Et  que  toujours  on  en  bannisse 

Et  les  larmes  et  les  douleurs. 

Ou  s'il  y  faut  pleurer,  s'il  faut  qu'on  y  gemisse, 

Pour  1'Angleterre  seule  il  faut  verser  des  pleurs." 

What  follows  is   at   the  Scotch   College  at  Paris,  where  his 
brains  are  in  a  fine  Mausoleum. 


CHAPTER      THE    SIXTY-EIGHTH.  247 

D.  O.  M. 

Memoriae 

Augustissimi  Principis 
Jocobi  II.  Magnae  Britan  :  &c,  Regis 

Ille  partis  terra  ac  mari  triumphis  clarus,  sed  constant!  in 
Deum  fide  clarior ;  huic  Regna,  opes  et  omnia  vita?  florentis  com- 
moda  postposuit.  Per  summum  seel  us  a  sua  sede  pulsus,  Abso- 
lomis  Impietatem,  Architophelis  perfidiam,  et  acerba  Semei 
convitia,  invi<5la  lenitate  et  patientia,  ipsis  etiam  inimicis  amicus, 
superavit  ;  Rebus  humanis  major,  adversis  superior  et  coelestis 
gloriae  studio  inflammatus,  quod  Regno  caruerit  sibi  visus  beatior, 
miseram  hanc  vitam  felici,  Regnum  terrestre  crelesti  commutavit. 
Haec  domus  quam  pius  Princeps  labantem  sustinuit,  et  patrie 
fovit,  cui  etiam  ingenii  sui  monumenta,  omnia  scilicet  MSS  sua 
costodienda  commisit,  earn  corporis  partem  qua  maxime  animus 
viget  religiose  servandam  suscepit. 

Vixit  annis  LXVIII,  Regnavit  XVI 
Obiit  XVI  Kal.  Oa.  An.  Sal.  Hum. 

M.  D.  CCI. 

Jacobus  Dux  de  Perth  PraefecTius  Institutioni  Jacobi  III 
Magnae  Britanniae  &c  Regis,  Hujus  domus  Benefactor  mcerens 
posuit. 

What  epitaph  the  Jesuits  have  framed  at  St.  Omer's,  or  the 
nuns  of  the  Visitation  at  Challiot  by  Paris,  where  his  royal  heart 
reposes  by  that  of  his  mother  Henrietta  of  France,  I  have  neither 
seen  nor  heard,  but  the  English  Austin  Nuns  having  obtained 
part  of  the  flesh  of  his  right  arm  entombed  in  the  wall  of  their 
choir  with  this  epitaph  : 

Parva  moles,  ingens  virtus, 
Particula  fortissimi  brachii 
Potentissimi  Principis  Jacobi  II 

Magnae  Britanniae  Regis, 
Quern  perduelles  subditi  immani  scelere 

In  exilium  pepulerunt. 

Verum  non  nisi  post  quam  Ipsum  se  captivum  fecerat 
In  obsequium  Fidei, 


248  CHAPTER     THE     SIXTY-EIGHTH. 

Vidtima  Religionis,  Norma  Pietatis,  Gloria  Catholicorum, 

Miraculum  Regum, 

Leclor,  bene  precare,  piis  ac  Regiis  manibus 

Et  venerare  Has,  tantum  non  sacras,  Reliquias 

Pretiosissimi  Dono  datas,  ac  huic  allatas  a  Castro  S.  Germ. 

in  Layo,  1701 

To  these  I  may  well  add  the  verses  of  Brother  Wilfrid  Reeves 
on  Louis  the  Great  and  James  the  Just 

L.  J. 

Quam  bene  junxerunt  Dii  te,  Ludovice,  Jacobo 

Dum  tu  defendis,  sustinet  ille,  Crucem 
.     Impare  sorte,  pares  meritis,  fortesque,  piique, 
Ilium  Palma  manet ;   Laurea  tota  tua  est. 

Leave  demanded  and  joyfully  granted,  the  Reverend  Domini- 
cans of  the  great  Convent  in  St.  James'  Street,  on  the  I9th.  of 
October  came  in  solemn  procession  to  St.  Edmund's,  and  sung  in 
musick  a  Requiem  for  the  King. 

On  the  fortieth  (day)  his  Service  was  kept  very  solemn,  the 
Church  hung  in  black  from  top  to  bottom  &c.  Dom  Arnoult, 
Lord  Prior  of  the  great  royal  Abbey  of  St.  Denis,  invited  by  the 
Fathers  of  St.  Edmund's,  officiated  in  great  state  with  his  Religious 
at  the  rate  of  their  Abbey  where  all  the  Kings  of  France  are 
interred. 


249 


CHAPTER  THE   SIXTY-NINTH. 

EXTRAORDINARY     EFFECTS     BY     THE     INVOCATION     OF     KlNG 

JAMES   II    OF    HOLY    MEMORY. 


ANNO  1702,  the  world  taking  alarm  at  miracles  said  to  be 
wrought  at  King  James'  tomb,  on  the  i8th  of  February  the 
Princess  of  Conde  came ;  on  the  6th  of  April  Madame  Mainte- 
non  ;  on  the  i  yth  of  April  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy  made  her 
Jubilee  Stations  at  the  Church,  and  was  some  time  in  prayer  in 
the  Chapel  where  the  royal  corpse  reposes  in  state.  A  month 
after,  to  wit  on  the  1 7th  of  May,  the  Archbishop  of  Paris,  Car- 
dinal Noailles,  did  the  same  thing  with  the  Canons  of  his  most 
illustrious  Cathedral  in  procession.  And  on  the  i5th  of  June 
following,  His  Eminence  issued  out  a  commission  to  Joachim  de 
la  Chetardie  (a  person  of  great  account,  Priest,  Bachelor  of  Sor- 
bonne  and  Curate  of  the  great  parish  of  St.  Sulpice  in  the 
Suburbs  of  St.  German  at  Paris,  a  man  of  eminent  learning  and 
piety  who  had  refused  a  bishopric )  to  examine  the  King's 
miracles,  which  he  did  with  great  exactness  and  all  the  rigour 
used  on  such  accounts,  and  has  verified  at  least  twenty.  The 
great  St.  Charles  Borromeus,  Cardinal  and  Archbishop  of  Milan, 
was  canonized  upon  the  proof  of  twenty  miracles.  Many  other 
great  persons  publicly  and  privately  have  and  do  visit  the  royal 
tomb.  Bishops  say  Mass  there  and  have  Masses  said  for  them. 
Particularly  the  late  famous  Bishop  of  Meaux,  M.  Bossuet, before 
his  death  had  neuvaines  celebrated  for  him  ;  so  likewise  Cardinal 
Coil  en,  Bishop  of  Orleans. 

2  H 


250  CHAPTER     THE    SIXTY-NINTH. 

On  the  1 4th  of  December,  Doctor  Moor,  (Irish  by  nation) 
being  chosen  Rector  of  the  University  of  Paris,  brought  the 
whole  University  of  Paris  in  procession  &c,  to  St.  Edmund's  to 
do  the  King  honour.  And  indeed  a  noble  ceremony  it  was. 
This  was  the  same  year  the  King  died. 

The  anniversary  day  was  kept  more  solemn  yet  than  the 
4©th  ;  for  the  Bishop  of  Autun  officiated. 

Anno    1703,   September  I5th,  the  Queen,   (her  two  years  of 
mourning  being  out,    very  privately   and  in   incognito   as   her 
Majesty  does  still  betwixt  whiles,)   visited   her   royal   Consort's 
tomb. 

The  same  year  on  the  feast  of  St.  James  the  Apostle,  in  July, 
at  St.  Edmund's,  in  the  chamber  where  his  Majesty  used  to  lie 
when  he  honoured  the  house  with  his  pious  retreats,  died  his 
Chaplain  R.  F.  Joseph  Aprice  after  a  long  sickness,  aged  about 
fifty  three  (July  25th,  1703.)  He  was  professed  of  Dieulwart  and 
so  acceptable  to  the  King,  that  his  Majesty  would  have  him  in 
his  service  wheresoever  he  went.  He  lies  with  Mr.  Penrodock 
his  dear  friend. 

Anno  1704  on  the  I2th  of  April  set.  78,  died  the  illustrious 
Bishop  of  Meaux,  M.  Bossuet.  Some  of  his  controversy  books 
were  Englished  by  Father  Johnston. 

September  3Oth,  the  Royal  Princess  of  England  visited  her 
royal  father's  tomb. 


CHAPTER   THE   SEVENTIETH. 

THE    24TH    GENERAL    CHAPTER.      DEATH    OF   FATHER 
DUNSTAN    LAKE  AT  LA  TRAPPE. 


ANNO  1705,  the  24th  General  Chapter  was  held  at  London 
where  R.  F.  Bernard  Gregson  was  the  second  time  chosen  Presi- 
dent. 

Second  elect  President  and  Provincial  of  Canterbury  Rev.  Fr. 
Austin  Howard. 

The  Provincial  of  York,  R.  F.  Philip  Metham. 

The  Prior  of  Douay,  R.  F.  William  Philips  ;  who  refusing, 
R.  F.  Cuthbert  Tatham  became  Prior. 

The  Prior  of  Dieulwart,  by  a  special  privilege  was  Rev.  Fr. 
Francis  Watmough,  for  he  became  Prior  of  that  place  in  the 
foregoing  Quadriennium  upon  R.  F.  Mather's  refusing  the  charge. 

The  Prior  of  Paris  R.  F.  Joseph  Johnston,  R.  F.  William 
Philipson  refusing  the  office. 

The  Abbess  of  Cambray,  Dame  Cecilia  Hussey. 

Their  Vicar,  R.  F.  Placid  Acton,  to  whom  succeeded  R.  F. 
John  Stourton ;  upon  which  his  Secretaryship  was  cast  upon  R. 
F.  Robert,  otherwise  John  Hardcastle. 

At  Lisbon  (December  3ist)  died  Catherine  of  Portugal, 
Queen  Dowager  of  England,  a  Princess  of  great  piety  and  example. 

Anno  1706  (September  1 7th,  Friday)  King  James  III  com- 
municated at  his  royal  father's  tomb ;  he  had  been  there  before 
and  could  not  forbear  his  tears ;  but  now  he  had  outreached  the 
ears  prescribed  for  his  being  of  age,  which  were  eighteen. 


252  CHAPTER     THE     SEVENTIETH. 

Anno  1707,  Louis  the  Great  commanded  that  the  English 
Benedictines  who  had  any  benefices  in  his  dominions  should  only 
possess  them  for  the  public  and  common  good  of  the  house  of 
their  profession :  so  that  they  have  only  the  name  of  them,  and 
what  the  last  General  Chapter  allows  out  of  their  benefices  when 
they  need  assistance  in  England. 

Anno  1768,  his  said  Majesty  most  graciously  confirmed  to 
them  what  they  had  at  La  Celle  which  he  annexes  by  his  royal 
charter  to  the  house  at  Paris. 

Last  year  (Anno  1707)  I  had  the  honour  of  a  letter  from  the 
most  Reverend  Abbot  of  La  Trappe,  Dom  Jacques  de  la  Cour, 
wherein  his  Reverence  assured  me  that  R.  F.  Dunstan,  otherwise 
Farington  Lake,  who  with  leave  of  his  Superiors  in  the  beginning 
of  October,  1697,  was  withdrawn  thither,  had  exchanged  this  life 
for  a  better  on  the  3Oth  of  March,  which  is  the  solemnity  of  St. 
John  Climachus,  a  particular  patron  of  La  Trappe,  in  the  year 
1704.  They  called  him  there  Dom  Bede,  and  in  that  fervourous 
community  he  appeared  a  Saint,  and  his  last  end  answered  his  life. 
Paris  house  is  much  indebted  to  him  for  he  was  a  fortune  to  it  and 
a  blessing,  sparing  no  pains  to  serve  his  house ;  but  dreading  the 
functions  of  the  Apostolical  mission,  he  thought  his  salvation 
would  be  most  secure  in  a  retired  life. 

An.  1709,  on  the  i5th  of  May,  the  house  of  St.  Edmund  at 
Paris  was  a  second  time  upon  public  Town-duty  going  in  Pro- 
cession to  the  Cathedral  and  from  thence  to  S.  Genovefa's.  The 
next  day  was  the  General  Procession  of  Paris. 

And  this  year  the  General  Chapter  was  deferred  for  a  year  by 
reason  an  excessive  cold  and  frost  beginning  at  the  Epiphany  and 
holding  about  2  weeks  and  taking  up  again  betwixt  whiles,  had 
caused  such  hurt  to  the  fruits  of  the  earth  that  voyaging  or  travel- 
ling could  not  prove  but  most  excessive  costly  and  troublesome. 

Anno  1710  towards  the  middle  of  February  Father  John 
Dakins  was  taken  with  something  of  an  apoplexy  at  La  Celle 
at  Matins  in  the  Choir  and  thought  to  have  weathered  it  out, 
but  on  the  25th  (  Feria  iij  )  about  half  an  hour  after  his  Mass  he 
was  again  seized  therewith  so  violently  that  he  lost  the  use  of  his 
speech  and  became  altogether  helpless,  the  palsy  taking  away  the 


CHAPTER     THE     SEVENTIETH.  253 

use  of  his  right  side ;  and  thus  notwithstanding  all  that  art  could 
devise  he  continued  to  a  quarter  before  7  o'clock  in  the  evening  of 
the  a8th  of  the  said  Febr:  (Fer.  vj )  and  then  expired,  &t.  42, 
Relig.  22. 

On  the  Tuesday  in  Easter  Week  the  enemies  began  to  envi- 
ron Douay  and  a  dreadful  siege  it  proved,  holding  to  the  26th  of 
June.  Many  of  our  houses  sheltered  themselves  in  the  neigh- 
bouring monasteries ;  several  with  the  Prior  abided  the  fatigue  and 
dread  of  the  siege,  Fr.  Pullein  got  with  the  children  they  take 
care  of  to  Cambray,  in  order  to  beseech  the  Duke  of  Marlborough 
to  favour  their  House  against  which  all  the  force  of  their  batteries 
stood ;  the  Duke  received  him  very  civilly  and  promised  he 
would  favour  them  all  he  could  ;  and  so  it  pleased  the  goodness 
of  God  that  the  house  was  more  frighted  than  hurt. 


254 


CHAPTER  THE  SEVENTY- FIRST. 

THE  TWENTY-FIFTH    GENERAL    CHAPTER    IS    HELD   AT 

DOUAY.     DEATH    OF    FATHER    BERNARD    GREGSON. 

DlEULWART   SAVED    FROM    DISSOLUTION. 


WHEREFORE  at  the  Nativity  of  our  Lady  (September  8th.)  1710 
the  25th  General  Chapter  began  (at  Douay)  in  which  was  chosen 
for  President  the  V.  R.  F.  Gregory  Riddell,  Doctor  of  Divinity 
in  the  University  of  Douay. 

Second  elect  President,  R.  F.  Michael  Pullein. 

The  Provincial  of  Canterbury,  R.  F.  Bernard  Gregson. 

The  Provincial  of  York,  R.  F.  Laurence  Casse. 

The  Abbot  of  Lambspring  R.  F.  Augustine  Tempest  who  was 
chosen  last  July,  Father  Maurus  Knightley  being  dead  on  the 
28th  of  April  preceding. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Gregory's,  R.  F.  Michael  Pullein. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Laurence's,  R.  F.  Robert  Hardcastle. 

The  Prior  of  St.  Edmund's,  R.  F.  Anthony  Turberville. 

The  Abbess  of  Cambray,  Dame  Scholastica  Houghton. 

Their  Vicar,  R.  F.  John  Stourton,  again. 

Secretary,  R.  F.  Edward  Chorley. 

The  Cathedral  Prior  of  Worcester  R.  F.  Francis  Watmough. 

The  Cathedral  Prior  of  Peterborough,  R.  F.  Joseph  Berri- 
man. 

i.  R.  F.  Benedict  Gibbon. 


Definitores  Regiminis. 


2.  R.  F.  Joseph  Johnston. 

3.  R.  F.  Edmund  Taylor. 


CHAPTER     THE     SEVENTY-FIRST.  255 

Adsunt  14  personaliter,  7  per  deputatos. 

This  Chapter  was  to  have  been  held  last  year,  but  as  we  said 
above,  the  public  calamities  of  the  times  hindered. 

Anno  171 1,  January  27th, at  London  died  the  Very  Rev.  Father 
Bernard  Gregson,  ex-President,  then  Provincial  of  Canterbury. 
The  fatigues  of  his  last  Presidentship,  which  continued  five  years, 
quite  bereaved  him  of  the  little  health  he  enjoyed  in  a  body 
broken  with  sickness  and  labour;  for  being  forced  to  cross  the  seas 
often,  and  ramble  to  and  fro  through  Flanders,  France,  Lorraine  and 
Germany,  he  could  never  recover  the  fatigue  of  his  late  voyage, 
which  was  to  the  Chapter.  He  governed  fortiter  et  suavifer. 
A  superior  very  humble,  modest,  courteous,  sweet,  affable,  and 
reasonable,  so  as  nothing  could  be  more  satisfactory  in  his  com- 
portment and  behaviour  to  his  subjects,  while  themselves  adhered 
to  reason.  For  when  one,  forgetting  God  and  himself,  thought 
to  baffle  his  duty,  he  knew  how  not  to  let  his  patience  and  mild- 
ness be  abused,  but  make  to  ply  under  the  severity  of  the  law  all 
contempt  of  what  the  law  in  reason  and  justice  required  as  duty. 
Wherefore  imprudent  rashness  rued  that  which  true  piety  and 
prudence  would  have  avoided.  Dieulwart,  the  house  of  his  pro- 
fession, he  laboured  to  exalt  by  all  lawful  means  possible,  and  for 
ever,  of  necessity,  it  will  stand  highly  indebted  to  the  worthy 
memory  of  his  generous  and  industrious  gratitude.  ^Eternam 
Deus  Optimus  Maximus  det  ei  requiem,  et  lux  sanctorum 
illuceat  animae  ejus. 

July  i  Qth.  R.  F.  President  arrived  here  with  his  Secretary  to 
make  a  visit,  and  so  on  the  1 1  th  of  August  departed  for  Cambray, 
while  on  the  loth  at  Douay  R.  F.  Hitchcock  departed  this  life, 
aet.  94.  Relig.  65. 

The  queen  preserved  our  house  of  Dieulwart  from  being  dis- 
solved by  the  king  of  France,  because  he  said  it  was  established 
without  his  Patents,  and  Her  Majesty  now  obtained  that  our 
Fathers  of  Douay  should  be  paid  their  money  out  of  the  Town- 
house, though  Douay  was  taken. 

Anno  1712,  Feb.  I2th,  on  which  we  served  Saint  Scho- 
lastica,  died  the  Dauphiness,  formerly  Duchess  of  Burgundy, 
and  on  the  1 8th,  (Fer.  v),  in  the  same  month  died  her  royal  consort. 


256 


CHAPTER     THE     SEVENTY-FIRST. 


Anno  1712,  April  i8th.  died  the  Princess  of  England  of  the 
small-pox,  at  S.  German's  en  Lay,  and  lies  in  deposit  at  Paris 
with  her  Royal  Father,  King  James  II,  at  St.  Edmund's. 


THE     END. 


APPENDIX. 


A  list  of  the  Presidents  General  of  the  English  Congregation  of  the  order  of 
St.  Benedict,  from  the  year  1619-,  with  the  date  of  their  election. 


1619. 
1621. 
1629. 
1633. 
1633. 
1635. 
1641. 
1645. 
1649. 
1653. 
1655. 
1657. 
1659. 
1661. 
1669. 
1680. 
1681. 
1697. 
1697. 


B.  F.  Leander  of  St.  Martin 
Budesind  Barlow 
Sigebert  Bagshaw  f 
Claud  White  or  Bennet 
Leander  of  St.  Martin  t 
Clement  Beyner 
Jocelin  Elmer 
Wilfrid  Selby 
Placid  Gascoigne 
Claud  White  or  Bennet  f 
Laurence  Beyner 
Paul  Bobinson 
Cuthbert  Horsley 
Augustine  Hungate 
Benedict  Stapylton  f 
Maurus  Corker 
Joseph  Sherburne  f 
Augustine  Howard 
Bernard  Gregson 


1701.  ] 

I.I 

1705. 

1710. 

1713. 

1717. 

1721. 

1741. 

1753. 

1766. 

1772. 

1777. 

1794. 

1799. 

1822. 

1826. 

1837.  , 

1842. 

1850. 

1854. 

B.  F.  Augustine  Howard 
Bernard  Gregson 
Gregory  Biddell 
Francis  Watmough 
Laurence  Fenwick 
Thomas  Southcot 
Cuthbert  Farnworth 
Placid  Howard  t 
Placid  Naylor  f 
John  Fisher 
Augustine  Walker  t 
Gregory  Cowley  f 
Bede  Brewer  f 
Bichard  Marsh 
Augustine  Birdsall  t 
Bichard  Marsh 
Bernard  Barber  t 
Alban  Molyneux 
Placid  Burchall 


77 

A  Catalogue  of  the   Provincials. 


(I)  of  Canterbury 
1620.  B.  F.  Bobert  Sadler  f 


and 


1621. 
1625. 
1629. 
1633. 
1641. 


Joseph  Prater 
Mark  Crowther 
Claud  White  or  Bennet 
Bobert  Sherwood 
Paulinus  Greenwood 


1620 
1625 
1629 
1633 
1649 
1653 


(II)   of  York. 

B.  F.  Bede  Helme 
,    Bobert  Haddock 
,    John  Hutton 
,    Augustine  Hungate 
,    Laurence  Beyner 
,    Gregory  Hungate  t 


t  Died  in  office. 


4 


APPENDIX. 


Provincials  of  Canterbury 

1645.  E.  F.  Claud  White  or  Bennet 

1653.  ,  Anselm  Crowther  t 

1666.  ,  Gregory  Mallet  t 

1681.  ,  Augustine  Llewellin 

1693.  ,  Augustine  Constable 

1697.  ,  Augustine  Howard 

1701.  ,  Bernard  Gregson 

1705.  ,  Augustine  Howard 

1710.  ,  Bernard  Gregson  t 

1711.  ,  Ildephonsus  Aprice  t 

1712.  ,  Francis  Eookwood 
1717.  ,  Francis  Watmough 
1721.  ,  William  Banester 
1725.  ,  Gregory  Greenwood 
1737.  ,  Robert  Hardcastle 
1741.  ,  Francis  Bruning 
1745.  ,  Placid  Howard 
1753.  ,  Henry  Wyburne  f 
1769.  ,  Bernard  Bradshaw  f 
1774.  ,  Joseph  Carteret 
1777.  ,  Bernard  Warmoll 

1805.  ,  Dunstan  Garstang 

1806.  ,  Ealph  Ainsworth  f 
1814.  ,  Bernard  Barr 
1122.  ,  Augustine  Birdsall 
1826.  ,  Benedict  Deday 
1834.  ,  Bernard  Barber 
1842.  ,  Dunstan  Scott 
1846.  ,  Jerome  Jenkins 
1852.  ,  Paulinus  Heptonstall 
1866.  Cuthbert  Smith 


Provincials  of  York 

165  3-7  E.  F.  Augustine  Hungate 

1661.  ,    BedeTaylard 

1677.  ,    Francis  Lawson 

1685.  ,    Eobert  Killingbeck 

1693.  ,    Michael  Pullein 

1701.  Augustine  Tempest 

1705.  Sylvester  Metham 

1710.  Laurence  Casse 

1713.  Bede  Halsall 

1717.  Bernard  Greaves  f 

1720.  Anselm  Carter 

1721.  Gregory  Skelton  f 
1721.  Laurence  Casse 
1725.  Wilfrid  Helme 
1729.  Cuthbert  Farnworth 
1741.  Placid  Naylor 
1766.  Benedict  Steare 
1777.  Anselm  Bolas 
1785.  Michael  Lacon 
1806.  Eichard  Marsh 
1822.  Henry  Lawson 
1822.  Gregory  Eobinson.  t 
1837.  Anselm  Brewer 
1846.  Alban  Molyneux 
1850.  Ignatius  Greenough 
1858.  Athanasius  Allanson  f 
1876.    ,         Cuthbert  Clifton 
1878.    ,         Augustine  Bury 


III 

A  list  of  the  monks  professed  in,  or  aggregated  to,  the  English  Bene- 
dictine Congregation  :  and  first  of  those  admitted  to  profession   by  Father 

Sigebert  Buckley. 


Dom.  Vincent,  Eobert  Sadler  alias  Eobert  Walter,  of 

Collier's  Oak  Warwickshire. 
,         Edward  Maihew,  of  Dinton,  Wiltshire. 


t  Died  in  office. 


APPENDIX.  O 

R.  F.  Augustine  Baker,  of  Abergavenny,  Monmouthshire. 
,     ,     Sigebert  Bagshaw. 
,     ,     Bartholomew. 
,     ,     Placid. —  and  several  others. 

(2).  In  the  Cassinese  Congregation  were  professed    (1588-1619). 

R.  F.  Gregory,  Robert  Sayr,  at  Monte  Cassino. 
,         Thomas  Preston.  „         „ 

Augustine  Smith.  „         „ 

Richard  Huddleston,  „         „ 

Bernard  Preston,  „         „ 

Anselm  Beech,  of    Manchester,  professed  at  St.  Justina's  at  Padua. 
Maurus  Taylor,  professed  at  St  George's,  Venice. 

,     Athanasius,  Anthony  Martin,   professed   at   La   Cava,   near  Salerno. 
,     Raphael,  professed  at  St.  Paul  without  the  Walls,  Rome. 
,     Gervase  Grey. 
,     William  Palmer. 
,     David  Codner. 
,     Samuel  Kennet. 
,     ,     Henry  Styles. 
,     ,     Michael  Godfrey. 

(3).  In  the  Sparnah  Benedictine  Congregation  were  professed,  (1600-1619) 

R.  F.  Augustine    BraJshaw,    alias   White,     of     Worcester,      professed     at 

St.  Martin's,  Compostella. 

John  Roberts,  alias  Mervin,  of  Merionethshire,         ,  „  (1595) . 

Leander  Jones  or  Scudamore,  of  Kent  church,  Herefordshire.  ,, 
Joseph  Prater  „ 

Gregory  Grange,  „ 

Robert  Haddock,  alias  Benson.  „ 

John  Hutton,  „ 

William  Johnson,  alias  Chambers  „ 

John  Harper,  professed  at  the  Abbey  of  St.  JEmilian. 
John  Baines,  professed  at  St.  Benedict's  Abbey,  Valladolid. 
Thomas,  Torquatus  Latham.  „  ,,  „ 

Justus  Edner,  alias  Rigge.  „  „  „ 

Thomas  Green,  alias  Houghton.      „  „  „ 

Maurus  Scott  professed  at  the  Abbey  of  St.  Facundus,  Sahagun. 
Augustinus  „  „  „ 

Thomas  Emerson  ,,  „  „ 

Boniface  Blandy.  „  ,,  „ 

Benedict  Jones.  „  „  „ 

Placid  Peto,  alias  Badd.  ,,  „  „ 

Augustine  Hungate.professed  at  Montserrat. 
Boniface  Kemp,  alias  Kipton,         „ 
Anselm  Tuberville. 


6  APPENDIX. 

F.  R.  Beda  Helme,  professed  at  Montserrat. 

Andrew  Shirly,  professed  at  the  Abbey  of  Najar. 
Nicholas  Becket,  professed  at  the  Abbey  of  Ona. 
Paulinus.  „ 

Francis  Atrobas.  „ 

Bernard  Berington.  „ 

Rudesind  Barlow,  professed  at  the  Abbey  of  Cella  Nova. 
George  Brown,  professed  at  the  Abbey  of  St.  Sinbert. 
George  Berington,  professed  at. the  Abbey  of  St.  Millan. 

And  in  other  Monasteries  in  Spain  were  professed  : 

R.  F.  Maurus  Hanson. 
Thomas  Hungate. 
Peter  Wilcock. 
Lambert  Clifton. 

Constantius  Nathal,  alias  Matthews. 
John  Owen. 
Edward  Ash. 

(4).  The  following  Religious  were  professed  on  the  English  Mission. 

R.  F.  George  Gervase,  of  Bosham,  Sussex. 
Thomas  Dyer. 
Robert  Edmunds. 
Francis  Foster. 
Thomas  Minshall. 
Peter  Warnford. 

William  Middleton,  alias  Hethcote. 
George  Bacon. 
John  Huddleston,  of  Sawston,  Cambridgeshire. 

(5).  The  following  members  of  the    Scotch  Benedictine  Congregation  were 
admitted  into  the  English  Congregation. 

R.  F.  William  Gordon. 
,     ,     Celestine  Anderton. 
,     ,     Roland  Dunn. 
,     ,     Alexander  Brown. 

(6).  The  following  were  members  of  the   Congregation  of  SS.  Vanne  and 
Hydulph  in  Lorraine,  and  were  admitted  into  the  English  Congregation  in  1625. 

R.  F.  Deusdedit  Jarfield. 
Anselm  Pearson. 


APPENDIX. 


IV 

The   Monastery   of   St.    Gregory   the   Great   at   Douai. 
List   of   Priors  with  the  date  of  their  election. 


1605. 
1612. 
1613. 
1620. 
1621. 
1625. 
1629. 
1633. 
1641. 
1653. 
1657. 
1662. 
1666. 
1667. 
1673. 
1675. 
1677. 
1681. 
1685. 


B.  F.  Augustine  Bradshaw 
Leander  of  St.  Martin 
Budesind  Barlow 
Francis  Atrobas 
Leander  of  St.  Martin 
Budesind  Barlow 
Leander  of  St.  Martin 
Joseph  Frere 
John  Meutisse 
Bernard  Palmes 
Benedict  Stapylton 
Joseph  Frere 
Godric  Blount  f 
William  Hitchcock 
Alexius  Caryll 
William  Hitchcock 
Augustine  Howard 
Jerome  Hesketh 
William  Hitchcock 


1693. 
1701. 
1705. 
1710. 
1713. 
1715. 
1717. 
1721. 

1723. 
1725. 
1729. 
1732. 
1737. 
1745. 
1755. 
1775. 
1781. 


B.  F.  John  Phillipson 
Michael  Pullein 
Cuthbert  Tatham 
Michael  Pullein 
Sylvester  Metham 
Edwardus  Chorley 
John  Stourton 
William      Pestel, 

Phillips 
Anthony  Oard 
Laurence  York 
Basil  Warwick  f 
Thomas  Nelson 
Benedict  Steare 
Alexius  Shepherd  1 
Augustine  Moore  f 
Gregory  Sharrock 
Jerome  Sharrock  f 


alias 


A  list  of  the  Monks  of  St.  Gregory's,  Douay,  with  the  date  of  their 
profession,  extracted  from  the  Liber  Graduum  Conventus  8.  Gregorii  Duaci, 
Congregationis  Anglice,  ordinis  monachorum  nigrorum  8.  Patris  nostri  Benedicts.  * 


1610. 


1607.  July  18th.     B.  F.  Joseph  Haworth. 

1608.  May  15th.     B.  F.  Nicholas  Fitzjames,  of  Bedlynch,  Somersetshire. 

1609.  September  8th.     B.  F.  Boniface  Wilford. 

B.  F.  Columban  Malone,  of  Lancashire. 
B.  F.  Mark  Crowder,  of  Shropshire. 
B.  F.  Thomas  Monington,  of  All  hallows,  Hereford- 
shire. 

B.  F.  Gregory  Hungate  of  the  diocese  of  York. 
„  „          „     Brother  Peter  Huitson,  of  Ashburne,  Derbyshire,   a 

Lay-Brother. 

1611.  July  3rd.     B.  F.  Anselm  Crowder,  of  Montgomery. 

1612.  January  12th.     B.  F.  Paulinus  Greenwood,  of  Brentwood,  Essex. 

1613.  October  18th.     B.  F.  Bobert  of  St.  Mary,  Sherwood,   of  Bath,   So- 

mersetshire. 


13th. 
14th. 
November  16th. 

November  16th. 


t  Died  in  office       *  This  manuscript  is  preserved  at  St.  Gregorys,  Downside. 


APPENDIX. 

1613.  October  8th.  E.  F.  Thomas  Hill. 

1614.  March  21st.     E.  F.  Outhbert  of  St.  Martin,    Martin  Hartbourne   of 

Shillington,  Durham. 
„          „  ,     E.  F.  Anthony  of  St.  William,  William   Winchcombe, 

of  Henwick,  Berksr 
„         „  ,     E.  F.  James  of  St.  Gregory,  James  Shirbourne  of  Little 

Milton,  Whalley,  Lancaster. 

„        June  15th.  Br.  Edmund  Arrowsruith,  of  Lancashire,  a  Lay-Brother. 
„       July  llth.     E.  F.  Eichard  of  St.  John,    Eichard  Hodgson  of  Gro- 

mon,   Yorkshire 
„         „      13th.     E.  F.  Maurus  of  St.  John,  John  Curre,  of  Sandonfee 

Berkshire. 

„          „         ,       E.  F.  Moundeford,  of  S.  Martin,  of  Wenhamrow,  Norfolk. 
„          „     22nd     E.  F.  Maurus  of  St.  Mary,  William  Atkins,   of   Oatwell 

Norfolk. 

1615.  February  15.  E.  F.  Alphonsus   of  St.  Gregory,  William  Hanson  or 

Hesketh,   of  Barrowfield  Lancashire. 
„  „  ,      E.  F.  George  Hathersall 

1616.  January  5th.    E.  F.  Ambrose,  Edward  Barlow,  of  Manchester. 
„  „  ,      E.  F.  Augustine  of  St.  Eugenius,  alias  Owen. 

1617.  Sept.  29th.    E.  F.  Joseph  of  St.  Mary,  George  Latham,  of  Eainfaith, 

Lancashire. 
„          „         ,         E.  F.  Placid  of  St.  John,  Hartburn,  alias  Foorde. 

1618.  July  31st.     E.  F.  Augustine  of  St.  Benedict,  John  Eichardson,  of 

Somersetshire. 

1620.  March  12th.  E.  F.  Joseph  Frere,  of  Essex. 

„         March  21st.  E.  F.  Wilfrid  of  St.  Michael,  Eichard  Eeade  or  Selby, 

of  Durham. 

„          May  5th.      E.  F.  Epiphanius  of  St.  Mary,  Eudadelphus  Stapylton, 

of  Carleton,  Yorkshire. 

„         June  18th.     E.  F.  Francis  of  St.  Joseph,  Cape,  of  Chichester,  Sussex. 

„         June  20th.  E.  F.  Eomuald  Danvers,  of  Suffolk. 

„       August  15th.   E.  F.  Philip  Eoger  or  Prosser,   alias  Morgan  or  Powel, 

of  Tralon,  Brecknockshire. 

„  „  E.  F.  Laurence  Mabbs,   of  Leicestershire, 

„  „  E.  F.  Maurus   of  St.  Nicholas,  Nicholas  Pritchard,  of 

Monmouthshire. 

„      October  1st     E.  F.  William  Walter  Kemble,  of  Herefordshire. 

„         „  ,      E.  F.  Placid  of    St.  Francis,    Loader    alias     Ireland,  of 

London. 

„         „  ,      E.  F.  Bede  of  St.  Magdalen,  Gaile,  of  York. 

„    November  25th  E.  F.  John  Lone,  of  Kent. 

„  „  E.  F.  Cuthbert,  John  Fursden,  of  Thorvorton,  Devon- 

shire. 

1621.  June  29th     E.  F.  Augustine  of  St.  Mary,  Stoker,  of  Mechlin. 

v  „         „         ,          E.  F.  Francis  of  St.  Benedict,  Crathorne,  of  Yorkshire. 
„     October  18th.    E.  F.  Austin  of  St.  John,  Kinder,  of  Nottingham. 


APPENDIX. 


9 


1621  December  28th 

1622  January  15th 
„         June  29th 

„          July  2nd, 

December  8th 


1623 


1624 


1625 


1626 


1630 
1631 
1632 

1634 


January  12th 
October  22nd 

»  » 

November  1st 
21st 

May      10th 
July     4th 

August   15th 

»        » 
August  24th 
25th 
September  29th 

October    28th 

January  20th 

February    2nd 


March  30th 
April  21st 
September  8th 
November   1st 
April   12th 
October  4th 
December  8th 
November  3rd 
March  23rd 
January  18th 
July  4th 
March  12th 


1635      April  22nd 
„       September  8th 


1636 
1638 


February  2nd 
May  16th 


D.  Gregory  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  Hay- 
wood,  of  Cockthorpe,  Oxfordshire. 

D.  Michael    of  St.  Mary,  Gasooigne,  of  Barn- 
bow,  Yorkshire. 

D.  George  of  St.  Hdephonsus,     of    Sculthorpe, 
Norfolk. 

D.  Gregory  of  St.  Richard,  Moore,  of  Carlisle. 

D.  Vincent  Latham,  of  Lancashire. 

D.  Jerome  Porter,  alias  Nelson. 

D.  Thomas  Woodhope,  alias  White,  of  Worces- 
tershire. 

D.  Leander  Pritchard,  of  Monmouthshire. 

D.  Francis  Morgan,  of  Weston,  Warwickshire. 

D.  James  Anderton,  of  Lancashire. 

D.  Francis  Tresham,  of  Northampton. 

D.  Thomas  Tanke,  of  Pembrokeshire. 

D.  Gregory  Grainge,  or  Carnaby,  of  Yorkshire. 

D.  Augustine  of  St.  Benedict,  Lee,  alias  Johnson, 

of  Mortlake,  Surrey. 
D.  John  Byfleet,  of  Devonshire. 
D.  Placid  Frere,  of  Essex. 
D.  Christopher  Anderton,  of  Lancashire. 
D.  John  Allen,  of  Middlesex. 

D.  John  of  St.  Mary,  Norton,  of  Sussex. 

D.  Amandus  Southoot,  of  Devonshire. 
D.  Christian  Govaerdt,  of  Bruges. 
D.  Stanislaus  Tanke,  of  Pembrokeshire. 
D.  Maurus  Smith,  of  London. 
D.  Benedict  Bryohan,  alias  Thomas,  of  Brecknock- 
shire 

D.  Robert  Stapylton,  of  Carlton,  Yorkshire. 
D.  Amatus  Legatt,  of  Shaftesbury,  Dorset. 
D.  Michael  Blakestone,  of  Durham. 
D.  Thomas  Swinburne,  of  Northumberland. 
D.  John  Meutisse,  alias  Northall,  of  Shropshire. 
D.  Francis  Blackestone,  of  Durham. 
D.  Anselm  Cassey,  of  Herefordshire. 
D.  Robert,  Theodore  Barlow,  of  Manchester. 
D.  Paulinus  Hird,  or  Laton,  of  Battle,  Yorkshire. 
D.  Peter  Salvin,  of  Thornton,  Durham. 
D.  Edward  Wolseley,  of  Staffordshire. 
D.  Gregory  Scrogges,  of  Chichester,  Sussex. 
D.  Maurus,  John  Scrogges,  of  Chichester,  Sussex. 
D.  Placid  Scrogges,  or  Windsor,  of  Bray,  Berkshire. 
D.  Laurence  Appleton,  of  Benfleet,  Essex. 
D.  Leander  Thomson,    alias  Richard  Jackson,   of 

Durham. 

D.  Michael,  W  Wytham,  of  Clyff,  Yorkshire. 
D.  Andrew  of  St.  Benedict,  Andrew  Whitfield,  of 
Hexham. 


10 


APPENDIX. 


1638  November  13th 

1639  September  8th 
„       September  21st 

„       October  23rd 

1643     October  28th 


November  22nd 


„       December  27th 

1644  June  llth 

1645  April  2nd 
1649     August  22nd 


1650      February  14th 


c  1653 

1654 
» 
» 
» 

1657 
» 
>» 

1660 


D.  Augustine  Conyers,  of  Yorkshire. 

D.  Benedict  Preston,  of  Lancashire. 

D.  Jerome  Hesketh,  of  Lancashire. 

D.  Hilarion  Wake,  alias  John  Merriman,  of  Car- 

ryhouse,  Durham. 
D.  Cuthbert,    Thomas    Middelton,   of   Stockeld, 

Yorkshire. 
D.  Benedict,  Gregory  Stapleton,  or  Stapylton  of 

Carlton,*  Yorkshire. 
D.  Robert  Corham,  of  Antwerp. 
D.  Anselm,     George   Touchett,    of     Stalbridge, 

Dorsetshire. 
D.  Bernard,  George  Palmes,  of  Naborne  Castle, 

Yorkshire. 

D.  Edward  Sheldon,  of  Weston,  Warwickshire. 
D.  Thomas  Stourton,  of  Stourton,  Wilts. 
D.  Serenus,  Hugh  Cressy,   of  Thorpsalvin,  York- 
shire. 

