Part 3 The Bridgettine Nuns 1861-1887
Introduction
The Bridgettine Order (or Order of the Most Holy Saviour) was founded in 1346 by St. Bridget of Sweden at Vadstena in the Diocese of Linköping. The saint, who was canonized twenty years after her death, was a Swedish princess renowned from childhood for her piety; she was given in marriage to Ulf, Chief Justice of Mercia, by whom she had a large family. Ulf died in 1344, and two years later tradition relates that St. Bridget had revealed to her the rule of the new order she was to found at Vadstena. King Magnus gave her the land and former palace at Vadstena and she is said to have lowered the roof, as the building was too “proud”. This building, which housed, among other parts of the convent, the Sisters’ dormitory, is still in use today as a Museum. In 1375 Katherine, St. Bridget’s daughter became the first Abbess of the first monastery for men and women. At this time double monasteries were not unusual: the monks and nuns used the same chapel, but lived in separate wings of the monastery; the only time any of the priest Brothers would have had access to the Sisters’ buildings was to administer the Sacrament of the Sick to any Sister who was dying.
We proceeded at once to the Rev. R.Mount’s. After a visit to the Blessed Sacrament in thanksgiving for a safe journey so far, we partook of a sort of dinner-lunch. We left Southampton about half past one and reached Spettisbury about 3.30 pm on 31st August 1861, where we were met by Canon Agar and were cordially received by the Augustinians.”
The removal from Lisbon was a great undertaking; much had to be left behind on account of the expense of transport. However, they brought with them many valuable articles which they had managed to preserve from destruction at the time of the Reformation. The iron cross which originally stood on the top of the abbey church of old Syon at Isleworth; the top of the carved stone pinnacle from the gateway of old Syon on which part of the quartered body of Blessed Richard Reynolds was placed after his martyrdom and several ancient statues which adorned their original church including a life-size statue of St.Bridget in white marble. There was also a fine portrait of the Virgin and Child; a portrait of Henry V, their founder, given to them by the king himself; the ancient seals of their monastery and its keys and a valuable library of ancient illuminated service books and other valuable manuscripts.
One of the rare books in their library was the Office for Holy Week or Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae illustrated by Hollar, the greatest etcher working in England at the time and printed by the Widow Chrestien on the continent in 1670 (recusants had a difficult time getting their liturgical works printed in England because of the legal restrictions against Catholics). The text is in English and Latin in double-column format: there are now only 13 copies world-wide, one of which is for sale (2003) for $2775 and with an inscription on the front fly-leaf “St. Monica’s Library, Spetisbury House.”
St. Bridget of Sweden
In Bridgettine monasteries both Sisters and Brothers were strictly enclosed. The Rule allowed eight lay brothers to attend to the needs of the men and the Sisters also had women who came to “make the fire and do the cooking and any other such task as assigned to them by the Abbess”. The Sisters made their own habits and did fine embroidery for the Church and sewing for the poor but their main duty was the chanting of a special office in honour of Our Lady, composed by the saint’s chaplain, Peter of Skaning and based on the revelation given to St. Bridget while she was in Rome of the ‘Sermo Angelicus’. The Brethren devoted themselves to prayer, study and preaching, and offered mass each day. The Brothers and Sisters both wore grey woollen habits with emblems of the Passion as badges.
The Rule of Our Saviour, to St. Bridget’s great disappointment, could not be used as the sole Rule of her Abbeys. The Pope decreed that the Bridgettines should take the Rule of St. Augustine and use the Rule of Our Saviour as ‘per modum constitutionem’ i.e. as Constitutions.
An English Community of Bridgettines, Syon Monastery, was founded in 1415 by King Henry V. The "Monastery of St. Saviour, Our Lady St. Mary and St. Bridget of Syon" comprised thirteen priests, four deacons, and eight lay brethren, besides sixty nuns. Pope Martin V confirmed the foundation in 1418, and the first novices were professed in 1420. The first Abbey was at Twickenham but was too near the river Thames and unhealthy. In 1426 a new Abbey was begun a little further along the river at Isleworth, into which the community moved in 1431. The property extended for half a mile along the bank of the Thames; and the chief duty of the community was “to celebrate for ever Divine Service for our healthful estate while we live and, when we have departed this life, for our soul”. The location of the Abbey at Isleworth was advantageous since it was midway between Westminster and Windsor with easy access along the Thames for pilgrims and other visitors from London, a major factor in providing donations and postulants.
The inmates of Syon Abbey were expelled by Henry VIII in 1539. Some went to Antwerp; others went in groups to places in England, often to their families; Abbess Jordan and nine other members of the community rented a house in Buckinghamshire. When Abbess Jordan died, this group also went to Antwerp. On the accession of Queen Mary the community returned to the old monastic buildings with Abbess Palmer in November 1556. When Elizabeth I once more dissolved the monasteries, they went again to Flanders in 1559 where they spent more than 30 years in great hardship and poverty. After 14 years at Rouen, in 1594 the community decided to go to Lisbon where they remained for 267 years of comparative peace under the protection of first the Kings of Spain and later the Kings of Portugal. In 1695 the last of the brothers died and from then on the sisters relied mainly on the priests of the English College for spiritual direction.
