Sources for Confessors and Chaplains associated with the English Convents in Exile

I am indebted to contributions from several people to this compilation, notably Katharine Keats Rohan, (Franciscans) Pascal Majerus (Dominicans, Benedictines Brussels  and Bruges Augustinians), Katrien Daemen de Gelder (Antwerp Carmelites) and Jaime Goodrich (Benedictines Brussels). Since the convents did not keep formal records of their confessors and chaplains the lists need to be treated with caution. The terms used and indeed practice varied from one convent to another. Some convents gave the names of large numbers of confessors and spiritual directors who were linked with individual nuns, whereas others give very few names. Due to variations in spelling and places where only surnames were given it has not been possible to find details for a number of names. Where the convents found it difficult to appoint English Confessors and Chaplains various solutions were found including a number of locals and men trained outside the English institutions. These have been particularly hard to trace.

I would be grateful for additions and corrections and suggestions for further sources to be consulted.
Caroline Bowden
Who were the Nuns? project
October 2013

Sources used across several convents

Anstruther, G., The Seminary Priests, 4 Vols., (Great Wakering: Mayhew-McGrimmond Ltd, 1977)
Allanson, Athanasius, Biography of the English Benedictines (Ampleforth Abbey, 1999)
Bellenger, A., English and Welsh Priests 1558-1800 (Bath: Downside Abbey, 1984)
Holt, G., The English Jesuits 1650-1829 (London: Catholic Record Society, 1984)
McCoog, T. M., English and Welsh Jesuits 1555-1650 Parts 1 & 2 (London: Catholic Record Society, 1994-5), vols. 74 & 75.
Foley: Foley, Henry, Records of the English Province of the Society of Jesus : historic facts illustrative of the labours and sufferings of its members in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 7 vols., (London: Burns & Oates,1875-1883)
Gillow, Joseph, A Literary and Biographical History … of the English Catholics, (London: Burns & Oates, 1885)
Coghlan Letters: The Correspondence of James Peter Coghlan (1731-1800), eds. Frans Blom et. al., (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Catholic Record Society and The Boydell Press, 2007)

Aire, Poor Clares

Register: MS Aire Register; Monastery of the Poor Clares, Much Birch, Herefordshire
Franciscana: 'Franciscana: The English Franciscan Nuns, 1619-1821 and the Friars Minor of the Same Province 1618-1761', ed. R Trappes-Lomax, Catholic Record Society, Vol. 24, 1922
Necrology: in Franciscana as above.

Antwerp, Carmelites

Annals: MS Annals; 'Short Colections of the Beginings of the English Monastery of Teresians in Antwerp', Felixarchief Antwerpen- City Archives Antwerp, KK 1018: now published, edited by Katrien Daemen de Gelder, ‘Life Writing II,’ vol. 4 of English Convents in Exile, 1600-1800, General Editor Caroline Bowden (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2012-13) 6 vols.
Hardman: Sister Anne Hardman, English Carmelites in Penal Times, (London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne Ltd, 1936)
Hallett: Nicky Hallett, Lives of Spirit: An Edition of English Carmelite Auto/Biographies of the Early Modern Period (The Early Modern Englishwoman 1500-1750: Contemporary Editions),  (Aldershot: Palgrave, 2007)

Bruges, Augustinians

BAB…: Bishop’s Archives Bruges: see project website ‘Archive Calendar’
ECB Annals: MS Annals in 3 volumes owned by the English Convent, Bruges (ECB): abbreviations I ann; II ann; III ann.
ECB Bruges C1 list: List of nuns with confessors 1629-1822

Bruges, Franciscans

BC; BP; BD; Necrology: refer to sections in Franciscana (see below)
'Franciscana: The English Franciscan Nuns, 1619-1821 and the Friars Minor of the Same Province 1618-1761', ed. R Trappes-Lomax, Catholic Record Society, Vol. 24, 1922

Brussels, Benedictines

AM e.g. AM benbx-7 Aartsbischoppelijk Archief Mechelen; Archbishopric Mechelen: see project website ‘Archive Calendar…’
Register Book of professions... in 'Registers of the English Benedictine Nuns, Brussels… 1598-1856', contributed by the Lady Abbess of East Bergholt and ed. J S Hansom, Catholic Record Society, Misc. IX, Vol. 14, 1914
Chronicles: Chronicles of the First Monastery Founded for Benedictine Nuns 1597, (Bergholt: St Mary’s Abbey, 1898)
Gumbley: Dominican Obituary Notices 1555-1952, Walter Gumbley, OP,  (London: Blackfriars Publications, 1955)

Brussels, Dominicans

Dominicana: 'Records of the Dominican Nuns of the Second Order 1661-1797', Contributed by the Prioress and Community of Carisbrooke, Catholic Record Society, Vol. 25, 1925
Gumbley: Dominican Obituary Notices 1555-1952, Walter Gumbley, OP,  (London: Blackfriars Publications, 1955)
Van Doninck: Van Doninck, F. Benedictus,  Het Voormalig Engelsch Klooster te Bornhem. Geschiedkundige aantekeningen nopens het H. Kruisklooster, meer gekend onder den naam van College der Engelsche Dominicanen, thans Abdij van den H. Bernardus, O. Cist. Bijdrage tot de Geschiedenis der Gemeente, 1904