D.  Placid,  Edward  Bittenson,  of  Essex. 
D.  Augustine,  Thomas  Constable,   of  Eagle  Cas- 
tle, Lincolnshire. 
D.  Godrio  of    St.    Martin,   Richard   Blount,   of 

Fawley,  Berkshire. 
D.   Bede,   William    Witham,   of   Coken   Castle, 

Durham. 
D.   William  of   St.  Catherine,  Walgrave,   alia* 

Pleayll,  of  Barneston,  Essex. 
D.  William  Hitchcock,  or  Nedam.t 
D.  Leander  Normington. 
D.  Francis  Lawson,  of  Yorkshire. 
D.  Maurus  Poss,  or  Nichols. 
D.  Bernard  Salkeld,  of  Cumberland. 
D.  Lionel  Sheldon,  of  Weston,  Warwickshire. 
Br.  John  Barter,  a  novice,  died  July  1st,  1653. 
D.  Basil  Roan. 
D.  John  Barter,  (the  Elder). 
D.  Laurence  Errington. 

D.  Alexius  Gary  11,  of  West  Grinstead,  Sussex. 
D.  Joseph  Berriman,  Somersetshire. 
D.  Ambrose  Bride. 
D.  Bede  Tatham,  of  Yorkshire. 
D.  Bennet,  George  Hemsworth. 
D.  Basil  Skinner. 

Br.  Thomas  Pickering,  Lay-brother. 
D.  Wolstan  Crosby. 
D.  Philip  Constable,  of  Yorkshire. 


*  "De  castro  quod  vocatur  quousque"      MS. 

t     The  precise  dates  of  the  profession  of  all  between  D.  William  Walgrave  and  D.  Bruno 
Jennings  cannot  be  ascertained. 


APPENDIX. 


11 


1660 
1661 

1662 
1662 
1667 
1668 


1670 


July  llth, 
November  30th 


1672     December  8th 


a  1674 
1676 


July  llth 


1678 
1679 


November  1st 
April  17th 
October  16th 
March  25th 


1680  May  26th 

„  September  13th 

1681  September  14th 

»  »             » 

„  December  21st 

1682  October  llth 

1683  September  30th 
„  November  30th 

1684  February 
n  1685 

1685  January   12th 
„  July   29th 


December  8th 


1687      June  19th 


1688 


May  3rd 
August  1st 


D.  George  Beare. 

D.  John   Martin,   of   Balsbury,    (Baltonsborough) 
Somersetshire. 

D.  Placid  Skinner. 

D.  Augustine  Howard. 

D.  Thomas  Wilson. 

D.  Ildephonsus  Willobie,  or  Eider. 

D.  Jerome,  Ralph  Wilson. 

D.  Bruno,  John  Jennings,  (Jenyns)  of  Middlesex. 

D.  Francis,  Samuel  Sidgewick,  of  Durham. 

D.  Philip  Ellis,  of  Waddesdon,  Bucks. 

D.  Anselm,  Greorge  Carter,  of  Worcestershire. 

D.  Michael  Pullein,  of  Hampswith,  Yorkshire. 

D.  Charles  Sumpner  of  Hellingly  Castle,  Sussex. 

Br.  Peter  Holmes,  Lay-brother. 

D.  Wilfrid,  Richard  Reeve,  of  Gloucester. 

D.  Dunstan,  Joseph  Porter,  of  Cumberland, 

D.  John  Philipson  of  Strenly,  Berkshire. 

D.  Bernard,  Joseph  Grooves,  of  Northumberland. 

D.  Richard  Holme,  of  Lancashire. 

D.  Cuthbert,  James  Tatham,  of  Burton,  Yorkshire. 

D.  Benedict,  John  Wilson,  of  Seftley,  Durham. 

D.  Serenus,  Roger  Rotton,  of  Harborne,  Stafford- 
shire. 

D.  Edmund  Taylor,  of  London. 

D.  Francis  Rookwood,  of  Suffolk. 

D.  Gregory,  John  Skelton,  of  Cumberland. 

D.  Joseph,  Roger  Hesketh,  of  Lancashire. 

D.  Augustine,  Francis  Acton,  of  London. 

D.  William  Pestell  alias  Philips,  ofWinohester. 

D.  Sylvester,  Philip  Metham  of  Yorkshire. 

D.  Maurus,  Christopher  Barber,  of  London. 

Br.  Peter  Money,  Lay-brother. 

Br.  Thomas  Brabant,  Lay-brother. 

D.  Jerome,  John  Willson,  of  Yorkshire. 

Br.  John  Green,  a  Lay-brother. 

Br.  Henry  Lawson,  a  Lay-brother. 

D.  Placid,  John  Acton,  of  London. 

D.  Laurence,  Lewis  Fen  wick,  of  Northumberland. 
D.  Cuthbert,  William  Hutton,  of  Durham. 

D.  Thomas  Wytham,  of  Yorkshire. 

D.  Anthony,    Ralph    Oard,   of  Stourton   Grange, 
Northumberland. 

D.  Bede,  Arthur  Halsall,  of  Oringham,  Northum- 
berland. 

D.  John  Baptist  Savory,  of  Oxford. 

D.  George  Canning,  of  Foxcote,  Warwickshire. 
D.  Gregory  Greenwood,   of  Brize  Norton,  Oxford- 
shire. 

D.  William  Bannester,  of  Lancashire. 


APPENDIX. 


„  May  4th 

„  October  5th 

1693  July  14th 

„  September  29th 

1695       May 
„      August  15th 
1698     January  5th 
October  21st 


1699  August  15th 

1700  March  4th 

5>  »  J> 

„  March  7th 

„  May 

1701  December  29th 


1703  May  22nd 

»  »        » 

1704  August 

1705  December  28th 


1708     May  29th 


1711  August  llth 

1712  November  21st 


1719    May  30th 


1720  October  17th 

1721  December  21st 

1723  September  21st 

1724  November  2ist 
1727  April  15th 


D.  Thomas  Southcott,  of  Surrey. 
D.  Joseph,  Richard  Ashton,  of  Lancashire. 
D.  William  Metcalf  of  Yorkshire. 
D.  William  Sheldon. 
D.  Francis  Rich,  of  Kent. 
D.  Gilbert  Knowles,  of  Hampshire. 
D.  Bernard  Richard  Bartlett,  of  Worcestershire. 
D.  Benedict  William  Winter,  of  Huntingdonshire. 
D.  John  Stourton,  of  Stourton,  Wilts. 
D.  Augustine,  William  Fenwick,  of  Northumber- 
land. 

Br.  Andrew,  William  Townson,  Lay-brother. 
D.  George  Fitzwilliams,  of  Lincolnshire. 
D.  Richard  Lannyng  of  Dorsetshire. 
D.  Edward  Chorley,  of  Lancashire. 
D.   Basil,   Thomas  Warwick,   of  Warwick  Hall, 

Cumberland. 

D.  Alexius,  John  Jones,  of  Middlesex. 
D.  Ambrose,  William  Brown,  of  Westmoreland. 
D.  Hugh  Frankland,  of  Yorkshire. 
D.  Anselm,  John  Mannock,  of  Suffolk. 
Br.  Anthony  Dandy,  a  Lay-brother. 
D.  Placid,  Francis  Haggerston,  of  Northumberland. 
D.  Maurus,  Richard  Harrison,  of  Stokesley,   York- 
shire. 

D.  Thomas  Nelson,  of  Lancashire. 
D.  Joseph  Starkey,  alias  Hanmer,  of  London. 
Br.  Gabriel  Bocquet  a  Lay-brother. 
D.  Paul,  Richard  Chandler,  of    Maryland,   North 

America. 

D.  Laurence,  William  York,  of  London. 
Br.  John  Annston,  Lay-brother. 
D.  Ildefonsus,  William  Byerley,  of  Leicestershire. 
D.  Augustine,  Francis  Southcott,  of  Essex. 
D.  Bernard,  John  Wythie,  of  Cambridgeshire. 
D.  Gregory,  Edward  Pigott,  of  Oxfordshire. 
D.  Joseph,  William  Howard,    of    Corby    Castle, 

Cumberland. 

D.  Bede  Knight,  of  Somersetshire. 
D.  Maurus,  John  Buckley,  of  Yorkshire. 
D.  Anselm,  Francis  Lynch,  of  London. 
D.  Placid,  John  Howard,  of  Corby  Castle,    Cum- 
berland. 

D.  Ambrose,  Edward  Eliott,  of  Shropshire. 
D.  Benedict,  Robert  Stear,  of  London. 
D.  Alexius,  Thomas  Shephard,  of  Warwickshire. 
D.  Joseph,  Francis  Carteret,  of  London. 
D.  Cuthbert,  Anthony  Hutchinson,  of  Yorkshire. 
D.  Gregory,  John  Mackay,  of  Northumberland. 
D.  Dunstan,  Francis  Pigott,  of  London. 


APPENDIX. 


13 


1729  May  22nd 

1731  August  15th 

»  »            » 

„     November  8th 
a  1733 

1733  October  5th 

1736  May"31st" 

„  September  8th 


1737 

a  1738 

1738 


1740 
1741 

1745 
1746 


1751 
1752 

1756 
1757 


November  13th, 


November  16th, 

55  55 

55  55 

March  12th 
October  15th 

55  55 

55  55 

July  3rd 

55  55 

5J  55 

February  14th 
December  12th 
August  22nd 
March   25th 


„  September  llth 


1758  September  29th 
1761     March  15th 

55  >5          55 

,,  September  20th 

5'  55  55 

1764      April  1st 
1768      August  13th 


D.  Bartholomew,    John  Havers,   of    Thelveton, 

Norfolk. 
D.   Augustine,    Henry     Brigham     of     Wyton, 

Yorkshire. 
D.  Placid,  William  De  la  Fontain,   of  Luffwick, 

Northamptonshire. 

D.  Edward  Hussey,  of  Marnhull,  Dorsetshire. 
Br.  Peter  Deval,  a  Lay-brother. 
D.  Basil  Eyston,  of  Brecknock. 
D.  Leander,  Anthony  Raff  a,  of  London. 
Br.  Anthony  Parkinson,  Lay-brother. 
D.  John  Charlton,  of  Northumberland. 
D.  Peter,   Richard  Walmesley,  alias  Sherburne,  of 

Lancashire. 

D.  Bernard,  John  Warmoll,  of  Norfolk. 
Br.  Mark  Le  Deux,  Lay-brother. 
Br.  Dunstan,  Peter  Osbaldeston.  Lay-brother. 
Br.  Joseph,  William  Sharrock,  Lay-brother 
Br.  Andrew,  Nicholas  Barguet,  or  Berget,  of  Fines, 

in  Champagne,  Lay-brother. 

D.  Augustine,  James  Moore  of  Fawley,  Berkshire. 
D.  Bede,  Thomas  Bennet,  of  Somersetshire. 
D.  Benedict,  Michael  Pembridge,  of  London. 
D.  Maurus,   Walter   Blount,   of  Maple   Durham, 

Oxfordshire. 

D.  Thomas  Patten,  of  Lancashire. 
D.  Gregory,  John  Watkinson,  of  London. 
D.  Charles  Smith,  of  London. 
D.  Maurus,  Jordan  Langdale,  of  Yorkshire. 
D.  Michael,  George  Lewis,  of  Hereford. 
Br.  Bennet,  Dominic  Mompas,  of  Douay,Lay-brother. 
D.  Augustine,  William  Caldwell  or  Walmesley,  of 

Lancashire. 

D.  Anselm,  Ranald  Macdonald  of  Lochabor,  Scotland. 
D.  Laurence,  Joseph  Hadley,  of  London. 
D.  Benedict,    Archibald   Macdonald,  of   Knodort, 

( Lochabor.) 

D.  Ambrose,  John  Naylor,  of  Lancashire. 
D.  Bernard,  Thomas  Barr,  of  Hampshire. 
D.  Placid,  James  Duvivier,  alias  Waters,  of  London. 
D.  Bede,  Francis  Anderton,  of  Euxtou,  Lancashire. 
D.  Gregory,  William  Sharrock,  of  Lancashire. 
D.  Michael,  Rowland  Lacon,  of  Lindley,  Shropshire. 
D.  Jerome,  William  Digby,  of  Middlesex. 
D.  Augustine,  John  Hawkins,  of  Kent. 
D.  Edmund,  John  Hadley  of  London,  Middlesex. 
D.  Cuthbert,  John  Edward  Grime,  of  Essex. 
D.  Jerome,  Charles  James  Sharrock,   of  Lancashire. 
D.  Anselm,  Michael  Lorymer,  of  Monmouthshire. 


14 


APPENDIX. 


1768  October  3rd 

1768  October's*! 

1776  January  1st 

1777  January  15th 

1778  March  19th 

1779  May  24th 

„  August  22nd 

1781  July  2nd 

1785  January  12th 

„  August  7th 

1788  July  24th 

1790  October  10th 


1792 


October  21st 


D.  Q-eorge  Johnson,  of  "Warwickshire. 
D.  Laurence,  John  Barnes,  of  Dorsetshire. 
D.  Ambrose,  William  Allam,  of  London. 

D.  Bernard,  Richard  Butler,  of  Lancashire. 

Br.  Francis,   Holderness,  of  Preston,   Lancashire, 

Lay-brother. 

Br.  Silvester  Quince,  of  Kent,  Lay-brother. 
D.  Peter,  Richard  Kendall,  of  Bath,  Somersetshire. 

D.  Augustine,  Thomas  Lawson,  of  Brough,  York- 
shire. 

Br.  Paul  Wilson,  Lay-brother. 

D.  Henry  Lawson,  of  York. 

D.  James  Higginson,  of  Wrightington,  Lancashire. 

D.  John  Culshaw,  of  Latham,  Lancashire. 

D.  Thomas  Barker,  of  Cambridge. 

D.  George  Turner,  of  Houghton,  Lancashire. 

D.  Raymund,  John  Eldridge,  of  London. 

D.  Bernard,  Joseph  Hawarden,  of  Eccleston,  Lanca- 
shire. 

D.  Augustine,  John  Harrison,  of  Brough,  Yorkshire. 
Br.  Joseph  Barber,  of  Macclesfield,  Cheshire,  Lay- 
brother. 


A  list  of  the  Priors  and  professed  religious  of  the  Monastery  of  St.  Laurence, 
at  Dieulouart  or  Dieulwart  in  Lorraine. 

Priors  with  the  date  of  their  election. 


1609.  D.  Gabriel  Giffard 
1610.  D.  Nicholas  Fitzjames 
1610.  D.  Paulinus  Appleby  (de  Ona) 
1614.  D.  Edward  Maihew 
1620.  D.  Jocelin  Elmer 
1621.  D.  Columban  Malone  t 
1623.  D.  Laurence  Reyner 
1641.  D.  Cuthbert  Horsley 
1653.  D.  Laurence  Reyner 
1657.  D.  Cuthbert  Horsley 
1659.  D.  Placid  Adelham 
1661.  D.  Cuthbert  Horsley 
1677.  D.  John  Girlington 
1681.  D.  Bernard  Gregson 
1685.  D.  James  Mather 

1687.  D.  Mellitus  Walmesley  t 
1689.  D.  James  Mather 
1693.  D.  Laurence  Champney 
1701.  D.  Francis  Watmough 
1710.  D.  Robert  Hardcastle 
1713.  D.  Bernard  Lowick 
1717.  D.  Laurence  Champney 
1721.  D.  Francis  Watmough  t 
1733.  D.  Bernard  Catteral 
1753.  D.  Ambrose  Kaye 
1765.  D.  Gregory  Cowley 
1773.  D.  Dunstan  Holderness 
1781.  D.  Jerome  Marsh 
1785.  D.  Jerome  Coupe 
1789.  D.  Richard  Marsh 

t  Died  in  office. 


APPENDIX. 

The  Professed  Monks  of  St.  Laurence's,  Dieulwart.  * 


15 


1609 


1609    August  1st 
„    September  8th 


1610 


c  1610—11 


1611 
1612 

M 

» 

1614 

„  September  14th 
o  1615 


1620 


c  1620 
1622 

o  1623 
c  1625 

1625 


D.  Gabriel  of  St.  Mary,  William  Giffard,  of  Hamp- 
shire. 

D.  Joseph  Haworth,  of  Lancashire. 
D.  Laurence  Reyner,  of  Yorkshire. 
D.  Francis  Walgrave. 
D.  Mellitus,  Robert  Bapthorpe. 
D.  Placid  Hilton,  alias  Musgrave. 
D.  Bede  Merriman. 
D.  Clement  Reyner,  of  Yorkshire. 
D.  Claude  White,  alias  Bennet. 
D.  Placid  Muttleberry,  or  Muttlebury  of  Somerset. 
D.  Bernard  Edmunds,  of  Kent. 
D.  Jocelin  Elmer. 
D.  Nicholas  Curre. 
D.  George  Gaire. 

D.  Alban,  Bartholomew  Roe,  of  Suffolk. 
D.  Augustine  Heath,  of  Winchester. 
D.  Benedict,  Robert  Cox. 
D.  Benedict  D'Orgain,  of  Dieulwart. 
D.  Amandus  Yerner,  alias  Fermor,  of  Devonshire. 
D.  Swithbert  Latham,  of  Lancashire. 
D.  Placid  Gascoigne,  of  Yorkshire. 
D.  Dunstan  Pettinger. 
D.  Anthony  Batt. 
D.  Francis  Hull,  of  Devonshire. 
D.  Francis  Constable. 
D.  Boniface  Chandler. 
D.  Peter  Hunt. 
D.  Ambrose,  John  Langton. 
D.  Alexius  Bennet. 
D.  Joseph  Brookes 
D.  Thomas  Fursden. 
D.  Aldhelm  Philips,  of  Herefordshire. 
D.  Laurence  Lodwick. 
Br.  Anthony  Lovel,  Lay-brother. 
Br.  Claudius  Moliner.  Lay-brother. 
D.  Bede  Taylard. 

D.  Faustus,  Thomas  Vincent  Sadler. 
D.  Anselm  Williams. 
D.  Paul,  Robert  Robinson. 
D.  Boniface  Martin. 
D.  Benedict,  Anthony  Jerningham. 
Br.  Oliver,  John  Toudelle  or  Tordell,  of  Lancashire, 
a  Lay-brother. 


*  Owing  to  the  loss  of  the  old  profession-book  of  St.  Laurence's  many  of  the  dates  in  the 
•ftrly  part  of  this  Catalogue  are  only  conjecturally  accurate. 


J[6  APPENDIX. 

1626  D-  Gregory  Mallet,  alias  John  Jackson. 

>}  D.  Maurus  Roe,  of  Suffolk. 

„  D.  Eobert  Ingleby. 

})  D.  Elphege,  William  Sherwood. 

„  D.  Cuthbert,  Thomas  Horsley. 

1628  D-  Leander  Neville. 

w  D.  Michael  Cape,  of  Sussex. 

„  D.  Maurus  Flutot,  of  Dieulwart. 

„  D.  Laurence  Neville. 

1630  D.  Joseph  Foster,  of  Yorkshire. 

„  D.  Celestine  de  Landres,  of  Lorraine, 

c  1631  Br.  John  Gratian,  of  Dieulwart,  Lay-brother, 

c  1639  Br.  Paul  Waty,  Lay-brother. 

1 640  Br.  Laurence,  Paul  Brocast,  of  Dieulwart,  Lay-brother. 

1(^51  D.  Bernard,  George  Millington. 

1652  D.  Placid  Johnson. 

1653  D.  Gregory,  Bartholomew  Hesketh,  of  Lancashire. 
1055  D.  Dunstan  Duck. 

1656  D.  Matthew  Cheriton,  of  Oxfordshire. 

„  D.  John  Lumley,  of  Yorkshire. 

1660  D.  Benedict  Winchcombe,  of  Henwick,  Worcester. 

1661  Br.  Robert  Richardson,  Lay -brother. 

1663  D.  Edward  Johnson. 

„  Br.  John  Lockers,  Lay-brother. 

1664  D.  Mellitus  Hesketh,  of  Lancashire. 
„  Br.  Francis  West,  Lay-brother. 

1666  D.  Joseph  Aprice,  of  Northamptonshire. 

„  D.  Augustine  Mather,  of  Lancashire. 

D.  George  Whall. 

1668  D.  James  Mather,  of  Lancashire. 

„  D.  Nicholas  Hesketh,  of  Lancashire. 

„  D.  Ildephonsus,  Thomas  Aprice. 

„  D.  Bernard  Gregson. 

„  D.  Patrick  Curwen. 

„  D.  Benedict  Sparrey. 

1672  Br.  Austin  Rumley,  Lay-brother. 

1673  D.  Alban,  Zachary  Fuller,  of  Norfolk. 
„  D.  Ambrose,  Robert  Booth. 

1676  D.  James  Ferreyra. 

„  D.  Cuthbert,  Edward  Brent. 
1679        May  22nd        D.  Mellitus  Wulmesley,  of  Lancashire. 

1684  D.  Thomas  Eaves. 

„  D.  Francis  Watmough. 

„  D.  Laurence,  William  Champney. 

1685  D.  Joseph  Kennet. 

„  D.  Augustine,  John  Hudson. 

1686  D.  Vincent  Craven,  of  Lancashire. 
„  D.  Gregory  Helme. 

D.  Anselm  Brown. 


APPENDIX.  17 

o  1688  D.  Charles  Barker. 

„  D.  Maurus  Fermor,  or  Farmer. 

1690  D.  Bobert  Hardcastle. 

„  Br.  Joseph  Bateson,  Lay-brother. 

1693  D.  John,  Edmund  Green. 

„  D.  Placid  Bagnal. 

D.  Bernard  Quyneo. 
D.  Maurus,  John  Bigmaiden,  or  Smith. 

1701  D.  Cuthbert,  Kalph  Farnworth,   of  Bunshaw,  Lan- 
cashire. 

o    1701  Br.  Peter  Gregson.  Lay-brother, 

c    1707  D.  Bernard  Bradley. 

„  D.  Benedict,  Simeon  Bigmaiden. 

1708  D.  Francis  Howard. 

„  D.  Augustine  Sulyard,  of  Haughley  Hall,  Norfolk. 

1710  D.  Anselm,  Bichard  Walmesley.  y^  0333^ 

1711  D.  Placid,  William  Naylor,of  Scarisbrick,  Lancashire. 
„  D.  John  Bous. 

1712  D.  William  Champney. 

1713  D.  Edward  Houghton,  of  Parkhall,  Lancashire. 
„  D.  Laurence  Kirby. 

1715  D.  Ambrose  Eastgate. 

1717  D.  Vincent  Palin. 

1724  D.  Maurus,  Bertram  Buhner. 

1725  D.  Bernard,  Edward  Catteral,  of  Lancashire, 
a  1726  B.  Bobert  Bowston,  Lay-brother. 

1726  D.  John  Fisher,  of  Lancashire. 

1727  D.  Placid,  John  Bigby. 

„  D.  Augustine  Gregson,  of  Lancashire, 

c  1728  Br.  Bede  Houghton,  Lay-brother. 

1730  D.  Gregory  Bobinson. 

1732  D.  Jerome,  John  Berry,  or  Butler. 

1735  D.  Ambrose,  James  Kaye,  of  Lancashire. 

„  D.  Bobert  Daniel,  of  Whittingham,  Lancashire. 

1736  D.  Francis  Walmesley. 

„  D.  Benedict,  John  Daniel,  alias  Simpson,  of  Lancashire. 

1737  D.  Bernard,  James  Price,  of  Standish,  Lancashire. 
„  D.  Peter  Wilcock,  of  Lancashire. 

„  D.  Nicholas,  John  Bichardson,  of  Lancashire. 

„  D.  Thomas  Simpson. 

a  1739  Br.  James  Draper,  Lay-brother. 

c  1740  Br.  James,  Bobert  Johnson,  Lay-brother. 

1741  D.  Vincent,  Bichard  Gregson,  of  Lancashire. 

„  D.  Dunstan,  Peter  Holderness. 

1743  D.  Placid,  John  Nay  lor,  of  Lancashire. 

1749  D.  Alexius,  Edward  Pope,  or  Fisher,  of  Lancashire. 

,,  D.  Gregory,  William  Cowley. 

1751  D.  Benedict,  Bichard  Simpson,  of  Preston,  Lanca- 
shire. 

„  D.  Anselm,  John  Bolton,  of  Brindle,  Lancashire, 

„  D.  Maurus,  Bichard  Barret,  of  Lancashire. 


18 


APPENDIX. 


1755  December  28th    D.  Oswald  Eaves,  of  Lancashire. 

1758  D.  Bede,  John  Brewer,  of  Lancashire. 

„  D.  Placid,  John  Bennet. 

„  D.  Dunstan  Worswick. 

o  1759  D.  Thomas,  John  Turner,  of  Lancashire. 

„  D.  Jerome,  Thomas  Marsh,  of  Lancashire, 

c  1760  D.  Bernard,  John  Slater,  of  Lancashire. 

1761  D.  Ambrose  Waring,  of  Lancashire. 

1766  April  27th        D.  Edward,  Richard  Fisher,  of  Lancashire. 

„  D.  Basil,  John  Brindle  of  Lancashire. 

„  D.  Anselm  Bromley,  of  Liverpool. 

1775  D.  Dunstan,  John  Sharrock,  of  Lancashire. 

„  D.  Jerome,  Thomas  Coupe,  of  South  hill,  Chorley, 

Lancashire. 

1776  D.  Alexius,  James  Pope,  of  Lancashire. 

a  1777  Br.  Christopher  Osbaldeston,  Lay-brother. 

1777  D.  Thomas  Slater,  of  Lancashire. 

1778  D.  Edmund  Penningtou,  of  Lancashire. 
1781  April  22nd        D.  Richard  Pope,  of  Lancashire. 

a  1782  Br.  Andrew  Burn,  Lay-brother. 

1783  April  22nd        D.  Richard  Marsh,  of  Hiudley,  Lancashire. 

1784  December  15th    D.  Ralph  Ainsworth,  of  Liverpool. 
„  „           „         D.  Stephen  Hodgson,  of  Durham. 

a  1786  Br.  Joseph  Johnson,  a  Lay-brother. 

1788  January  12th      D.  Anselm,  Thomas  Appleton,  of  Lancashire. 
„  D.  Bernard  Robinson. 

„  D.  Augustine,  Samuel  Mitchell. 

1789  D.  Bede,  James  Burgess,  of  Lancashire. 
„  D.  Oswald,  James  Talbot,           „ 

1791  D.  John  Dawber,  of  Standish,     „ 

1792  D.  James  Calderbank,  of  Liverpool. 

„  D.  Francis,  Lewis  Cooper,  of  Walton,  Lancashire. 

„  D.  Alexius,  William  Chew.                                 . 

1793  D.  Benedict,  Richard  Marsh. 


VI 

The  Priors  and  professed  religious  of  the  Monastery  of  St.  Benedict  at 
St.  Malo,  in  Britany. 

Priors,  with  the  date  of  their  election. 


1611  D.  Gabriel  Gifford 
1620  D.  Paulinus  Greenwood 
1625  D.  Jocelin  Elmer 
1629  D.  Deodatus  L'  Angevin 
1641  D.  Gabriel  Brett 
1643  D.  Paul  Robinson 
1645  D.  Gabriel  Brett 

1649  D.  Jocelin  Elmer  t 
1651  D.  Bernard  Ribertierre 
1653  D.  John  Meutisse 
1657  D.  Gabriel  Brett 
1661  D.  Thomas  Anderton 
1666  D.  Benedict  Nelson 

t  Died  in  office. 


APPENDIX. 


19 


1613 
1614 


The  professed  monks  of  St.  Benedict's  St.  Malo. 

August  6th       D. 
July  22nd       D. 


October 


1614 
1615 


November  5th 


1616 
1617 


March  24th 
October  18th 


1620  February  10th 
„       September  23rd 

1621  February  14th 

? 

1630         April  24th 
1634    September  24th 


1644 

1657 

a  1669 


December  8th 


D. 
D. 
Br. 
D. 
D. 

Br 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

Br 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

Br. 
D. 
Br. 
Br. 
Br. 


Matthew  Sandeford,  of  Lea,  Shropshire. 
Deodatus  of  St.  Mary,  Benatus  L' Angevin,  of 
St.  Malo. 

Felix  of  St.  Mary,  Thompson  or  Pratt. 
Celestine  of  St.  John,  Trembie. 
James  Le  Munier,  a  Breton,  Lay-brother. 
Benedict,  Luke  Cape. 

Gabriel,  Bobert  Brett,    of  White  Staunton,  Som- 
ersetshire. 

.  Dominic  Taylor,  Lay-brother. 
Dunstan  Everard,  of  Suffolk. 
Francis  Gicou,  a  Breton. 
Rupert  Guillet,  a  Welshman. 
Bomanus,  William  Grossier,  of  Paris. 
.  Anselm  Hamoy,  a  Lay-brother. 
Bernard  Bibertierre,  of  St.  Male's. 
Mansuetus  Powel,  an  Irishman,  professed  in  Spain. 
Maurus  of  the  Holy  Cross,  Hames. 
Bede  Foster,  alias  William  Thornton,  of  Galley- 
hill,  Northumberland. 

Anselm  Prudhomme,  of  Burgundy,  Lay-brother. 
Anselm  Williams. 
Bennet  Galli,  Lay-brother. 
John  Barbierre.  „ 

Francis  Chamberlain. 


VII 


The  Priors  and  professed  Beligious  of  the  Monastery  of  St.  Edmund 

the  King,  at  Paris. 

Priors,  with  the  date  of  their  election. 


1615  D.  Augustine  Bradshaw 

1677  D.  Augustine  Latham  t 

1616  D.  Bernard  Berington 

„      D.  Benedict  Nelson 

1618  D.  Matthew  Sandeford 

1689  D.  Francis  Fenwick 

1619  D.  Bernard  Berington 

1685  D.  James  Nelson 

1620  D.  Thomas  Monington 

1693  D.  Placid  Nelson 

1621  D.  Sigebert  Bagshaw 

1697  D.  Joseph  Johnston 

1629  D.  Placid  Gascoigne 

1698  D.  William  Hitchcock 

1633  D.  Gabriel  Brett 

1701  D.  Anthony  Turberville 

1640  D.  Thomas  Anderton 

1705  D.  Joseph  Johnston 

1641  D.  Francis  Cape 

1710  D.  Anthony  Turberville 

1653  D.  Augustine  Latham 

1713  D.  Placid  Anderton 

1654  D.  Benedict  Nelson 

1717  D.  Francis  Moore 

1657  D.  Francis  Cape 

1721  D.  Laurence  York 

1666  D.  Michael  Cape  t 

1725  D.  John  Stourton 

1668  D.  Thomas  Anderton 

1729  D.  Wilfrid  Helme 

1669  D.  Joseph  Sherburne 

1737  D.  Henry  Wyburne 

t  Died  in  office. 


20 


APPENDIX. 


1745  D.  Maurus  Coupe 
1749  D.  Charles  Walmesley 
1753  D.  Augustine  Walker 
1757  D.  Bernard  Price 


1765  D.  Thomas  Welch 
1773  D.  Gregory  Cowley 
1789  D.  Henry  Parker  t 


A  list  of  the  professed  monks  of  St.  Edmund's,  Paris. 


1622  March  31st 

1623  February  8th 

1629  May  26th 
„  October  5th 

1630  December  26th 

»  j>             » 

1632  

„  June  1st 

1639  January  15th 


1640  April  10th 
„        April  15th 

»  »         » 

»  »         » 

»  »         » 

„        August  5th 
„      November  30th 

1641  February  17th 

„          December 

1642  June  8th 
November  15th 


1648 

1650 
1651 
1652 


1653 

1654 
1656 
1657 


January  1st 

July  llth 

May  22nd 

June  24th 

January  1st 

June  24th 


D.  Gabriel  Latham  of  Lancashire. 

D.  .ZEmilian,  Ferdinand  Throckmorton,  of  Warwick- 
shire. 

D.  Dunstan  Gibson,  of  Yorkshire. 

D.  Francis  Whitnal  of  Kent. 

D.  Thomas  Anderton,  of  Euxton,  Lancashire. 

D.  Wolstan,  Richard  Ingham,  or  Walmesley. 

D.  Dunstan  Graff e,  or  Grove. 

D.  Columban,  John  Phillips,  of  Pembrokeshire. 

D.  John  Garter,  of  Northamptonshire. 

D.  Richard  King,  or  Scott,  of  Bedfordshire. 

Br.  Edmund  Ward,  of  Norfolk,  Lay-brother. 

D.  Augustine,  Henry  Latham,  of  Mosborrow,  Lan- 
cashire. 

D.  Benedict,  William  Nelson,  of  Maudsley,  Lanca- 
shire. 

D.  William  Sheldon,  of  Warwickshire. 

D.  Peter  Gifford,  of  Whiston,  Staffordshire. 

D.  Wolstan,  Edmund  Shuttleworth,  or  Dalton,  of 
Bedford,  Lancashire. 

D.  Edward  Gloster,  aliax  Glasscock,  of  Essex. 

D.  Cuthbert,  Thomas  Risden. 

D.  Placid,  Henry  Carey,  (son  of  Viscount  Falk- 
land). 

D.  Andrew  Simpson. 

D.  Maurus  Bennet,  or  William  Davis,  of  Flintshire. 

D.  Bede,  Richard  Houghton,  alias  Farnaby,  of  Lan- 
cashire. 

Br.  Bennet,  Randal  Hankinson,  a  Lay-brother. 

D.  Bernard  Warren  of  Cheshire. 

Br.  Gregory  Wilkinson,  of  London,  a  Lay-brother. 

D.  Basil  Cheriton,  of  Oxfordshire. 

D.  Placid,  John  Adelham,  of  Wiltshire. 

D.  David  Guilliam,  of  Monmouthshire. 

D.  Joseph  Sherburne,  of  Lancashire. 

D.  Maurus  Robinson,  of  Yorkshire. 

D.  John  Girlington,  of  Lancashire. 

D.  Augustine  Cornwallis,  of  Norwich. 

D.  Laurence  Woolfe,  of  Shropshire. 

Br.  Francis  Mosse,  Lay-brother. 


t  Died  in  office. 


APPENDIX. 


21 


1658   November  13th  D 

D 

1660     March  17th        D 


„          July  25th 
„     September  21st 
1661     January  21st 

1663  October  9th 

1664  March  23rd 

»5  55  55 

„       November  1st 
1673  February  10th 


1675 
1676 
1677 


July  2nd 
May  26th 
October  5th 
March  21st 


1679       May  22nd 
1681  November  13th 


D 

D 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 
D. 


1682  September  20th 
Ij683     February  4th 

„         April  19th 

1683  October  26th 

1684  November  26th  D. 

1685  November  llth  D. 


1688 


1689 


55                   5) 

D. 

May  2nd 

D. 

15                   >J 

D. 

June  13th 

D. 

October  2nd 

D. 

October  24th 

D. 

March  6th 

D. 

July  27th 

D. 

September  14th  D. 


„       October  9th        D. 

„       December  23rd  D. 

1692    January  13th     D. 

D. 
1696  February  2nd  D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

Br. 


1698 


J  f  77 

February  2nd 
July  llth 

»         »> 

July  3rd 

December  8th 


.  Augustine,  Edward  Llewellin,  of  Yorkshire. 

.  Francis  Muttlebury,  of  Somersetshire. 

,  Charles  Philip,  or  William  Pugh,  of  St.  Asaph's, 

Flintshire. 

.  James,  Ralph  Nelson,  of  Maudsley,  Lancashire. 

.  Bede  Shirburn,  of  Lancashire. 

Alban  Berriman,  of  Somersetshire. 
.  Placid,EichardBruning,  of  HambledonPark,Hants. 
.  Richard  Toward,  of  London. 
Anthony  Turberville,  of  Ewenny,  Glamorganshire. 
Andrew  Rycaut,  of  London. 
Francis  Fenwick,  of  London. 
Cuthbert  Parker,  of  Marscough,  Lancashire. 
Thomas  Hesketh,  of  Lancashire. 
Bernard,  Henry  Lowick,  of  Stoxley,  Yorkshire. 
Joseph,  Henry  Johnston,  of  Methley,  Yorkshire. 
Augustine  Stelling,  of  Durham. 
John  Smith,  of  Wooton,  Warwickshire. 
Gregory,  Henry  Timperly,  of  Hintlesham,  Suffolk. 
Placid,  Richard  Nelson,  of  Fairhurst,  Lancashire. 
Bede,  Benjamin  Moore,  of  London. 
Maurus  Nelson,  of  Fairhurst,  Lancashire. 
Felix,  Richard  Tasburgh,  of  Flixton  Hall,  Suffolk. 
Edmund  Hawet,  of  Ormskirk,  Lancashire. 
Anselm  Nelson,  of  Fairhurst,  Lancashire. 
Clement  Paston,  of  Barningham,  Norfolk. 
William  Philipson,  of  Streitly,  Berkshire. 
Martin  Stone,  of  Euxton,  Lancashire. 
Dunstan,  Farrigton  Lake,  of  Waretree,  Lancashire. 
Dominic,  Charles  Green,  of  Windsor,  Berkshire. 
Ambrose,  Robert  Davis,  of  London. 
Bernard,  Francis  Hornyold,  of  Worcestershire. 
James,  Francis  Poyntz,  of  Northamptonshire. 
John  Dakins,  of  Leicestershire. 
Augustine,  John  Southcot,  of  Witham  Place,  Essex. 
Edmund  Smith,  of  Durham. 

Jerome,   Charles  Bruning,   of   Hambledon   Park, 
Hants. 

Laurence  Casse,  of  Knaresboro',  Yorkshire. 
Thomas,  William  Short,  of  London. 
Joseph,  William  Kennedy,  of  Ireland. 
Benedict,  Ralph  Weldon,  of  Swanscombe,  Kent. 
Thomas  Bruning  of  Hambledon  Park,  Hants. 
Placid,  William  Anderton,  of  Euxton,  Lancashire. 
Jerome,  John  Farnworth,  of  Runshaw,  Lancashire. 
Francis  Moore,  of  Fawley,  Berkshire. 
Edmund,  David  Cox,  of  London. 
Maurus,  Charles  Middleton,  Lay-brother. 


1699  July  5th          D.  Alban  Ashton,  of  "Warrington,  Lancashire. 
„  „         „  D.  Augustine,  Thomas  Lumley,  of  Yorkshire. 

„  „         „  D.  Wilfrid,  Thomas  Helme,  of  Goosnargh,  Lancashire, 

„  „         „  Br.  Laurence  Delattre,  Lay-brother. 

„     November  17th     Br.  Alexius  Higgs,  of  London,  Lay-brother. 

„  „         22nd     D.  Edward  Sherburn,  of  Parrington,  Essex. 

„  „  „         D.  William  Hewlett,  of  Winchester. 

1700  October  12th     D.  Joseph,  John  D'Ognate,  of  Bruges. 
1706       May  2nd          D.  Augustine,  Edward  Delattre,  of  London. 
1708     March  25th        D.  Joseph  Roskow,  of  Runshaw,  Lancashire. 

„  „  „         D.  James  Buckley,  of  London. 

1714  July  31st          D.  John  Aspinwall,  of  Yorkshire. 

„  „         „  D.  Dunstan,  Edward  Rogers,  of  Denbigh. 

1715  August  6th       D.  Benedict,  William  Shaftoe,  of  Northumberland. 
1723  November  21st   D.  Henry  Wyburne,  of  Kent. 

1725  July  26th         D.  Wilfrid,   Philip  Constable,  of  Everingham,  York- 

shire. 

„  „         „  D.  Maurus,  John  Dale,  of  Yorkshire. 

„  „         „  D.  Placid,  Richard  Ashton,  of  Warrington,  Lancashire. 

1726  December  12th    D.  Edmund,  William  Batchelor,  of  Yorkshire. 
„  „  „         D.  Joseph,  Roger  Whittel,  of  London. 

1729       April  19th       D.  Bernard,  William  Nechills,  of  London. 
1731        July  15th       D.  Anselm,  Evans  Eastham,  of  Walton-le-Dale,  Lan- 
cashire. 

„  „         „  D.  Maurus,  Abram  Coupe,  of  Owlerton,  Lancashire. 

1739  September  29th  D.  Charles Walmesley,  of  Westwood Hall,  near  Wigan. 

„  „  „         D.  James,  George  Crook,  of  Chorley,  Lancashire. 

1743  May  23rd         D.  Augustine,  George  Walker,  of  Hindley,  Lancashire. 
„  „         „  D.  Benedict,  Alexander  Catteral,  of  Lancashire. 

1744  May  25th        D.  Thomas  Welch,  of  Lancashire. 

1746     November  1st   D.  Cuthbert,  John  Simpson,  of  Preston,  Lancashire. 
„     December  18th     D.  John,  Lewis  Barnes,  of  London. 