The monastery at Lisbon suffered much, in common with the whole city, during the dreadful earthquake in 1756. A description of this religious society in 1760 was given by Beretti in his “Journey from London to Genoa”
“It is called the English nunnery, because no girl is admitted in it but what is born a subject of England. It consists of little more than 20. The chief anxiety of the community is to keep their number full. They are liberal to every body of chocolate, cakes and sweetmeats. Nuns in all countries are soft and obliging speakers; but these are certainly the softest and most obliging that ever fell in my way. Not a syllable issued from their lips but what was dictated by modesty and meekness, humility and benevolence. The King allows them such a sum as enables them to find themselves in victuals, linen and raiment. Yet life, even by recluse women, cannot be passed very comfortably with mere necessaries, and some addition is wanting to keep it from stagnating. These minute superfluities, which the French call douceurs, are left entirely to their industry; and these they procure partly by work, and partly by making trifling presents, which are often returned with liberality. Some have small pensions paid by their friends, and whatever is got by one is shared by all.”
The Civil War in Portugal (1826-1834) led to a government that was strongly anti-clerical and initiated an era of persecution and robbery of the Church. The enemies of the Church, now in full power at Lisbon, were keen to include the English house in the general confiscation. By 1861 the political situation in Portugal was so bad that the Lisbon community decided to remove the convent to England. This was strongly recommended by Dr. Baines, the President of the English College and Confessor to the community of Syon, who pointed out that there was a great revival of the Catholic religion in England and that religious houses were rising rapidly and flourishing without let or hindrance. The Augustinian Canonesses at Spettisbury, who were building their new convent at Abbotsleigh, hearing that the Bridgettines contemplated a return to England, offered to lease them the convent at Spettisbury, an offer which they accepted.
The journey home was described by Sister Bernard Eccles:
“A day or two before the departure of the community a number of galagoes carried the luggage away in true galago fashion, and on Tuesday the 27th August 1861, early in the morning, Dr. Baines said Mass at the convent church and then he, with Rev. William Browne – one of the professors – and Canon Park, entered the Enclosure, where finding all the nuns prepared to travel (wearing mantles, hoods and face veils) all assembled at the Portrea, and joined in saying the prayers for a safe journey.The doors were then opened – crowds surrounded the convent, who had been waiting since three in the morning, and we could scarce get away, for the affectionate embraces of the multitude. The carriages were at last reached – and we were off!
Having reached the landing-stage, we were conveyed to the steamer in the king’s barges – a special mark of respect and honour procured by an Admiral, who also offered his rooms in the Arsenal in case of the nuns having to wait for the boats. Dr. Baines accompanied the nuns down the Tagus as far as Bellum where he most feelingly bade us adieu and (as we afterwards heard) watched the vessel till it was out of sight.
About noon we entered the Atlantic – during the night stopped off Oporto: the next day at Vigo and took cargo, and in the evening entered the Bay of Biscay. On Saturday morning, after a favourable voyage, we found ourselves in the English Channel, surrounded by a dense fog. In consequence of the fog the steamer sailed very slowly, and indeed stopped, so it was about noon before we could land.
The Times reported their arrival on 2nd September 1861 in the Shipping News: “The screw steamer Sultan arrived at Southampton at 9am on Saturday. The number of passengers was 46 of whom 12 were nuns from the convent of Sion House at Lisbon. On freight she had £1218.12.7 in specie, jewellery value £22. a cargo including 6 casks and 2 cases of wine, 114 cases of eggs, 651 boxes of grapes, 200 bags of almonds, 176 boxes of apples, 103 half-chests of lemons, 2 boxes of oranges, 38 boxes of plums, 25 boxes of tomatoes, 4 boxes of quinces, 87 packages of sundries and 18 bullocks. When the Sultan left Lisbon on the 27th there were no foreign vessels of war lying in the Tagus.”
Another London newspaper gave more detail of the nuns’ arrival. “The Sultan, on Saturday, brought over twelve nuns of the ancient convent of Sion House, who return to England, having purchased an establishment at Spetisbury, in Dorsetshire. The sisters bring with them the antique stone cross which formerly stood over the gateway of Sion House at Isleworth, also several ancient statues which adorned the original church, and a portrait of Henry V of England, their founder, which is said to be a likeness, and to have been painted during the monarch’s lifetime. This order of Bridgetines has been settled at Lisbon since the year 1595: but there being now more religious liberty in England than in Portugal, and more prospects here for the prosperity of the order, the sisterhood have determined to return to their native land. The Duke of Northumberland, to whose ancestors the ancient Sion House, with its lands, was granted by Henry VIII, has given the poor nuns a handsome donation to assist them in defraying the expenses of their journey and change of establishment.”