Cambrai, Benedictines

'Records of the Abbey of our Lady of Consolation at Cambrai 1620-1793', ed. J Gillow, Catholic Record Society, Misc. VIII, Vol. 13, 1913
Cambrai Paper: Note sur les Bénédictines anglaises de Cambrai dites de Notre-Dame de Consolation in La Semaine Religieuse de Diocese de Cambrai, 3 Janvier 1934,  pp. 14-16

Dunkirk, Poor Clares

Dunkirk Reg.: Registers of the Poor Clares (1652-1807) Dunkirk at Special Collections, Ushaw College, University of Durham: another copy with the Monastery of the Poor Clares, Much Birch, Herefordshire
Y followed by reference: Bisdome Brugge Archives: see project website ‘Archive calendar…’

Dunkirk, Benedictines

Y followed by reference: Bisdom Brugge archives, Examinations: see project website ‘ Archive Calendar…’
History followed by page number: A History of the Benedictine Nuns of Dunkirk, ed. by the Community, Catholic Book Club, London, n.d.

Ghent, Benedictines

Annals: Annals of the English Benedictines of Ghent (privately printed, 1898)

Gravelines, Poor Clares

Register: Registers of the English Poor Clares Gravelines etc', contributed by W M Hunnybun, annotated by J Gillow, Catholic Record Society, Misc. IX, Vol. 14, 1914
History Dunkirk: A History of the Benedictine Nuns of Dunkirk, ed. by the Community, (London: Catholic Book Club, n.d)

Hoogstraten, Carmelites

Annals: Hoogstraten MS Annals 1670-1870 compiled in the early twentieth century from earlier surviving manuscripts, Baltimore Carmel, Maryland: microfilms held at Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland.
Hardman followed by page number: Sister Anne Hardman, English Carmelites in Penal Times, (London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne Ltd, 1936)

Liege, Sepulchrines

History: History of the New Hall Community, originally published 1899: reprinted at Sint-Kruis (Brugge) in 1997
Chap: 'Chapter Book' published as part of the 'Records of the English Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre at Liège CRSS', contributed by Mother Prioress of New Hall, and ed. R Trappes-Lomax, Catholic Record Society, Misc. X, 1915

Lierre, Carmelites

Hardman: Sister Anne Hardman, English Carmelites in Penal Times, (London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne Ltd, 1936)
Hallett: Nicky Hallett, Lives of Spirit: An Edition of English Carmelite Auto/Biographies of the Early Modern Period (The Early Modern Englishwoman 1500-1750: Contemporary Editions),  (Aldershot: Palgrave, 2007)

Lisbon, Bridgettines

Fletcher notebooks: MSS Notebooks in Syon Abbey Collection held at Special Collections, Exeter University Library, Devon

Louvain, Augustinians

Chr: MS Chronicles belonging to the Augustinian Canoness, Kingston near Lewes, now held at Douai Abbey, Berkshire
Hamilton Vol I or Vol II: Hamilton, Adam, The Chronicle of the English Augustinian Canonesses Regular of the Lateran, at St. Monica's in Louvain: 1548 to 1644, 2 Vols. , (Edinburgh: Sands, 1904)

Paris, Augustinians

Cédoz: Cédoz, F M Th, Un Couvent de religieuses anglaises à Paris de 1634 à 1884, (Paris: Lecoffre, 1891)

Paris, Blue Nuns or Conceptionists

Diary: 'The Diary of the Blue Nuns…1658-1810', eds. J Gillow and R Trappes-Lomax, Catholic Record Society, Vol. 8, 1910

Paris, Benedictines

Sketch History: ‘A Sketch History’, reprinted from Ampleforth Journal, Nos. 11-13, 1906-08
‘CRS’: The English Benedictine Nuns of Our Blessed Lady of Good Hope in Paris', ed. J S Hansom, in CRS, Misc. VII, Vol. 9, 1911
Paris History; Robert Eaton, The Benedictines of Colwich 1829-1929, (London: Sands & Co, 1929)

Pontoise, Benedictines – moved from Boulogne

CRS Pontoise: 'Registers of the English Benedictine Nuns of Pontoise OSB, etc. contributed by the Lady Abbess of Teignmouth and edited by the Archivist', Catholic Record Society, Misc. X, Vol. 17, 1915
Grimbert: Jacques Grimbert, 'Histoire du clos des Anglaises a Pontoise', in Memoires de la Société historique et archeologique de Pontoise du Val-d'Oise et du Vexin, (Tome LXXXI, 1998).
Claire Walker: Walker, Claire, Gender and Politics in Seventeenth-Century English Convents: English Convents in France and the Low Countries (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003).

Rouen, Poor Clares

Rouen Chronicle I & II: published in Vol. I, English Convents in Exile History Writing, ed. Caroline Bowden
ADSM-G: Examinations in Archives Departementales Seine Maritime, Rouen
Forster I followed by page number: Forster, Ann C. M., 'The Chronicles of the English Poor Clares of Rouen-I', Recusant History, XVIII (1986-7), 59-102
Forster II followed by page number: Forster, Ann C.M., 'The Chronicles of the English Poor Clares of Rouen-II', Recusant History, 18/2 (Oct 1986), 149-191

Ypres, Benedictines

BB Y followed by number: Bruges, Diocesan Archives, Bishopric of Ypres, Examinations; see project website ‘Archive Calendar…’
Irish Dames Ypres: Dom Patrick Nolan, Irish Dames of Ypres, (Dublin: Browne and Nolan, 1914)