1750  November  8th  D.  Philip  Jefferson,  of  Hexham,  Northumberland. 

„      December  19th    Br.  Joseph  Valentine,  J  jay-brother,  of  Samesbury,  Lan- 
cashire. 

1751  April  18th       D.  Augustine,  Robert  Kellet,  of  Plumpton,  Lanca- 

shire. 

„  „  „         D.  Gregory,  William  Gregson,  of  Samesbury,  Lanca- 

shire. 

1753    November  1st     D.  Benedict  Harsnep,  of  Ormskirk,  Lancashire. 
,,  „         „       D.  Dunstan,   William  Garstang,  of  Brindle,  Lanca- 

shire. 

1755  September  29th  D.  Richard  Harris,  of  Winchester. 
„  „         „       D.  Robert  Goolde,  of  London. 

1757         May  12th      D.  Bede,  Richard  Barton,  of  Wheaton,  Lancashire, 
„  „         „  D.  Maurus,   Ralph  Shaw,  of  Rothbury,  Northumber- 

land. 
1760  December  30th    D.  Edmund,  George  Ducket,  of  Lancashire. 


Al'l'hMUX, 


1764  September  10th 
1764  December  10th 
1769     March  12th 
1773  November  30th 
1775     October  16th 
1779  December  21st 


1781  February  12th 

1786  September  8th 
„       October  12th 

1787  January  18th 

1788  October  13th 


D.  Benedict  Cawser,  of  Ormskirk,  Lancashire. 

D.  Cuthbert,  Joseph  Wilks,  of  Cought on,  Warwickshire. 

D.  Bernard,  Andrew  Ryding,  of  Wigan,  Lancashire. 

D.  Henry  Parker  of  Kirkham,  Lancashire. 

D.  Bernard,  James  Compton,  of  Salisbury. 

D.  James  Berry,  of  Wigan,  Lancashire. 

Br.  Hugh  Holden,  died  before  profession. 

D.  John  Atkinson,  of  Ashton,  Lancashire. 

D.  John  Turner,  of  Woolstan,  Lancashire. 

D.  Francis  Beswick,  of  St.  Helen's,  Lancashire. 

D.  John  Crombleholme,  of  Lancashire. 

Peter  Marsh,  of  Hindley,  Lancashire. 

Daniel  Spencer,  of  Crosby,      „ 


D. 
D. 


VIII 


The  Abbey  of  SS.  Adrian  and  Denis  at  Lambspring  in  Germany. 
List  of  Abbots,  with  date  of  their  accession  to  office. 


1643  D.  Clement  Reyner.  t 
1651  D.  Placid  Gascoigne  t 
1681  D.  Joseph  Sherwood  t 
1690  D.  Maurus  (I)  Corker 


1697  D.  Maurus  (II),  Knightley  t 
1708  D.  Augustine  Tempest  t 
1730  D.  Joseph  Eokeby  t 
1762  D.  Maurus  (III)  Heatley 


A  list  of  monks  professed  at  the  Abbey  of  Lambspring. 


1645      August  27th 

1 649  February  2nd 
1653        June  5th 


1655  December  8th 

1656  Aprii'23rd" 
„         July  22nd 

1658  September  16th 
„     December  30th 

1660  April  llth 

1661  December  28th 

1663  January  18th 

July  25th 

1664  January  15th 


D.  Clement,  Richard  Meutisse,  or  Northall,  of  Shrop- 
shire. 

D.  Hugh,  Henry  Starkey,  of  Darley,  Cheshire. 

D.  Adrian  Kirke,  of  Northamptonshire. 

D.  Robert  Killingbecke,  of  Yorkshire. 

D.  Joseph  Sherwood,  of  the  diocese  of  Ghent. 

D.  Bede,  Bartholomew  Addye,of  the  county  of  Durham. 

D.  Placid  Shafto,  of  the  County  of  Durham. 

D.  Maurus,  John  Corker,  of  Yorkshire. 

Br.  John  Sherwood,  of  Somersetshire.  Lay-brother. 

Br.  Peter  Street,  Lay-brother. 

D.  Francis  Porter,  of  the  county  of  Durham. 

D.  Benedict,  Robert  Meryng,or  Meering,  of  Tardebig, 
Worcestershire. 

D.  Leander,  Francis  Greene,  of  Monmouthshire. 

D-  John  Tempest,  of  Yorkshire. 

Br.  Thomas  Tucker,  of  Bradford,  Wilts,  Lay-brother. 

D.  Anselm,  Roger  Colling  wood,  of  Northumberland. 

D.  Bernard  Sanderson,  of  Paris. 

D.  Denis  Sanderson,  of  Northumberland. 

D.  Basil,  John  Smeaton,  of  Cumberland. 


t  Died  in  office. 


24 


APPENDIX. 


1664 

October  9th 

D. 

55 

55                     55 

D. 

1665 

September  8th 

Br. 

1666 

March  25th 

Br. 

1668 

January  llth 

D. 

a  1669 

55                 55 

Br. 

1669 

August  7th 

D. 

» 

October  15th 

D. 

1670 

May  9th 

D. 

55 

55                 55 

D. 

55 

55                 55 

D.  : 

55 

October  9th 

D. 

55 

55                  55 

D. 

1672 

June  3rd 

D. 

1673 

March  21st 

D. 

D. 

55 

55                     55 

55 

>5                     55 

D. 

1674 

May  7th 

D. 

55 

September  14th 

D. 

1979 

November  7th 

D. 

1682 

November  3rd 

D. 

D. 

55 

55                     55 

1683 

February  24th 

D.  . 

1684 

December  8th 

D. 

1685 

June  27th 

D.  : 

55 

55                     55 

D. 

55 

55                     55 

D.  : 

55 

55                     55 

D. 

55 

55                     55 

D. 

55 

55                     55 

Br. 

1688 

March  21st 

D. 

55 

55                  55 

D.: 

55 

August  15th 

D.  . 

55 

55                  55 

D. 

1689 

April  23rd 

D.  : 

55 

55                 55 

D. 

}> 

October  9th 

D. 

1690 

March  21st 

D. 

55 

55                55 

D.  . 

55 

55                 55 

D. 

55 

55                55 

D. 

55 

55                 55 

D.  . 

Alban,  Q-eorge  Porter,  of  Cumberland 

Augustine,  Francis  Tempest,  of  Yorkshire. 
Bede  Barnes,  of  Chester-le-Street,  Durham,  Lay- 
brother. 

Joseph  Blakey,   of  Newcastle-on-Tyne,   a  Lay- 
brother. 

Cuthbert,  William  Marsh,  alias  Wall,  or  Marshall, 
of  Lancashire. 
Ealph  Hodson,  Lay-brother.   (  ? ) 

Benedict  Constable,  of  Yorkshire. 

Ildephonsus  Ratcliffe,  or  Radcliffe,  of  Northum- 
berland. 

Ambrose  Lindley,  of  Yorkshire. 

Placid,  Alban  Francis,  of  Middesex. 

Maurus,  John  Knightley,  of  Warwickshire. 

Laurence  Swale,  of  Yorkshire. 

Gregory  Dalyson,  of  Lincolnshire. 

Celestine  Shafto,  of  the  county  of  Durham. 

Nicholas  Colston,  of  Quarry- hill,  Durham. 

Benedict  Gibbon,  of  Westcliff,  Kent. 

Bernard  Huntley,  of  Shadforth,  Durham,  a  Lay- 
brother. 

John  Townson,  of  Lancashire. 

Francis  Mildmay,  of  Amersden,  Oxfordshire. 

Wilfrid,  Joseph  Hutchinson,  of  Northumberland. 

Anselm,  William  Blakey,  of  Northumberland. 

Denis,  Bartholomew  Bishop,  of  Oxfordshire. 

Alban,  Obed  Dawney,  of  Lancashire. 

Willibrord,  William  Wilson,  of  the  Co.  of  Durham. 

Benedict,  William  Lawson,  of  Brough,  Yorkshire. 

Paul,  Robert  Gillmore,  of  Ramsbury,  Wiltshire. 

Dunstan,  Matthew  Hutchinson,  of  Northumber- 
land. 

Richard,  John  Isherwood,  of  Lancashire. 

Edward,  Bertram  Bulmer,  of  Yorkshire. 
Jerome  Six,  of  Antwerp,  a  Lay-brother. 

Gregory,  Greorge  Riddell,  of  Northumberland. 

Maurus,  Ralph  Wilson,  of  the  county  of  Durham. 

Augustine,  Thomas  Towuson,  of  Lancashire. 

Elphege,  John  Skelton,  of  Cumberland. 

Leander,  John  Davies  of  Middlesex. 

Odo,  William  Duddell,  of  Middlesex. 

Benedict  Sies,  of  Brabant. 

James  Winton  of  Middlesex. 

Adrian,  Martin  Bernard,  of  Lincolnshire. 

Philip  Blakey,  of  Northumberland. 

Joseph  Wyche,  of  Middlesex. 

Ambrose,  William  Grawen,  of  Middlesex. 


APPENDIX. 


25 


1691        May  21st 
1694  December  8th 
169§     March  12th 
1696     March  21st 

1699        May  1st 
1701      April  24th 


1702  March  4th 

1703  February  2nd 
„         April  15th 


December  21st 


1705     January  15th 
1709          April  1st 

„       October  9th 
1711  November  15th 

1713  December  8th 

1714  August  15th 

1715  January  25th 


//  //  j j 

„         February  14th 
1719       January'l2th 


1722  March  21st 
„      *   July  llth 

1723  March  28th 

July  16th 
1726     April  21st 


a  1726 


1732        April  15th 


D.  Bede,  John  Potts,  of  Northumberland. 

D.  Oswald,  John  Smithers,  of  Middlesex. 

D.  Placid,  John  Scudamore,  of  Middlesex. 

D.  George,  Richard  Brent,  of  Worcestershire. 

D.  Benedict,  George  Mordaunt,  of  Middlesex. 

D.  Francis  Bruning,  of  Berkshire. 

D.  Denis,  William  Huddlestone,  of  Sawston,  Cam- 
bridgeshire. 

D.  Placid,  Fairfax  Robinson,  of  Yorkshire. 

D.  John  Osland,  of  Sutton,  Shropshire. 

D.  Frederick  Howard,  of  Norfolk. 

D.  Benedict,  John  Comberlege,  of  Newcastle-under- 
Lyne,  Staffordshire. 

D.  Anselm,  Thomas  Crathorne,  of  Ness,  Yorkshire. 

D.  Joseph,  George  Rokeby,  of  Middlesex. 

D.  Edward  Salisbury,  of  Devonshire. 

D.  Adrian,  Thomas  Hardisty,  of  Yorkshire. 

D.  James  Hawkins,  of  Gloucestershire. 

D.  Elphege,  Robert  Dobson,  of  Kent. 

D.  Michael,  John  Anderton,  of  Hardhill,  Lancashire. 

D.  Charles,  Anthony  Delattre,  of  London. 

D.  Bede,  William  Hutton,  of  Eldon,  Durham. 

D.  Paul,  Matthew  Allanson,  of  Woodal,  Yorkshire. 

D.  Placid,  Thomas  Hutton,  of  Eldon,  Durham. 

D.  Wilfrid,  James  Witham,  of  Cliff,  Yorkshire. 

D.  Thomas,  Robert  Riddell,  of  Swinburne  Castle, 
Northumberland. 

D.  Alexius,  John  Wall,  of  Ludshott,  Hampshire. 

Br.  Adrian  Muller,  of  Lambspring,  Lay-brother. 

Br.  Antony  Doutch,  of  Lambspring,  a  Lay-brother. 

D.  Joseph,  Edward  Riddell,  of  Swinburne,  Northum- 
berland. 

D.  Edward,  Michael  Tempest,  of  London. 

D.  Boniface,  Michael  Byers,  of  Fenham,  Northum- 
berland. 

D.  Robert,  George  Robinson,  of  Middlesex. 

D.  Augustine,  Simon  Dunscombe,  of  Devonshire. 

D.  Bernard  Bradshaw,  alias  Handford,  of  Preston 
Goballs,  Shropshire. 

D.  Benedict,  Thomas  Shuttleworth  of  Middlesex. 

D.  Odo  Smithers. 

D.  Maurus,  Wiliam  Darell,  alias  Westbrook,  of  Kent. 

D.  Gregory,  Edward  Selbye,  of  Yardhill,  Northum- 
berland. 

D.  Dunstan,  James  Knight,  of  Reasby,  Lincolnshire. 

D.  Bede,  Lancelot  Newton,  of  Stocksfield  Hall,  Nor- 
thumberland. 

D.  Anselm,  John  Gery,  of  Middlesex. 

D.  Laurence,  William  Hardisty,  of  Middlesex. 


APPENDIX. 

1732     June  1st  D.  Joseph  Peyton,  of  Middlesex. 

1732  September  8th  D.  Denis,  John  Bulmer,  of  Middlesex. 

1733  May  31st        D.  Benedict,  Francis  Knight,  of  Reasby,  Lincolnshire. 
„  „  „         D.  Bernard,  John  Davis,  alias  Kirke,  of  Middlesex. 

„  „  „         D.  Robert,  Pitt  Copsey,  of  Middlesex. 

1735     August  30th     Br.   Bernard,   Joseph    Beckman,   of  Lambspring,  a 

Lay-brother. 

1737     October  28th     D.  James  Le  Grand,  of  Middlesex. 
1740       May  26th        D.  Placid,  William  Metcalfe,  of  Lincolnshire. 
„  „  „         D.  Augustine,  Robert  Turner,  of  Mowdsley,  Lanca- 

shire. 

„  „  „         D.  Maurus,  William  Heatley,  of  Samsbury,   Lanca- 

shire. 
„  „  „         D.  Gregory,  John  Metcalfe,  of  Lincolnshire. 

1743  July  6th  D.  Wilfrid,  John  Strutt,  or  Bridgman,  of  Middlesex. 
„         October  1st        D.  Alexius,  Frederick  Latham,  of  Hamburg. 

1744  April  13th         Br.  John  Jansen,  of  Lambspring,  Lay-brother. 

„       December  21st    D.  Benedict,  Bernard  Bolas,  of  Preston  Goballs,  Shrop- 
shire. 

„  „  „        D.  Ambrose,  Robert  Boucher,  of  Middlesex. 

,.  „  „         D.  Denis,  John  Wenham,  of  Middlesex. 

1748  November  12th  Br.  Jerome,  George  Clarkson,  of  Brindle,  Lancashire, 

a  Lay-brother. 

1751    January  10th      D.  Anselm,  Thomas  Bolas,  of  Preston  Goballs,  Shrop- 
shire. 

„  „  „        D.  Joseph,  John  Story,  of  Northumberland. 

„  „  „         D.  Laurence,  Augustus  Turck,  of  Hildesheim. 

1754       May  5th  D.  Gregory,  John  Ballyman,  of  Devonshire. 

1756      November  7th  D.  Thomas,  Ballyman,  of  Devonshire. 
„  „  „         D.  Boniface,  Roger  Hall,  of  Lancashire. 

1758    December  29th  D.  Augustine,  Clare  Hatton,  of  Norfolk. 

„  „  „         D.  Benedict,  Thomas  Garner,  of  Barton,  Lancashire. 

1760     August  31st      D.  Anselm,  Bernard  Bradshaw,  of  Esh,  Durham. 
„  „         „         D.  Bernard,  Daniel  Yonge,  or  Young,   of  Ormskirk, 

Lancashire. 

„  „         „         D.  Duustan,  Joseph  Scott,  of  Beaufront,  Northum- 

berland. 

1762  June  24th      D.  Basil,  Francis  Bradshaw,  of  Esh,  Durham. 

1763  September  18th  D.  Adrian,  Thomas  Gurnall,  of  London. 

„  „  „         D.  Bede,  Robert  Scott,  of  Beaufront,  Northumberland. 

„  „  „         D.  Maurus,  James  Chaplin,  of  Norfolk. 

1770  November  1st     D  Placid,  Thomas  Harsnep,  of  Ormskirk,  Lancashire. 

1771  August  18th      D.  Joseph,  George  Crook,  alias  Gregson,  of  Chorley, 

Lancashire. 

„  „         „         D.  Denis,  Matthew  Allerton,  of  Ormskirk,  Lancashire. 

„  „         „         D.  Anselm,  Michael  Chaplin,  of  Middlesex. 

„     December  15th     Br.  Ambrose,   Francis  Pape,  of  Lambspring,  a  Lay- 
brother. 

1772  November  1st    D.  Boniface,  Charles  Taylor,  of  Goosnargh,  Lancashire. 


APPENDIX. 


27 


1772  November  1st 
1774      July  22nd 
August  15th 


1776 

» 
1777 


1779 
1783 


1784    November  1st 


D.  Oswald,  James  Johnson,  of  Wrightington,  Lanca- 
shire. 

D.  Clement,  William  Grimbaldeston,  of  Alston,  Lan- 
cashire. 

D.  Joachim,  Q-oderic  Swinburn,  of  Durham. 

D.  Lewis,  John  Heatley,  of  Samsbury,  Lancashire. 

D.  Jerome,  Hugh  Heatley,  of  Preston,  Lancashire. 

D.  Paul,  Joseph  Grimbaldeston,  of  Alston,     „ 

D.  Basil,  James  Kennedy,  of  Middlesex. 

Br.  Francis  Tegetmeyr,  a  Lay-brother. 

D.  Joseph,  William  Collins,  of  London. 

D.  Cyprian,  John Barnewall,  of  London. 

D.  Dunstan,  William   Webb,  of  Birmingham,  War- 
wickshire. 

Br.  John,  Francis  Knacksterdt,  a  Lay-brother. 
D.  Anselm,  Thomas  Kenyon,   of   Warrington,  Lan- 
cashire. 

D.  Alban,  Edward   Clarkson,   of  Groosnargh,  Lanca- 
shire. 

D.  Vincent,  John  Wearden,  of  Walton,  Lancashire. 

D.  Adrian,  James  Horsman,  of  Knaresboro', Yorkshire. 

D.  Wilfrid,  Thomas  Fisher,  of  Cheadle,  Staffordshire. 

D.  Laurence,  John  Forshaw,  of  Ormskirk,  Lancashire. 

1790  September  12th    D.  Cyril,  James  Mather,  of  Groosnargh,  Lancashire. 
1792  September  16th   D.  Jerome,  William  Alcock,  of  Warrington,     „ 

D.  Boniface,  John  Taylor,  of  Altcar,  Lancashire. 

D.  Cyprian,   G-eorge  Kearton,  of  Ormskirk,  Lanca- 
shire. 

D.  Augustine,  John  Birdsall,  of  Liverpool. 

D.  Benedict  Lacabanne,  of  Preston,  Lancashire. 

D.  Maurus,  William  Eobinson,  of  Burstwick,  York- 
shire. 

D.  Bede,  John  Rigby,  of  Warrington,  Lancashire. 

D.  Adrian,  Richard  Towers,  of  Preston,  Lancashire. 

The  place  of  profession  of  the  following  religious  is  uncertain. 
D.  Anselm  Wafte,  died  March  20th,  1652. 
Br.  Anthony  Tenant,  Lay-brother. 
Br.  William  Tahon,  Lay-brother. 
Br.  John  Bradstock. 


1788  September  7th 


1796  November  6th 


1798      May  17th 


„     November  18th 
1802      January  1st 


IX 

The  Abbey  of  Nuns  of  our  Blessed  Lady  of  Comfort  at  Cambray. 

The  history  of  the  foundation  of  this  Abbey  has  been  given  in  the  Chro- 
nological Notes.  We  here  subjoin  a  list  of  the  Abbesses  and  religious  of  the 
community  in  the  order  of  their  decease ;  the  loss  of  the  Profession  book  and 
other  records  preventing  us  from  furnishing  a  more  complete  list. 


28 


APPENDIX. 

Abbesses  with  the  date  of  their  election. 


1625  Dame  Frances  Gawen,  professed 

at  Brussels. 

1629  Dame  Catharine  Gascoigne 
1641  Dame  Mary  Christina  Brent 
1645  Dame  Catharine  Gascoigne 
1673  Dame  Catharine  Maura  Hall. 
1677  Dame  Mary  Christina  Brent 
1681  Dame  Marina  Appleton  t 
1694  Dame  Cecilia  Hussey 
1697  Dame  Scholastica  Houghton 


1701  Dame  Margaret  Swinburne 
1705  Dame  Cecilia  Hussey 
1710  Dame  Scholastica  Houghton 
1713  Dame  Margaret  Swinburn  t 
1741  Dame  Helen  (Josepha)  Gascoigne 
1773  Dame  Agnes  Ingleby  t 
1789  Dame  Mary  Christina  Hook  t 
1792  Dame  Clare  Knight  t 
1792  Dame  Lucy  Blyde 


of    Hazelwood, 


The  professed  religious  of  Cambray. 

1625      January  1st     Dame  Gertrude,  Helen  More. 

„  „  „        D.       Lucy,    Margaret    Vavasour, 

Yorkshire. 

„  „  „         D.        Benedicta,  Anne  Morgan,  of  Weston,    "War- 

wickshire. 

„  ,,  ,,         D.        Catharine  Gascoigne,  of  Barnlow,  Yorkshire. 

„  „  „        D.        Agnes,  Grace  More. 

„  „  „         D.        Anne  More 

„  ,,  „        D.        Mary,  Frances  "Watson,  of  Parke,  Bedfordshire. 

„  ,,  „         Sister  Mary  Hoskins,  a  Lay-Sister. 

„  ,,  „         Sister  Martha,  Jane  Martin,  a  Lay-sister. 

Owing  to  the  loss  of  the  Records  of  this  Abbey  we  are  only  able  to  give  the 
year  of  the  death  of  its  professed  members. 


Dame  Ebba  Brown             died 

in  1631 

Dame 

Benedicta  Boult       died  in 

1659 

D. 

Barbara  Smith               „ 

1635 

D. 

Elizabeth  Brent             „ 

1660 

D. 

Margaret  Gascoigne      „ 

1637 

D. 

Gertrude  Swinburne      „ 

D. 

Margaret  Swinburne     „ 

1640 

D. 

Anne  Tavern                 „ 

1661 

D. 

Mary  Frances  Gawen  *  „ 

M 

D. 

Agnes  Errington           „ 

1662 

D. 

Scholastica  Timperly     „ 

J? 

D. 

Winefride  Cotton           „ 

D. 

Mary  Lucy  Cape            „ 

M 

D. 

Mary  Magdalen  Ever   „ 

D. 

Angela  Mullins              „ 

1641 

D. 

Mildred  Latchmore       „ 

1663 

D. 

Mary  Frances  Lucig      „ 

>} 

D. 

Flavia  Brown                 „ 

1665 

D. 

Margaret  Kenyon          „ 

J5 

D. 

Etheldreda  Stapleton    „ 

1668 

D. 

Magdalen  Gary              „ 

1645 

D. 

Rflrt«V»-r         I-<-»VI  fj   l-n»*-\4- 

1669 

D. 

Benedicta  Roper            „ 

1646 

Sr. 

Hilda  Percy,  a  Lay-sister 

1670 

D. 

Pudeutiana  Deacons  *  „ 

1648 

D. 

Theresa  Timperley        „ 

1671 

D. 

Cecilia  Hall                    „ 

1650 

D. 

Clementina  Gary           „ 

D. 

Catharine  Sheldon         „ 

1651 

D. 

Gertrude  Wrisdon         „ 

1675 

D. 

Gertrude  Hodson           „ 

1652 

D. 

Mechtilde  Frere            „ 

1676 

D. 

Viviana  Yaxley*            „ 

1656 

D. 

Catharine  Vavasour       „ 

D. 

Helena  Kenyon             „ 

1657 

D. 

Catharine  Gascoigne     „ 

n 

t  Died  in  office. 


'  Professed  at  Brussels. 


APPENDIX. 


29 


Dame  Lucy  Vavasour        died 

D.  Margaret  Smith  „ 

D.  Winifred  Constable  „ 

D.  Clare  Radcliffe  „ 

D.  Austin  Gary  „ 

D.  Catharine  Trevilian  „ 

D.  Jane  Cellar  „ 

D.  Barbara  Constable  „ 

D.  Elizabeth  Lusher  „ 

D.  Clare  Crook  „ 

D.  Benedicta  Conquest  „ 

D.  Frances  Lusher  „ 

D.  Helen  Brent  „ 

D.  Benedicta  Middleton  „ 

D.  Euphrasia  Tempest  „ 

D.  Alexia  Fen  wick  „ 

D.  Barbara  Breton  „ 

D.  Ursula  RadclifJe  „ 

D.  Catharine  Maura  Hall  „ 

D.  Scholastica  Hodson  „ 

D.  Justina  Gascoigne  „ 

D.  Mary  Legge  „ 

D.  Anne  Gill  „ 

D.  Bridget  More  „ 

D.  Mary  Gary  „ 

D.  Marina  Appleton  „ 

D.  Theresa  Gurney  „ 

D.  Theresa  Meynell  „ 

D.  Placida  Sheldon  „ 

D.  Catharine  Kennett  „ 

D.  Christina  Brent,  Abbess 

D.  Scholastica  Burgess  „ 

D.  Anne  Batemanson  „ 

D.  Eugenia  Houghton  „ 

D.  Susanna  Phillips  „ 

D.  Mary  Compline  „ 

D.  Benedicta  Taylor  „ 

D.  Anne  Agry  „ 

D.  Josepha  jDodd  „ 

D.  Mary  Magdalen  More  „ 

D.  Josepha  O'More  „ 

D.  Placida  Pulleyne  „ 

D.  Maura  Harrington  „ 

D.  Cecilia  Hussey  „ 

D.  Scholastica  Reeder  „ 

D.  Agnes  Kennet  „ 

D.  Benedicta  Englefield  „ 


in  1679 

Da 

1680 

D. 

n 

D. 

1681 

D. 

1682 

D. 

D. 

1683 

D. 

1684 

D. 

M 

D. 

1685 

D. 

1686 

D. 

1687 

D. 

1688 

D. 

M 

D. 

1689 

D. 

}> 

D. 

D. 

f 

D. 

1690 

D. 

D. 

D. 

1691 

D. 

1692 

D. 

Sr. 

1693 

D. 

1694 

D. 

1696 

D. 

1697 

Sr. 

1700 

D. 

D. 

M 

D. 

Sr. 

1701 

D. 

D. 

1705 

D. 

w 

D. 

1707 

Sr. 

1713 

D. 

1715 

Sr. 

1719 

D. 

1720 

D. 

J5 

D. 

D. 

1721 

D. 

1722 

D. 

1723 

D. 

1725 

D. 

Dame  Joseph  Dwerihouse  died  in  1726 
Scholastica  Houghton  „         „ 
Dorothea  More  „         „ 

Agatha  Fazakerly         „         „ 

Mary  Gaudelier  „  1727 

Mary  Eves  „  1732 

Agnes  Widdrington     „  1733 
Isabella  Kennet            „         „ 
Q-ertrude  Chilton           „         „ 

Mary  Astin  „  1734 

Martha  Smith  „  1737 

Theresa  Chilton.  „  1739 

Benedicta  Fairclough  „  1741 

Elizabeth  Fairclough   „  1744 
Scholastica  Addison      „         „ 

Paula  Gascoigne  „  1746 

Monica  Augustina  Jenison  1747 

Mary  Magdalen  Tolderly  1749 
Amanda  Barrister         „         „ 

Gertrude  Belerby          „  1750 

Alathea  Clifton  „  1753 

Winifred  Howet  „  1754 

Anne  Benedicta  Warwick     „ 

M.  Anne  Moody,  Lay-Sr.  1755 

Anne  Josepha  Bate      „  1758 
Bridget  Coffin               „         „ 
Anne  Theresa  Young  „         „ 

Olivia  Darell,  a  novice  „  1760 
Constantia  Langdale     „         „ 

Theresa  Swinburne       „  1762 

Anne  Benedicta  Reeves  1763 
Agnes  Batchell,  Lay-Sr.        „ 

Benedicta  Maynell       „  1764 

Bernarda  Plompton      „  1768 

Catharine  PalHser         „  1770 
Mary  Coffin                   „         „ 

Josepha  Tookey,  Lay-Sr.  1772 

Bathildis  Du  Pery        „  1773 

Alexia  Elerby,  Lay-sister  1774 
Josepha  Gascoigne,  Abbess     „ 
Winifred  Ball                 „       „ 

Theresa  Wilks  „  1775 

Austin  Widdrington    „         „ 

Placida  Wilson  „  1776 

Anne  Rigby  „         „ 

Mary  Mooney  „  1778 

Angela  Plompton.        „  1779 


30 


APPENDIX. 


Dame 

Benedicta  Walker    died  in  1783 

Sr. 

D. 

Placida  Pullen              „       1786 

D. 

D. 

Frances  Gascoigne        „       1788 

D. 

D. 

Josepha  Carrington       „          „ 

D. 

D. 

Agnes  Ingleby,  Abbess        1789 

Sr. 

D. 

Clare  Knight,  Abbess  „       1792 

D. 

Christina  Hooke,  Abbess     1792 

D. 

D. 

Margaret  Burgess  t     „       1794 

D. 

Sr. 

AnnePennington,  Lay-Sr.f    „ 

D. 

D. 

AnselmaAnn  t            „          „ 

D. 

D. 

Theresa  Walmesley  f  „          „ 

Sr. 

Sr. 

Joseph  Miller,  Lay-Sr.       *1796 

D. 

D. 

Jane  Alexander             „       1799 

D. 

L\ 

Magdalen  Kimberly     „       1802 

Sr. 

M.  Anne  Le  Fevre,  L.-Sr.  1802 

Frances  Sheldon  „  1808 

Theresa  Shepherd         „  1809 

Louisa  Hagan  „  1811 

Anne  Frances  Helm     „ 

Lay-sister.  1812 

Anne  Joseph  Knight    „  1815 

Lucy  Blyde  „  1816 

Augustina  Shepherd,  Abb.  1818 

Anne  Theresa  Partington  1820 

Martha  Fryar,  Lay-sister  1825 

Benedicta  Partington  1826 

Agnes  Robinson,  Abbess  1830 

Scholastica  Caton,  Lay-Sr.  1830 


Of  the  other  monasteries  of  English  Benedictine  Nuns. 
The  Abbey  of  the  Glorious  Assumption  of  our  Lady  founded  at  Brussels  in  1598. 

The  Benedictine  Monastery  for  Nuns  founded  at  Brussels  in  1598  under  the 
title  of  the  Glorious  Assumption  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  was  the  first  Monas- 
tery erected  for  English  subjects  since  the  destruction  of  religious  houses  by 
Henry  VIII.  Its  establishment  was  due  to  the  desire  of  many  English  ladies 
to  embrace  a  religious  life  which  the  persecution  of  those  days  rendered  impos- 
sible at  home.  The  foundresses  of  this  Abbey  were  Lady  Mary  Percy,  daughter 
of  that  Earl  of  Northumberland  who  was  put  to  death  in  the  reign  of  Queen 
Elizabeth  (August  1572),  and  Mistress  Dorothy  Arundell  and  her  sister  Gertrude 
of  Lanherne  in  Cornwall.  Lady  Mary  Percy  after  the  death  of  her  mother  in 
1596  had  resided  in  Brussels  where  she  lived  a  life  of  great  piety.  So  great  was 
her  fervour  that  she  used  to  go  barefooted  to  visit  the  Blessed  Sacrament  of  Mir- 
acles at  St.  Gudule's  and  other  Sanctuaries.  Her  directer,  Father  Holt,  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  finding  her  bent  on  entering  religion  advised  and  encouraged 
her  to  found  a  house  for  English  subjects.  About  this  time  Mistress  Dorothy 
Arundel  was  passing  through  Brussels  on  her  way  to  Lisbon  in  order  to  enter 
the  Bridgettine  Convent  there  in  accordance  with  a  promise  she  had  made  under 
her  saintly  director,  F.  John  Cornelius  S.  J.  who  was  martyred  at  Dorchester  in 
1594.  ^Whilst  praying  in  the  Church  of  St.  Gudule  she  received  a  supernatural 
intimation  from  Almighty  God  that  she  was  to  join  Lady  Mary  Percy  in  the 
foundation  of  a  Benedictine  Monastery.  Her  sister,  Gertrude  Arundel  remained 
to  share  in  the  good  work. 

Theee  Ladies,  with  the  assistance  of  Father  Holt  and  Father  Parsons,  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  obtained  a  Brief  from  Pope  Clement  VIII  to  erect  the  monastery 
which  was  to  be  under  the  government  of  perpetual  Abbesses  and  subject  to  the 


t  I>ied  iii  prison  at  Compiegne  during  the  French  devolution. 

*  The  following  religious,  who  died  subsequent  to  the  settlement  of  the  community  in 
England,  made  their  Profession  at  Cambray. 


APPENDIX. 


jurisdiction  of  the  Ordinary.  The  Archduke  and  Duchess,  Governors  of  the 
Low  Countries,  granted  their  permission  together  with  all  the  privileges  usually 
conceded  to  convents  :  the  offer  of  the  Archduchess  Isabella  to  endow  the  new 
Monastery  was  respectfully  declined  by  Lady  Percy  as  she  feared  that  court 
patronage  might  interfere  with  the  freedom  of  election  which  she  was  anxious  to 
secure  for  the  future  Community. 

The  first  Abbess  was  procured,  at  the  request  of  Lady  Mary  Percy  and  the 
Archbishop  of  Mechlin,  from  the  Royal  Abbey  of  St.  Peter  at  Bheirns.  This 
was  Dame  Joanna  Berkeley,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Berkeley  of  Beverston,  Glou- 
cestershire, a  lady  who  had  been  a  professed  Nun  in  that  Monastery  for  seven- 
teen years.  The  preacher  who  delivered  the  sermon  at  her  profession  ceremony 
had  predicted  to  her  that  she  would  be  called  to  assist  in  the  foundation  of  a 
Benedictine  Community  which  would  be  the  first  to  return  to  England.  On 
November  14th,  1599,  Dame  Joanna  Berkeley  was  solemnly  blessed  and  installed 
as  Abbess  at  Brussels  by  the  Archbishop  of  Mechlin  in  presence  of  the  Papal 
Nuncio  ;  after  which,  on  the  same  day,  Lady  Mary  Percy,  Dorothy  and  Gertrude 
Arundell  and  five  other  English  ladies  were  solemnly  invested  with  the  habit  of 
St.  Benedict,  together  with  four  others  who  entered  as  Lay-Sisters,  making  thus 
twelve  in  all  ;  the  Archduke  and  Duchess  and  the  whole  court  attending  the 
ceremony.  A  letter*  written  by  an  eye  witness,  in  describing  the  event  says  : 
"It  was  one  of  the  most  solemnest  things  that  was  seen  this  hundred  years  ; 
many  ladies  and  others  could  not  forbear  weeping." 

The  following  year,  1600,  all  these  novices  made  their  profession,  and  several 
new  members  were  admitted  to  the  noviciate.  So  eager  were  English  subj  ects 
to  avail  themselves  of  this  opportunity  of  embracing  the  monastic  life,  that 
ladies  crossed  the  sea  at  the  peril  of  their  lives,  several  in  fact  being  apprehended 
n  the  act  and  imprisoned  for  a  time  to  check  their  dangerous  "popish"  proclivi- 
ties. The  rigours  of  the  persecution  in  England  being  extended  to  the  property 
of  Catholics,  many  were  much  impoverished  and  consequently  the  convent  suf- 
fered often  from  want  of  means  ;  and  on  this  account  several  ladies  of  good 
family  entered  the  community  as  Lay-  Sisters. 

In  1616  Lady  Abbess  Berkeley  died,  after  having  had  the  consolation  of 
seeing  all  firmly  established,  the  Statutes  approved,  the  monastic  buildings  in- 
creased, and  the  Church  in  progress  ;  —  the  way  in  which  this  was  built  being 
perhaps  one  of  the  last  instances  of  the  kind  on  record,  of  the  devotion  of  the 
English  people  manifested  so  commonly  during  the  ages  of  Faith,  —  the  soldiers 
of  Sir  "William  Stanley's  regiment,  then  quartered  in  Brussels,  giving  their  la- 
bour to  it  gratis. 

An  other  event  in  connection  with  the  Church  is  remarkable  as  such  occur- 
rences had  become  out  of  date  :  A  lady  of  rank  a  niece  of  Cardinal  Mazarin's, 
who  had  fallen  into  great  trouble,  took  sanctuary  in  it,  and  the  Abbess  then 
governing  protected  her  for  some  time. 

During  the  time  of  Lady  Abbess  Berkeley  there  existed  a  vestige  of  another 
ancient  custom  dating  from  the  days  when  Abbesses  exercised  Jurisdiction  be- 
yond the  precincts  of  their  monastery.  "When  the  Archbishop  of  Mechlin  held 
his  Provincial  Synod,  he  gave  notice  to  the  Abbess  to  send  her  proxy,  and  she 

*  Now  in  the  Public  Eecord  Office. 


APPENDIX. 


thereupon  delegated  the  Rev.  Doctor  Chambers,  the  Chaplain  of  her  community 
to  assist  at  the  Council  in  her  behalf. 

In  1616,  Lady  Mary  Percy  succeeded  D.  Joanna  Berkeley  as  second  Abbess. 

In  1623,  the  English  Monks  asked  for  some  Nuns  from  Brussels  to  assist 
some  English  Ladies  in  the  foundation  of  a  Convent  at  Cambray  to  be  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Order.  Three  religious  were  sent,  one  of  them,  Dame 
Frances  Gawen,  becoming  first  Abbess  there.  The  Community  of  the  Abbey 
of  our  Lady  of  Comfort  at.  Stanbrook  near  Worcester  are  the  descendants  of  the 
Cambray  nuns. 

In  1624,  four  nuns,  one  novice  and  a  Lay-Sister,  went  from  Brussels  to 
found  a  house  at  Ghent  under  the  same  statutes.  The  community  after  the 
troubles  of  the  French  Revolution  finally  settled  at  Oulton  near  Stone  in 
Staffordshire. 

The  Ghent  nuns  sent  a  Colony,  in  January,  1652,  to  establish  a  monastery  at 
Pontoise ;  and  in  the  same  year  a  filiation  of  the  Cambray  community  was 
established  at  Paris.  From  Ghent  again,  in  1662,  a  new  foundation  was  made 
at  Dunkirk ;  this  and  the  Pontoise  community  as  now  represented  by  the  Abbey 
of  St.  Scholastica  at  Teignmouth,  Devonshire.  The  last  continental  convent 
established  by  the  English  Benedictine  nuns  was  that  of  Ypres,  which  still  exists. 

After  the  Brussels  monastery  had  existed  for  two  hundred  years,  the  French 
Revolution  forced  the  nuns  to  leave  in  1794,  and  though  other  communities  set 
out  before  them,  they  were  the  first  to  reach  England,  thus  verifying  the  predic- 
tion made  so  many  years  previously  at  the  profession  of  Dame  Joanna  Berkeley. 
The  Brussels  Convent,  all  the  furniture  and  many  valuable  papers  and  records, 
were  confiscated  by  the  French.  Dr.  Douglas,  Vicar  apostolic  of  the  London 
District  provided  the  community  with  a  house  at  Winchester,  where  they  were 
received  and  assisted  in  their  great  need  by  Dr  Milner,  at  that  time  priest  of  the 
mission  in  that  town.  Dr.  Milner  made  every  exertion  to  procure  them  the 
necessary  furniture,  giving  them  even  his  own  bed,  and  interesting  his  protes- 
tant  as  well  as  his  catholic  friends  in  their  behalf.  After  his  consecration  as 
Bishop  and  removal  to  Wolverhampton,  Dr.  Milner  ever  continued  a  true  and 
valued  friend  to  the  community.* 

The  Nuns  of  this  house  removed  from  Winchester  to  East  Bergholt,  near 
Colchester,  in  1857. 

List  of  the  Abbesses  of  the  Monastery  of  the  Glorious  Assumption  of  Our  Lady 
at  Brussels  with  the  date  of  their  election. 


1598  Dame  Joanna  Berkeley  t 
1616  Dame  Mary  Percy  f 
1642  Dame  Agnes  Lenthall  t 
1651  Dame  Alexia  Blanchard  t 
1651  Dame  Mary  Vavasour  t 
1676  Dame  Anne  Forester  or  Forster 
1682  Dame  Dorothy  Blundel  t 
1713  Dame  Theodosia  Waldegrave  t 


1719  Dame  Mary  Crispe  f 

1757  Dame     Maura   Whitenhall    or 

Whitenhal  t 

1762  Dame  Etheldreda  Mannock  t 
1773  Dame  Mary  Ursula  Pigott 

1796  Dame  Austin  Tancred  t 

1797  Dame  Philippa  Eccles  t 


*  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  at  Winchester  the  first  Church  and  Bishop  were  publicly  con- 
secrated and  the  first  Abbess  (Dame  Austin  Tancred,  1796)  blessed,  since  the  change  of 
religion  in  England.  t  Died  in  office. 


APPENDIX. 


A  list  of  the  Eeligious  professed  at  this  Abbey. 


1599  Dame  Mary  Percy 

„     D.        Dorothy  Arundel,  of  Lan- 

herne,  Cornwall 
„     D.        Gertrude  Arundel,  of  Lan- 

herne,  Cornwall 

„     D.        Anne,  Elizabeth  Cansfield 
„     D.        Elizabeth  Southcoat 
„     D.        Frances  Gawen  or  Gawine 

1600  D.        Winifred,  Margaret  Thom- 

son 
„     D.        Renata,  Margaret  Smith 

1601  Sr.       Scholastica,Elizabeth  Tich- 

bourne, *  a  Lay-sister 
„     Sr.       Martha,  Margaret  Whita- 

ker,  a  Lay-sister. 
„     Sr.       Benedicta,  Sybil  Banks 
„     Sr.       Catharine,  Elizabeth  Clay- 
ton, a  Lay-sister 

1603  D.        Mary  Watson 

„     D.        Ursula  Hewicke 
„     D.        Agnes,  Anne  Lenthall 
„     D.        Agatha,   Winifred    Wise- 
man 

1604  Sr.      Cecily,  Jane  Price,  a  Lay- 

sister 

1605  D.       Eugenia,  Jane  Pulton  t 
„     D.       Clare,  Elizabeth  Curson 
„     D.       Barbara,  Jane  Leake 

1608  D.        Anastasia,  Sylvestra  Mor- 

gan 

„     D.       Helen,  Elizabeth  Dolman 

„     D.        Mary  Gage 

„     D.        Mary  Persons 

„     D.        Pudentiana,Elizabeth  Dea- 
con or  Deacons  + 

1609  Sr.       Frances  Appleby,  Lay-Sr. 
„     Sr.       Mary  Margaret  Strachy,  a 

Lay-sister 

1610  D.        Scholastica,  Ursula  Smith 

1611  D.        Magdalen     Elizabeth 

Digby  t 
„     D.       Lucy,    Elizabeth  Knatch- 

bull  t 
D.       Martha  Colford 


1613 
1614 

1615 


1616 


1612  D.       Mary  Cecilia  Atslow 
„     D.        Anne  Ingilby 
„     D.       Benedicta  Hawkins 
„     D.       Alexia,      Dorothy     Blan- 

chard 

„     D.       Margaret,  Anne  Curson 
„     Sr.      Magdalen         Thomasina 
Thornburgh,  a  Lay- sister 
„     Sr.      Petronilla,   Jane  William- 
son, a  Lay-sister 
D.        Catharine  Paston 
Sr.       Jane  More  a  Lay- sister 
Sr.       Anne  Healy  a  Lay-sister 
D'       Elizabeth   Rookwood 
D.        Winifred  Lucy  Tresham 
D.       Mary  Renata  Smith 
D.        Mary  Vavasour 
D.       Christina,  Frances  Lovel 
D.       Mary  Philips 
D.       Columba,  Elizabeth  Gage 
D.       Aurea,  Anne  James 
D.       Theresa,  Barbara  Gage 
Sr.       Barbara  Ducket,  Lay-Sr. 
April  14th    D.  Etheldreda,  Mar- 
garet Smith 

„     D.       Dorothy,  Elizabeth  Man- 
nock 

„     D.       Mary  Kempe 
„     D.       Placida,  Alice  Brooke 
„     D.       Catharine  Bond 
„     D.       Mary  Roper  t 
„     Sr.       Mary  Fletcher,  a  Lay-Sr. 

1620  D.        Mary  Winter 

„     D.        Flavia,  Judoca  Langdale 
„     Sr.       Agnes  Bolton,  a  Lay-Sr 

1621  D.        Yiviana,Margaret  YaxleyJ 
„     Sr.       Alexia,    Alice    Shepherd, 

a  Lay-Sister 

„     Sr.       Frances,  Catharine  Fletch- 
er, a  Lay- Sister 
1522  D.        Bridget  Draycott 
1623  Sr.       Mary,  Mabel  Corbinton  or 

Corby,  a  Lay- Sister.  § 
„     Sr.       Dorothy  Redman  „ 


1617 

1618 
1619 


*  Daughter  of  the  Martyr,  Mr.  Nicholas  Tichbourne.         f  One  of  the  Colony  sent  to  Ghent. 
|  One  of  the  Colony  sent  to  Cambray.  §  Sister  to  the  Martyr  F.  Ealph  Corby  S.  J. 


34 


APPENDIX. 


1624  D.  Mechtilde,VereTrentham. 
„     D.  Christina,  Anne  Paris 

„     D.  Mary,  Margaret  Eure 

„     D.  Frances,  Margaret  Paston 

„     D.  Apollonia,  Barbara  "Walde- 
grave 

1625  D.  Constantia  Joanna Penrud- 

docke 

„     Sr.  Lucy,  Jane  Bullock,  L-Sr. 

1627  D.  Lucy,  Philippa  Pershall 

„     D.  Marina,ElizabethDraycott 

„     Sr.  Eugenia  Corbinton  or  Cor- 

by,  *  Lay-sister. 

1634  Sr.  Elizabeth  Sunley 

1638  Sr.  Anne,  Grace  Baker 

1643  D.  Melchiora,  Barbara  Camp- 
bell 

1652  D.  Gertrude,  Catharine Blount 

1653  Sr.  Helen  Burch,  Lay-sister 
„     Sr.  Mary  Hills, 

„     Sr.  Agatha  Green, 

1655  D.  Anne  Forester  or  Forster 
„     D.  Placida,  Etheldreda  Fores 

ter  or  Forster 

;,     D.  Dorothy  Blundel 

„     D.  Maura,  Margaret  Blundel 

1656  D.  Mary  Guyllim 

„     Sr.  Anne  Sherburne,  Lay-Sr. 

1657  D.  Hilda,  Margaret  Eussel 
„     D.  Mildred,  Helena  Russel 

1658  D.  Josepha,  Bridget  Dallison 
„     D.  Martha  Dallison 

„     D.  Theresa,  Anne  Hide 

1659  D.  Frances  Goodair 

„     D.  Philippa  Garnous  f 

„     Sr.  Mary  Gravenore  a  Lay-Sr. 

1661  D.  Mary  Bedingfield 

„     Sr.  Margaret  Urmston,   L-Sr. 

1662  Sr.  Mary  Urmston  Lay-Sr. 
1664  D.  Elizabeth  Neals 

1666  D.  Marina  Havelock 

„     D.  Henrietta,  Mary  Spear 

„     D.  Theodosia,  Joanna  Walde 

grave 

„     D.  Magdalen  Street 

1669  D.  Scholastica,  Dorothea  By 
ron 

*  Sister  to  the  Martyr,  F.  Ralph  Corby  S.  J. 


:ham. 

1670  Sr. 

Frances,  Catharine  Gargill 

s 

1672  D. 

Mary  Scroup 

e 

1678  D. 

Mary  Errington 

aston 

1683  D. 

Benedicta,  Mary  Collins 

ralde- 

1687  D. 

Mary  Crispe 

1691  D. 

Elizabeth  Chilton 

nrud- 

1692  D. 

Theresa,  Mary  Vraux 

1693  D. 

Austin,  Rachel  Ireland 

L-Sr. 

1694  D. 

Gertrude,  Henrietta  Chil- 

mil 

ton 

lycott 

1695  D. 

Delphina,  Lucy  Ireland 

rCor- 

1697  D. 

Beatrix,  Rebecca  Deeble 

„      D. 

Xaveria,  Elizabeth  Darrell 

„     D. 

Anastasia,    Ursula  Man- 

nock 

)amp- 

1701  D. 

Isabella  Beligny 

„     D. 

Mary  Magdalen  Matham 

>lount 

1706  D. 

Catharine  Matham 

ster 

1711  D. 

Scholastica,  Elizabeth  Er- 

rington 

„      D. 

Mary  Joseph,  Margaret 

>rster 

Darrell 

Fores- 

„    D. 

Ursula,  Faith  Mannock 

„    D. 

Winifred,  Margaret  Berk- 

ley 

undel 

1712  D. 

Aloysia,  Catharine  Comp- 

ton. 

ly-Sr. 

1715  D. 

Agnes,  Anne  Carew 

5sel 

„    D. 

ssel 

„    D. 

Mary  Anne  Bell 

illison 

1716  D. 

Maura,  Catharine  Whiten- 

hall 

1717  D. 

Placida,  Elizabeth  Walde- 

grave 

„    D. 

Barbara  Jackson 

ay-Sr. 

1718  Sr. 

M  Joseph  Bird,  Lay-Sr. 

1720  D. 

Mary   Ignatia,    Elizabeth 

L-Sr. 

Collins 

Sr. 

1723  D. 

Stanislaus,  Philippa  Poole 

1725  Sr. 

Anne  Brindley,  Lay-Sr. 

„     Sr. 

Elizabeth  Newton,    „ 

ar 

1727  D. 

Angela,  M  Anne  Petre 

iValde- 

1731  D. 

Etheldreda  Mannock 

1732  D. 

Benedicta,      Mary     Anne 

Plowden 

aBy- 

„    D. 

Mary,  Frances  Bodenham 

1733  D. 

Marina,  Elizabeth  Byerley 

t  Professed  on  her  death  bed. 


APPENDIX. 


1733  Dame  Austin,  Anne  Byerley 
„     D.        Clementina,     Penelope 

Simpson 
„     D.       Agnes,  Mary  Mannock 

1737  D.       Henrietta,  Frances  Blount 
„     D.        Christina,  Mary  Stapelton 

1738  D.        Cecilia,  Anne  Mannock. 
1742  D.       M  Theresa,  Anne  Collins 

„     Sr.       Barbara  Wilson,  Lay-Sr. 

1745  D.       M  Ursula,  Eebecca  Pigott 
„     D.        Xaveria,  Catharine  Pigott 

1746  Sr.       Theresa,  Margaret  Ascough 

a  Lay-sister 
„     Sr.       Mary,    Elizabeth   Potts,  a 

Lay-sister 

1748  Sr.       Margaret  Littlewood,L-Sr. 
1750  Sr.       Benedicta,  Anne  Ascough  „ 

1753  D.       Philippa,  Anne  Eccles 

1754  D.       Mechtilde,  Elizabeth  De- 

bord 

„     D.       Romana,  Bridget  Foxe 
„     D.       M.      Benedicta,    Eleanor 

Eeddy 
„     D.       M.  Austin,  Margaret  Tan- 

cred 
„     D.       M.  Bernard,  Frances  Tan- 

cred 


1755  Sr. 

1756  Sr. 
1768  D. 
1770  Sr. 

1774  D. 
„     D. 

1780  D. 

1781  D. 
„     Sr. 

1783  D. 

„     Sr. 

1784  Sr. 

1785  Sr. 
1793  D. 

„    D. 

1796  D. 
1798  D. 


35 

Frances,  Catharine  Dami- 
ens,  a  Lay-sister 
Mary  Benedict  Rulands,  a 
Lay-sister 

Scholastica,  Elizabeth  Ro- 
ger 

Winifred,  Catharine  Gal- 
ver,  a  Lay-sister 
Mary  Anne  Rayment 
Aloysia,Dorothea  Witham 
Ignatia,  Catharine  Collins 
Joseph,  Catharine  Collins 
Scholastica,  Elizabeth  Mi- 
di, a  Lay-Sister 
Ursula,  Elizabeth  Scoles 
Sophia,  Anne  Leblon 
Martha,  Elizabeth  Thicl- 
mans  a  Lay- Sister 
Magdalen,Dorothy  King  „ 
Maura,  Hannah  Harper 
Josepha,    Anne  Elizabeth 
Collingridge 

Mary  Benedict,   Elizabeth 
McDonald 

Edburga,    Mary  Anselma 
Collins 


XI 


The  Abbey  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  founded 

at  Ghent  in  1624. 

The  community  of  the  English  Benedictine  Dames  at  Brussels  having  grown 
very  numerous,  the  Lady  Mary  Percy,  2nd  Abbess  of  that  monastery  sent  a 
colony  of  religious  to  Q-hent  in  1624,  under  the  guidance  of  Dame  Lucy  Knatch- 
bull,  daughter  of  Reginald  Knatchbull,  Esq,  of  the  county  of  Kent.  Her  com- 
panions were  Dame  Eugenia  Poulton,  or  Pulton,  daughter  of  Ferdinand  Pulton, 
Esq,  of  Desborough,  Northamptonshire,  Dame  Magdalen  Digby,  and  Dame 
Mary  Roper,  daughter  of  Lord  Teynham,  of  Linstead  Lodge,  Kent.  The  ec- 
clesiastical authorities  of  Ghent  having  given  their  sanction  to  the  undertaking, 
the  little  band  of  Religious  set  out,  and  were  welcomed  to  Ghent  by  the  magis- 
trates and  people  of  the  town  who  met  them  in  public  procession  and  accompa- 
nied them  to  their  new  abode  with  every  mark  of  kindly  feeling  and  hospitality. 

Under  the  government  of  the  first  Abbess,  Dame  Lucy  Knatchbull,  and  her 
successors,  the  number  of  the  nuns  was  much  increased,  so  that  new  communities 
were  established  at  Pontoise,  Dunkirk  and  Tpres  to  ease  the  mother  house  at 
Ghent.  The  French  Revolution  forced  the  community  to  leave  their  Convent, 
and  the  nuns  proceeded  to  England,  where,  after  a  long  stay  at  CaverswallCastle  in 
Staffordshire,  they  finally  settled  down  at  Oulton,  near  Stone,  in  the  same  county. 


36 


APPENDIX. 


The  Abbesses  of  the  Monastery  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  our  Blessed 
Lady,  established  at  Ghent,  with  the  date  of  their  election. 


1624  Dame  Lucy  Knatchbull  t 

1628  Dame  Eugenia  Poulton  or  Pulton 

1645  Dame  Mary  Roper  t 

1650  Dame  Mary  Knatchbull  (I)  t 

1695  Dame  Justin  a  Petre  t 

1698  Dame  Magdalen  Lucy  (I)  t 

1 703  Dame  Scholastica  Gerard  f 


1711  Dame  Mary  Knatchbull  (II)  t 
1727  Dame  Cecilia  Tyldesley  t 
1736  Dame  Magdalen  Lucy  (II)  t 
1761  Dame  Baptista  Philipps  t 
1781  Dame  Magdalen  Arden  t 
1797  Dame  Frances  Hesketh  t 


The  professed  Religious  of  this  Abbey  with  the  date  of  their  profession. 

The  loss  of  almost  all  the  archives  of  the  Ghent  Monastery  at  the  French 
Revolution  renders  it  impossible  to  provide  a  complete  catalogue  of  the  professed 
religious  of  that  house.  The  following  are  the  only  names  that  have  been  pre- 
served of  a  very  numerous  and  flourishing  community. 


1624 

August  28th 

Sister 

Theresa  Matlock,  a  Lay-sister 

1626 

July  2nd 

Dame  Catharine  Wigmore 

55 

55                   55 

D. 

Mary  Knatchbull 

55 

August  12th 

D. 

Mary  Pease 

1627 

June  14th 

D. 

Catharine  Thorold 

55 

November  8th 

D. 

Margaret  Knatchbull 

55 

December  8th 

D. 

Jeromima  Waldegrave 

55 

5>                 5» 

D. 

Mary  Southcote 

1628 

September  14th 

D. 

Scholaetica  Roper 

1630 

n.  d. 

D. 

Thecla  Bedingfield 

55 

June  llth 

D. 

Mary  Mounson 

55 

October  6th 

Sr. 

Dorothy  Barefoot,  a  Lay-sister 

•5 

„     20th 

D. 

Mary  Trevillion 

1631 

n.  d. 

D. 

Aloysia  Beaumont 

55 

55                  55 

D. 

Lucy  Perkins 

55 

June  24th 

D. 

Alexia  Gray 

1633 

April  30th 

Sr. 

Benedicta  Corby,  a  Lay-sister 

55 

June  26th 

D. 

Eugenia  Bedingfield 

1634 

July  2nd 

D. 

Anne,  Mary  Neville 

1635 

September  llth 

D. 

Cornelia  Corham 

55 

55                  55 

D. 

Justina  Corham 

1637 

August  5th 

D. 

Mary  Digby 

1638 

September  14th 

D. 

Dorothy  Gary 

55 

n.  d. 

;D. 

Constantia,  Catherine  Savage 

1639 

September  llth 

"D. 

Ignatia  Coningsby 

55 

55                          »> 

D. 

Margaret  Markham 

55 

December  27th 

D. 

Eugenia  Thorold 

1640 

February  14th 

D. 

Bridget  Guildridge 

1641 

January  13th 

D. 

Christina,  Anne  Forster 

t  Died  in  office. 


APPENDIX. 


37 


1642     February  20th 


Sister  Thecla  Bedingfield,  a  novice  professed  on  her 

death  bed. 
Dame  Theresa  Gardiner 

Dorothy  Skrimsher,  a  Lay-sister 

ss  Elizabeth  Wakeman,  a  child  in  the  convent 

school,  professed  on  her  death  bed 

Scholastica  Heneage 

Martina  de  Decken,  a  Lay-sister 

Agatha  Webb 

Alexia  Maurice 

Helen  Wayte,  or  Wait 

Mary  Caryll 

Honoria  Burke,  "a  little  titled  lady  in  the 
school,  daughter  to  the  Marquis  Clanricarde,  w  a 
professed  on  her  death  bed,  at  her  own  earnest  re- 
quest, and  died  a  few  days  after,  Aug.  7th,  1652." 
Dame  Christina  Monson 

Anastasia  Maurice 

Xaveria  Pordage 

Mary  Beaumont 

Flavia  Gary 

Yincentia  Aire  (or  Viviana  Eyre) 

Ursula  Butler 

Justina  Petre,  daughter  of  Sir  Francis  Petre. 

Magdalen  Lucy 

Scholastica  Gerard 

Mary  Knatchbull 

Cecilia  Tyldesley 

Clare  Throckmorton 

Magdalen  Lucy 

Magdalen  Arden 

Baptista  Philipps 

Xaveria  Boone 

Anselma  Tempest 

Mary  Baptista  Ferrars 

Frances  Hesketh 

Of  the  following,  only  the  names  have  been  preserved. 


J5 

May  7th 

Dame 

55 

May  24th 

Sr. 

55     • 

July  12th 

Mistre 

1644 

n.  d. 

D. 

1645 

July  6th 

Sr. 

1647 

n.  d. 

D. 

1648 

January  28th 

D. 

55 

n.  d. 

D. 

1650 

n.d. 

D. 

1652 

August 

Lady 
sch 

TM*A 

1655 

n.  d. 

U1U 

que 
Dame 

1659 

n.d. 

D. 

1661 

n.d. 

D. 

a  1665 

D. 

55          5) 

D. 

5           55 

D. 

,    1683 

D. 

,    1695 

D. 

,    1698 

D. 

,    1703 

D. 

,    1711 

D. 

,    1727 

D. 

,    1730 

D. 

1736 

D. 

1756 

D. 

a  1760 

D. 

1760 

D. 

1776 

D. 

1780 

D. 

a  1790 

D. 

Dame  Elizabeth  Bradberry 
D.       Aloysia  Langdale 
D.       Magdalen  Mainwaring 
D.       Catharine  Sheldon 
D.       Aloysia  Hesketh 


Dame  Catharine  Howard 

D.       Agnes  Gillibrand 

D.       Benedicta  Bedingfield,   died  in 

1811 
D.       Aloysia  Jefferson,  died  in  1818 


38  APPENDIX. 

XII 

The  Abbey  of  Pontoise,  near  Paris,  commenced  at  Boulogne  in  1652,  and 
settled  at  Pontoise  in  1658. 

In  January,  1652,  a  few  of  the  religious  of  the  Monastery  of  the  Immacu- 
late Conception  of  our  Lady  at  Ghent,  were  sent  by  the  Lady  Abbess,  Dame 
Mary  Knatchbull,  to  establish  a  new  community  at  Boulogne.  The  nuns  se- 
lected for  the  new  foundation  were  the  following  :  Dame  Catharine  Wigmore, 
daughter  of  William  Wigmore,  Esq,  of  Lutton,  Herefordshire ;  Dame  Lucy 
Perkins ;  Dame  Anne  Neville,  daughter  of  Lord  Abergavenny,  First  Baron  of 
England ;  Dame  Margaret  Markham ;  Dame  Eugenia  Thorold,  daughter  of 
Edmund  Thorold,  Esq,  of  Hough,  near  Grrantham,  and  Dame  Christina  Forster, 
daughter  of  Sir  Richard  Forster  Secretary  and  Treasurer  to  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land. When  in  1658,  Dunkirk  fell  into  the  power  of  Cromwell,  the  nuns  of 
the  new  monastery  at  Boulogne  were  strongly  advised  to  quit  a  seaport  town 
liable  to  a  similar  fate,  and  to  withdraw  further  into  the  country  ;  and  accord- 
ingly they  removed  to  Pontoise  near  Paris.  Lady  Abbess  Knatchbull  tells  us 
in  her  writings,  that  she  was  "greatly  assisted  in  this  undertaking  by  Monsieur 
Vincent"  whose  power  and  credit  were  exerted  in  her  behalf,  and  whose  name 
is  now  known  throughout  the  Church  as  the  great  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul.  The 
Pontoise  community  flourished  for  many  years,  but  meeting  subsequently  with 
heavy  pecuniary  losses,  occasioned  partly  by  the  non-payment  of  large  sums 
promised  by  Queen  Mary  Beatrice  in  expectation  of  her  return  to  the  throne, 
and  partly  by  the  failure  of  a  bank  in  which  nearly  all  their  funds  were  deposi- 
ted, there  remained  for  them  no  alternative  but  the  sorrowful  necessity  of  separa- 
tion. The  community,  at  the  period  of  its  dissolution  in  1786,  consisted  of  ten 
choir  religious  and  four  Lay- Sisters.  The  Abbess,  Dame  Anne  Clavering  and 
four  of  her  Choir  nuns,  Dame  Mary  Theresa  Armstrong,  Dame  Placida  Messen- 
ger, Dame  Mary  Winifred  Clarke  and  Dame  Mary  Frances  Markham,  together 
with  two  Lay-Sisters,  Agnes  Morgan  and  Anne  Lincoln,  were  received  in- 
to the  community  of  Dunkirk,  the  remainder  of  the  community  finding  an  asy- 
lum in  other  convents  of  the  Order.  The  sale  of  the  house  and  grounds  at  Pon- 
toise enabled  the  nuns  to  discharge  their  liabilities  to  the  tradespeople  of  the  town 
who  had  long  and  faithfully  served  them,  and  who  deeply  regretted  their  departure. 

The  Abbesses  of  this  Community. 

1.  Dame  Catharine  Wigmore,  blessed  Abbess  at  Boulogne,  October  18th, 

1653.     Died  October  28th,  1656. 

2.  Dame  Christina  Forster,  blessed  Abbess,  May  16th,  1657.    The  commu- 

nity removed  to  Pontoise  in  1658,  where  this  Abbess  died  December 
16th,  1661. 

3.  Dame  Eugenia  Thorold,  blessed  Abbess  of  Pontoise,  March  7th,  1662  ; 

died  December  21st,  1667. 

4.  Dame  Anne  Neville,  blessed  Abbess  in  February,  1668  ;    died  December 

15th,  1689. 

5.  Dame  Elizabeth  Dabridgecourt,   elected  Abbess  in  December,   1689  ; 

resigned  in  1710. 

6.  Dame  Xaveria  Gifford  ;  elected  Abbess  on  March  7th,  1710  ;   died  Feb- 

ruary llth,  1711. 


APPENDIX. 


7. 

8. 

9. 

10. 


Dame  Elizabeth  Joseph  "Widdrington,  elected  Abbess  on  March  18th, 
1711  ;  died  November  9th,  1730. 

Dame  Marina  Hunloke,  elected  Abbess  on  December  6th,  1730  ;  died 
March  3rd,  1753. 

Dame  Anne  Catharine  Haggerston,  elected  March  31st,  1753  ;  died 
October  8th,  1765. 

Dame  Mary  Anne  Clavering,  elected  Abbess  on  October  24th,  1765. 
At  the  dissolution  of  her  Abbey,  June  12th,  1786,  she  with  several  of 
her  nuns  joined  the  Dunkirk  Community,  and  at  the  Revolution  set- 
tled with  them  at  Hammersmith,  where  she  died  on  November  the  8th, 
1795. 

The  Religious  of  Pontoise,  with  the  date  of  their  Profession. 


1657  Dame  Christina  Thorold 
„     D.        Clare  Vaughan 

„     D.        Gertrude,  Grace  Turner 
„     D.        Mary  Joseph  Butler 
„     D.        Frances,  Mary  Elliot 

1658  D.       Helen,  Frances  Hamerton 
„     D.        Mary  Bruning 

1659  D.        Mary  Roper 

1660  D.        Justina,MargaretTimperly 
„     D.       Aloysia,  Anne  Elliot 

„     D.       Benedicta,  Barbara  Ham- 
erton 
„     D.        Anne  Mary,  Anne  Talbot 

1661  D.       Elizabeth    Dabridgecourt, 

daughter    of   Sir  Thomas 
Dabridgecourt,  Bart. 

1662  D.       Placid,  Elizabeth  Roper 

„  D.  Angela,  Margaret  Riddell 
„  D.  Anne,  Catharine  Bruning 
„  D.  Mary  Theresa,  Mary  Swift 
„  D.  Barbara  Philpott 

1663  D.       Mechtilde  Smythe 
„     D.        Dorothy  Calvert 

1665  D.       Xaveria,  Anne  Collins 
„     D.       Alexia  Smythe 

1666  D.       Scholastica,  Anne  Bruning 
1669  D.        Catharine  Roper 

„     D.        Gertrude,  Susanna  Cone 

„     D.        Ignatia,  Mary  Champion 

1671  D.       Anne  Catharine,  Catharine 

Thorold 
,,     D.        Mary  Magdalen,  Catharine 

Warren 
„     D.       Victoria,    Penelope   Lon- 

gueville 
„     D.        Winifred,  Mary  Philpott 


1 672  Dame  Eugenia,  Frances  Greene 

1673  D.       Mary  Christina  Whyte 

„     D.        Anastasia,  Persiana  Bard 
„     D.       Anne  Nevill  or  Neville 
„     D.        Alexia,  Cecily  Weston 

1675  D.        Mary  Bernard,  Catharine 

Brooke 

1676  D.       Anne  Xaveria,  Anne  Gif- 

ford,     daughter     of    Sir 
Henry  Gifford,  of  Burstall 
Leicestershire. 
„     D.       Maura,  Elizabeth  Gifford 

1677  D.        MLaurentia,MaryLawson 
„       D.        Mary  Stanislaus,MaryCul- 

cheth 

„     D.        Francisca,    Frances     Cul- 
cheth 

1678  D.       Mary  Catharine  Tichborne 
„     D.       Mary     Carola,     Charlotte 

Selby 

,,     D.        Mary  Anne,  Mary  Tich- 
borne 

1679  D.       Augustina,  Elizabeth  Bru- 

ning 

1680  D.       Elizabeth    Joseph,   Eliza- 

beth Widdrington 

1681  D.        Apollonia,  Anne  Bellasyse 
„     D.       Ursula,  Frances  Hamertou 

1684  D.        Constantia,  Penelope  Hen- 


„  D. 
1688  D. 
16*9  D. 
1690  D. 

D. 


Mary  Petre 

Justina,  Dorothy  Green 

Anne  Bodenham 

Henrietta,           Elizabeth 

Pound 

Ignatia,  Arabella  Fitzj  amea 


40 


APPENDIX. 


1691  Dame  Benedicta,  Barbara  Fitzroy 
1694  D.        Cecilia,  Diana  Stanihurst 
1700  D.       Agnes,  Margaret  Arthur 
„     D.        Anna  Mary,    Anne  Con- 
stable 
1711  D.        MaryCatharin  e,  Elizabeth 

Maurin 

1715  D.       M  Joseph,  Mary  Clavering 
1717  D.        Anne     Catharine,      Jane 
Haggerston 

1717  D.        Mary    Austin,    Margaret 

Oxburgh 

1718  D.       M  Placida,  Mary  Whetan- 

hall 

1721  D.       Marina  Hunloke 
1723  D.       M  Scholastica,  Mary  Hag- 
gerston 
?     D.        Maura,  Elizabeth  Tyrrell 

1727  D.       M  Elizabeth  Preston 

1728  D.        Anne  Preston 

1744  D.       M.  Agatha,  Anne  Hunloke 

1745  D.       M  Benedict,AnneBelasyse 
„     D.        M.  Pelagia  Browne,  a  nun 

professed  in  1724  in  a 
French  Benedictine  mon- 
astery which  broke  up 


from    poverty,     died    at 
Pontoise  in  this  year. 
1747  Dame  Mary  Bernard,  Elizabeth 

Haggerston 
„     D.       Mary  Magdalen,  Barbara 

Belasyse 

1751  D.        Anne  Clavering 
1755  D.       Mary  Theresa  Armstrong 
„     D.       M  Joseph,  Susanna  Foth- 
ringham 

1758  D.       M  Xaveria,Rachel  Semmes 

1759  D.        M  Henrietta  Jerningham 
17  4  D.       Mary  Scholastica,  Bridget 

Preston 
„     Sr.       Maura,  Elizabeth  Preston, 

a  choir  novice. 
1770  D.       Anne     Mary,    Elizabeth 

Thickness 

1772  D.       Placida,  Mary  Messenger 
„     D.        Mary  Winifred,    Eleanor 
Clarke 

1776  D.        Mary   Frances,  Catharine 

Harkham 

1777  D.       Mary  Scholastica,  Barbara 

Belasyse 
1779  D.        Anne  Austin,  Mary  Innes 


The  Lay-sisters  of  the  Abbey  of  Pontoise  with  the  year  of  their  deaths.* 

Sister  Agnes  Pickering 

Sr.  Mary  Hardwick 

Sr.  Mechtild  Pashley 

Sr.  Winifred  Hill 

Sr.  Anne  Berington 

Sr.  M.  Joseph  Bolney 

Sr.  Magdalen  Swift 

Sr.  Margaret  Bishton 

Sr.  Susan  Bolney 

Sr.  Francis  Rishton 

Sr.  Martha  Hardwick 

Sr.  Anne  Soloman 

Sr.  Joanna  Widowfield 

Sr.  Lucy  Downes 

Sr.  Dorothy  Walton 

Sr.  Agnes  Woolgar 

Sr.  Mary  Peter  Rashley 


&      died  in 

1666 

Sister 

Theresa  Walton       died  in 

1713 

C.  /                     „ 

1668 

Sr. 

Elizabeth  Eure                „ 

1718 

9y                       » 

1680 

Sr. 

Winifred  Whitfield        „ 

1719 

» 

1688 

Sr. 

Mary  Benedict  Swift      „ 

5) 

n            » 

1690 

Sr. 

Scholastica  Higginson    „ 

1730 

ey        „ 

1691 

'Sr. 

Magdalen  Huggonson   „ 

1739 

» 

1694 

Sr. 

Margaret  Chaddock        „ 

1745 

on           „ 

» 

Sr. 

Barbara  Lockard            „ 

1752 

» 

» 

Sr. 

Mary  Joseph  Price         „ 

1759 

L                   » 

1700 

Sr. 

Bernarda  Pilkington      „ 

» 

ck          „ 

1703 

Sr. 

Catharine  Turner            „ 

1765 

» 

1708 

Sr. 

Placida  Houghton          „ 

1777 

aeld        „ 

1709 

Sr. 

M.  Benedicta  Valentine  „ 

»> 

5> 

1711 

Sr. 

Anne  Byard  Ross            „ 

n         »; 

j> 

Sr. 

Mary  Chalk                     „ 

1787 

J> 

1712 

Sr. 

Agnes  Morgan               „ 

1793 

shley       „ 

>j 

Sr. 

Mary  Anne  Lincoln        „ 

1794 

Four  of  five  of  these  were  probably  professed  at  Ghent. 


APPENDIX. 


41 


XIII 

The  Priory  of  our  Blessed  Lady  of  Good  Hope,  commenced  at  Paris  in  1652. 

In  the  Chronological  Notes  (page  199)  a  brief  account  has  been  given  of  the 
establishment  of  this  Monastery  by  the  Nuns  of  the  Abbey  of  our  Lady  of 
Comfort  at  Cambray,  in  the  Spring  of  1652.  The  Religious  of  the  Paris  filia- 
tion, however,  were  not  finally  settled  in  their  abode  in  the  Champs  d'Alouette 
until  the  year  1664,  when  M.  de  Touche  provided  them  with  a  suitable  residence. 
There  the  Community  remained  till  the  outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution  when 
the  nuns  were  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  of  Vincennes  and  only  reached  England 
after  great  trials  and  losses.  They  settled  first  at  Marnhull,  in  Dorsetshire,  and 
after  a  few  years  moved  to  Cannington  Court  in  Somersetshire,  where  they  took 
up  their  abode  in  what  had  originally  formed  part  of  a  Benedictine  Convent. 
There,  in  1829,  the  perpetual  Adoration  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament  was  intro- 
duced by  the  community,  which  devotion  they  have  since  perpetuated  in  their 
Monastery  at  Colwich  in  Staffordshire,  whither  they  moved  in  1835. 

The  Priory  of  St.  Scholastica  at  Atherstone  in  Warwickshire,  erected  in  1858, 
is  an  offshoot  of  this  Monastery. 


Prioresses  with  the  date  of  their  election. 


1652  Mother 
1665  Mother 
1690  Mother 
1710  Mother 
1714  Mother 
1722  Mother 
1726  Mother 
1734  Mother 


Bridget  More 
Justina  Gascoigne  f 
Agnes  Temple 
Agatha  Qillibrord 
Agnes  Temple 
Mary  Buckingham 
Christina  Witham 
Mary  Benedict  Dally 


1738  Mother  Mary  Anne  Woodman 
1766  Mother  Mary  Magdalen  Johnson  t 
1784  Mother  Mary  Clare  Bondt 
1789  Mother  Theresa  Joseph  Johnson, 
who  brought  the  Commu- 
nity to  England  in   1785, 
and   who  died  in  office  in 
1807. 


The  names  of  the  Religious  of  this  Monastery  with  the  date  of  their  profession. 


1629  August  5th 

1630  September  24th 
1640  


1642 
1650 

1654 
1660 


April  15th 
February  24th 
March  1st 


October  9th 


Mother  Elizabeth  Brent,  de  Sancta  Maria,  professed  at 

Cambray,  died  at  Paris,  April  1st,  1660. 
„      Bridget  More,  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  professed 
at  Cambray;  died  at  Paris,  October  12th,  1692. 
„      Clementina  Gary,  who  received  the  habit  at 
Cambray,  April  3rd,  1639,  died  at  Paris,  April 
26th,  1671. 

„      Justina  Gascoigne,  de  S.  Maria,   professed  at 
„      Cambray,  died  at  Paris,  May  17th,  1690. 
Sister    Scholastica  Hodson,  de  Jesu  Maria,  Lay-Sr.  pro- 
fessed at  Cambray,  died  at  Paris  May  31st,  1690. 
„       Gertrude  Hodson,  of  St.  Lawrence,  Lay-Sister 
professed  at  Cambray,  died  at  Paris,  Oct.  7th,  1652 
„       Margaret  Green,  Lay- Sister. 
„       Rachel  Lanning. 

Mother  Etheldreda  Smith,  professed  at  Brussels  in  1629, 
joined  the  Paris  Community  in  this  year. 


t  Died  in  office. 


42 


APPENDIX. 


1666 
1667 
1670 
1677 
1683 
1684 


November  21st 
November  24th 
January  3rd 
November  21st 
October  14th 
December  26th 


Sister    Anne  Longworth,  of  our  Blessed  Lady. 

„       Mary  Tempest,  of  St.  John  the  EvangeHst. 
Mother  Clare  Newport,  of  our  Lady  and  St.  John  Ev. 

„       Catharine  Conyers. 
Sister    Bridget  Swales,  a  novice  who  received  the  habit 

on  her  death  bed. 
Mother  Mary  Appleby,  of  the  most  Blessed  Sacrament. 

„       Ursula  Trevillian,  of  the  most  Blessed  Trinity. 
Sister    Benedicta  Pease,  Lay-Sister. 
Mother  Gertrude  Hanne. 
Sister    Placid  Coesneau,  of  all  Saints. 

„       Mary  Hawes,  of  Jesus. 


Nearly  all  the  Records  and  Archives  of  this  house  having  been  seized  at  the 
French  Revolution  and  all  traces  of  them,  having  been  lost,  we  can  only  give 
the  date  of  the  death  of  the  following  religious  of  this  community. 


Mother  Maura  Witham,  of  St.  Mary_  Magdalen, 

Sister 

Mother 


Dorothy  Muttlebury,  of  St.  John  Baptist,  Lay-Sr, 
Winifred  Curtis,  of  the  Passion 

„      Constantia  Godfrey,  of  St.  Laurence 

„      Lucy  Conyers,  of  Jesus  Maria 

Sister     Frances  Longworth,  of  our  Lady  and  St.  John  the 
Evangelist 

„       Magdalen  Nepthou,  of  St.  Maurus 
Mother  Bibiana  Stones,  of  our  Lady  of  Good  Hope 

„      Etheldreda  Bisdon  „ 

Sister     Frances  Lawes,  Lay-sister 

„       Mechtilde  Tempest,  of  the  Holy  Ghost 

„       Clementina  Husbands,  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist 

„       Elizabeth  Hilton,  a  Lay-Sister 
Mother  Agatha  Gillibord,  of  the  Assumption 

„      Martina  Tempest,  of  the  Holy  Ghost 

„      Agnes  Temple,  of  the  Infant  Jesus 

„      Theresa  Cook  „         „ 

„      Elizabeth  Cook,  of  our  Blessed  Lady. 
Sister    Helen  Taylor,  of  the  Holy  Cross,  Lay- Sister 

„      Amanda  Butcher,  of  St.  Austin,  „ 

Mother  Mary  Buckingham,  of  the  Incarnation 

„      Scholastica  Tempest,  „ 

„      Christina  Milfort,  of  St.  Scholastica, 

„      Benedicta  De  la  Rue,  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament. 

„      Christina  Witham,  of  the  Assumption. 

„      Catharine  Trumble,  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Sister     M.  Gertrude  Belarby,  of  the  Nativity,  Lay-Sister. 

„      Margaret  Lee,   of  the   Passion,  „ 

Mother  Alathea  Clifton,  of  the  Presentation, 
Sister    Anne  Rawcliffe,  of  the  Visitation,  Lay-Sister, 
Mother  Anne  Theresa  Couch,  of  Jesus, 


died  Sept.  llth,  1700 


Octob.  2nd,  1704 
April  17th,  1710 
Aug.  12th,     „ 
Octob.  7th,  1714 

Sept.  5th,  1715 
Octob.  26th,  1719 
Dec.  6th,     „ 

Aug.  25th,  1721 
Dec.  2nd,  1722 
March  2nd,  1723 
Jan.  26th,  1726 
„       Feb.  10th.     „ 
„       May  17th,     „ 
„         July  3rd,     „ 
„      Aug.  14th,     „ 
„        Nov.  2nd,  1728 
died    Jan.  15th,  1732 
„     March  4th,     „ 
„  March  14th,     „ 
„  March  24th,  1735 
„    April  24th,     „ 
„       Dec.  5th,  1737 
„       Sept.  3rd,  1740 
„     Aug.  14th,  1744 
Aug  4th,  1750 
„        Jan.  4th,  1753 
„      Nov.  23rd,     „ 
„      Oct.  16th,  1755 
„     May  28th,  1757 


APPENDIX.  43 

Mother  Anne  Austin  Wilkley,  of  the  Presentation,  died  June  23rd,  1759 

„      Maura  Wills,  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  „    Aug.  llth,     „ 

„      Theresa  Brennand,  of  the  Blessed  Trinity  „     April  14th,  1760 

„      Winifred  Pattinson,  of  the  Nativity  „      July  13th     „ 

„      Mary  Dalley,  of  our  Lady  of  Mercy  „     April  16th,  1761 

Sister    Frances  Bawcliffe,  of  our  Lady  of  Mercy,  Lay-Sr.   „     May  17th,     „ 

Mother  Scholastica  Lawrenson,  of  the  Assumption  „         Jan.  4th,  1767 

„      Mary  Joseph  Constable,  of  the  Holy  Ghost  „    April  25th,     „ 

„      Philippa  Kyant,  of  the  Seven  Dolours  „       Sept.  9th,     „ 

Sister    Margaret  Tootal,  a  Postulant  „        Aug.  9th,  1772 

Mother  Gertrude  Wilkinson,  of  the  Sacred  Hearts  of  Jesus 

and  Mary,  „        May  8th,  1774 

„      Sophia  Barnes,  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament  „       May  28th     „ 

Sister    Mary  Austin  Wilts,  „    Octob,  19th,  1775 

Mother  Maria  Mooney,  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  „      Aug.  20th,  1778 

„      Magdalen  Simmes,  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament  „       Jan.  14th,  1780 

„      Anne  Woodman  „    March  23rd,     „ 

„      Mary  Scholastica  Berry,  of  the  Sacred  Hearts  „     March  19th,  1781 

Sister    Anne  Dewhurst,  of  the  Visitation,  Lay-Sister  „         June  8th,  1784 

Mother  Mary  Magdalen  Johnson,  of  the  Holy  Cross,  „       June  13th,     „ 

„      Xaveria  Simmes,  „        Jan.  17th,  1789 

„      Mary  Clare  Bond,  of  Jesus  „       Nov.  22nd     „ 

Sister     Anne  Benedict  Jones,  of  our  Lady  of  Mercy,  „     March  30th,  1792 

„      Mary  Elizabeth  Kirby,  of  the  Nativity,  „       Sept.  30th,     „ 

„      Agnes  Norris,  of  our  Lady  of  Mercy.  „          Jan.  7th,  1793 
„      Martina  Bibby,  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  Lay-Sr.  „         April  1st,     „ 
„      Mary  Lucy  Parkinson,  died  whilst  the  religious 

were  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  of  Yincennes,  „        Oct.  13th,  1794 
„      Mary  Knight,  of  the  Sacred  Hearts  of  Jesus  and 

Mary,  a  Lay-Sister  „        Oct.  10th,  1795 

„      Mary  Gertrude  Parkinson,  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  „    March  24th,  1799 

Mother  Theresa  Joseph  Johnson,  of  the  Holy  Ghost  died  in      1807 

„      Mary  Placida  Brindle,  „         „       „ 

Sister     M  Scholastica  Greenway,  „         „     1809 

„       Amanda  Cooper,  Lay-sister  „         „       „ 
„       M  Magdalen  Glynn,  a  Postulant  who  accompanied  the 

community  to  prison,    and   was  professed  in  England 

in  1798  „         „     1811 

Sister     Anna  Maria  Thickness,  „         „     1812 

Mother  Theresa  Hagan  „         „     1816 

„      Anne  Joseph  Gee  „         „       „ 

Sister    Anne  Theresa  Bagnal,  Lay-Sister,  „         „     1820 

„      Mary  Joseph  Worsley  „         „     1821 

,,      Mary  Benedict  Hardwidge  „         .,     1823 

Mother  Mary  Frances  Simmes  „         ,,     1824 

Sister    Theresa  Catharine  Me  Donald  „     1831 


44  APPENDIX. 

XIV 

The  Abbey  of  Dunkirk. 

In  the  year  1662,  this  Monastery  was  founded  at  Dunkirk  by  the  Lady 
Abbess  of  the  English  Benedictine  Dames  at  Ghent,  Dame  Mary  Knatehbull. 
As  Dunkirk  then  belonged  to  England,  the  consent  of  the  King,  Charles  II,  was 
asked  for  and  obtained  before  the  new  foundation  was  commenced.  Twelve  re- 
ligious, seven  choir  nuns  and  five  Lay-sisters,  were  sent  from  Ghent,  Dame 
Mary  Caryll,  a  member  of  the  ancient  Sussex  family  of  that  name,  being  ap- 
pointed Superior.  Her  companions  in  the  work  were  Dame  Ignatia  Fortescue, 
D.  Anne  Nevil,  D.  Flavia  Gary,  D.  Constantia  Savage.  D.  Scholastica  Heneage, 
D.  Agatha  Webb,  D.  Valeria  Stanley,  D.  Christina  Munson,  D.  Anastasia  Mau- 
rice, D.  Xaveria  Pordage,  and  D.  Viviana  Eyre,  all  ladies  of  birth  and  singular 
virtue.  Five  of  these  religious  afterwards  returned  to  Ghent  when  the  commu- 
nity of  Dunkirk  had  become  sufficiently  numerous.  The  new  community  was 
established  in  May,  1662  ;  the  Reverend  Mr.  Gerard  accompanying  the  nuns  as 
Chaplain.  Dame  Mary  Caryll,  who  though  young,  had  won  the  confidence  of 
all  by  her  great  piety  and  the  sweetness  of  her  disposition,  was  chosen  the  Abbess, 
and  solemnly  blessed  on  the  24th  of  June,  1664  ;  and  so  rapidly  did  her  com- 
munity increase  under  her  guidance,  that  before  her  death  in  1712,  she  had 
received  to  profession  ninety-five  religious. 

The  donations  bestowed  on  her  by  her  Father,  John  Caryll,  Esq.  of  Harting 
and  "West  Grinstead,  her  uncle  Lord  Petre,  and  other  benefactors,  enabled  her  to 
erect  a  Church  and  other  monastic  buildings.  In  this  work  she  received  valu- 
able assistance  from  her  brother,  Dom  Alexius  Caryll,  a  Benedictine  Monk  of 
St.  Gregory's  monastery  at  Douay,  who  was  well  skilled  in  architecture. 

The  troubles  of  the  French  Revolution  which  fell  so  heavily  on  all  religious 
houses,  did  not  spare  the  English  Abbey  at  Dunkirk.  On  October  13th,  1793, 
the  inclosure  was  invaded,  all  records  and  documents  seized,  and  the  expelled 
religious  imprisoned,  together  with  two  other  communities,  at  Gravelines,  where 
they  remained  for  eighteen  months.  So  great  were  the  hardships  of  this  im- 
prisonment that  eleven  of  the  nuns  died,  and  several  others  were  seriously  ill 
when  permission  was  at  length  obtained  for  their  removal  to  England.  The 
Benedictine  Dames,  now  reduced  to  the  number  of  twenty  five  reached  London 
in  May,  1795,  and  took  up  their  abode  in  the  old  Convent  at  Hammersmith 
which  was  soon  made  over  entirely  to  their  use.  There  they  remained  till,  in 
1863,  they  removed  to  their  present  Monastery  of  St.  Scholastica,  at  Teignmouth 
in  Devonshire. 

The  Abbesses  of  Dunkirk. 

1.  Dame  Mary  Caryll,  professed  at  Ghent,  February  6th,  1650  ;    sent  to 
Dunkirk  in  1662,  blessed  Abbess  on  June  24th,  1664,  died  in  office,  Aug.  21st, 
1712. 

2.  Dame  Benedicta  Fleetwood,  professed  in  1686  ;  blessed  Abbess  on  Oct. 
2nd,  1712  ;  died  October  10th,  1748. 

3.  Dame  Mary  Frances  Fermor,  professed  on  the  23rd  of  April,  1713  ;  bless- 
ed Abbess  on  October  20th,  1748  ;  died  December  10th,  1764. 

4.  Dame  Mary  "Winifred  Englefield  ;  professed  in  1736  ;  became  Abbess 
in  1765  ;  died  February  12th,  1777. 


APPENDIX. 


45 


5.  Dame  Mary  Magdalen  Prujean,  professed  June  14th,  1750  ;  blessed  Abbess 
May  20th,  1777.      Under  her  guidance  the  community  settled  at  Hammersmith 
near  London  in  1795.        Her  successor  was 

6.  Dame  Mary  Placida  Messenger,  professed  at  Pontoise,  August  10th,  1772 ; 
blessed  Abbess  at  Hammersmith  November  3rd,  1812 ;    died  August  30th,  1828. 


The  professed  religious  of  the  Abbey  of  Dunkirk. 


a  1665 
1666 
1670 


1671 

»j 
» 
» 

1679 
a  1685 


1685 
1686 


1688 

1690 

a  1695 


Dame 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 


Josepha  O'Bryan 
Alexia  Mary  Legge 
M.  Joseph,  Mary  Ryan 
Catharine,  C.  Nichols 
Mary  Skinner 
Mary  Anne  Skinner* 
M.  Benedict  Culcheth 
Constantia  Culcheth 
Placida,  Anne  Morley 
M.  Martha,  Mary  Salkeld 
Frances  Pordage 
Mary  Copley 
Agnes,  Catharine  Warner 
Eugenia  Caryll 
Theresa  Caryll 
Mary  Alexia  Copley 
Mechtilde,Frances  Pulton 
Justina  Caryll 
Helena  Smith 
Cecilia,  C.  Conyers 
Ildefonsa  Gruildford 
Q-ertrude,  Anne  Pulton 
Mary  Beatrix  Roger 
Dorothy  Grage 
Mary  Benedict  Clifton 
Margaret  Hungate 
Bridget   Southcote 
Elizabeth  Pulton 
Barbara  Fleetwood 
Angela  Grerard 
Ignatia,  Susan  Warner 
Mary  Baptist  Thornton 
Benedicta,  Ann  Fleetwood 
Winifred,Troth  Thornton 
M  Michael  Fleetwood 
Lucy,  Catharine  Ireland 
Josepha  Price 


1699 
a  1706 


a  1695  Dame  Winifred  Petre 

„      D.  Ruperta  Coleman 

„      D.  Scholastica  Culcheth 

1695  D.  Susanna  Lavery 

1696  D.  Etheldreda  Middleton 

„      D.  M.  Bede,  Anne  Culcheth 

1697  D.  Paula  Stafford 

„      D.  Agatha  Spooner 

„      D.  Mary,  Winifred  Tate 

„      D.  Catharine  Sheldon 

„      D.  Anastasia  Yincent 

D.  Placid  Fermor 

D.  M  Bernard  Englefield 

D.  M  Augustine  Harvey 

D.  Agnes  Anderton 

D.  M.  Catharine  Strickland 

D.  M  Magdalen  Caryll 

D.  M  Baptist  Anderton 

D.  HenriettaMaria,  H.Pigott 

D.  Maura  Fleming 

Sr.  Mary  Grertrude  Darell,  a 

novice 

D.  Mechtilde,  Frances  Pul- 
ton t 

D.  M  Romana,  Mary  Caryll 

D.  M  Benedict  Caryll 

D.  M  Monica  Bond 

D.  M  Ignatia  Berkeley 

D.  M  Anselm  Salkeld 

D.  Mary  Fortescue 

D.  Mary  Anne  Acton 

D.  M  Frances  Fermor 

D.  Benedicta,  Arabella  Caryll 

D.  Cecilia  Fitzroy 

D.  M  Anne,  Frances  Scroope 

D.  M  Baptist  Aylward 

D.  Angela  Brown 


1706. 

1708 

a  1713 


1713 

1714 

a  1720 


'  The  Baptismal  name  of  the  following  four  religious  is  wanting,  one  was  Jane  Culcheth 
and  another  was  Mary  Skinner,'  sister  to  Dom  Placid  Skinner,  Professor  of  Theology  at  St. 
Gregory's  at  Douay  in  1672.  f  The  second  of  the  name. 


46 


APPENDIX. 


1720  Dame  M  Bernard,  Mary  Preston 
a  1725  D.       M  Duiistan  Abercromby 
a  1725  D.       M  Xaveria  Pearse 
1725  D.       M  Agnes  Pulton 
1727  D.       M  Joseph,  Mary  Sheldon 
a  1736  D.       M  Margaret,    Margaret 

Meynell 
D.       Anne  Augustine,  Anne 

Meynell 

D.       M  Bernard  Englefield 
Sr.       M  Michael  Willis,  died 
during  her  noviceship 
1736  D.       M  Winifred  Englefield 

„      D.       M  Ignatia  Dyve 
1740  D.       Scholastica,  Cecilia  Jones 
„      D.       M  Benedict,AnneSheldon 

1742  D.       M  Lucy,  Anne  Berkeley 

1743  D.       M  Monica  White 


1745  Dame 

1746  D. 
a  1750  D. 

„     D. 

1750  D. 

1751  D. 

1752  D. 

1753  D. 
1755  D. 
1758  D. 

„     D. 
1762  D. 

1774  D. 

1775  D. 


Barbara  Sheldon 
G-ertrude,EKzabeth  Wells 
M  Theresa  Haliwell 
M  Augustine  Belasyse 
Mary  Magdalen,  Anne 

Prujean 

Henrietta  Strickland 
Anne  Joseph  Wells 
M  Michael  Prescott 
M  Aloysia  Tuite| 
M  Placida  Macclesfield 
M  Barbara  Acton 
Benedicta,  Margaret 

Willoughby 
Mary  Joseph,  Charlotte 

Mostyn 
Josepha  Theresa,   Flor- 

ence Kane 


[  In  1786  the  following  five  professed  Choir  nuns  of  Pontoise  were  admitted 
and  associated  to  the  Dunkirk  Community. 


1751  Dame  Anne  Clavering,  Abbess 

of  Pontoise 

1747  D.       M  Theresa  Armstrong 
1772  D.       Placida,  Mary  Messenger 
„      D.        Mary  Winifred,  Eleanor 
Clarke 


1776  D.       Mary  Frances,  Catharine 

Markham] 

1787  D.       M  Agnes  Parkes 
1796  D.       M  Victoria  Whitehall 
1798  D.       M  Maura,  Elizabeth  Car- 

rington 


The  Lay-Sisters 

Sister  Mary  Magdalen  Howard 

Sr.  Elizabeth  Boult 

Sr.  Dorothy  Sovette 

Sr.  Margaret 

Sr.  Xaveria 

Sr.  Scholastica 

Sr.  Maura 

Sr.  Margaret 

Sr.  Mary  Joseph 

Sr.  Winifred 

Sr.  Magdalen 

Sr.  Mary  Xaveria 

Sr.  Anne  Joseph 

Sr.  Scholastica 

Sr.  Frances 

Sr.  Mary  Magdalen 

Sr.  Anne 

Sr.  Cecilia  Gerrard 

Sr.  Eugenia  Hyde 


of  the  Dunkirk  Monastery* 

Sr.  Benedicta  Spencer 

Sr.  Mechtilde  Barrows 

Sr.  Placida  Ludkin 

Sr.  Bernarda  Gregson 

Sr.  Etheldreda  Roberts 

Sr.  Agnes  Dallison 

Sr.  Mary  Dunstan  Smith 

Sr.  Paula  Slaughter 

Sr.  M  Winifred  Farrar 

Sr.  Scholastica 

Sr.  Theresa  Connick 

Sr.  M  Benedict  Gregston 

Sr.  M  James  Plumpton 

Sr.  M  Magdalen  Harvey 

Sr.  M  Scholastica  Catharel 

Sr.  Catharine  Mills,       died  in  1720 

Sr.  Elizabeth  Judd,  „       1737 

Sr.  Martha  Waters,  „       1740 

Sr.  Frances  Middleton,     „       1755 


*  The  years  of  the  profession  and  death  of  many  of  these  Sisters  have  not  been  recorded. 


APPENDIX. 


47 


Sister  M  Joseph  Dytch  died  in  1755 

Sr.  Ignatia  Leight  „  1760 

Sr.  Martha  Eigby  „  1764 

Sr.  Lucy  Smith  „  1768 

Sr.  Anne  Winifred  Thomby  1773 

Sr.  Josepha  Harrison  „  1778 

Sr.  M  Barbara  Pyser  „  1781 


Sr.  M  Magdalen  Formby 

Sr.  M  Anne  Johnson 

Sr.  M  Agnes  Morgan  * 

Sr.  M  Anne  Lincoln* 

Sr.  Martha  Gornal 

Sr.  M  Felicite  Salcement 

Sr.  M  Margaret  Evans 


1784 
1787 
1793 
1794 

1795 
1798 


Sister  Elizabeth  Charnley,          professed  in  1758 
Sr.       Scholastica  Phesackelley         „  1775 

Sr.       Anne  Benedict  Q-odwin          „  1768 

Mary  Magdalen  Berry  „  1791 

Mary  Agnes  Bond  „  1778 

Mary  Winifred  Tobin  „  1781 


Sr. 
Sr. 
Sr. 


died  in  1807 
1823 
1828 
1829 
1832 
1846 


The  Abbey  of  our  Lady  of  Grace  at  Ypres.  t 

The  Lady  Mary  Percy,  daughter  to  Thomas,  Earl  of  Northumberland,  was 
the  first  who  projected  the  erection  of  a  religious  house  in  Flanders  for  English 
subjects.  She  left  her  native  country  and  obtained  leave  from  the  Archduke 
Albert,  Governor  of  the  Low  Countries,  to  found  a  monastery  at  Brussels,  and  by 
his  favourable  assistance  it  was  likewise  arranged  that  some  English  nuns  of  the 
Abbey  of  St.  Peter  at  E/heims  might  be  removed  to  Brussels  in  company  with 
Madame  Noelle,  the  Prioress  of  St.  Peter's,  and  three  other  French  Religious,  in 
1598.  Nothing  now  remained  for  the  complete  establishment  of  the  new  Abbey 
but  the  sanction  of  the  Holy  See,  which  his  Holiness  Pope  Clement  VIII  readily 
granted  by  a  Bull  which  reached  Brussels  in  1599. 

[  The  history  of  the  foundation  of  the  Abbeys  of  Cambray  and  Q-hent  has 
already  been  related.] 

In  the  year  1665,  M.  Martin  de  Praets,  Canon  of  Ghent,  was  elected  Bishop 
of  Ypres,  and  made  his  solemn  entrance  into  his  Diocese  on  the  7th  of  March  in 
the  same  year.  On  the  18th  of  May  following  he  solicited  the  permission  of 
the  Magistrates  of  his  Cathedral  city  for  the  erection  of  an  Abbey  of  English 
Benedictine  Dames,  and  on  their  consent  all  necessary  grants  and  orders  were 
issued  by  Philip  IV,  king  of  Spain,  and  registered  in  the  great  Council  of  the 
Commune  of  Ypres. 

After  these  formalities  his  Lordship  requested  the  Lady  Abbess  and  Com- 
munity of  Ghent  to  send  Dame  Mary  Beaumont  to  Ypres  to  found  a  monastery 
of  her  Order  and  nation.  Thereupon  the  Lady  Abbess  and  community  elected 
the  said  D.  Mary  Beaumont,  to  be  Abbess  of  the  new  convent,  and  sent  with 
her  Dame  Flavia  Gary,  D.  Helen  Wait,  (Wayte,  or  White),  and  D.  Vincentia 
Aire,  +  all  professed  nuns  of  Ghent.  They  arrived  at  Ypres  about  the  22nd  of 
May,  1665,  and  entered  the  house  that  the  Bishop  had  provided  for  them. 
Four  years  later,  his  Lordship  solemnly  blessed  in  his  Cathedral  Church  Dame 
Mary  Beaumont  as  first  Abbess  of  this  Monastery.  On  the  3rd  of  May,  in  the 

*  Professed  at  Pontoise. 

t  Abridged  from  an  account  kindly  communicated  by  the  Lady  Abbess  of  that  Monastery, 
j  Dodd  (Church  History,  III,  485)  gives  her  name  as  Viviana  Eyre. 


48  APPENDIX. 

same  year,  Dame  Josepha  Carew,  the  first  nun  of  this  community,  made  her 
solemn  profession.  A  Lay-sister,  Sister  Frances  Wright,  was  admitted  about 
the  same  time.  But  the  Abbess,  seeing  that  very  little  success  attended  her  ef- 
forts, began  to  make  arrangements  for  handing  over  the  Abbey  to  the  English 
Benedictine  Nuns  of  Paris,  but  on  the  suggestion  of  Dame  Mary  Knatchbull, 
Abbess  of  Ghent,  the  project  was  set  aside  and  it  was  determined  to  make  the 
house  of  Ypres  an  Abbey  for  the  Irish  nation.  At  the  request  of  the  Abbess  of 
Ghent,  Dame  Mary  Caryll,  Abbess  of  Dunkirk  proceeded  to  Ypres  with  four  of 
her  religious,  two  of  whom  were  of  Irish  birth,  when  death  had  removed  Lady 
Abbess  Beaumont.*  The  four  Dunkirk  religious  were  invited  to  join  the  Ypres 
community  ;  and  on  their  consenting,  a  new  Abbess  was  to  be  chosen,  in  quality 
of  first  Abbess  of  an  Irish  Community,  though  the  second  of  the  establishment. 
On  November  19th,  1682,  Dame  Flavia  Gary  was  elected  to  the  office  and  the 
choice  of  the  community  was  confirmed  by  the  Letters  Patent  of  the  Vicars 
General  of  Ypres. 

Thereupon  Lady  Abbess  Knatchbull  desired  the  other  Monasteries  of  the 
Congregation  to  send  some  of  their  professed  Irish  members  in  order  to  increase 
the  Ypres  community.  From  Ghent  was  sent  the  Reverend  Dame  Ursula 
Butler;  the  Abbess  of  Dunkirk  sent  Dame  Josepha  O'Bryan  (or  O'Byran) ; 
from  Pontoise,  Lady  Abbess  Neville  sent  Dame  Mary  Joseph  Butler  daughter  of 
Toby  Butler  Esq,  of  Callin,  and  some  others,  upon  which  a  legal  concession  and 
donation  of  the  house  at  Ypres  was  made  in  favour  of  the  Irish  nation,  and 
Dame  Flavia  Gary  entered  on  her  office  as  abbess  of  the  Irish  monastery,  dedi- 
cated to  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  our  Lady  under  the  title  of  "  The  grace 
of  God." 

After  many  pains  and  labours  for  propagating  this  establishment,  it  pleased 
God  to  call  to  Himself  the  Reverend  Lady  Abbess,  D.  Flavia  Gary,  on  the  20th 
of  February,  1686.  She  was  succeeded  in  her  office  by  Dame  Mary  Joseph 
Butler,  who  received  the  Abbatial  benediction  at  Commines,  from  the  Rt.  Rev. 
Lord  de  Choiseul  de  Plessis  Prastin,  Bishop  of  Tournay,  the  See  of  Ypres  being 
then  vacant. 

In  1687  King  James  II  being  desirous  of  establishing  a  convent  of  religious 
women  in  Ireland,  ordered  the  Earl  of  Tyrconnell,  his  Lord  Lieutenant  in  the 
said  kingdom,  to  write  to  the  Lady  Abbess  of  the  Irish  Dames  of  Ypres  to  desire 
her  to  repair  to  Dublin,  and  to  transfer  her  community  to  that  city.  The  diffi- 
culties and  obstacles  which  had  to  be  overcome  before  the  King's  wish  could  be 
put  into  execution,  wore  innumerable ;  but  this  valiant  woman  surmounted 
them  all  with  heroic  patience  and  magnanimity.  When  preparing  to  start  on 
her  journey,  a  portion  of  an  old  wall  fell  upon  her,  under  which  she  was  so  buried 
that  it  seemed  a  miracle  that  she  was  not  killed  ;  a  picture  of  the  crucifixion  fell 
on  her  head  and  kept  off  the  bricks,  yet  drove  a  nail  very  deep  into  her  forehead. 
This  happened  at  a  time  when  none  of  the  religious  were  within  hearing,  but  God, 
who  destined  his  servant  for  further  labours  in  his  service,  caused  a  voice  to  be 
heard  by  a  Lay-sister  who  was  working  in  the  garden,  saying  thrice  :  "  Go  help 
my  Lady." — Thus  the  Abbess  was  discovered,  all  bleeding  from  her  wound  and 
almost  suffocated  under  the  ruins  of  the  wall.  After  her  recovery  fresh  difficul- 

*  She  died  on  August  22nd,  1682,  in  the  66th  year  of  her  age,  and  the  47th  of  her  religious 
profession,  and  17th  of  Abbatial  dignity. 


APPENDIX.  49 

ties  arose  ;  but  at  last  the  Earl  of  Tyrconnell  wrote  to  the  Court  of  France  to 
obtain  the  removal  of  all  the  obstacles  that  impeded  Lady  Butler's  journey  to 
Ireland,  and  in  the  meantime  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  wrote  to  the  Grand 
Vicars  of  Ypres,  informing  them  of  the  King's  wish,  and  stating  that  His 
Majesty  would  protect  no  other  establishment  but  that  of  Lady  Butler, 
and  that  moreover  it  was  the  opinion  of  the  better  part  of  the  kingdom  that  the 
new  Monastery  should  be  commenced  with  all  possible  speed,  in  order  that  it 
might  the  longer  enjoy  the  advantages  of  Lady  Butler's  direction.  It  was 
arranged  at  the  same  time,  that  the  Monastery  at  Ypres  should  be  reserved  as  a 
refuge  in  case  of  trouble  in  those  unsettled  times. 

The  Lord  Lieutenant  had,  by  the  king's  orders,  taken  a  house  for  Lady 
Butler  and  her  community  towards  the  upper  end  of  Big  Sleep  Street  in  Dublin, 
and  His  Majesty  went  in  person  to  see  that  it  was  properly  fitted  up  for  the 
reception  of  the  nuns.  In  1688,  the  Abbess  departed  from  Ypres  with  some  of 
her  choir  nuns,  Dame  Mary  Markham,  a  nun  of  Pontoise  being  of  the  number, 
and  a  lay  novice,  Sister  Placida  Holmes.  On  arriving  in  London,  the  Abbess, 
wearing  the  choir  dress  of  the  Order,  waited  on  the  Queen  at  Whitehall,  and  was 
graciously  received,  and  on  the  8th  of  October  set  out  with  her  nuns  for  Dublin, 
where  they  arrived  on  the  Eve  of  All  Saints. 

On  their  arrival  they  were  presented  to  the  King  by  the  Earl  and  Countess 
of  Tyrconnell.  His  Majesty  received  them  most  kindly  and  promised  them  his 
royal  protection  ;  and  gave  orders  for  Letters  Patent  to  be  expedited  granting 
most  ample  privileges  in  favour  of  the  Abbess  and  the  Community,  under  the 
honourable  title  of  His  Majesty's  own  First,  Chief  and  Royal  Abbey  of  the 
three  kingdoms,  with  free  permission  to  settle  in  any  part  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Ireland  :  the  royal  patent  was  dated  June  5th,  1689. 

As  soon  as  the  religious  entered  their  inclosure  in  Big  Sleep  Street,  the  Divine 
Office,  Holy  Mass  and  all  regular  observances  were  commenced  to  the  comfort 
and  edification  of  the  Irish  nobility  and  gentry  who  hastened  to  place  their 
children  for  education  under  so  venerable  an  Abbess  who  excelled  in  piety, 
virtue  and  every  branch  of  true  learning.  Among  thirty  young  ladies  who 
were  intrusted  to  her,  eighteen  had  petitioned  for  the  habit  of  the  Order,  but  the 
prudent  Abbess  thought  it  expedient  to  defer  their  admission  till  more  peace- 
able times,  as  the  civil  war  had  already  commenced  in  Ireland.  On  the  entry 
of  King  William's  victorious  army  into  Dublin  after  the  battle  of  the  Boyne, 
the  monastery  was  sacked  by  the  troops,  but  not  before  the  Abbess  had  sent  back 
the  children  of  the  school  to  their  respective  parents  ;  the  nuns  themselves  took 
refuge  in  a  neighbouring  house,  and  managed  to  save  some  of  their  church  plate 
though  all  besides  was  lost. 

After  this  disaster,  the  Abbess  resolved  to  return  to  Ypres,  notwithstanding 
the  many  assurances  given  her  by  the  Duke  of  Ormond,  a  near  relation,  who 
promised  her  a  strong  protection  from  King  William  for  herself  and  nuns  if  she 
would  remain  ;  but  the  journey  back  to  Ypres,  though  facilitated  by  an  ample 
passport  from  the  new  King,  was  not  accomplished  without  great  difficulty. 
Soon  after  this  the  Pontoise  religious  were  recalled  to  their  own  convent,  so 
that  the  Lady  Mary  Butler  led  for  some  time  a  life  of  great  solitude  ;  for  five 
years  she  had  no  other  companions  than  four  Lay-sisters.  Their  poverty  was  so 
great  that  their  only  drink  was  a  decoction  of  bran.  Destitute  of  all  human 


50  APPENDIX. 

comfort,  but  ever  united  to  God  in  prayer,  never  wearied  of  suffering,  and  yield- 
ing not,  she  awaited  with  an  humble  resignation  our  Lord's  good  pleasure, 
resisting  the  solicitations  of  her  family  to  return  to  them,  and  refusing  the 
Bishop's  request  that  she  should  sell  the  Monastery,  and  live  where  she  pleased 
at  her  ease.  But  her  heroic  soul  confiding  on  Divine  Providence  would  not 
abandon  the  work  of  God  nor  fly  from  His  Cross  ;  and  in  her,  the  Almighty 
verified  His  word,  that  none  put  their  trust  in  him  in  vain.  In  1700  she  had 
the  comfort  of  receiving  several  good  subjects,  so  that  the  regular  observances  of 
the  Choir  and  other  community  exercises  were  resumed ;  the  worthy  Abbess  herself 
being  to  every  one  an  example  of  fervour,  regularity,  union  with  God,  and  un- 
bounded charity.  Thus  governing  her  flock  in  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ,  she  was 
called  to  her  eternal  repose  on  the  22nd  of  December,  1723,  in  the  82nd  year  of 
her  age,  the  66th  of  her  religious  profession,  and  the  38th  of  her  abbatial  dignity. 

The  community,  deeply  afflicted  at  the  loss  of  this  saintly  superior,  had  the 
consolation  of  seeing  her  spirit  perpetuated  in  their  new  Abbess,  Dame  Xaveria 
Arthur.  This  Religious  was  one  of  the  first  whom  her  predecessor  had  received 
into  her  community  after  her  return  from  Dublin.  She  had  passed  her  noviciate 
among  the  English  Benedictines  at  Ghent,  but  on  her  return  to  Tpres  for  pro- 
fession, the  Bishop  refused  his  consent.  All  means  were  tried  to  induce  him  to 
withdraw  his  opposition,  Sister  Xaveria  herself  assuring  him  that  the  Irish  nuns 
would  never  be  a  burden  to  his  Diocese,  (which  was  what  he  apprehended) ,  and 
that  she  would  be  contented  to  live  on  bread  and  water  if  only  he  would  con- 
sent to  her  profession.  For  four  years  he  persisted  in  his  refusal,  and  only 
agreed  when  the  Queen  of  England  had  joined  her  prayers  to  those  of  the  fer- 
vent novice.  When  the  desired  permission  was  granted^  Sister  Xaveria  com- 
menced to  prepare  the  unfinished  Church  of  the  Monastery  for  the  profession 
ceremony,  and  with  her  usual  energy  began  to  dig  the  earth  and  carry  it  in 
baskets  into  the  street,  in  order  that  the  pavement  might  be  the  sooner  laid. 
After  her  profession  she  was  a  model  of  the  most  exact  regularity,  so  that  she 
was  continued  in  the  office  of  Prioress  from  1705  to  1724,  in  which  year  she  was 
chosen  Abbess.  She  endeared  herself  to  all  by  her  great  kindness  and  virtue  ; 
her  conduct  during  the  great  distress  caused  by  the  severe  frost  of  1740  made  her 
excellent  qualities  most  apparent  to  every  one.  *  Her  devotion  to  the  sacred 
wounds  of  our  Lord,  prompted  her  to  obtain  for  her  community  the  privilege  of 
keeping  the  Feast  instituted  in  their  honour,  and,  as  it  seemed,  in  reward  for  her 
zeal  she  was  called  out  of  life  on  the  very  feast  of  the  five  Sacred  Wounds, 
March  5th,  1743. 

On  the  3rd  of  April  following  the  Reverend  Dame  Mary  Magdalen  Mande- 
ville  was  elected  Abbess,  and  on  the  29th  of  January  1744,  was  blessed  by 
Bishop  Delvaulx  in  his  own  palace.  The  early  religious  life  of  this  worthy 
Superior  is  not  without  interest.  She  had  completed  nine  months  of  her  Novi- 
ciate, under  her  great-aunt,  Lady  Abbess  Butler,  when,  in  the  interests  of  the 
community,  she  obtained  permission  to  set  out  for  Ireland  to  sue  for  her  fortune, 
of  which  her  brother  would  deprive  her.  After  two  years  labour  and  trouble  she 
succeeded  in  her  endeavours,  and  was  fortunate  enough  to  recover  the  Church 

*  At  this  trying  time  the  provisions  of  the  nuns  were  of  so  wretched  a  quality  that  the 
good  Abbess  took  upon  herself  the  office  of  baker,  to  try  whether  by  mixing  eggs  and  milk 
with  their  poor  bread,  it  might  be  rendered  more  eatable. 


APPENDIX.  51 

plate  and  ornaments  which  had  been  saved  from  the  plunder  of  the  Dublin 
monastery.  On  her  return,  the  vessel  in  which  she  was  crossing  to  Flanders 
was  wrecked  off  the  Isle  of  Wight  on  the  9th  October,  1725  ;  from  mid-night 
till  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  she  clung  to  the  main  mast,  but  at  last  the 
violence  of  the  waves  swept  her  from  her  position  of  comparative  safety,  and  it 
was  only  with  extreme  difficulty,  and  by  the  mercy  of  Grod,  that  she  was  enabled 
to  save  herself  from  drowning  by  means  of  some  floating  pieces  of  timber  on 
which  she  contrived  to  hold  till  eight  o'clock,  when  her  dangerous  position  was 
discovered  and  some  fishermen  came  to  her  rescue.  By  the  17th  of  November 
she  reached  Ypres,  and  having  recommenced  her  Noviciate  on  the  8th  of  De- 
cember, was  admitted  to  profession  on  the  15th  day  of  the  same  month  in  the 
following  year. 

The  siege  of  the  town,  and  the  many  crosses  and  anxieties  which  the  troubled 
times  occasioned  her,  added  to  her  own  great  bodily  sufferings,  shortened  her  life. 
She  died  on  the  27th  of  November,  1760,  after  holding  her  office  for  seventeen 
years. 

Her  successor,  Dame  Mary  Bernard  Dalton,  was  not  unworthy  of  the 
Abbesses  who  had  preceded  her.  Her  superior  talents  and  great  piety  were  much 
spoken  of,  while  within  her  convent,  her  fervent  zeal  for  silence,  prayer  and  holy 
union  with  God,  made  her  a  model  to  her  subjects.  Inflamed  with  a  great  devo- 
tion towards  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus,  and  seconded  by  the  Director  of  the 
Convent,  Fr.  Dalas,  S.  J.,  she  obtained  from  Pope  Pius  VI  a  grant  and  Briefs 
for  erecting  in  the  Abbey  Church  a  confraternity  of  the  Sacred  Heart ;  and  on 
the  2nd  of  June,  1780,  (the  Feast  of  the  Sacred  Heart,)  the  Bishop  of  Ypres 
solemnly  consecrated  the  Abbey  and  its  members  to  the  service  of  that  Adorable 
Object  of  Catholic  piety,  and  to  the  particular  reparation  of  the  injuries  to  which  It 
is  exposed  in  the  Most  Blessed  Sacrament  of  the  Altar.*  Still  further  to  promote 
the  piety  of  the  faithful,  His  Holiness,  besides  other  favours,  granted  a  plenary 
Indulgence  to  be  gained  daily,  by  all  who  after  confession  and  Communion  should 
pray  before  the  picture  of  the  Sacred  Heart  placed  on  the  Altar  in  the  church  of 
the  Irish  Benedictines. 

After  receiving  to  profession  several  worthy  religious,  Dame  Mary  Bernard 
Dalton  died  on  the  6th  of  October,  1783. 

By  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  nuns,  Dame  Mary  Scholastica  Lynch  was 
chosen  in  her  place,  and  blessed  as  Abbess  by  Bishop  Wavrans  on  the  30th  of 
November  following.  Her  excellent  judgment,  gravity  and  great  piety  supplied 
what  was  wanting  in  years,  and  her  noble  bearing  during  the  French  invasion 
justified  the  choice  that  had  been  made.  On  the  13th  of  January,  1792,  she 
had  the  grief  of  witnessing  an  attack  on  her  monastery  by  a  band  of  forty  or 
fifty  armed  soldiers  who  loudly  and  insolently  insisted  on  being  admitted  into 
the  inclosure.  The  Abbess  refused  to  allow  them  to  enter  till  proper  authori- 
sation had  been  obtained,  whereupon  they  threatened  to  point  their  cannon 
against  the  house,  and  immediately  began  to  batter  down  the  gates  and  doors 
with  the  utmost  violence,  and  by  this  means  forced  an  entrance  into  the  inclosure 
where  sentinels  were  placed  at  every  door,  and  seals  set  on  church,  sacristy,  and 

The  Acts  of  Consecration  to  the  Sacred  Heart,  and  the  Act  of  Reparation,  now  so  com- 
monly in  use,  were  drawn  up  by  Fr.  Dalas  for  the  members  of  this  Confraternity. 


i>->  APPENDIX. 

other  apartments  where  they  hoped  to  find  anything  of  value.  All  remonstrances 
proved  useless  and  the  nuns  with  difficulty  persuaded  their  troublesome  guests 
(who  had  drunk  heavily  at  their  expense),  to  pass  the  night  in  the  out-parlours 
and  allow  the  Divine  Sacrifice  to  be  celebrated  next  morning  in  the  choir. 

Having  heard  that  the  officer  in  command  of  the  French  forces  at  Tournai 
was  an  Irishman,  the  Abbess  appealed  to  him  for  help  in  behalf  of  his  distressed 
countrywomen,  with  the  happy  result  of  receiving  a  visit  from  the  temporary 
governor  of  Ypres,  who  came  to  make  excuses  and  pay  for  the  damages  caused 
by  his  unruly  soldiers,  withdraw  them  from  the  monastery  and  remove  the  seals. 
In  taking  his  leave,  however,  this  worthy  exhorted  the  nuns  to  avail  themselves 
of  the  liberty  which  the  French  nation  had  proclaimed,  to  return  to  the  world 
again  ;  advice  which  was  received  with  the  disdain  which  it  deserved. 

The  following  year  again  saw  the  French  endeavouring  to  secure  their  pos- 
session of  Flanders,  and  in  July  1794,  they  surrounded  the  town  of  Ypres  with 
a  formidable  army.  The  Irish  convent  was  particularly  exposed  to  danger 
during  the  last  days  of  the  siege  when  the  enemy's  artillery  was  directed  towards 
that  part  of  the  ramparts  near  which  it  lay. 

The  merciful  providence  of  Grod  preserved  the  entire  Community  from  any 
hurt  during  those  dreadful  days,  though  all  around  the  fire  of  the  enemy  took 
deadly  effect. 

On  one  occasion  all  the  nuns  and  the  children  of  their  school  had  retired  to 
the  work-room  to  take  a  little  repose  after  so  many  restless  nights,  when  a  bomb 
shell  fell  on  the  garret  roof  over  their  heads ;  had  it  fallen  perpendicularly, 
everyone  had  been  crushed  to  death,  but  it  took  an  oblique  direction  and  fell  into  an 
adjoining  garden.  Though  many  of  their  neighbours  were  killed  by  these  missiles 
of  death,  and  several  houses  in  their  vicinity  were  in  flames,  the  Irish  monastery 
escaped  comparatively  unharmed.  The  courage  of  their  venerable  Abbess,  and 
the  fervent  exhortations  of  the  saintly  Father  Dalas  who  daily  administered  the 
Holy  Communion  to  the  Religious,  supported  the  nuns  in  this  fiery  trial. 

Every  measure  that  prudence  could  suggest  had  been  taken  by  the  Abbess 
in  readiness  for  any  emergency  ;  and  though  they  had  determined  upon  quitting 
Ypres  in  case  the  French  obtained  possession,  the  neglect  of  the  Austrian  Com- 
mander to  warn  the  Abbess,  (as  he  had  promised  to  do),  of  a  safe  opportunity 
for  departing,  obliged  the  religious  to  stay  in  their  monastery  and  abide  the 
trials  which  they  saw  in  store  for  them. 

No  exception  was  made  in  their  favour  when  the  conquerors  decreed  the 
suppression  of  all  religious  houses,  though,  as  foreigners,  more  time  was  allowed 
them  to  prepare  for  departure  than  was  vouchsafed  to  the  other  communities  in 
the  town.  Nevertheless  the  arbitrary  conduct  of  the  new  authorities,  their 
domiciliary  visits  at  all  hours  of  the  day  and  night,  and  on  the  most  ridiculous 
pretexts,  the  constant  presence  of  a  rude  military  guard,  and  daily  menaces  and 
theatenings  of  speedy  expulsion,  made  their  position  anything  but  an  enviable 
one. 

The  grief  and  pain  which  these  acts  of  oppression  caused  the  holy  Abbess, 
and  her  deep  grief  at  the  spread  of  infidelity  and  irreligion  throughout  Europe 
shortened  her  Hfe,  and  on  the  22nd  of  June,  1799,  Dame  Mary  Scholastica  Lynch, 
passed  to  her  reward.  Her  death  plunged  the  community  into  still  deeper  grief  as 
they  found  themselves  deprived  of  their  mother  and  guide  at  a  most  trying  time. 


APPENDIX. 


53 


However  in  Dame  Mary  Bernard  Lynch,  Sister  of  the  deceased,  they  found  a 
worthy  successor,  and  the  newly  elected  Abbess  entered  on  her  office  in  time  to 
receive  the  final  sentence  of  the  suppression  of  her  monastery. 

The  nuns  were  indebted  to  a  neighbour  of  theirs,  a  Frenchman,  for  this  last 
annoyance ;  the  zealous  Jacobin  could  not  endure  the  thought  of  even  one  single 
house  of  religious  women,  and  these  too,  of  foreign  birth,  being  allowed  to  exist. 
So  the  Abbey  was  sold  over  the  heads  of  its  owners,  the  Irish  Benedictine  Dames, 
who  received  positive  and  final  orders  to  quit  their  abode  within  ten  days,  leave 
being  graciously  given  for  each  religious  to  take  with  her  the  furniture  of  her 
cell.  The  nuns,  however,  found  means  to  secure  their  church  plate  and  altar  fur- 
niture before  the  time  fixed  for  their  departure  arrived. 

The  13th  of  November,  (the  solemn  feast  of  All  Saints  of  the  Benedictine 
Order),  the  day  appointed  for  their  bidding  an  eternal  farewell  to  their  sacred 
inclosure,  came  at  last,  but  the  heavy  rain  which  fell  that  day  prevented  the 
religious  from  leaving  the  house.  The  next  morning  news  arrived  of  an  entire 
change  in  the  government,  so  that  the  decree  of  expulsion  was  not  carried  into 
effect  ;  and  though  the  Abbess  was  obliged  to  buy  back  the  convent  from  its 
pretended  proprietor  at  a  higher  price  than  he  had  paid  for  it,  and  though  for  a 
long  time  the  nuns  were  in  extreme  want,  as  no  supplies  could  reach  them  from 
England,  they  cheerfully  persevered  through  all  their  hardships.  For  many 
years  following  the  only  community  in  the  Low  Countries  was  that  of  the  Irish 
Benedictines  of  Ypres,  and  their  successors  have  perpetuated  to  the  present  day 
the  holy  traditions  of  their  monastery. 

Abbesses  of  the  Irish  Benedictine  Dames  of  the  Monastery  of 
,  Our  Lady  of  Grace  at  Ypres. 

Dame  Mary  Marina  Beaumont  professed  at  Ghent,  elected  Abbess  in  1665  ; 
died  August  27th,  1682. 

Dame  Flavia  Gary  professed  at  Ghent,  elected  November  19th,  1682  ;  died 
February  20th,  1686. 

Dame  Mary  Joseph  Butler,  professed  at  Pontoise,  November  4th,  1657  ; 
elected  Abbess,  August  20th,  1686  ;  died  December  22nd,  1723. 

Dame  Mary  Xaveria  Arthur,  chosen  Abbess  in  1723 ;  blessed  on  March 
19th,  1724  ;  died  March  5th,  1743. 

Dame  Mary  Magdalen  Mandeville,  elected  April  3rd,  1743 ;  died  No- 
vember 27th,  1760. 

Dame  Mary  Bernard  Dalton,  elected  December  22nd,  1760 ;  died  Oc- 
tober 6th,  1783. 

Dame  Mary  Scholastica  Lynch,  elected  October  17th,  1783;  died  June  22nd, 
1799. 

Dame  Mary  Bernard  Lynch,  elected  June  29th,  1799  ;  died  August  21st, 
1830. 

Dame  Mary  Benedict  Byrne,  elected  in  1830  ;  died  January  12th,  1840. 

Dame  Elizabeth  Jarrett.  elected  May  1st,  1840. 


54 


APPENDIX. 


The  professed  Religious  of  this  Abbey. 

Dame  Mary  Marina  Beaumont,  professed  at  Ghent,  in  1636. 
Dame  Flavia  Gary 
Dame  Helen  Wait  or  Wayte 

Dame  Viviana  Eyre  or  Aire,  all  professed  at  Ghent. 
1657     Nov.    4th    Dame  Mary  Joseph  Butler,  professed  atPontoise. 
May  3rd 


1669 
a  1673 
1673     

a  1685     

1685  May  19th 

a  1689 
1690  March  10th 

a  1697 
1700 


1702 
1703 


a  1704 
1706 

j> 
1710 


June  8th, 
Oct.  10th, 
July  7th, 


1728 
1730 
1731 
1732 
1733 


1736 


D.        Josepha,  Susanna  Carew,  professed  at  Ypres. 
Sr.       Frances  Wright,  Lay-Sr,  died  Nov.  10,  1673. 
D.        Christina  Whyte  or  White,  professed  at  Pontoise. 
D.        Mary  Anne  Nevil  or  Nevill,      „  „ 

D.        Ursula  Butler,  died  April  10th,  1685. 
Sr.       Mary  Benedict  Blisset,  an  Extern-sister. 
D.        Mary  Susanna  Fletcher,  died  May  18th,  1689. 
Sr.       Placida  Holmes,  Lay- sister. 

Sr.       M.  Helen  Marlow,  Lay-sister,  died  May  12th,  1697. 
Dec.  9th,     D.       Xaveria,  Margaret  Arthur. 

„  29th,     D.        Josepha  O'Conner. 
Sept.  18th.  D.        Mary  Benedict  O'Neile. 

„         „       D.        Mary  Theresa  Wyld  or  Wyre. 
Jan  25th,     Sr.       Mary  Joseph  Le  Ducq,  a  Lay-sister. 
April  24th,    D.        Mary  Xaveria  Goulde. 

Mary  Ignatia  Q-oulde. 

M.  Anne  Jennison,  Lay-sister,  died  Nov.  6th,  1704. 

Mary  Joseph  Adkinson,  Lay-sister. 

Gertrude  Chamberlaine. 

Mary  Louise  Macleane. 

Mary  Bridget  Creagh. 

Mary  Catharine  Aylmer. 

Petroiiilla  Van  Mechels,  a  Lay-sister. 

Mary  Scholastica  Gk>ulde. 

Mary  Theresa  Butler. 

Anne  Butler. 

Mary  Magdalen  Mandeville. 

Mary  Margaret  Brown,  Lay-sister. 

Anna  Le  Ducq,  Lay-sister. 

Praxedis,  Natalie  Sandermont,  Lay-sister.  ? 

Mary  Josepha  Malone. 

Mary  Maura  Archbald. 
Sr.       Mary  Benedict  Morrissy,  Lay-sister. 
D.        Mary  Xaveria  Browne. 
D.        Mary  Austin  Browne. 
D.       Mary  Baptist  O'Moore. 
D.        Josepha,  Helen  Hamborough. 
D.        Mary  Winifred  Goodge. 
D.        Mary  Bernard  Dalton. 
D.       Mary  Mechtilde  Nagle. 
D.       Mary  Anthony  Nagle. 
Sr.       Scholastica  Stafford,  Lay-Sister. 


Sr. 

D. 

D. 

Sr. 

Sr. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

Sr. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

Sr. 

Sr. 

May  26th,  Sr. 
April  30th,  D. 
Nov.  6th,  D. 
Oct.  7th, 
May  7th, 


„     Sept.  30th, 

1711  Nov.  15th, 

1712  April  2nd, 
1718     June  7th, 

1725  March  19th 

1726  Dec.  15th, 
„      Dec.  29th, 


1734  Feb.  16th, 


July  ]  1th 


1737  Jan.  10th, 

1738  Aug.  26th 

1740  May'lst 


APPENDIX. 


55 


1747  May  23rd, 
1753  Jan.  23rd, 

1771  June  16th. 

1772  March  21st 


1775 

1780 
1781 

1782 
1785 
1786 
1789 
1791 
1795 

a  1810 
1815 
1816 
1817 
1819 


Dec.  8th, 
Feb.  2nd, 
Jan.  16th, 
Nov.  4th, 
June  1st. 
Jan.  25th, 
April  16th, 
Feb.  2nd 
April  24th, 
Feb.  2nd, 
Feb.  25th, 


Oct.  29th, 
Jan  15th, 
June  5th, 
Jan.  21st 
Oct.  29th 


1820  Feb.  7th 
„      June  21st 
a  1822         


1823   June  29th, 

1825  Nov.  19th, 

1826  July  22nd, 


Dame  Benedicta  Ley. 

D.  Mary  Ignatia  Sarsfield. 

Sr.  Mary  Patrick  Segeart,  Lay-Sister. 

D.  Mary  Patrick  Beily. 

D.  Mary  Scholastica,  Clementina  Lynch. 

D.  Mary  B,  Esmenia  Fleming. 

D.  Mary  Grertrude  Fleming. 

Sr.  Anne  Theresa  Fouquet,  Lay-Sister. 

D.  Mary  Benedict,  Bridget  Fleming. 

D.  Mary  Bernard,  Bridget  Lynch. 

D.  Mary  Placida  Byrne. 

D.  Mary  Mechtilde  Longe. 

Sr.  Mary  Benedict  Le  Maire,  Lay-sister. 

D.  Mary  Scholastica  Cadet. 

D.  Mary  Joseph  Fleming. 

D.  Mary  Benedict  Byrne. 

D.  Mary  Scholastica  O'Curren,  died  May  24th,  1810. 

D.  Mary  Aloysia  Du  Toit. 

Sr.  Mary  Joseph  Denis,  Lay-sister. 

D.  Mary  Scholastica  Morris. 

D.  Mary  Xaveria  Mason 

D.  Mary  Bernard  Jarrett 

Sr.  Mary  Austin  Tailler,  Lay-sister. 

D.  Mary  Theresa  Coppe  (Coppe*) 

D.  Elizabeth  Jarrett 

D.  Mary  Bridget  Fleming,  died  July  24th,  1822.  * 

D.  Mary  Maura  Eeily,  died  August  19th,  1822. 

D.  Mary  Baptist  Morris. 

D.  Mary  Sales  Morris. 

Sr.  Mary  Magdalen  Grunn,  Lay-sister. 

D.  Mary  Grertrude  Stockman. 


*  Not  the  same  as  D.  Mary  Fleming,  professed  iu  1781,   whose  death  occurred  on  March 
27th,  1786. 


INDEX 


Abbot,  Titular  of  London  and  Canterbury,  77,  82,  83 

Abbotsbury  Abbey,  53 

Abingdon  Abbey,  53 

Acton,  D,  Placid,  251 

Adelham,  D.  Placid,  224 

Aggregation  by  Fr.  Buckley,  60,  61 

Albert,  Archduke  of  Austria,  67,  74,  86,  122 

Alcester  Abbey,  51,  53 

Alcuin,  12 

Aldeby  Priory,  55 

Aidermanshave,  59 

Alexander  YII,  190,  204 

VIII,  231 

Alexandria,  Church  of,  19 
Allen,  Cardinal,  33,  35,  103,  104 

„      Letter  to  D.  Athanasius  Martin,  40 
Anchin  College,  Douay,  62 
Anderton  family  converted,  191 
Anderton,  D.  Christopher  185,  189 
„         D.  James  185 

D.  Robert,  185 

D.  Thomas,  185,  196,  207,  208 

Sir  Francis,  216 

Andrewes,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  83 
Anne  of  Austria,  202 
Anselm,  D.  of  Manchester,  see  Beech 
Apostolatus  Benedictinorum  in  Anglia,  140 
Appleton,  D.  Lawrence,  196 

Dame  Marina,  225,  227,  232,  234,  235 
Aprice,  D.  Joseph,  250 
Archpriests  in  England,  37,  129,  130 
Armagh,  Archbishop  of,  see  Plunket 
Arnoult,  Prior  of  St.  Denis,  248 
Arras,  Abbey  of  St.  Vedest  or  Vaast,  63  (we  Cavarel) 

„      Jesuit  College,  63 
Arviragus,  king  of  Britain,  11 
Athelney  Abbey,  53 
Atrobus,  D  Francis,  112,  155 
Avecot  Priory,  56 


<V  INDEX. 

B 

Babthorpe  or  Bapthorpe,  D.  Mellitus,  80 

Bacon,  D.  George,  200 

Bagshaw,  D.  Sigebert,  96,  99,  108,  112,  113,  115,  126,  137,  146,  166,  169,  178 

Baker,  D.  Augustine,  47,  49,  96,  139,  145,  178,  183,  186,  212 

„        Sir  Bichard,  quoted,  36,  79,  83 
Barbo,  Abbot  of  St.  Justina's  at  Padua,  7 
Balthassar,  30. 
Bardney  Abbey,  51 
Barking  Abbey,  56 

Barkworth,  V  Mark,  or  Lambert,  Martyr,  43 
Barlow,  Y  Ambrose,  Martyr,  183 

D  Eudesind,  89,  105,  126,  136,  139,  143,  145,  146,  148,  183 
Barnes,  D.  John,  78,  81,  83,  97,  131,  135,  137,  138, 170 
Barnstaple  Priory,  59 

Barouius  refuted,  13  ;  elogium  of  St.  Bennet  Biseop,  22,  23 
Barter,  Br.  John,  189 

„      D.  John,  (the  elder),  189,  196,  205 
Basil,  Monks  of  St.,  22 
Bassec,  Austin  Friars  at,  174 
Basselech  Priory,  52 
Batt,  D.  Anthony,  188 
Battle  Abbey,  51 
Beaulieu  Priory,  50 
Bee  Abbey,  Normandy,  24 

Beech,  D.  Anselm,  of  Manchester,  40,  46,  60,  76,  95,  96,  98 
Bell  at  Lambspring  Abbey,  185 
Bellarmine  S,J,  Cardinal,  98,  103,  106,  126 
Bellasis,  Lord,  231 
Bellieur,  M.  de,  120,  121 
Belvere  or  Belvoir  Priory,  50 
Benedict  of  St.  Facundo,  see  Jones 
Benson,  see  Dom  Robert  Haddock,  187 
Bentivoglio,  Cardinal,  72,  86,  95,  106,  183 
Berington,  D.  Bernard,  126,  136,  137,  146,  166,  169,  180,  200 

„  D.  George,  200 

Bermondsey  Abbey,  56,  58 
Bernard,  D.  Prior  of  Cluny  College,  Paris,  90 
Berriman,  D.  Joseph,  240,  254 
Bettenson,  D.  Placid,  207 
Bingham  Priory,  51 
Birkenhead  Priory,  55 
Birkhead,  Eev.  G.  Archpriest,  130 
Bishop,  Dr.  Bishop  of  Chalcedon,  129,  130,  193 
Blackestone,  D.  Francis,  188 

D.  Michael,  168,  188 
Blacklo,  Blaoklow  or  White,  197,  228 
Blackwell,  Eev  George,  Archpriest,  46,  129 


INDEX.  in 

Blandy,  D.  Boniface,  172 
Blount,  D.  Goderic,  205 
Bondage  of  our  Lady,  156 
Boniface  of  St.  Facundo,  see  Blandy 
Booth,  Sir  George,  205 
Borromeo,  Cardinal  Frederick,  45 

St.  Charles,  104 
Bossuet,  219,  249,  250 
Boudot,  Paul,  156 
Bouillon,  Cardinal  de,  237,  238 
Bradshaw  or  White,  D.  Augustine  of  St.  John,  45,  46,  62,  64,  65,  66,  69,  72, 

73,  78,  79,  90,  94,  120,  121, 128 
Bradwell  Priory,  55 
Brecon  Priory,  51 
Brent,  Dame  Christina,  182,  215 
Brett,  D.  Gabriel,  182,  185,  194,  202,  236 
Bristol  Priory,  52  ;  St.  Jame's  (CeU  of  Tewkesbury  Abbey),  54 
Bristow,  Dr.  President  of  Douay  College,  34 
Bromholme  Priory,  59 
Broomfield  Priory,  52 
Brown,  D.  George  158, 
Bruning,  D.  Placid,  225 
Brussels,  72,  73 

„         English  Benedictine  Abbey,  144,  185 
„        English  Soldiers,  at  107 
Bucelinus,  0.  S.  B,  quoted,  77 
Buckley,  D.  Sigebert,  46,  47,  49,  60,  62,  76 
Burgundy,  Duchess  of,  249,  255 

Bursfield,  Congregation,  0.  S.  B,  8,  102,  157,  167  (see  Lambspring) 
Burstall,  Leicestershire,  201 
Burton  on  Trent  Abbey,  53 

C 

Cajetan,  Abbot  Constantine,  13,  128,  178,  184,  194 
Caldwell  or  Candwell  Priory,  56 
Calvin,  161 
Calvino-  Turcisnms,  1 63 

Cambden  or  Camden,  the  Antiquary,  14,  141 
Canibray,  English  Benedictine  Abbey  at,  108,  142,  146,  166,  169,  181,  182,  185, 

187,  189,  190,  194,  196,  199,  202,  204,  205,  207,  209,  210,  212,  214, 

215,  225,  227,  232,  234,  235,  238,  240,  251,  255 
Cambridge,  monks  at,  51 

St.  Peter's,  56 

Campion  Y,  Fr.  S.  J.  Martyr,  36 
Canons  of  English  Secular  Chapter,  193 
Canons  Regular  of  St.  Austin,  15 
Canterbury,  Abbey  of  St.  Augustine,  51 
„  Cathedral.  11,  154, 158 

„          Archbishop  of,  24 


ff  INDEX. 

Cape,  D.  Francis,  182,  185,  187,  194,  205 

Cape,  D.  Michael,  204,  205 

Cardiff  Priory,  54 

Cardigan,  Lord,  203,  241 

Cardigan  Priory,  53 

Carmes,  Discalced,  21 

Carswell,  Dorsetshire,  59 

Carter,  D.  Anselm,  225 

Cary,  Dame  Clementina,  199,  208 

„     D.  Placid,  187 
Caryll,  D.  Alexius,  207 
Casse,  D.  Laurence,  254 
Cassinese  Monks  on  English  Mission,  172 
Gassy,  D.  Anselm,  208 
Castleacre  Priory,  58 
Castro,  D  Antonio  de,  114. 

Catharine  of  Portugal,  Queen  Dowager,  230,  251 
Cathedral  Churches  served  by  monks,  14,  19 
Cauke,  Staffordshire,  122 

Cavarel,  Abbot  of  St.  Vedast's,  63,  67,  72,  73,  74,  88,  115,  130,  131,  148,  174 
Cecil  of  Salisbury,  122 
Cerne  Abbey,  Dorsetshire,  53 
Chalcedon  Bishop  of,  193,  see  Bishop  Smith  &c. 
Challiot,  Visitation  nuns,  247 
Chambers  D.  William,  or  Johnson,  200 
Champney,  Dr.  Anthony,  130 

„         D.  Laurence,  234,  238 
Chapter,  English  Secular,  193 
Chapter  General  of  English  Benedictines,  124,  125 
Charles  I,  102 

Charles  II,  188,  191,  196,  218,  223,  225,  232,  236 
Charles  of  Lorraine,  Cardinal,  65 

Chelles,  Abbey  near  Paris,  90,  105,  116,  135,  136,  158, 170 
Cheriton,  D.  Basil,  198 
Chertsey  Abbey,  53 
Chester  Abbey  (now  the  Cathedral),  54 
Chetardie,  Abbe  de  la,  294 
Choiseul,  Bishop  of  Tournay,  156 
Choisy,  Benefice  of,  237 
Chorley,  D.  Edward,  254 
Church  lauds  alienated,  29,  30,  229 
Cismar  Abbey,  102,  157,  178,  219 
Cisneros,  Grarcias,  0  S  B,  8 
Cisson,  Norfolk,  46 
Cistercian  Congregation,  15,  20 
Clement  VIII,  45,  46,  93,  104 

„       IX,  204,  208 

„       X,  208,  210 


INDEX. 

Clerkenwell  Priory,  56 

„          Monastery  in  James  H's  reign,  236 
Clermont,  near  St.  Halo's,  69,  236,  (see  St.  Halo) 
Cliffe,  D.  Ildephonse,  189 
Clifford  Priory,  Herefordshire,  59 
Clink  Prison,  London,  187 

Cluny,  Congregation  of,  16,  20,  58,  59,  81,  136,  139,  170 
Cockersand  Priory,  59 
Coilen,  Cardinal,  249 
Colchester  Ahbey,  51 
Coldingham  Priory,  54 
Colne  Priory,  51 
Cologne,  Elector  of,  233 
Compostella,  St  Martin's  Abbey,  77,  101,  186 
Conde,  Princess  of,  249 

Congregation,  English  Benedictine,  17,  18,  25,  110 
Comers  or  Conyers,  D.  Augustine,  185,  187,  204,  209 
Constable,  D.  Augustine,  190,  194,  225,  234,  240 

„         D.  Benedict,  225 

Constitutions  of  the  English  Benedictines,  112 
Coppens,  Adrian,  216 
Corby  or  Corvy  Abbey,  180 
Cork  Priory,  55 

Corker,  D.  Maurus  219.  223,  227,  232,  234,  235 
Cotton,  Sir  Eobert,  139,  141 
Cour,  D.  Didacus  de  la,  129 
Cour,  D.  Jacques  de  la,  252 
Coventry,  Cathedral  Monastery,  54 
Cowick  Priory,  53 
Cox,  D.  Benedict,  187 
Cranburn  Priory,  54 
Cranmer,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  31 
Crathorne,  D.  Francis,  205 
Cressy,  D.  Serenus,  141,  209 
Croft,  Sir  Herbert,  164 
Crosby,  D.  Wolstan,  232 
Crowder  or  Crowther,  D.  Anselm,  71,  89,  156,  189,  194,  196,  202, 

„         ,          „         D.  Mark,  71 
Crowland  or  Croyland  Abbey,  51 
Cumberford,  Three  Sisters,  205 
Curr,  D  John,  172 
Curre,  D.  Nicholas,  91 

D 

Dada,  Papal  Nuncio  at  St.  James',  230 
Dakins,  D.  John,  252 
Damascus,  Archbishop  of,  67 
Danes  in  England,  23,  24 


f»  INDEX. 

Danvers,  D.  R-omuald,  172 
Darel,  D.  John,  General  of  the  Maurists,  190 
Daventry,  Priory,  59 
Deacons,  Dame  Potentiana,  145 
De  la  Cour,  D.  Didacus,  129 
De  la  Cour,  D.  Jacques,  Abbot  of  La  Trappe,  252 
Deping  Priory,  53 
Derby  Priory,  58 
Derehurst  Priory,  54 

Dieulwart,  Monastery  of  St  Laurence,  65,  69,  79,  90, 101, 104, 112, 116, 126, 136, 
158,  166,  168,  169,  171,  172,  182,  185,  187,  188,  189,  190,  194,  196, 
204,  205,  206,  207,  209,  210,  214,  216,  221,  225,  227,  232,  234,  238, 
240,  251,  254,  255 
Dobran  Abbey,  178 
Dorington,  Sir  Francis,  200 
Dorset,  Lord,  200 
Douay,  Anchin  College,  62 
„   "     English  College,  34 
„         English  Franciscans,  174,  177,  203 

Monastery  of  St.  Gregory  the  Great,  62,  67,  72,  78,  ',82,  85,  89,  101,  108, 
112,  116,  118,  122,  124,  126,  130,  131,  140,  146,  148,  149,  164,  166, 
168,  169,  172,  174,  177,  178,  179,  182,  183,  184,  185,  187,  189,  193, 
194,  196,  201,  203,  204,  205,  207,  209,  214,  217,  218,  221,  225,  227, 
231,  232,  234,  238,  240,  251,  253,  254,  255 
„        Marchin  or  Marchienne  College,  67,  89,  116,  122,  146,  150 
„        Plague  at,  189,  204 

„         Siege  of,  by  the  Duke  of  Marlborough,  253 
„         Trinitarians,  63 

College  of  St.  Vaast,  150,  222 
Dover  Priory,  54 
Down  family,  191 
Drury  Lane,  London,  190 
Dudley  Priory,  Staffordshire,  58 
Dunn,  D.  Roland,  210 
Dunster  Priory,  Somerset,  55 
Durham  Cathedral  Priory,  54 
Du  Sourdis,  Cardinal,  129 
Duval,  M.  137 

E 

Eadmer,  14 

Edgarus,  King,  23 

Edner,  D.  Justus,  alias  Rigg,  146,  172 

Edward  VI,  28 

Edwardeston  Priory,  51 

Eleutherius,  Pope  St.,  11 

Elizabeth,  Q,ueen,  35 

Ellenstowe  Nunnery,  56 

Ellis,  D.  Philip,  (afterwards  Bishop),  139,  229,  231,  238 


INDEX.  Vll 


Elmer,  D.  Jocelin,  112,  146,  166,  169,  173,  182,  187,  188 

Ely  Cathedral  Monastery,  55 

Emmerson,  D.  Thomas,  167 

Erric  of  Lorraine,  Bishop  of  Verdun,  65 

d'Escars,  Annas,  Cardinal  0.  S.  B.  73 

Esquerchin,  near  Douay,  155 

Eu,  Seminary  at,  36 

Everard,  D  Dunstan,  188,  196 

Evesham  Abbey,  51 

Ewenny  Priory,  52 

Ewyas  Harold  Priory,  52 

Exeter  Priory,  51 

„      Cluniae  Priory  of  St.  James,  58 
Eynsham  Abbey,  53 

F 

Falkland,  Lady,  &c,  178,  188,  199 

Faremoutier  Abbey,  170 

Farley  Priory,  Wilts,  58 

Farington  Hall,  Lancashire,  190 

Farmer  or  Yenner,  D.  Amandus,  158 

Feckenham,  Abbot  of  Westminster,  31,  113 

Felixstowe  Priory,  55 

Ferny  Abbey,  143 

Fenwiok,  D.  Francis,  209,  232,  235 

„       D.  Laurence,  238 
Ferdinand  II,  Emperor,  178 
Feversham  Abbey,  53 
Finchal  Priory,  54 
Fitzherbert,  Mr.  42 
Fitzjames,  D.  Nicholas,  69,  105 
Fleury-sur-Loire,  Abbey,  23 
Flixton,  Suffolk,  202 
Flutot,  D.  Maur,  207 
Fontevrault  Abbey,  104 
Foster,  D.  Bede,  235 

„        D.  Francis,  167 

Foucquoi,  Jean  de,  Abbot  of  Marchienne,  87 
Frere,  D.  Joseph,  155,  169,  234 

„      D.  Placid,  168 
Freston  Priory,  51 
Fromegliam  ( Framlingham  ? ),  46 
Frost  in  1709,  252 
Fursden,  D.  Cuthbert,  178,  210 
„       D.  Thomas,  216 

Or 
Gaire,  I).  George,  171 


cm  INDEX. 


Galloni,  13, 
Grant,  see  Ghent 

Gascoigne,  Dame  Catharine,  142,  169,  185,  187,  189,  194,  212 
„          Dame  Justina,  232 

D.  Michael,  194 

D.  Placid,  92,  166,  184,  187,  189,  233 

Sir  Thomas,  228,  232 
Gatehouse  Prison,  London,  60,  185 
Gavel,  Fr.  Edmund,  0.  S.  F.,  46 
Gawen,  Dame  Frances,  144,  146,  181 
Gervaise,  V  George  or  Jervase,  Martyr,  74 
Ghent,  St.  Peter's  Abbey,  23,  91,  128,  179 
Gibbon,  D.  Benedict,  254 
Gicou,  D.  Francis,  186 
Gifford  or  Giffard,  D.  Gabriel,  (Archbishop  of  Eheims),  69,  79,  81,  94,  95,  102, 

112,  116,  126,  127,  128,  132,  135,  159,  202 
Gifford,  Sir  Henry,  201 
Girlington,  D.  John,  215 
Gesenius,  Dr.,  91 
Glastonbury  Abbey,  52,  193 
Gloucester  Abbey,  52 
Godstow  Nunnery,  56 
Goldcliff  Priory,  54 
Gordon  or  Gourdan,  D.  William,  178 
Gothland  Priory,  54 
Govaerdt,  D.  Christian,  169 
Grange,  D.  Gregory,  112,  122 
Gratz  in  Styria,  200 
Green,  D.  Thomas,  80 

Greenwood,  D.  Paulin,  113,  118,  126,  152,  182,  185 
Gregory  XIII,  77 
Gregory  XV,  128 

Gregson,  D.  Bernard,  1,  3,  225,  227,  238,  240,  251,  254,  255 
Grineus,  Fr.  Paul,  97 
Guildford,  Surrey,  205 
Guillet,  D.  Eupert,  165 
Guise,  Duke  of,  36,  103, 

„       Louis  de,  Archbishop  of  Rheims,  103 

H 

Hackness  Priory,  54 

Haddock  or  Benson,  D.  Robert,  105,  126 

Hagham  Priory,  59 

Hall,  Dame  Maura,  209 

„      Mrs.  of  High  Meadow,  210 
Hardcastle,  D.  Robert,  251,  254 
Harding  Castle,  Flintshire,  120,  185 
Harlay,  Achilles  de,  Bishop  of  St.  Malo,  186 


INDEX. 

Harper,  D.  John,  146,  180 
Harrison,  Rev.  W.  Archpriest,  130 
Hartburne,  or  Foorde,  D.  Placid,  183 
Hatfield  Brodoke  Priory,  55 
Hatfield  Peverel  Priory,  50 
Haworth,  D.  Joseph,  69 
Haywood,  Fr.  S.  J,  37 
Helme,  D.  Bede,  122 
Henrietta,  Queen,  102,  199,  208 
Henry  VIII,  23 
Hereford  Priory,  52 

„         Mission,  200 
Hertford  Priory,  50 
Hesketh,  D.  Gregory,  209 

„       D.  Ildefonsus,  80 

„       D.  Jerome,  225 

„       D.  Mellitus,  209 

„      D.  Thomas,  235 
Hildesheim,  91,  232 
Hill,  D.  Thomas,  183 
Hills,  Henry,  King's  Printer,  229 
Hilton  or  Musgrave,  D.  Placid,  79,  81 

Hitchcock,  D.  William,  204,  207,  209,  227,  232,  234,  238,  255 
Hodgson,  D.  Richard,  186 
Holiwell  Priory,  56 
Holland  Priory,  51 
Holt,  Fr.  S.  J.,  37 
Horskley  Priory,  59 
Horton  Priory,  54,  59 

Horsley,  D.  Outhbert,  182,  185,  187,  190,  194,  204,  207,  216 
Hoskins,  Sister  Mary,  143 
Hospitals  held  by  Cluny,  59 
Houghton,  Dame  Scholastica,  238,  254 
Howard,  D.  Augustine,  215,  234,  237,  238,  240,  251 
Howland  Priory,  55 
Hoxne  Priory,  55 
Huddleston,  D.  John,  188,  190,  198,  225,  238 

„  D.  Richard,  190 

Huitson,  Br.  Peter,  63,  71,  201 
Hull,  D.  Francis,  166,  1^2,  186 
Hulme  Abbey  (St.  Bennet's),  52 
Humbersteyn  Abbey,  54 

Hungate,  D.  Austin,  146, 169, 194, 196,  204,  208,  239 
D.  Gregory,  71,  189,  194 

„         Sir  Francis,  208 
Hunsdon  House,  accident  at,  79 
Hurley  Priory,  53 
Hussey,  Dame  Cecilia,  251 
Button,  D.  John,  166 


INDEX. 


Hutton,  D.  Nicholas,  Martyr,  78 
Hyde  Abbey,  Winchester,  52 

I 

Ingleby  family,  191 
Ingleby,  Dr.  241 
Innocent  III,  7 
Innocent  X,  183,  190 
Innocent  XI,  203,  231 
Ireland  family,  191 
Irish  Benedictines,  210 
Ishel,  John,  Priest,  63 

J 

James  II,  226,  228,  235,  236,  241,  249 

James  III,  251  (see  Prince  of  Wales) 

Jarrow  Priory,  55 

Jerusalem,  Church  of,  19 

Jersey,  188 

Jervase  (see  Gervaise) 

Jesuit  Mission  to  England,  35,  37,  75 

Jesuitesses  suppressed,  167 

Johnson  or  Lee,  D.  Austin,  180 

„       D.  Placid,  206 

„  D.  William,  or  Chambers,  200 
Johnston,  D.  Joseph,  238,  250,  251,  254 
Jones,  D.  Bennet,  or  Price,  ( Benedict  of  St.  Facundus)  107,  148,  166 

„      D.  Leander  (sec  Leander  of  St.  Martin) 
Julius  III,  30 

K 

Kemp,  D.  Boniface,  or  Kipton,  Martyr,  80 
Kiddington,  Oxfordshire,  202 
Kidwilly  Priory,  54 
Kilcumin  Priory,  52 
Killingbeck,  D.  Eobert,  226 
Kilpeck  Priory,  52 
Kinder,  D.  Austin,  182,  210 
Knightley,  D.  Maurus,  235,  254 

L 

La  Celle,  Priory  of,  170,  171,  188,  205,  218,  234,  252 

Lake,  D.  Dunstan,  252 

Lambspring  Abbey,  71,  91,  92,  158,  178,  184,  185,  189,  194,  204,  219,  223, 

225,  228,  234,  235 
Lammana  Priory,  52 
Lancashire  families  converted,  191 
Landres,  D.  Celestine  de,  1 68 
Lanfranc,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  24 
L' Angevin,  D.  Deodatus,  166,  169 


INDEX.  yi 

Langius,  Paul,  12 

Lateran  Council  (1215)  Decrees  for  Benedictine  Order,  7 

Latham,  D.  Austin,  189,  209,  215 

„       D.  Gabriel,  171 

„       D.  Joseph,  181 

„       D.  Swithbert,  181 

„       D.  Thomas  Torquatus,  89,  108,  181 
La  Trappe,  Abbey  of,  252 
Laud,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  102 
Lauderdale,  Lord,  235 
Lawson,  D.  Francis,  215,  225 
Leander  of  St.  Martin,  66,  70,  73,  88,  89,  94,  95,  97,  98,  100,  105,  112,  116, 

117,  126,  135,  140,  148,  149,  166,  169,  179,  183 
Ledcombe  Priory,  59 
Lee,  D.  Austin,  or  Johnson,  180 
Legan  Priory,  55 

Le  GFouverneur,  Bishop  of  St.  Malo,  167 
Leighland,  Somersetshire,  200,  204 
Le  Mercier,  M,  150,  151 
Lenton  Priory,  58 
Leominster  Priory,  52 
Lewes  Priory,  58 

Lewis,  D.  Owen,  Bishop  of  Cassano,  35,  43 
Leyburn,  Dr.  Y.  A.  139,  193 
Lincoln  Priory,  51 
Lindisfarne  Priory,  55 
Lisbon  Seminary,  36 
Lisle,  Deanery  of,  104 
Little  Milton,  Lancashire,  192 
Little  Stoke,  Oxfordshire,  200 
LleweUin,  D.  Austin,  227 
Lodwick,  D,  Laurence,  169 

London,  43,  45,  46,  49,  60,  65,  79,  89,  90,  139,  145,  156,  186,  181,  183,  185, 
186,  187,  190,  193,  194,  195,  196,  200,  203,  204,  205,  207,  208,  219, 
223,  225,  226,  227,  230,  231,  233,  236,  238,  251, 

„       Clink  Prison,  187 

„       Newgate,  70,  181 

Longueville  Priory,  Normandy,  93,  120,  128 
Longwood,  Hampshire,  190,  205 
Louis  XIII,  104,  183,  197 
Louis  XIV,  213,  252 
Lou  vain  University,  103 
Louvoy,  M,  163 
Lucius,  king  of  Britain,  11 
Luffield  Priory,  55 
Lynch  Priory,  55 
Lynn  Priory,  55 

M 
Mabbs,  D.  Laurence,  181 


xii  INDEX. 

Mabillon,  D.  14,  164 

Madrid,  173 

Maihew,  D.  Edward,  60,  107,  112,  146,  163 

Maintenon,  Madame  de,  249 

Mallaneus,  John,  Bishop  of  Tulle,  65 

Mallet,  D.  Gregory,  185,  187,  207,  215,  225 

Malmesbury  Abbey,  52 

Malon,  D.  Columban,  70,  80,  113,  126 

Malpas  Priory,  59 

Malvern,  Great,  Priory,  56 

Malvern,  Little,  Priory,  56 

Marchantius,  Provincial,  0.  S.  F.,  203 

Marchiii  or  Marchienne  Abbey,  87,  89 

„       College,  Douay,  67,  89 
Marlborough,  Duke  of,  253 
Marsh  Priory,  51 
Martin,  D.  Athanasius,  40 

„       Sir  Henry,  83 

„       D.  John,  208 

„       Sister  Martha,  143 
Martyrs,  English,  26,  43,  45,  46,  60,  74,  77,  78,  80,  82,  92,  172,  181,  183,  186, 

187,  219,  223,  224 
Mary,  Queen  of  England,  29 

Mary  Beatrice  of  Modena,  Queen  of  England,  230 
Mary  Louise,  Princess,  213 
Mather,  D.  Austin,  225,  251 

D.  James,  225,  232,  240 
Matthews  or  Nathal,  D.  Constantius,  195 
Maupas,  M  de,  Abbot  of  St.  Denis'  of  Bheims,  163 
Maurist  Congregation,  0.  S.  B.,  8,  (see  La  Celle) 
May  Priory,  Scotland,  52 
Mayne  or  Maine,  V.  Cuthbert,  Martyr,  36 
Meering,  D.  Benedict,  204 
Mendham  Priory,  59 
Mercier  or  Le  Mercier,  M.  150,  151 
Merkgate  Nunnery,  51 
Mervin  or  Roberts,  John,  Martyr,  45,  46 
Messingham  Priory,  58 
Metham  D.  Philip,  251 

Meutisse,  D.  John,  169,  182,  185,  187,  189,  203 
Middlesborough  Priory,  Yorkshire,  54 
Middleton  Abbey,  55 
Middleton  family  converted,  191 
Mildmay,  Sir  Walter,  60 
Millington,  D.  Bernard,  194,  204 
Minshall,  D.  Thomas,  120 
Miracles  at  tomb  of  James  II,  249 
Missioners  in  England,  Benedictine,  33 
„         „         „          Jesuit,  35,  37,  75 


INDEX.  xm 


Modbury  Priory,  53 
Modney  Priory,  52 
Molesme  Abbey,  20 
Monaco,  Prince  of,  238 
Monk  Bretton  Priory,  55 
Monkton  or  Pembroke  Priory,  51 
Monnington,  D  Thomas,  71,  113 
Montacute  (Montague)  Priory,  58 
Montacute,  Viscount,  173 
Montalt,  Cardinal,  67 
Monte  Cassino,  39,  45,  191 
Montmorency,  Anthony  de,  Abbot,  143 
Moor,  Dr.  Rector  of  Sorbonne,  250 
Moor  or  More,  D.  Bede,  232,  234 
More,  Sir  Thomas,  142 

„      Dame  Agnes,  142 

„      Dame  Anne,  142 

„      Dame  Bridget,  189 

„      Dame  Gertrude,  142,  212 
Morfield  Priory,  52 
Morgan,  Dame  Benedicta,  142 

„        Philip  Powel  or,  Martyr,  186 
Moseley,  192 

Moundeford,  D.  John,  186 
Mount  St.  Michael  Priory,  Devon,  52 
Mountaigue,  L'Abbe,  213 
Muchelney  Abbey,  53 
Munster,  Bishop  of,  233 
Musgrave  or  Hilton,  D.  Placid,  79 
Muttlebury,  D.  Francis,  227 
D.  Placid,  168 

N 

Nancy  Cathedral,  65 

Nathal,  D.  Constantius,  195 

Neddrum  Priory,  51 

Nelson,  D.  Bennet,  189,  204,  207,  225,  238 

„       D.  James,  227 

„       D.  Maurus,  232 

„      D.  Placid,  234 
Neuberg,  Prince  of,  233 
Nevill,  Br.  Leander,  172 
Newgate  Prison,  London,  70,  181 
Newport,  Rev.  Mr.  Martyr,  83 
Newton  Longville  Priory,  59 

Nizar  or  Nizart,  Dom,  Prior  of  St.  Vaast's,  149,  151 
Noailles,  Archbishop  of  Paris,  213,  249 
Norfolk,  195 
Normansbery  Priory,  59 


giv  INDEX. 

Normington  or  Norminton,  D.  Leander,  139,  194,  196,  202 
Northampton  Abbey,  56,  58, 

„  Nunnery,  58 

North  Elham  Priory,  55 
Norwich  Cathedral,  55 

„       St.  Leonard's  Priory,  55 
Nuce,  Angelas  de,  Abbot  of  M.  Cassino,  180 

0 

Oath  of  allegiance,  80,  109 
Oath  of  Seminarists,  147 
Gates'  Plot,  218,  228 
Ocymild  Priory,  52 
Offord  Priory,  59 
Old  Bailey,  London,  204 
Onia  Abbey,  122,  155 
Orangian  Revolution,  23 
Ordericus  Vitalis,  14 
d'Orgain,  D.  Benedict,  80 
Owen,  D.  John,  190 
Oxford,  Canterbury  College,  54 

„       Durham  College,  54 

„       Gloucester  (St.  Benedict's)  College,  56 

„       St.  Frideswide's,  51 

„       St.  John's,  101 

„       Mission,  186 

P 

Palmer,  D.  William,  190 

Palmes,  D.  Bernard,  189,  190,  194,  200 

Paris,  104,  108,  113,  116,  126 

„    Augustinian  Nuns  (English,)  247 

„     Benedictines  (English),  St.  Edmund's,  90,  113,  136,  163,  166,  169,  170, 
171,  178,  180,  182,  185,  186,  187,  189,  190,  193,  194, 198,  200,  201, 
202,  204,  205,  207,  208,  213,  215,  216,  220,  224,  225,  227,  232,  235, 
236,  238,  240,  241,  249,  250,  251,  256 
Benedictine  Nuns  (English),  189,  190,  197,  208,  231,  232 
Carmelite  Nuns,  199,  239 
Cluny  College,  90 
Dominicans,  248 
Marmoutier  College,  170 
St.  Germain's  Abbey,  190,  241 
Scotch  College,  246 
Parker,  D.  Cuthbert,  225,  227 
Parsons,  Fr.  S.  J.,  36,  93 
Paul  V,  60,  61,  75,  93,  109,  122,  129,  147 
Paul,  Abbot  of  St.  Alban's,  24 
Pembroke  Priory,  51 
Penrodock,  Mr.  Charles,  220,  250 


INDEX.  XV 


Penwortham  Priory,  51 
Perez,  General  of  Spanish  Benedictines,  67 
Peronne  in  France,  130 
Pershore  Abbey,  53 
Peterborough  Abbey,  52 
Petey,  D.  Charles,  241 
Pettinger,  D.  Dunstan,  92,  190,  202 
Philip  II,  of  Spain,  33 
Philip  III,  of  Spain,  122 
Philip,  Duke  of  Orleans,  239 
Philipson,  D.  William,  251 
Phillipson,  D.  John,  234,  238 
Pickering,  Br.  Thomas,  Martyr,  219 
Pilton  Priory,  52 

Pitts  de  Scriptoribus,  quoted,  59,  163 
Pitts,  Dr.  Arthur,  65,  66 
Plague  at  Douay,  189,  204 
"  Plantata  in  Agro  Dominico,"  180,  184,  227 
Plunket,  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  Martyr,  223 
Pole  or  Pool,  Cardinal  Legate  to  England,  29,  113 
Pont-a-Mousson  University,  103 
Pontefract  Priory,  58 
Pontoise,  near  Paris,  137 
Port  Royal,  nuns  of,  199 
Porter,  D.  Jerome,  168 
Posse vinus,  S.  J.,  quoted,  59 

Powel,  D.  Philip,  (Prosseror  Morgan),  Martyr,  186 
Prater,  D.  Joseph,  126,  167 
Preston  family,  converted,  191 
Preston  D.  Thomas  ,40,  43,  46,  76,  94,  95,  180 
Price,  William,  see  D.  Bennet  Jones,  107 
Princess  of  England,  256 
Pritchard,  D.  Leander,  196 
„         D.  Maurus,  193 
Pritwell  Priory,  59 

Providence  of  G-od  to  Benedictine  Order,  9 
Pullein,  D.  Michael,  234,  238,  240, 253,  254 
Pyll  Priory,  56 

R 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  204 

Ramsey  Abbey,  52 

Raphael,  Don,  40 

Reading  Abbey  52,  60 

Recollects,  21 

Redburn  Priory,  51 

Reeves,  Br.  Wilfred,  218,  219 

Reginald  or  Reinald,  William,  163 

Remiremont  Abbey,  65 


am,  INDEX. 

Bemmciation  of  Abbey  lands,  229 

Beyner,  D.  Clement,  89,  90  126,  128,  140, 146,  169,  178,  179,  184,  185 
D.  Laurence,  126,  146,  187,  189,  190,  200 

„        Dr.  William,  130 
Bheims,  English  College,  34,  103 

„       Abbey  of  St.  Denis  (Augustinian),  159,  163 
„  „        ,  St.  Peter  (Benedictine  nuns),  162 

,  St.  Bemi,  (Benedictine),  70,  101,  105,  160,  191 
„       University,  104 
Bibertiere,  D.  Bernard,  182 
Bichardot,  Bishop  of  Arras,  85 
Bichardson,  D.  John,  147 
Bichelieu,  Cardinal,  170 
Bichmond  Priory,  Yorkshire,  52 
Biddell,  D.  Gregory,  254 
Bigg  or  Edner,  D.  Justus,  172 
Bindelgros  Priory,  52 
Bintelin  Abbey,  91,  167,  168,  169 
Bisbury  Priory,  54 

Boberts,  V  John  or  Mervin,  Martyr,  45,  76 
Bobinson,  D.  Paul,  184,  185,  194,  195,  196,  205 
Bochefoucault,  Cardinal,  128 
Bochester  Cathedral  Priory,  55 
Bock,  Our  Lady  of  the,  Wilts,  59 
Boe,  V  Alban,  Martyr,  92 

„  D.  Maurus,  194 
Bomburgh  Priory,  51 
Borne,  182,  184,  185,  190,  191,  194,  196,  209,  227,  235,  238, 

„      College  of  St.  Gregory,  128,  178,  194,  (see  Cajetan) 
Bookwood,  D.  Francis,  240 
Bosary  Sodality  in  London,  193,  203 
Bouen,  193 
Bumsey  Abbey,  56 

S 
Sadler,  D.  Nicholas,  Martyr,  78 

„      D.  Thomas  Vincent,  122,  156,  193 

„      D.  Vincent,  60,  102.  112,  122 
St.  Alban's  Abbey,  40,  50,  158 
St.  Andrew,  113 

St.  Andrew's  Abbey,  near  Cambray,  143 
St.  Anselm,  14,  24 

St.  Augustine  of  England,  11,  12,  19,  113,  121 
St.  Augustine  of  Hippo,  22,  191 
St.  Basil,  22 

St.  Bede  the  Venerable,  22 
St.  Bees'  Priory,  51 
St.  Benedict,  2,  &c. 
St.  Benedict  Biscop,  22,  23 
St.  Benno,  20 


INDEX. 


St.  Bernard,  20 
St.  Blandin's  Hermitage,  205 
St.  Charles  Borromeo,  70,  104 
St.  Dunstan,  23,  24,  113 
St.  Edmundsbury  Abbey,  52 
St.  Eleutherius,  Pope,  11 
St.  Francis  de  Sales,  163 
St.  Germain-en-Laye,  241,  244,  256 
St.  Gislen's  Abbey,  181 
St.  Gregory  the  Great,  12 
St.  Helen's,  Isle  of  Wight,  59 
St.  Ive's  Priory,  52 
St.  Jacut's  Abbey,  Brittany,  198 
St.  James',  London,  207,  226,  227,  230 
St.  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  11 
St.  Linear,  English  Seminary  at,  36 

St.  Malo,  Monastery  of  St.  Benedict,  69,  79,  104,  113,  116,  126,  127,  146,  163, 
165,  166,  167,  169,  171,  172,  182,  183,  185,  186,  187,  188,  194,  196, 
197,  204,  207,  208,  235,  236,  239 
St.  Maur,  Congregation  of,  208,  &c. 
St.  Mayolus,  21,  81 
St.  Odo,  20 

St.  Omer,  Seminary  at,  36,  244 
St.  Robert,  20 

St.  Yanne  in  Lorraine,  Congregation  of,  8 
St.  Yedast,  or  Yaast,  see  Arras,  63 
St.  Wilfrid,  22,  23 
Salvin,  D.  Peter.  210 
Sandeford,  D.  Matthew,  135 
Sandtoft  and  Haines  Priory,  51 
Sandwell  Priory,  56 

Sayr,  or  Sayer,  D.  Gregory,  39,  45,  180,  192 
Scharnabeck  Abbey,  178 
Scot,  Y  Maurus,  Martyr,  82 
Scotch  Benedictines,  210 
Scott,  D.  Richard,  or  King,  200 
Scroggs,  D.  Gregory,  172,  208 
„        D.  Maurus,  172 

D,  Placid,  172 
Segran,  Pere,  160 
Selby  Abbey,  52 

Selby  or  Reade,  D.  Wilfrid,  169,  182,  184 
Selden,  the  Antiquary,  14,  139 
Seville,  Seminary  at,  36 
Shaftesbury,  Abbey  of  Nuns,  56 
Shafto,  D.  Placid,  209,  215 
Sheldon,  Mr.  190 

D.  Lionel,  217,  218,  223 
Sheppey  Nunnery,  56 


INDEX. 


Sherborne  Abbey,  53 

Sherbourn  family,  191 

Sherley,  D.  Andrew,  75 

Shirburn,  Shirburne  or  Sherburne,  D.  James,  192 

D.  Joseph,  207,  225,  226,  234,  237 
Sherwood,  D.  Joseph,  92,  223,  225 

D.  Robert,  126,  169,  202 
Shrewsbury  Abbey,  52 
Smith,  Dr.,  Bishop,  106,  130,  193 

„      D.  Austin,  40 

„      D.  Benedict,  173 
Siiaith  Priory,  52 
Snapes  Priory,  51 
Sneshal  Priory,  56 
Sopewell  Priory,  61 
Spalding  Priory,  56 
Spanish  dependency  abrogated,  197 
Spondanus,  13 
Stafford  Castle,  167 
Stafford,  Mr.  Francis,  239 
Stamford  Priory,  55 
Stangate  Priory,  58 
Stanley  St.  Leonard's,  52 
Stapylton,  D.  Benedict,  144,  194,  207,  215,  221 
Stapylton,  Br.  Epiphanius,  130 
Starkey,  D.  Hugh,  231 
Stechman,  Dr.  a  Lutheran,  91 
Stiles,  D.  Henry,  181 
Stocker  or  Stoker,  D.  Austin,  205 
Stoke,  Gloucestershire,  169 
Stoterlingburg  Abbey,  167 
Stourton,  Wilts,  70 
Stourton,  D.  John,  251,  254 
Straff  ord  family,  191 
Sudbury  Priory,  53 
Supremacy,  Oath  of,  33 
Swinburn,  Dame  Margaret,  240 
„         D.  Thomas,  205 


Tatham,  D.  Cuthbert,  238,  251 

D.  Bede,  215 
Tavistock  Abbey,  53 
Taylard,  D.  Bede,  196,  209 
Taylor,  D.  Edmund,  254 
Tekeford  Priory,  59 
Tempest,  D.  Augustine,  240,  254 
Tewkesbury  Abbey,  54 
Thetford  Nunnery,  52 


INDEX.  .,v> 

Thetford  Priory,  58 

Thimbleby  family  converted,  191 

Thomas,  Archbishop  Elect  of  Cashel,  46 

„        D.  Eleyson,  210 
Thompson,  D.  Felix,  171 
Thorn,  Relic  of  the  Holy,  193 
Thorney  Abbey,  53 
Thornton,  D.  Bede,  or  Foster,  235 
Tivardreath  Priory,  53 
Touche,  M  de,  200 
Townson,  D.  John,  91 
Toutall  or  Toudelle,  Br.  John,  158 
Towtin,  M.  of  St.  Malo,  81 
Trappes  family  converted,  191 
Tremby,  D.  Celestine,  165 
Trescaw  Priory,  53 
Tresham,  D.  Francis,  203 
Troy,  Bishop  of,  167 
Tulle,  Bishop  of,  65,  66 
Turberville,  D.  Anthony,  240,  254 
Tynemouth  Priory,  51 

U 

Ubaldin,  Cardinal,  100,  106 

Union  of  English  Benedictines  of  various  Congregations,  94,  &c. 

Urban  VIII,  46,  129,  143,  147,  151,  183 

V 

Val  de  Grace,  Abbey  of  Benedictine  nuns  in  Paris,  202 
Valladolid,  Abbey  of  St.  Benedict,  135 

„          Benedictine  Congregation  of,  39, 197 

„          English  Seminary  at,  36,  101 
Vanderburgh,  Archbishop  of  Cambray,  142,  146,  154 
Vasoniensis,  Bishop  of,  46 
Vavasour,  Dame  Lucy,  142 
Vendivilius,  Bishop  of  Tournay,  33,  34 
Venice,  Abbey  of  St.  George,  39 
Venner  or  Fermor,  D.  Amandus,  158 
Verdun,  Bishop  of,  65 
Visitors  to  tomb  of  James  II  at  St.  Edmund's,  Paris,  249 

W 

Wake,  D.  Hilarion,  187,  190 

Walden  Abbey,  54 

Wales,  Prince  of,  231,  239 

Walgrave,  D.  Francis,  90,  96,  121, 131,  135,  136,  138, 168,  170,  171,  180 

D.  William,  189,  202 
Walliugford  Priory,  51 
Walsingham,  Secretary  of  State,  141 
Wangford  Priory,  59 


XX  INDEX. 

Warkworth  Cell,  55 

Warmington  Priory,  51 

Warnford,  D.  Peter,  193 

Waterford  Priory,  55 

Waterton  family  converted,  191 

Watmough,  D.  Francis,  240,  201,  254 

Watson,  Dame  Mary,  143 

Wearmouth  Priory,  55 

Weine  Abbey,  178 

Wells,  Somerset,  208 

Wendlam,  Norfolk,  46 

Wenlock  Priory,  58 

Westacre  Priory,  58 

Westminster  Abbey,  31,  49,  53 

Westmoreland's  rebellion,  Earl  of,  141 

Weston,  Warwickshire,  91,  190 

Wetheral  Priory,  51 

Whipheling,  12 

Whitby  Abbey,  54 

White,  or  Blackow,  (see  Blacklow),  197,  &c. 

White,  D.  Austin  Bradshaw  or,  (see  Bradshaw),  45,  &c. 

„      D.  Claud,  166,  187,  189,  190,  196 
White  Stanton,  Somerset,  202 
Whitfield,  D.  Andrew,  182 
Whitgrave  family,  192 
Wickham  Skeyth  Priory,  51 
Wiclef,  14 

Widdrington,  180,  (see  Preston) 
Wilford,  D.  Boniface,  70 
William  of  Malmesbury,  14 
Williams,  D.  Anselm,  172 
Wilson,  Eev.  W,  Martyr,  77 
Winchcombe  Abbey,  53 
Winchester  Cathedral  Priory,  55 

„          (see  also  Hyde  Abbey) 
Windsor,  Lord,  180,  190 
Worcester,  186 

Battle  of,  188,  192,  225 

„         Cathedral  Priory,  55 
Wisbeach  Castle,  31,  32 
Wood,  Anthony,  quoted,  165 
Woodhouse,  Mr.  Francis,  46 
Worsley,  D.  John,  169 
Wymundham  Abbey,  54 


Yarmouth,  Norfolk,  46 

„          Priory,  55 
Yaxley,  Dame  Viviana,  145 


INDEX. 


XXI 


Tepez,  Abbot,  13,  77 

York,  Duchess  of  217 

„      Duke  of,  218,  (see  James  II) 
„      Abbey  of  St.  Mary,  51 
„      Priory  of  All  Saints,  54 

Yorkshire  families  converted,  191 

Youghal  Priory,  51 


Zieppe,  Abbot,  13 


INDEX 


or   NAMES    CONTAINED   IN  THE  APPENDIX. 


Abercromby,  Mary  Dunstan,  46 
Acton,  Augustine,  11 
„       Barbara,  46 
„       Mary  Anne,  45 
„       Placid  11 
Addison,  Scholastica,  29 
Addy,  or  Addye,  Bede,  23 
Adelham,  Placid,  14,  20 
Adkinson,  Mary,  54 
Agry,  Anne,  29 
Ainsworth,  Ralph,  4,  18 
Aire,  or  Eyre,  Yiviana,  37 
Alcock,  Jerome,  27 
Alexander,  Jane,  30 
Allam,  Ambrose,  14 
Allanson,  Athanasius,  4 

„        Paul,  25 
Allen,  John,  9 
Allerton,  Denis,  26 
Anderton,  Agnes,  45 

Bede,  13 

Celestine,  6 

Christopher,  9 

James,  9 


Anderton  Mary  Baptist,  45 

,,         Michael,  25 
Placid,,  19,  21 

„         or  Ashton  Robert* 
Thomas,  18,  19,  20 
Ann,  Anselma,  34 
Anne,  Dame,  34 
Anne,  Sister,  46 
Anselm,-see  Beech 
Appleby,  Frances,  33 

„        Mary,  42 

„        Paulinus,  de  Ona,  6,  14 
Appleton,  Anselm,  18 

„         Laurence,  9 

„         Marina,  28,  29 
Aprice,  Ildefonsus,  4,  16 

„       Joseph,  16 
Archbald,  Maura,  54 
Arden,  Magdalen,  36,  37 
Armstrong,  Theresa,  40,  46 
Arthur,  Agnes,  40 

„       Mary  Xaveria,  53, 54 
Arundel,  Dorothy,  33 

„        Gertrude,  33 
Armston,  John,  12 


*  His  name  was  accidentally  omitted  in  the  list  of  monks  of  St.  Edmund's  Paris.  D.  Robert 
Anderton  or  Ashton  was  professed  in  1635. 


xxu 


INDEX. 


Arrowsmith,  Edmund,  8 
Ascough,  Benedicta,  35 

„         Theresa,  35 
Ash,  Edward,  6 
Ashton,  Alban,  22, 

„       Joseph,  12 

„       Placid,  22 
Aspinwall,  John,  22 
Astin,  Mary,  29 

Athanasius,  see  Martin,  Athanasius,  5 
Atkins,  Maiirus,  8 
Atkinson,  John,  23 
Atrobos,  Francis,  6,  7 
Atslow,  Cecilia,  33 
Augustine  de  S  Facundo,  5 
Aylmer,  Catharine,  54 
Aylward,  Mary  Baptist,  45 

B 

Bacon,  George,  6 
Bagnal,  Placid,  17 

„       Anne  Theresa,  43 
Bagshaw,  Sigebert,  3,  5,  19 
Baker  Anne,  34 

„      Augustine,  5 
Ball,  Winifred,  29 
Ballyman,  Gregory,  26 
„          Thomas,  26 
Banks,  Benedicta,  33 
Banester  or  Gaile,  Bede,  8 

„  or  Bannester,  William,  4, 11 
Bapthorpe  or  Babthorpe,  Mellitus,  15 
Barber,  Bernard,  3,  4 

„       Joseph,  14 

„       Maurus,  11 
Barbierre,  John,  19 
Bard,  Anastasia,  39 
Barefoot,  Dorothy,  36 
Barguet,  Andrew,  13 
Barker,  Charles,  17 

„       Thomas,  14 
Barlow,  Ambrose,  8 

„       Rudesind,  3,  6,  7 

„       Robert,  9 
Barnes,  Bede,  24 

„       John,  (Spanish  Cong),  5 

„       John,  22 

„       Laurence,  14 

„       Sophia,  43 


Barnewall,  Cyprian,  27 
Barr,  Bernard,  4,  13 
Barret,  Maurus,  17 
Barrister,  Amanda,  29 
Barrows,  Mechtilde,  46 
Barter,  Br.  John,  10 
„      D.  John,  10 
Bartlett,  Bernard,  12 
Bartholomew,  Don,  5 
Barton,  Bede,  22 
Batchell,  Agnes,  29 
Batchelor,  Edmund,  22 
Bate,  Anne,  29 
Batemanson,  Anne,  29 
Bateson,  Joseph,  17 
Batt,  Anthony,  15 
Beare,  George,  11 
Beaumont,  Aloysia,  36 

„          Mary  Marina,  37,  53,  54 
Becket,  Nicholas,  6 
Beokman,  Bernard,  26 
Bedingfield,  Benedicta,  37 
„          Eugenia,  36 
„          Mary,  34 

Thecla,  36 
„          (another),  37 
Bench,  Anselm,  5 
Belasyse,  Benedicta,  40 
„         M  Augustine,  46 
„         M  Magdalen,  40 
„         M  Scholastica,  40 
Belerby,  Gertrude,  29,  42 
Beligny,  Isabella,  34 
Bell,  Mary  Anne,  34 
Bellasyse,  Apollonia,  39 
Bennett,  Alexius,  1 5 

Bede,  13 
„        or  Davis,  Maurus,  20 

or  White,  Claud,  3, 4, 15 
Placid,  18 

Benson,  Robert,  sec  Haddock 
Berington,  Anne,  40 

„         Bernard,  6,  19 
„         George,  6 
Berkeley,  Ignatia,  45 
„         Joanna,  32 
„        Lucy,  46 
Berkeley,  Winifred,  34 
Bernard,  Adrian,  24 


INDEX. 


Berriman,  Alban,  21 
„         Joseph,  10 
Berry,  James,  23 

„       or  Butler,  Jerome,  17 

„       Magdalen,  47 

„       Scholastica,  43 
Beswick,  Francis,  23 
Bibby,  Martina,  43 
Bird,  Mary  Joseph,  34 
Birdsall,  Augustine,  3,  4,  27 
Bishop,  Denis,  24 
Bittenson  or  Betenson,  Placid,  10 
Blackstone,  or  Blakestone,  Francis,  9 
„  „  ,,         Michael,  9 

Blakey,  Anselm,  24 

„        Joseph,  24 
Philip,  24 

Blanchard,  Alexia,  32,  33 
Blandy,  Boniface,  5 
Blisset,  Benedicta,  54 
Blount,  Gertrude,  34 
„       Q-odric,  7,  10 
„       Henrietta,  35 
,,       Maurus,  13 
Blundel,  Dorothy,  32,  34 

„         Maura,  34 
Blyde,  Lucy,  28,  30 
Bocquet,  Gabriel,  12 
Bodenham,  Anne,  39 

„  Mary  Francis,  34 

Bolas,  Anselm,  4,  26 

„      Benedict,  26 
Bolney,  M.  Josepha,  40 

„         Susan,  40 
Bolton,  Agnes,  33 

„         Anselm,  17 
Bond,  Agnes,  47 

„      Catharine,  33 

„      M  Clare,  41,  43 

„      Monica,  45 
Boone,  Xaveria,  37 
Booth,  Ambrose,  16 
Boucher,  Ambrose,  26 
Boult,  Benedicta,  28  ' 

„     Elizabeth,  46 
Brabrant,  Thomas,  11 
Bradberry,  Elizabeth,  37 
Bradley,  Bernard,  17 
Bradshaw,  Anselm,  26 

„         or  White,  Augustine,  5, 7, 19 


Bradshaw,  Basil,  26 

„          or  Handford,  Bernard,  4, 25 
Bradstock,  John,  27 
Brennand,  Theresa,  43 
Brent,  Christina,  28,  29 
„      Cuthbert,  16 
„      Elizabeth,  28,  41 
„      George,  25 
„      Helen,  29 
Breton,  Barbara,  29 
Brett,  Gabriel  18,  1.9 
Brewer,  Anselm,  4 
„     Bede  3,  18 
Bride,  Ambrose,  10 
Bridget,  Mary,  28 
Brigham,  Augustine,  13 
Bridgeman,  Wilfrid,  see  Strutt 
Brindle,  Basil,  18 

„       Placida,  43 
Brindley,  Anne,  34 
Brocast,  Laurence,  16 
Bromley,  Anselm,  18 
Brooke,  Mary  Bernard,  39 

„  Placida,  33 
Brookes,  Joseph,  15 
Broughton,  Anselm,  see  Crowther 

„          Mark,  see  Crowther, 
Brown,  Alexander  6 
„        Ambrose,  12 
„        Angela,  45 
„        Anselm,  16 
Ebba,  28 
Flavia,  28 
„        George,  6 
„        Margaret,  54 
Browne,  Mary  Austin,  54 
„         Pelagia,  40 
„         Xaveria,  54 
Bruning,  Anne,  39 

Augustina,  39 
Francis,  4,  25 
Jerome,  21 
Mary,  39 
Placid,  21 
„        Scholastica,  39 

Thomas,  21 

Brychan,  or  Thomas,  Bennet,  9 
Buckingham,  Mary,  41,  42 
Buckley,  James,  22 
„        Maurus,  12 


aueiv 


INDEX. 


Buckley  Sigebert,  4 
Budd,  Placid,  see  Peto 
Bullock,  Lucy,  34 
Bulmer,  Denis,  26 

„        Edward,  24 

„         Maurus,  17 
Burch,  Helen,  34 
Burchall,  Placid,  3 
Burgess,  Bede,  18 
Burgess,  Scholastica,  29 

„      Margaret,*  30 
Burke,  Honoria,  37 
Burn,  Andrew,  18 
Bury,  Augustine,  4 
Butcher,  Amanda,  42 
Butler,  Anne,  54 

„       Bernard,  14 

„     Mary  Joseph,  39,  53,  54 

„       Theresa,  54 

„     Ursula,  37,  54 
Byerley,  Anne  Augustine,  35 

„        Ildephonsus,  12 

„        Marina,  34 
Byers,  Boniface,  25 
Byfleet  or  "Worsley,  John,  9 
Byrne,  Mary  Benedict,  53,  55 

„      Mary  Placida,  55 
Byron,  Scholastica,  34 

0 

Cadet,  Scholastica,  55 

Calderbank,  James,  18 

Caldwell,  Augustine,  see  Walmesley,  13 

Calvert,  Dorothy,  39 

Campbell,  Melchiora,  34 

Canning,  George,  11 

Cansfield,  Anne,  33 

Cape,  Benedict,  19 

„     Francis,  8,  19 

„     M  Lucy,  28 

„     Michael,  16,  19 
Carew,  Agues,  34 

„      Josepha,  54 

Carnaby,  Gregory  see  Grange,  9 
Carrington,  Josepha,  30 

„          Maura,  46 
Carter,  Anselm,  4,  11 
Carteret,  Joseph,  4,  12 
Gary,  Clementina,  28,  41 


Cary,  Dorothy,  36 

„      Flavia,  37,  53,  54 

„      Magdalen,  2s 

„      Mary,  29 

„      M.  Austin,  29 

„      Placid,  20 
Caryll,  Alexius,  7,  10 

„       Benedicta,  34 

„       Eugenia,  45 

„       Justina,  45 

„       Mary,  37,  44 

„       Mary  Benedict,  45 

„       Mary  Magdalen,  45 

„       Romana,  45 

„       Theresa,  45 
Casse,  Laurence,  4,  21 
Cassey,  Anselm,  9 
Catharel,  Scholastica,  46 
Caton,  Scholastica,  30 
Catteral,  Benedict,  22 

„       Bernard  14,  17 
Cawser,  Benedict,  23 
Cellar,  Jane  29 
Chaddock,  Margaret,  40 
Chalk,  Mary,  40 
Chamberlain,  Francis,  19 
Chamberlaine,  Gertrude,  54 
Chambers,  William,  see  Johnson 
Champion,  Ignatia,  39 
Champney,  Laurence,  14,  16 

„          William,  17 
Chandler,  Boniface,  15 

Paul,  12 

Chaplin,  Anselm,  26 
„         Maurus,   26 
Charlton,  John,  13 
Charnley,  Elizabeth,  47 
Cheriton,  Basil,  20 

„        Matthew,  16 
Chew,  Alexius,  18 
Chilton,  Elizabeth,  34 
„         Gertrude,  29,  34 

Theresa,  29 

Chorley,  Edward,  7,  12 
Clarke,  Winifred,  40,  46 
Clarkson,  Alban,  27 
„         Jerome,  26 
Clavering,  M  Anne,  39,  40,  46 
„         M  Joseph,  40 


INDEX. 


Clayton,  Catharine,  33 
Cliff  or  Cowper,  Ildephonsua. 
Clifton,  Alathea,  29,  42 
„        Cuthbert,  4 
„        Lambert,  6 
„        M.  Benediota,  45 
Codner,  David,  5 
Coesneau,  Placida,  42 
Coffin,  Bridget,  29 

„      Mary,  29 
Coleman,  Ruperta,  45 
Colford,  Martha,  33 
Collingridge,  Josepha,  35 
Collingwood,  Anselm,  23 
Collins,  Benedicta,  34 
Edburga,  35 
Ignatia,  35 
Joseph,  27 
Mary  Ignatia,  34 
Mary  Joseph,  35 
„       Theresa,  35 
„       Xaveria,  39 
Colston,  Nicholas,  24 
Comberlege,  Benedict,  25 
Commings,  Placid  see  Hartburn 
Compline,  Mary,  29 
Compton,  Aloysia,  34 
„        Bernard,  23 
Cone,  Gertrude,  39 
Coningsby,  Ignatia,  36 
Connick,  Theresa,  46 
Conquest,  Benedicta,  29 
Constable,  Ann  Mary,  40 
,,        Augustine,  4,  10 
„         Barbara,  29 
„        Benedict,  24 
„         Francis,  15 
„         Mary  Joseph,  43 
Philip,  10 
Wilfrid,  22 
„         Winifred,  29 
Conyers,  Augustine,  10 
„        Catharine,  42 
„        Cecilia,  45 
„        Lucy,  42 
Cook,  Elizabeth,  42 

„     Theresa,  42 
Cooper,  Amanda,  43 
„       Francis,  18 


Copley,  Mary,  45 

„      Mary  Alexia,  45 
Coppe",  Theresa,  55 
Copsey,  Robert,  26 
Corbinton  or  Corby,  Eugenia,  34 

„         „       „       Mary,  33 
Corby,  Benedicta,  36 
Corham,  Cornelia,  36 
„          Justina,  36 
„         Robert,  10 
Corker,  Maurus,  3,  23 
Cornwallis,  Augustine,  20 
Cotton,  Winifred,  28 
Couch,  Anne  Theresa,  42 
Coupe,  Jerome,  14,  18 
„      Maurus,  20,  22 
Cowley,  Gregory,  3,  14,  17,  20 
Cox,  Benedict,  15 
„    Edmund,  21 
Craffe  or  Grrove,  Dunstan,  20 
Crathorne,  Anselm,  25 

„         Francis,  8 
Craven,  Vincent,  16 
Creagh,  Bridget,  54 
Cressy,  Serenus,  10 
Crispe,  Mary,  32,  34 
Crombleholme,  John,  23, 
Crook,  Clare,  29 
,,       James,  22 

„      or  Gregson,  D.  Joseph,  26 
Crosby,  Wolstan,  10 
Crowther  or  Crowder,  Anselm,  4,  7 

„        Mark,  3,  7 
Culcheth,  Constantia,  45 
,,         Frances,  39 
„         Mary  Bede,  45 
„         Mary  Benedict,  45, 
„         Mary  Stanislaus,  39 
„         Scholastica,  45 
Culshaw,  John,  14 
Curre,  Maurus,  8 

„       Nicholas,  15 
Curson,  Clare,  33 

„         Margaret,  33 
urtis,  Winifred,  42 
urwen,  Patrick,  16 

D 

Dabridgecourt,  Elizabeth,  83,  39 


.Kf.rt'» 


TNDRX. 


Dakins,  John,  21 
Dale,  Maurus,  22 

Dalley  or  Dally,  Mary  Benedict,  41,  43 
Dallison,  Agnes,  46 
„       Josepha,  34 
„       Martha,  34 
Dalton,  Mary  Bernard,  53,  54 

„       or  Shuttle  worth,  Wolstan,  20 
Dalyson,  Gregory,  24 
Damiens,  Frances,  35 
Dandy,  Anthony,  12 
Daniel  or  Simpson,  Benedict,  17 

„       Eobert,  17 
Danvers,  Romuald,  8 
Darell,  Mary  Gertrude,  45 

„      or  Westbrook,  Maurus,  25 

„      Olivia,  29 
Darrell,  Mary  Joseph,  34 

,,  Xaveria,  34 
Davies,  Leander,  24 
Davis  Ambrose,  21 

„     or  Kirke,  Bernard,  26 
„     or  Bennett,  Maurus,  20 
Dawber,  John,  18 
Dawney,  Alban,  24 

Deacon  or  Deacons,  Pudentiana,  28,  33 
Debord,  Mechtilde,  35 
De  Decken,  Martina,  37 
Deday,  Benedict,  4 
Deeble,  Beatrix,  43 
De  la  Fontain,  Placid,  13 
De  Landres,  Celestine,  16 
De  la  Rue,  Benedicta,  42 
Delattre,  Augustine,  22 
„       Charles,  25 
„       Laurence,  22, 
Denis,  Mary,  55 
Deval,  Peter,  13 
Dewhurst,  Anne,  43 
Digby,  Jerome,  13 

„      Magdalen,  33 

„      Mary,  36 
Dobson,  Elphege,  25 
Dodd,  Josepha,  29 
D'Ognate,  Joseph,  22 
Dolman,  Helen,  33 
D'Orgain,  Benedict,  15 
Doutch,  Anthony,  25 


Dowues,  Lucy,  40 
Draper,  James,  17 
Draycott,  Bridget,  33 
„         Manna,  g4 
Duck,  Dunstan,  16 
Duoket,  Barbara,  33 
„       Edmund,  22 
Duddell,  Odo,  24 
Dunn,  Roland,  6 
Dunscombe,  Augustine,  25 
Du  Pery,  Bathildis,  29 
Du  Toit,  Aloysia,  55 
Duvivier,  Placid,  see  Waters,  1 3 
Dwerihouse,  Josepha,  29 
Dyer,  Thomas,  6 
Dytch,  M.  Josepha,  47 
Dyve,  Ignatia,  46 

E 

Eastgate,  Ambrose,  17 

Eastham,  Auselm,  22 

Eaves,  Oswald,  18 
„        Thomas,  16 

Eccles,  Philippa,  32,  35 

Edmunds,  Bernard,  15 
„         Robert,  6 

Edner  or  Rigge,  Justus,  5 

Eldridge,  Raymund,  14 

Elerby,  Alexia,  29 

Eliott,  Ambrose,  12 

Elliot,  Aloysia,  39 
„     Frances,  39 

Ellis,  Philip,  11 

Elmer,  Jocelin,  3,  14,  15,  18 

Emerson,  Thomas,  5 

Englefield,  Benedicta,  29 

M.  Winifred,  44,  46 
„          M.  Bernard,  45 
„  (another,)  46 

Errington,  Agnes,  28 
„          Laurence,  10 
„          Mary,  34 
„          Scholastica,  34 

Eure,  Elizabeth,  40 
„      Mary,  34 

Evans,  Margaret,  47 

Ever,  Magdalen,  28 

Eves,  Mary,  29 


INDEX. 


Everard,  Dunstan,  19 
Eyston,  Basil,  13 

F 

Fairclough,  Benedicta,  29 
„          Elizabeth,  29 
Fairfax,  Placid,  see  Robinson 
Farnworth,  Cuthbert,  3,  4,  17 

„          Jerome,  21 
Farrar,  Winifred,  46 
Fazakerly,  Agatha,  29 
Fenwick,  Alexia,  29 
„       Augustine,  12 
„       Francis,  19,  21 
„       Laurence,  3,  11 
Fermor  or  Venner,  Amandus,  15 
„        or  Farmer,  Maurus,  17 
„       Mary  Frances,  44, 45 
„       Placida,  45 
Ferrars,  Mary  Baptista,  37 
Ferreyra,  James,  16 
Le  Fevre,  Anne,  30 
Fisher,  Edward,  18 
„       John,  3,  17 
„       "Wilfrid,  27 
Fitz james,  Ignatia,  39 

„          Nicholas,  7,  14 
Fitzroy,  Benedicta,  40 

„       Cecilia,  45 
Fitzwilliams,  George,  12 
Fleetwood,  Barbara,  45 

„  Benedicta,  44,  45 

„  Mary  Michael,  45 

Fleming,  Bridget,  55 
„       Esmenia,  55 
„       Gertrude,  55 
,,       M  Benedicta,  55 
„       M  Joseph,  55 
„       Maura,  45 
Fletcher,  Frances,  33 
„         Mary,  33 
„          Susanna,  54 
Flutot,  Maurus,  16 
Fontaine,  de  la,  Placid,  13 
Foorde  or  Hartburn,  Placid,  8 
Forester  or  Forster,  Anne,  32,  34, 

Placida,  34 

Formby,  Magdalen,  47 
Forshaw,  Laurence,  27 
Forster,  Christina,  36,  38 


Fortescue,  Mary,  45 

Foster,  or  Thornton,  Bede,  19 

„        Francis,  6 

„        Joseph,  16 
Fothringham,  M.  Joseph,  40 
Foxe,  Romana,  35 
Fouquet,  Anne  Theresa,  55 
Frances,  Sister,  46 
Francis,  Placid,  24 
Frankland,  Hugh,  12 
Frere,  Joseph,  7,  8 

„      Placid,  9 

„      Mechtilde,  28 
Fryar,  Martha,  30 
Fuller,  Alban,  16 
Fursden,  Cuthbert,  8 

„         Thomas,  15 

G 

Gage,  Columba,  33 
„     Dorothy,  45 
„     Mary,  33 
„      Theresa,  33 
Gaile,  Bede,  or  Banester,  8 
Gaire,  Q-eorge,  15 
Gralli,  Bennet,  19 
Galver,  Winifred,  35 
Gardiner,  Theresa,  37 
Gargill,  Frances,  34 
Garner,  Benedict,  26 
Garnous,  Philippa,  34 
Garstang,  Dunstan,  4,  22 
Garter,  John,  20 
Gascoigne,  Catharine,  28 
„          Frances,  30 
„         Helen  Josepha,  28,  29 
„          Justina,  29,  41 
„          Margaret,  28 
„          Michael,  9 
Paula,  29 

Placid,  3,  15,  19,  23 
Gaudelier,  Mary,  29 
Gawen,  Ambrose,  24 

„       or  Gawine,  Frances,  28,  33 
Gee,  Anne,  43 

George,  of  St.  Ildephonsus,  9 
Gerard,  Angela,  45 

„       Scholastica,  36,  37 
Gerrard,  Cecilia,  46 


acxmn 

Gervase  or  Jervase,  Q-eorge,  6 

Q-ery,  Anselm,  25 

Gibbon,  Benedict,  24 

Gibson,  Dunstan,  20 

Gicou,  Francis,  19 

Gifford  or  GifEard,  Gabriel,  14,  15,  16 

„      „         „        Maura,  39 

„      „         „        Peter,  20 

„      „         „        Xaveria,  38,  39 
Gill,  Anne,  29 
Gillibrand,  Agnes,  37 
GiUibrord,  Agatha,  41,  42 
Gillmore,  Paul,  24 
Girlington,  John,  14,  20 
Gloster  or  Glasscock,  Edward,  20 
Glynn,  Magdalen,  43 
Godfrey,  Constantia,  42 

„         Michael,  5 
Godwin,  Anne,  47 
Goodair,  Frances,  34 
Goodge,  Winifred,  54 
Goolde,  Robert,  22 
Gordon,  William,  6 
Gornal,  Martha,  47 
Goulde,  Ignatia,  54 

„       Scholastica,  54 

„       Xaveria,  54 
Govaerdt,  Christian,  9 
Graincourt,  Maurus, 
Grainge  or  Carnaby,  Gregory,  9 
Grange,  Gregory,  5 
Gratian,  John,  15 
Gravenore,  Mary,  34 
Gray,  Alexia,  36 

Greaves  or  Greeves,  Bernard,  4,  11 
Green,  Agatha,  34 

„      Dominic,  21 

„      John,  17 

„      Br.  John,  11 

„      Justina,  39 

„      Leander,  23 

„      Margaret,  41 

„      Thomas,  or  Houghton,  5 
Greene,  Eugenia,  39 
Greenough,  Ignatius,  4 
Greenway,  Scholastica,  43 
Greenwood,  Gregory,  4,  11 

„          PauHnus,  3,  7,  18 
Gregson,  Augustine,  17 


INDEX. 


Gregson,  Bernard,  3,  4,  14,  15 

„         Bernarda,  46 

„         Gregory,  22 

,,        Peter,  17 

„         Vincent,  17 
Gregston,  Benedicta,  46 
Grey,  Gervase,  5 
Grimbaldeston,  Clement,  27 

Paul,  27 

Grime,  Cuthbert,  13 
Grossier,  Romanus,  19 
Grove  or  Craffe,  Dunstan,  20 
Guildford,  Ildefonsa,  45 
Guildridge,  Bridget,  36 
Guillet,  Rupert,  19 
Guilliam,  David,  20 
Gunn,  Magdalen,  55 
Gurnell,  Adrian,  26 
Gurney,  Theresa,  29 
Guyllim,  Mary,  34 

H 

Haddock  or  Benson,  Robert,  3,  5, 
Hadley,  Edmund,  13 
„         Laurence,  13 
Hagan,  Louisa,  30 

„        Theresa,  43 

Haggerston,  Anne  Catharine,  39,  40 
„  Mary  Bernard,  40 

„  Placid,  12 

„  Scholastica,  40 

Haliwell,  Theresa,  46 
Hall,  Boniface,  26 

„     Catharine  Maura,  28,  29 
„     Cecilia,  28 
Halsall,  Bede,  4,  11 
Hamborough,  Josepha,  54 
Hamerton,  Benedicta,  39 
„          Helen,  39 
„          Ursula,  39 
Hames,  Maurus,  19 
Hamoy,  Anselm,  19 
Hankinson,  Bennet,  20 
Hanmer,  Joseph,  see  Starkey,  12 
Hanne,  Gertrude,  42 
Hanson,  Maurus,  6 

„        see  Hesketh,  Alphonsus,  8 
Hardcastle,  Robert,  4,  14,  17 
Hardisty,  Adrian,  25 


INDEX. 


XXIX 


Hardisty,  Laurence,  25 
Hardwick,   Martha,  40 

„  Mary,  40 

Hardwidge,  M  Benedicta,  43 
Harkham,  M.  Frances,  40 
Harper,  John,  5 

„        Maura,  35 
Harrington,  Maura,  29 
Harris,  Richard,  22 
Harrison,  Augustine,  14 

„          Josepha,  47 

„          Maurus,  12 
Harsnep,  Benedict,  22 

„         Placid,  26 
Hartbourne,  Cuthbert,  8 
Hartburn  or  Foorde,  Placid,  8 
Harvey,  M.  Augustina,  45 

„         Mary  Magdalen,  46 
Hathersall,  George,  8 
Hatton,  Augustine,  26 
Havelock,  Marina,  34 
Havers,  Bartholomew,  13 
Hawarden,  Bernard,  14 
Hawes,  Mary,  42 
Hawet,  Edmund,  21 
Hawkins,  Augustine,  13 

„        Benedicta,  33 

„        James,  25 
Haworth,  Joseph,  7,  15 
Haywood,  Gregory,  9 
Healy,  Anne,  33 
Heath,  Augustine,  15 
Heatley,  Jerome,  27 

„       Lewis,  27 

„        Maurus,  26 
Helm,  Anne,  30 
Helme,  Bede,  3,  6 
„       Gregory,  16 
„       Wilfrid,  19,  22 
Hemsworth,  Bennet,  10 
Heueage,  Constantia,  39 

„  Scholastica,  37 
Heptonstall,  Paulinus,  4 
Hoskett,  Aloysia,  37 

,,      or  Hanson,  Alphonsus,  8 

„      Frances,  37 

„      Gregory,  16 

„      Jerome,  10 

„      Joseph,  11 


Heskett,  Mellitus,  16 
Hesketh,  Nicholas,  16 

„        Thomas,  21 

Hethcote,  William,  see  Middleton,  6 
Hewicke,  Ursula,  33 
Hewlett,  William,  22 
Hide,  Theresa,  34 
Higginson,  James,  14 

„          Scholastica,  40 
Higgs,  Alexius,  2'2 
Hill,  Thomas,  8 

„     Winifred,  40 
Hills,  Mary,  34 
Hilton,  Elizabeth,  42 

„        or  Musgrave,  Placid,  15 
Hird  or  Laton,  Paulinus,  9 
Hitchcock  or  Nedam,  William,  10 
Hodgson,  Richard,  8 

„          Stephen,  18 
Hodson,  Gertrude,  28,  40 

„       Ralph,  24 

,,       Scholastica,  29,  41 
Holden,  Hugh,  22 
Holderness,  Frances,  14 

„  Dunstan,  14,  17 

Holme,  Richard,  11 
Holmes,  Peter,  11 

„       Placida,  54 

Hook  or  Hooke,  Christina,  28,  30 
Hornyold,  Bernard,  21 
Horsley,  Cuthbert,  3,  14,  16 
Horsman,  Adrian,  27 
Hoskins,  Mary,  28 
Houghton  or  Farnaby,  Bede,  30 

„         Bede,  17 

„          Edward,  17 

„          Eugenia,  29 

„          Placida,  40 

„         Scholastica,  28,  29 

„          Thomas,  sec  Green,  5 
Howard,  Augustine,  3,  4,  11 
„        Catharine,  37 
„         Frances,  17 
„        Frederick,  25 
„        Joseph,  12 
„        Magdalen,  46 

„        Placid,  3,  4,  12 
Howet,  Winifred,  29 
Huddleston,  Denis,  25 


XXX 


INDEX. 


Huddleston,  John,  6 

„  Richard,  5 

Hudson,  Augustine,  16 
Huggonson,  Magdalen,  40 
Huitson,  Peter,  7 
Hull,  Francis,  15 
Hungate,  Augustine,  3,  4,  5 

„         Gregory,  3,  7 

„         Margaret,  45 

„         Thomas,  6 
Hunloke,  Agatha,  40 

„         Marina,  39,  40 
Hunt,  Peter,  15 
Huntley,  Bernard,  24 
Husbands,  Clementina,  42 
Hussey,  Cecilia,  28, 29 

„       Edward,  13 
Hutchinson,  Cuthbert,  12 
„          Dunstan,  24 
Wilfrid,  24 
Hutton,  Bede,  25 

„        or  Salvin,  Cuthbert,  11 

„        John,  3,  5 

Placid,  25 

Hyde,  Eugenia,  46 


Ingham  or  Walmesley,  Wolstan,  20 
Ingilby,  Ann,  33 
Ingleby,  Agnes,  28,  30 

„        Robert,  16 
Innes,  Anne,  40 
Ireland,  Augustina,  34 

„         Delphina,  34 

„         Lucy,  45 

„         see  Loader,  Placid,  9 
Isherwood,  Richard,  24 


Jackson,  Barbara,  34 

„        Gregory,  see  Mallet 

Jackson,  Leander,  see  Thompson,  9 

James,  Aurea,  33 

Jansen,  John,  26 

Jarfield,  Deusdedit,  6 

Jarrett,  Elizabeth,  53,  55 
„        Mary  Bernard,  55 

Jefferson,  Aloysia,  37 
„        Philip,  22 


Jenison,  Monica,  29 
Jenkins,  Jerome,  4 
Jennings  or  Jenyns,  Bruno,  11 
Jennison,  Mary  Anne,  54 
Jerningham,  Benedict,  15 

„          Henrietta,  40 
Johnson,  Anne.  47 

„        Augustine,  see  Lee,  9 
„        Edward,  16 
„        George,  14 
„       James,  17 
,,       Joseph,  18 
„       Mary  Magdalene,  41,  43 
„       Oswald,  27 
„       Placid,  16 
„       Theresa,  41 
„        Theresa  Joseph,  43 
„        or  Chambers,  William,  5 
Johnston,  Joseph,  19,  21 
Jones,  Alexius,  12 

„      Anne  Benedict,  43 

„      or  Price,  Benedict,  5 

„      or  Scudamore,  see  Leander  of  St. 

Martin,  3,  5,  7 
„      Scholastica,  46 
Judd,  Elizabeth,  46 


Kane,  Josepha,  46 
Kaye,  Ambrose,  14,  17 
Kearton,  Cyprian,  27 
Kellet,  Augustine,  22 
Kemble,  William,  8 
Kemp  or  Kipton,  Boniface,  5 
Kemp,  Mary,  33 
Kendall,  Peter,  14 
Kennedy,  Basil,  27 

„          Joseph,  21 
Kennet,  Agnes,  29 

„        Isabella,  29 

„       Joseph,  16 

„        Samuel,  5 
Kennett,  Catharine,  29 
Kenyon,  Anselm,  27 

„        Helena,  28 

„        Margaret,  28 
Killingbecke,  Robert,  4,  23 
Kimberly,  Magdalen,  30 
Kinder,  Augustine,  8 


INDEX. 


OKKfl 


Bang,  Magdalen,  25 

„      or  Scott,  Richard,  23 
Kirby,  Elizabeth,  43 
Kirke,  Laurence,  17 
„     Adrian,  23 
„     or  Davis,  Bernard,  25 
Knacksterdt,  John,  27 
Knatchbull,  Lucy,  33,  36 
„  (another),  36 

„  Margaret,  36 

„  Mary,  36 

„  (another),  36,  37 

Knight,  Anne  Joseph,  30 
„       Bede,  12 
,,       Benedict,  26 
„       Clare,  28,  30 
„       Dunstan,  25 
„       Mary,  43 
Knightly,  Maurus,  23,  24 
Knowles,  Gilbert,  12 

L 

Lacabanne,  Ambrose,  15 
Lacon,  Michael,  4,  13 
Lake,  Dunstan,  21 
de  Landres,  Celestine,  16 
Langdale,  Aloysia,  37 
„         Constantia,  29 
„         Flavia,  33 
„         Maurus,  13 
L' Angevin,  Deodatus,  18,  19 
Langton,  Ambrose,  15, 

,,        John, 
Lanning,  Rachel,  41 

,,        Richard,  12 
Latham,  Alexius,  26 

„       Augustine,  19,  20 

„       Gabriel,  20 

„       Joseph,  8 

„       Swithbert,  15 

„       Torquatus,  5 

„        Yincent,  9 
Latchmore,  Mildred,  28 
Laton,  Paulinus,  see  Hird,  9 
Lavery,  Susanna,  45 
Lawes,  Frances,  42 
Lawrenson,  Scholastica,  43 
Lawson,  Augustine,  14 

„       Benedict,  24 


Lawson,  Francis,  4,  10 

„       Henry,  4,  14 

„       Br,  Henry,  11 

,,      Laurentia,  39 
Leake,  Barbara,  33 
Leander,  of  St.  Martin,  3,  5,  7 
Leblon,  Sophia,  35 
Le  Ducq,  Anne,  54 

„         Mary  Joseph,  54 
Lee  or  Johnson,  Augustine,  9 

„    Margaret,  42 
Legatt,  Amatus,  9 
Legge,  Alexia,  45 

„       Mary,  29 
Le  Deux,  Mark,  13 
Le  Fevre,  Anne,  30 
Le  Grand,  James,  26 
Light,  Ignatia,  47 
Le  Maire,  Mary  Benedict, 
Le  Munier,  James,  19 
Lenthall,  Agnes,  32,  33 
Lewis,  Michael,  13 
Ley,  Benedicta,  55 
Lincoln,  Mary  Anne,  40,  47 
Lindley,  Ambrose,  24 
Littlewood,  Margaret,  35 
Llewellin,  Augustine,  4,  21 
Loader  or  Ireland,  Placid,  8 
Lockard,  Barbara,  40 
Lockers,  John,  16 
Lodwick,  Laurence,  15 
Lone,  John,  8 
Longe,  Mechtilde,  55 
Longueville,  Victoria,  39 
Longworth,  A_nne,  42 

„  Frances  42 

Lorymer,  Anselm,  13 
Love,  Christopher 
Lovel,  Anthony,  15 

„      Christina,  33 
Lowick,  Bernard,  14  21 
Lucig,  Mary  Frances,  28 
Lucy,  Magdalen,  36,  37 
„       (another),  26,  27 
Ludkin,  Placida,  46 
Lumley,  Augustine,  22 

„         John,  16 
Lusher,  Elizabeth,  29 

„       Frances,  29 


1NLDRX. 


Lynch,  Anselm,  12 

„         Mary  Bernard,  53.  55 
„        Scholastica,  53,  55 

M 

Mabbs,  Laurence,  8 
Macclesfield,  Placida,  64 
Macdonald,  Anselm,  13 
,,  Benedict,  13 

Mackay,  Gergory,  21 
Macleane,  Mary  Louise,  54 
Magdalen,  (2),  46 
Maihew,  Edward,  4,  14 
Le  Maire,  Mary  Benedict,  55 
Main  waring,  Magdalen,  37 
Mallet  or  Jackson,  Gregory,  4,  16 
Malone,  Columban,  7 

„        Mary  Josepha,  54 
Mandeville,  Magdalen,  53,  54 
Agnes,  35 
Anastasia,  34 
Mannock,  Anselm,  12 
Cecilia,  35 
Dorothy,  33 
Etheldreda,  32,  34 
Ursula,  34 
Markham,  Mary  Frances,  40,  46 
„         Margaret,  36 
„         Margaret,  (2),  36 
Marlow,  Mary  Helen,  54 
Marsh,  Benedict,  18 
Marsh  or  Marshal,  Cuthbert  ««?Wall,  24 
„      Jerome,  14,  18 
„      Peter,  23 
„      Richard,  3,  4,  14,  18 
Martin,  Athanasius,  5 
„       Boniface,  15 
„       Joseph,* 
„       Martha,  2 
Mason,  M.  Xaveria,  55 
Mathnm,  Catherine,  34 
,,       Magdalen,  34 
Mather,  Augustine,  16 


Mather,  Cyril,  27 

„        James,  14,  16 
Matlock,  Theresa,  36 
Matthews,  Constance,  see  Nathal,  6 

„         Maura,  46 
Maurice,  Alexia,  37 

„       Anastasia,  37 
Maurin,  Catherine,  40 
Maynell,  Benedicta,  29 
Me  Donald.  M.  Benedicta,  35 

„         Theresa,  3 
Mechels,  Petronilla  van,  5 
Meering  or  Meryng,  Benedict,  23 
Merriman,  Bede,  15 

„         Hilarion.  see  Wake,  10 
Mervin.  John,  see  Roberts,  5 
Messenger,  Placida,  40,  45,  46, 
Metcalf,  Gregory,  26 
Placid,  26 
William,  12 

Metham,  Sylvester,  4,  7,  11 
Meutisse  or  Northall,  Clement,  23 

„  „          John,  7,  9,  18 

Meynell,  Anne  Augustine,  46 
„         Margaret,  46 
„         Theresa,  29 

Middleton  orMiddelton,  Benedicta,  29 
Cuthbert,  10 
Etheldreda,  45 
Frances,  46 
Maurus,  21 
Michael,  t 
or  Hethcot,  William,  6 


Midi 


Scholastica,  35 


Mildmay,  Francis,  24 
Milfort,  Christina,  42 
Miller,  Josepha,  30 
Millington,  Bernard,  16 
Mills,  Catharine,  46 
Minns,  James,  J 
Minshall,  Thomas,  6 
Mitchell,  Augustine,  18 
Moliner,  Claudius,  15 


*  His  name  occurs  in  the  Necrology  of  the  Congregation  on  April  8th.  1663,  but  nothing 
more  is  known  about  him. 

t  He  was  a  Conventual  at  St.  Gregory's,  Douay,  in  1646,  but  his  name  is  not  in  the  Pro- 
fession book  nor  does  it  occur  elsewhere. 

\  Br.  James  Minns,   whose  name  was  accidentally   omitted  from  the  Catalogue  of  St. 
Edmund's,  Paris,  was  a  Lay-Brother  professed  there  on  June  16th.  1772. 


1NDKX. 


Moliner,  or  Le  Murder,  James,  19 
Molyneux,  Albau,  3,  4 
Mompas,  Beunet,  13 
Money,  Peter,  11 
Monington,  Thomas,  7,  19 
Monson,  Christina,  37 
Moody,  Anne,  29 
Mooney,  Mary,  29,  43 
Moore,  Augustine,  7,  13 
„      Bede,  21 
„      Francis,  19,  21 
„      George,  9 
Mordaunt,  Benedict,  25 
More,  Agnes,  28 
Anne,  28 
Bridget,  29,  41 
Dorothy,  29 
G-ertrude,  28 
Jane,  33 

M.  Magdalen,  29 
Morgan,  Agnes,  40,  47 
„      Anastasia,  33 
,,      Benedicta,  28 
„      Francis,  9 
„      or  Powel,  Philip,  8 
Morley,  Placida,  45 
Morris,  M.  Baptist  55 
„        M.  Sales,  55 
„        Scholastica,  55 
Morrissy,  M.  Benedicta,  54 
Mosse,  Francis,  20 
Mostyn,  Mary  Joseph,  45 
Moundeford  or  Munford,  John,  8 
Mounson,  Mary,  36 
Muller,  Adrian,  25 
Mullins,  Angela,  28 
Musgrave,  Placid,  see  Hilton,  15 
Muttlebury,  Dorothy,  42 
„  Francis,  21 

„  or  Muttleherry,  Placid,  15 

N 

Nagle,  Mary  Anthony,  54 

,,       Mechtilde,  54 
Nathal  or  Matthews,  Constautius,  6 
Nay  lor.  Ambrose,  13 
Placid,  4,  17 

„         another,  17 
Neals,  Elizabeth,  34 


Nechills,  Bernard,  22 

Nedam,  William,  see  Hitchcock, 

Nelson,  Anselm,  21 

Benedict,  18,  19,  20 
James,  19,  21 
Jerome,  see  Porter,  9 
Maurus,  21 
Placid,  19,  21 
Thomas,  7,  12 
Nepthou,  Magdalen,  42 
Neville  or  Nevill,  Anne,  36,  38 
„  „         Anne,  (another)  39 

„  „         Laurence,  16 

„  „         Leander,  16 

„  „         Mary  Anne,  54 

Newport,  Clare,  42 
Newton,  Bede,  25 

„        Elizabeth,  34 
Nicholls,  Maurus,  see  Poss,  10 
Nichols,  Catharine,  45 
Norniington  orNorminton,  Leander,  10 
Norris,  Agnes,  43 
Northall,  Clement,  see  Meutisse,  23 

„        John,  „  9 

Norton,  John,  9 

0 

Card,  Anthony,  7,  11 
O'Bryan,  Josepha,  45 
O'Connor,  Josepha,  54 
O'Curren,  Scholastica,  55 
D'Ognate,  Joseph,  22 
O'Moore,  Mary  Baptist,  54 
O'More,  Josepha,  29 
O'Neile,  Benedicta,  54 
D'Orgaiii,  Benedicta,  15 
Osbaldeston,  Christopher,  18 

„  Dunstan,  13 

Osland,  John,  25 
Owen,  Augustine,  8 

„      John,  6 
Oxburgh,  Mary  Austin,  40 

P 

Palm,  Vincent,  17 
Palliser,  Catharine,  29 
Palmer,  William,  5 
Palmes,  Bernard,  7,  10 
Pape,  Ambrose,  26 
Paris,  Christina,  34 


INDEX. 


Parker,  Cuthbert,  21 

„      Henry,  20,  23 
Parkes,  Agnes,  4(5 
Parkinson,  Anthony,  13 
„          Grertrude,  43 
„          Mary  Lucy,  43 
Partington,  Anne,  30 

„  Benedict,  30 

Pashley,  Mechtilde,  40 
Paston,  Catharine,  33 
„       Clement,  21 
,,       Frances,  34 
Patten,  Thomas,  13 
Pattinson,  Winifred,  43 
Paulinus  de  Onia,  6 
Pearse,  Xaveria,  46 
Pearson,  Anselm,  6 
Pease,  Benedict,  42 

„       Mary,  36 
Pembridge,  Benedict,  13 
Pennington,  Anne,  30 

„  Edmund,  18 

Penruddocke,  Coiistantia,  34 
Percy,  Hilda,  28 

„       Mary,  32,  36 
Perkins,  Lucy,  36 
Du  Pery,  Bathildis,  29 
Pershall,  Lucy,  34 
Persons,  Mary,  33 
Pestell,  Pestel  or  Phillips,  "William,  7, 11 
Peto  or  Budd,  Placid,  5 
Petre,  Angela,  34 
„      Justina,  36,  37 
„      Mary,  39 
„      Winifred,  45 
Pettinger,  Dunstan,  15 
Peyton,  Joseph,  56 
Phesackelly,  Scholastica,  47 
Philip  or  Pugh,  Charles,  21 
Philipps,  Baptist,  36,  37 
Philips,  Aldhelm,  15 

„       Mary,  33 
Philipson  or  Phillipson,  John,  21 

„       William,  7,  11 
Philips,  Columban,  20 

„       Susanna,  29 
Philpott,  Barbara,  32 
„       Winifred,  39 
Pickering,  Agnes,  40 


Pickering  Thomas,  10 
Pigott,  Dunstan,  12 
„       Gregory,  12 
„       Henrietta,  45 
„       Ursula,  32,  35 
„       Xaveria,  35 
Pilkington,  Bernarda,  40 
Placid,  Dom,  5 

Pleyal,  sec  Walgrave,  William 
Plompton,  Angela,  29 

„          Bernarda,  29 
Plowden,  Benedicta,  34 
Plumpton,  Mary  James,  46 
Poole,  Mary  Stanislaus,  35 
Pope  or  Fisher,  Alexius,  17 

,,         „         Alexius,  (another),  18 
„         „         Richard,  18 
Pordage,  Frances,  45 
„         Xaveria,  37 
Porter,  Alban,  24 
„       Dunstan,  11 
„       Francis,  23 
„       or  Nelson,  Jerome,  9 
Poss  or  Nichols,  Maurus,  10 
Potts,  Bede,  25 
„      Mary,  35 
Pound,  Henrietta,  39 
Powel,  Mansuetus,  19 

„      Prosser,  or  Morgan,  Philip,  8 
Poyntz,  James,  21 
Prater,  Joseph,  3,  5 
Pratt,  Felix,  sec  Thompson,  19 
Prescott,  Mary,  Michael,  46 
Preston,  Anne,  40 

Benedict,  10 
Bernard,  5 
Elizabeth,  40 
Mary  Bernard,  46 
Maura,  40 
„        Scholastica,  40 
„         Thomas,  5 
Price,  Benedict,  see  Jones. 
„      Bernard,  17,  20 
„      Cecily,  33 
„      Josepha,  45 
„      Mary  Joseph,  40 
Pritchard,  Leander,  9 
„         Maurus,  8 
Prosser,  or  Powel,  &c.  Philip,  8 


INDEX. 


XXXV 


Prudhomrae,  Anselm,  19 
Prujean,  Magdalen,  45,  46 
Pugh  or  Philip,  Charles,  21 
Pullen,  Placida,  30 
Pulleyne,  Placida,  20 
Pullein,  Michael,  4,  7,  11 
Pulton,  Agnes,  46 

Elizabeth,  42 

or  Poulton,  Eugenia,  33,  36 

Grertrude,  45 

Mechtilde,  45 

(another),  45 
Pyser,  Barbara,  47 

Q 

Quince,  Sylvester,  14 
Quynes,  Bernard,  17 

R 

Radcliffe,  Clare,  29 

Ursula,  29 
Raffa,  Leander,  1-5 
Raphael,  Don,  5 
Rashley,  Mary,  40 
Ratcliffe,  Ildephonsus,  24 
Rawcliffe,  Anne,  42 

,,         Frances,  43 
Rayment,  Mary  Anne,  35 
Reddy,  Benedicta,  35 
Redman,  Dorothy,  33 
Reede  or  Selby,  Wilfrid,  8 
Reeder,  Scholastica,  29 
Reeve,  Wilfrid,  11 
Reeves,  Anne,  29 
Reily,  Mary  Patrick,  55 

„     Maura,  55 
Reyner,  Clement,  3,  15,  23 

,,      Laurence,  3,  14,  15 
Ribertierre,  Bernard,  18,  19 
Rich,  Francis,  12 
Richardson,  Augustine,  8 
„  Nicholas,  17 

„  Robert,  16 

Riddell,  Angela,  39 

„        Gregory,  1,  24 

„        Joseph,  25 

„        Thomas,  25 

Rider  or  Willoughby   or  Willobie, 
Ildephonsus,  11 


Rigby,  Anne,  29 
„      Bede,  27 
„       Martha,  47 
„       Placid,  17 
Rigge  or  Edner,  Justus,  5 
Rigmaiden,  Benedict,  17 

„  or  Smith,  Maurus,  17 

Risden,  Cuthbert,  20 
Risdon,  Etheldreda,  42 
Rishton,  Frances,  40 

„         Margaret,  40 
Roan,  Basil,  10 
Roberts,  Etheldreda,  46 

„         or  Mervin,  John,  5 
Robinson,  Agnes,  30 
Bernard,  18 
Gregory,  4,  17 
Maurus,  20 
(another),  27 
Paul,  3,  15,  18 
or  Fairfax,  Placid,  25 
„         Robert,  25 
Roe,  Alban,  15 

,,     Maurus,  16 
Roger,  Beatrix,  45 

„       Scholastica,  35 
Rogers,  Dunstau,  22 
Rokeby,  Joseph,  23,  25 
Rookwood,  Elizabeth,  33 
„  Francis,  4,  11 

„  Ignatius,  (date  uncertain). 

Roper,  Benedicta,  28 
„       Catharine,  39 
„       Mary,  33,  35 
„       (another),  39 
,,       Placida,  39 
„       Scholastica,  36 
Roskow,  Joseph,  22 
Ross,  Anne,  40 
Rotton,  Serenus,  11 
Rous,  John,  17 
Rowston,  Robert,  17 
De  la  Rue,  Benedicta,  42 
Rulands,  Mary,  35 
Rumley,  Augustine,  16 
Russel,  Hilda,  34 

Mildred,  34 
Ryan,  Philippa,  43 
Rycaut,  Andrew,  21 


1NDBX. 


Eydiug,  Bernard,  23 

S 

Sadler,  Faustus,  15 

„        or  Walter,  Vincent,  3,  4 
Salcement,  Felieitas,  47 
Salisbury,  Edward,  25 
Salkeld,  Bernard,  10 
„        Martha,  45 
„        Mary  Anselin,  45 
Salviu,  Peter,  9 
Sandeford,  Matthew,  19 
Sandermont,  Praxedis,  54 
Sanderson,  Bernard,  23 

,,          Denis,  23 
Sarsfield,  Ignatia,  55 
Savage,  Coustantia,  36 
Savory,  John  Baptist,  11 
Sayr,  Gregory,  5 
Scholastica.     Three  Lay- sisters  so 

named,  46 
Scoles,  Ursula,  35 
Scott,  Bede,  26 
,,      Dunstan,  4 
„      (another),  26 
Scott,  Maurus,  5 

„     or  King,  Eichard,  20 
Scrogges,  Cuthbert, 
„         Gregory,  9  * 
„         Maurus,  9 
„         or  Windsor,  Placid,  9 
Scroope,  Anne,  45 
Scroup,  Mary,  34 
Scudamore,  Placid,  25 
Segeart,  Mary  Patrick,  55 
Selby  or  Selbye,  Gregory,  25 
„     „       „         Mary  Carola,  39 
„     or  Eeade,  Wilfrid,  3 
Semmes,  Xaveria,  40 
Shafto  or  Shaftoe,  Benedict,  22 
„       Celestine,  24 
,,       Placid,  23 
Sharrock,  Dunstau,  18 
„         Gregory,  7,  13 
,,         Jerome,  7,  13 


Sharrock,  Joseph,  13 

„         William,  t 
Shaw,  Maurus,  22 
Sheldon,  Barbara,  46 

„        Catharine,  28 

„  „  (another),  37 

»  »  „          45 

Edward,  10 

„        Frances,  30 

„        Mary  Benedict,  46 

„        Mary  Joseph,  46 
M  Placida,  29 
William,  12 

„  „          (another),  20 

Shepherd  or  Shephard,  Alexia,  33 

„        Alexius,  7,  12 

„         Augustina,  30 

„         Theresa,  30 
Sherburn,  Edward,  21 
Sherburne,  Anne,  34 

,,  or  Shirburne,  Joseph,  3, 19, 

„  or  Isherwood,  Eichard,  24 

„  or  Walmesley,  Peter,  13 

Sherley  or  Shirley,  Andrew,  6 
Sherwood,  Elphege,  16 
„         John,  23 
,,         Joseph,  23 
„         Eobert,  3,  7 
Shirbourne,  James,  8 
Shirburn,  Bede,  21 
Short,  Thomas,  21 
Shuttleworth,  Benedict,  25 

„  or  Dalton,  Wolstan,  20 

Sidgewicke,  Francis,  11 
Sies,  Benedict,  24 
Simmes,  Magdalen,  43 
„         Mary  Frances,  43 
„         Xaveria,  43 
Simpson,  Andrew,  20 

„         or  Daniel,  Benedict,  17 

„        Clementina,  25 

„        Cuthbert,  22 

„        Thomas,  17 
Six,  Jerome,  24 
Skelton,  Elphege,  24 


*  Though  his  name  does  not  occur  iu  the  Profession  books,  it  is  entered  in  the  Necrology 
of  the  Congregation  (November  10th,  1663). 

t  A  Lay-Brother  professed  at  St.  Laurence's  some  time  before  1780. 


INDEX. 


XXJCVU 


Skinner,  Basil,  10 
„  Mary,  45 
„  Mary  Anne,  45 

Placid,  11 

Skrimsher,  Dorothy,  37 
Slater,  Bernard,  18 
„      Thomas,  18 
Slaughter,  Paula,  46 
Smeaton,  Basil,  23 
Smith,  Augustine,  5 
„      Barbara,  28 
,,      Benedict,  * 
„      Charles,  13 
,,      Cuthbert,  4 
„      Edmund,  21 
„      Etheldreda,  33,  41 
„      Helen,  45 
„      John,  21 
„      Lucy,  47 
„      Margaret,  29 
„      Martha,  29 
„      Mary  Dunstan,  46 
,,      Mary  Renata,  43 
„      Maurus,  9 

„      or  Rigmaiden,  Maurus,  17 
„      Renata,  33 
„      Scholastica,  33 
Smithers,  Odo,  25 

„         Oswald,  25 
Smythe,  Alexia,  39 

„       Mechtilde,  39 
Soloman,  Anne,  40 
Southcoat,  Elizabeth,  33 
Southcot  or  Southcott,  Amandus,  9 
„       Augustine,  12 
„  ,,         (another),  21 

„       or  Southcote,  Bridget,  45 
„  „  Mary,  36 

„       Thomas,  3,  12, 
Sovette,  Dorothy,  46 
Sparrey,  Benedict,  16 
Spear,  Henrietta,  34 
Spencer,  Benediota,  46 
Daniel,  23 


Spooner,  Agatha,  45 

Stafford,  Scholastica,  54 
„        Paula,  45 

Stanihurst,  Cecilia,  40 

Stapelton,  Christina,  35 

Stapleton,  Etheldreda,  28 

Stapylton,  Benedict,  3,  7,  10 
,,          Epiphanius,  8 
„          Robert,  9 

Starkey,  Hugh,  23 

„        or  Hanmer,  Joseph,  12 

Stear  or  Steare,  Benedict,  4,  7,  12 

Stelling,  Augustine,  21 

Stocker  or  Stoker,  Augustine,  8 

Stockman,  Gertrude,  55 

Stone,  Martin,  21 

Stones,  Bibiana,  42 

Story,  Joseph,  26 

Stourton,  John,  7,  12,  19 
,,         Thomas,  10 

Strachy,  Mary  Margaret,  33 

Street,  Magdalen,  34 
„      Peter,  23 

Strickland,  Henrietta,  46 

,,          Mary  Catharine,  45 

Strutt  or  Bridgman,  "Wilfrid,  26 

Styles,  Henry,  5 

Sulyard,  Augustine,  17 

Sumpner,  Charles,  11 

Sunley,  Elizabeth,  34 

Swale,.  Laurence,  24 

Swales,  Bridget,  42 

Swift,  Magdalen,  40 
„      Mary  Benedict,  40 
,,      Theresa,  39 
Swinburn  or  Swinburne,  Gertrude,  28 
„          „  „  Joachim,  27 

,,          „  „  Margaret,  28 

„          ,,  „  Theresa,  29 

„          ,,  „  Thomas,  9 

T 

Tahon,  William,  27 
Tailler,  Mary  Austin,  55 


*  D.  J3onedict,  of  the  most  Holy  Trinity,  (Edward  Smith)  was  professed  at  Chelles  by  Fr. 
Walgrave  in  1617. 


XSKKVtll 


INDEX. 


Talbot,  Anne  Mary,  39 

Talbot,  Oswald,  18 

Tancred,  Mary  Austin,  32,  35 

„        Mary  Bernard,  35 
Tanke,  Stanislaus,  2 

„      Thomas,  9 
Tasburgh,  Felix,  21 
Tatham,  Bede,  10 

„        Cuthbert,  7,  11 
Tavern,  Anne,  28 
Taylard,  Bede,  4,  15 
Taylor,  Anthony,  * 
„      Benedicta,  29 
„      Boniface,  26 
„      „       (another),  27 
„      Dominick,  19 
„      Edmund,  11 
„      Helen,  42 
„      Maurus,  5 
Tegetmeyr,  Francis,  27 
Tempest,  Anselma,  37 

„       Augustine,  4,  23,  24 
„       Edward,  25 
„       Euphrasia,  29 
„       John,  23 
„       Martina,  42 
„       Mary,  42 
„       Mechtilde,  42 
„       Scholastica,  42 
Temple,  Agnes,  41,  42 
Tenant,  Anthony,  27 
Thickness,  Anne,  Mary,  40 
„          Anna  Maria,  43 
Thielmans,  Martha,  35 
Thomas  or  Brychan,  Benedict,  9 
Thomby,  Anne  Winifred,  47 
Thomson  or  Jackson,  Leander,  9 

Winifred,  33 

Thompson  or  Pratt,  Felix,  19 
Thornburgh,  Magdalen,  33 
Thorton  or  Foster,  Bede,  19 
„       Mary  Baptist,  45 
„       Winifred,  45 
Thorold,  Anne  Catharine,  39 
„        Catharine,  36 


Thorold,  Christina,  39 

„        Eugenia,  36,  38 
Throckmorton,  ^milian,  20 

Clare,  37  ^ 
Tichborne,  Mary  Anne,  37 

„         Mary  Catharine,  39 
Tichbourne,  Scholastica,  33 
Timperly,  Gregory,  21, 

„  Justina,  39 

„          Scholastica,  28 

Theresa,  28 

Tobin,  Mary  Winifred,  47 
Tolderly,  Mary  Magdalen,  29 
Tookey,  Josepha,  29 
Tootal,  Margaret,  43 
Touchett,  Anselm,  10 
Toudelle  or  Tordell,  John,  15 
Towers,  Adrian,  27 
Townson,  Andrew,  12 

„          Augustine,  24 

„          John,  24 
Trembie,  Celestine,  19 
Trentham,  Mechtilde,  34 
Tresham,  Francis,  9 

Winifred,  33 
Trevilian,  Catharine,  29 
Trevillian,  Ursula,  42 
Trevillion,  Mary,  36 
Trumble,  Catharine,  42 
Tucker,  Thomas,  23 
Tuite,  Aloysia,  46 
Turberville  or  Tuberville,  Anselm,  5 

„         Anthony,  19,  21 
Turck,  Laurence,  26 
Turner,  Augustine,  26 

„       Catharine,  40 

„       George,  14 

„       Gertrude,  39 

„       John,  23 

„       Thomas,  18 
Tyldesley,  Cecilia,  36,  37 
Tyrrell,  Maura,  40 

U 

Urmston,  Margaret,  34 


*  Br.  Anthony  Taylor,  whose  name  was  accidently  omitted  in  the  Catalogue,  died  a  Choir 
movice  ot  St.  Laurence's,  September  24th,  1762. 


INDEX. 


XXXIX 


Urmston,  Mary,  34 
V 

Valentine,  Joseph,  22 

„         Mary  Benedicta,  40 

Van  Mechels,  Petronilla,  54 

Vaughan,  Clare,  39 

Vavasour,  Catharine,  28 
„         Lucy,  28 

Mary,  32,  33 

Venner  or  Fermor,  Araandus,  15 

Vincent,  Anastasia,  45 

Vraux,  Theresa,  34 

w 

Wafte,  Anselm,  27 
"Wait  or  Wayte,  Helen,  37,  54 
Wake  or  Merriman,  Hilarion,  10 
"Wakeman,  Elizabeth,  37 
Waldegrave,  Apollonia,  34 
„  Jeronima,  36 

„  Placida,  34 

Theodosia,  32,  34 
"Walgrave,  Francis,  15 

„          or  Pleayll,  William,  10 
Walker,  Augustine,  3,  20,  22 

„        Benedicta,  30 
WaU,  Alexius,  25 

, ,    or  Marsh  or  Marshall,  Cuthbert,  24 
Walmesley,  Anselm,  17 

„          or  Caldwell,  Augustine,  13 
„          Charles,  20,  22 
„          Francis,  17 
„          Mellitus,  14,  16 
„          or  Sherburne,  Peter,  13 
„          Theresa,  30 
„          or  Ingham,  Wolstan,  20 
Walton,  Dorothy,  40 
„        Theresa,  40 
Ward,  Edmund,  20 
Wareham,  Denis,  see  Wenham 
Waring,  Ambrose,  18 
Warmoll,  Bernard,  4,  13 
Warner,  Agnes,  45 

„        Ignatia,  45 
Warnford  or  West,  Peter,  6 
Warren,  Bernard,  20 

„        Mary  Magdalen,  39 
Warwick,  Basil,  7,  12 


Warwick,  Benedicta,  29 
Waters,  Martha,  46 

„       or  Duvivier,  Placid,  13 
Watkinson,  Gregory,  13 
Watmough,  Francis,  3,  4,  14,  16 
Watson,  Frances,  28 

„       Mary,  33 
Waty,  Paul,  16 
Wearden,  Vincent,  27 
Webb,  Dunstau,  27 
„       Agatha,  37 
Welch,  Thomas,  20,  22 
Weldon,  Benedict,  21 
Wells,  Anne  Joseph,  46 

„      Gertrude,  46 
Wenham  or  Wareham,  Denis,  26 
West,  Francis,  16 
Westbrook  or  Darrell,  Maurus,  25 
Weston,  Alexia,  39 
Whall,  George,  16 
Whetenhall,  Mary  Placida,  40 
Whitaker,  Martha,  33 
White  or  Bradshaw,  Augustine,  5, 7, 19 
,,      or  Bennett,  Claud,  3,  4,  15 
„      Monica,  46 
,,      or  Woodhope,  Thomas,  9 
Whitehall,  Victoria,  46 
Whitenhal  or  Whitnal,  Frances,  20 

or  Whitenhall,  Maura,  32, 34 
Whitfield,  Andrew,  9 

Winifred,  40 
Whittel,  Joseph,  22 
Whyte  or  White,  Christina,  39,  54 
Widdrington,  Agnes,  29 

„  Eliza beth  Joseph,  39 

„  Mary  Austin,  29 

Widowfield,  Joanna,  40 
Wigmore,  Catharine,  39,  38 
Wilcock,  Peter,  6 

„         (another),  17 
Wilford,  Boniface,  7 
Wilkinson,  Gertrude,  43 
„  Gregory,  20 

Wilks,  Cuthbert,  23 
,,      Mary  Austin,  43 
„      Theresa,  27 
Williams,  Anselm,  15 

„          (another),  19 
Williamson,  Petronilla,  33 


INPEX. 


Willis,  Mary  Michael,  46 
Willoughby,  Willobie  or  Eider,  Ilde- 

phousus,  11 
„          Benedicta,  46 
Wills,  Maura,  43 
Willson,  Jerome,  11 
Wilson,  Barbara,  35 
Benedict,  11 
Jerome,  11 
Maurus,  24 
Paul,  14 
Placida,  29 
Thomas,  11 
„       Willibrord,  24 
Winchcombe,  Anthony,  8 

„  Benedict,  16 

Winkley,  Anne  Austin,  43 
Windsor  or  Scrogges,  Placid,  9 
Winifred,  Sister,  46 
Winter,  Benedict,  12 

„      Mary,  33 
"W  inton,  James,  24 
W  i  seman,  Agatha,  33 
,  Aloysia,  35 
Bede,  10 
Christina,  41,  42 
Maura,  42 
or  Wytham,  Michael,  9 


Witham,  Thomas,  11 
Wilfrid,  25 
Wolsley,  Edward,  9 
Woodhope  or  White,  Thomas,  9 
Woodman,  Mary  Anne,  41,  43 
Woolfe,  Laurence,  20 
Woolgar,  Agnes,  40 
Worsley  or  Byfleet,  John,  9 

,,         Mary  Joseph,  43 
Worswick,  Dunstan,  18 
Wright,  Frances,  54 
Wrisdon,  Q-ertrude,  28 
Wyburn,  Henry,  4,  19,  22 
Wyche,  Joseph,  24 
Wyld  or  Wyre,  Mary  Theresa,  55 
Wythie,  Bernard,  12 

X 

Xaveria,  Sister,  46 
Y 

Yate,  Mary,  45 
Yaxley,  Viviana,  28,  33 
York,  Laurence,  7,  12,  19 
Young  or  Yonge,  Bernard,  26 

„       Anne  Theresa,  29 
Yoward,  Eichard,  21 


THE     END. 


3ln  omnite  glonficetur  Deuis. 


BX  3016 

Weldon, 


Pax 


.W4  1881 
Ralph, 
47228976 


IMST 


9f    MEDIAEVAL   STUM* 
39    QUEEN'S    PARK 


.